More Than a Billionaire (7 page)

Kiera nodded. “Give me one minute and I’ll get you the soup.”

When she pulled away, he didn’t try to stop her. Without looking at him, she walked into the kitchen. She’d already filled one container up, so she grabbed it off the counter.

“Here you go. I hope you enjoy it. It’s a new recipe I’ve been experimenting with.”

“Kiera, I really am sorry about today.” He ran a finger down her cheek.

The disappointment she heard in his voice echoed the feeling in her chest. “Rain check, remember?”

“Right.” Despite his agreement, Gray’s frown remained. “I can’t say when, but I’ll call you sometime this week, okay?”

She forced a smile. “Of course. And have a safe trip. At least you’ll be warm down there.”

Kiera moved in to kiss his cheek, but Gray beat her to it, and brushed his lips across hers one final time.

She closed the door behind him and dropped her fake smile. So much for a fun day ice-skating. What should she spend her day doing now? She glanced around the apartment. The place could use a thorough cleaning, but this was her day off. Did she want to spend it dusting and vacuuming? It wasn’t like a messy apartment would kill her or anything, and she didn’t get many visitors. In fact Gray had been her first visitor in weeks.

Yeah, housework could wait. She needed something fun to do. Maybe Joanna and Stephanie were free. They could go to the movies and maybe lunch.

Kiera’s stomach rumbled as she locked the door. She’d call her friends and then make breakfast. Since she thought they were going out she only had a glass of cranberry juice that morning. Evidently her stomach wasn’t satisfied with that. She moved away from the door and stopped when she spotted the black leather glove on the floor.

Gray had been wearing gloves when he came in but not when he touched her cheek. She touched the soft leather. He’d figure out he dropped it here soon enough. For now she’d put it in a safe place. When he claimed his rain check, she’d give it back to him. She hoped he did that soon.

***

Gray tossed his coat onto an empty seat and sat down.

“Should I let the pilot know you’re ready to leave?”

Gray looked over at the flight attendant. “Yes. Did you ask him about our arrival time?”

“He said winds should be favorable, so we should still reach Cozumel on time. Once we are in the air, I’ll serve coffee.” The flight attendant smiled and walked away.

Relieved, Gray pulled out his laptop, annoyed at himself for being late that morning, something that wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t stopped at Kiera’s place first. He’d realized that a trip to Lincoln might make him late and that a phone call would be his best bet. He’d also known that he’d be kicking himself later if he canceled their plans via a simple phone call. So, rather than head straight to the airport Gray had insisted the driver bring him by Kiera’s apartment first even though Lincoln was twenty minutes in the opposite direction of the airport.

While he hadn’t lingered at her apartment, he’d spent more time there than he should have. Then, he’d hit traffic going though the city, which meant they arrived at the airport fifteen minutes late. He couldn’t believe he jeopardized an assignment to satisfy his personal life. That wasn’t like him.

Gray set his laptop on the table. As soon as he got the go-ahead from the pilot, he’d turn it on. Then, he pulled out the package the courier had handed him. He needed to read through everything before they landed. Rather than wait for coffee, Gray grabbed his bottle of water and spotted the container of soup Kiera gave him.

Thanks to his lifestyle and what he did for work, he spent a lot of time around women. None made him soup for lunch and asked him to go ice-skating. In truth, he didn’t want them to.

“Mr. Sherbrooke,” said the pilot via the intercom. “We’ve reached cruising altitude. Feel free to use any electronic devices.”

Gray didn’t waste any time powering on his computer and plugging in the thumb drive from Randall. Typing in his password, he opened the files he needed. He read through the first two pages, and then had to stop when he got to a section that made reference to something in the beginning of the report. Something he’d either missed or forgotten.

Most days, he considered himself an attentive person. Someone who could concentrate even in a room full of distractions. This morning, rather than focusing on the words in front of him, his mind kept wandering back to Kiera.

She’d appeared unaffected by their canceled plans. She’d even smiled and joked a little. Had she not been disappointed at all or had she been acting?

He wanted to think she’d been as disappointed as he was. They way she responded to him yesterday made him believe his attraction wasn’t one-sided. Unfortunately, he couldn’t ask her. He also couldn’t do much about the situation now. Until he took care of this situation in Cozumel, his personal life was on hold. As soon as he finished up, though, he planned to claim that rain check.

***

“How are things going with Steve?” Kiera asked her friend, Stephanie, later that afternoon while they waited for the movie to start. They’d arrived extra early so that they got good seats.

“I don’t want to talk about my love life. I want all the details about the Sherbrooke wedding.” Stephanie reached for her soda. “And I mean
everything
. Who was there? What color did the bridesmaids wear?”

“Yeah, Kiera, spill it.” Joanna chimed in from Kiera’s other side. “No photos have shown up anywhere.”

She’d expected questions from her friends. Actually, she thought they’d call to bombard her with questions right after the wedding. “I don’t think they allowed any media in, and I doubt they’ll give any magazine the right to publish pictures.”

“Which means you have to tell us everything,” Stephanie said.

Joanna nodded in agreement. “Let us live vicariously through you since you get to live such a glamorous life.”

Kiera laughed. “Me? Glamorous? Joanna, you’re the one dating a major league baseball player, right?”

“John only played in two major league games last summer before he got sent back to Triple A. You, my dear, are the one who gets to rub elbows with the Sherbrookes.”

“Give us something. What was served for dinner?” Stephanie said.

Kiera sighed. Her friends would keep at it until she gave up at least a little information. “I had filet mignon, but there were several choices.” Kiera grabbed a handful of popcorn. “And it was a traditional Catholic ceremony at the cathedral in Providence. The reception was at Cliff House in Newport.” She paused and considered some other non-intrusive details she could share? “It looked like only family and close friends attended.”

“Did you see Curt Sherbrooke?” Stephanie always argued that Gray’s cousin, Curt, was the most handsome of the Sherbrooke men.

“He’s Trent’s cousin. Of course he was there.” She wouldn’t disagree that Curt was handsome, but she’d always believed Gray and his brothers were the best looking of the group.

“Was he a groomsman?” Stephanie asked.

“Who was the best man?” Joanna asked.

“No, Curt wasn’t in the wedding party. And Jake was Trent’s best man.”

Next to her, Joanna smiled and got a faraway look in her eyes. Kiera guessed her friend was thinking of Jake Sherbrooke. When they’d first met in college, Joanna had been obsessed with him. She’d bought every magazine he showed up on and read every article printed about him. While her obsession had lessened over the years, she still considered him her favorite eye candy.

“He didn’t ask one of his brothers to be his best man?” Stephanie asked.

When she saw Jake next to Trent, she hadn’t blinked an eye. “Jake and Trent are like brothers, and all of Trent’s brothers and one of Addison’s were in the wedding party, too.”

“That must have been the hottest wedding party ever! I wish I could’ve seen it.”

Kiera couldn’t disagree with Joanna’s comment. “You’re right; it was.”

Up on the screen, the previews for upcoming movies started as the lights dimmed.

“It’s crazy that the two biggest playboys in that family are married now. Who do you think will be next?” Joanna whispered so that only Kiera and Stephanie heard her.

“I read that Trent’s cousin, Sara, is getting married in the spring.” Kiera ripped open her bag of gummy bears.

“I meant, which Sherbrooke
male
will be next? Who cares about the women?”

“Maybe Curt. I read somewhere he and his girlfriend moved in together,” Stephanie said.

“Doubt it. I read in
The Star Report
that they broke up.” Joanna grabbed a handful of popcorn.

“You can’t believe everything that’s printed in magazines.”

“They’re not always wrong, Kiera.”

She wasn’t going to argue with Joanna today.

“Well, Alec is too young. Maybe Gray will be next,” Stephanie said.

Heat swept through Kiera.

“No way. He’s too busy partying to get married. Maybe it will be Brett.”

Joanna had a point. It did appear as if Gray went from one party to another with no intentions of slowing down. Which meant there was a good chance he wouldn’t be knocking on her door again anytime soon.

Kiera held back a sigh, or at least, she thought she did.

“What’s wrong?” Stephanie asked as the lights went out.

“Just thinking how pathetic our lives are that we have to speculate about what other people will do.” Kiera mentally patted herself on the back for the invented excuse.

Joanna elbowed her in the arm. “Speak for yourself. My life is
not
pathetic.”

The movie started, preventing any further conversation. While the opening scene played, Kiera let her mind wander. She loved spending time with her former college roommates. Today, though, instead of sitting in a dark movie theater, she’d rather be outside skating with Gray.

Kiera closed her eyes and enjoyed the memories of sitting on Gray’s lap as he kissed her. Oh, man what a kisser. If she ever got the opportunity to repeat the experience, she’d take advantage of it because every woman deserved to be kissed like that more than once in her life.

Some people thrived locked in an office surrounded by paperwork. Others dreamed about finding cures to diseases. Kiera had been born to create new recipes while surrounded by pots and pans.

She added a pinch of rosemary to the sauce. People bustled around her as they prepared gourmet dishes for the restaurant’s patrons. Most of her friends would find the fast-paced kitchen a living hell, but she couldn’t imagine working anywhere else.

“Everyone I’ve served the veal chops to tonight cannot stop raving about the Cabernet Sauce,” Erica, one of the waitresses, said as she paused next to Kiera.

Yes.
She’d worked hard perfecting that recipe. Unfortunately, Chef Andrien would get all the credit, but she expected that. After all, that was how things worked in this business. Someday, when she was in charge of her own kitchen, she’d get all the credit for someone else’s work, too.

“Maybe it’ll be added permanently to the menu.” Kiera sprinkled more salt into the sauce she was cooking

“I bet it—Wow, what’s he doing here?” Erica’s sudden comment had Kiera looking up at her.

“Who’s here? Please tell me it isn’t Jean-Paul.”

A wealthy Frenchman, Jean-Paul owned several restaurants and expected all his employees to all but kiss his butt. No, if he actually thought he could get away with it, he would’ve told his employees to do that, too.

“Not unless Jean-Paul found a fairy godmother to make him hot.” Erica didn’t look at Kiera as she spoke. “I could stand here all day and look at that guy.”

Their surprise visitor definitely wasn’t Jean-Paul. No one would willingly spend the day looking at him unless they wanted to go blind. Jean-Paul might have lot of money, but his face and posture reminded Kiera of a troll. And he had the personality to match.

“Turn around before he leaves.” Erica touched her arm. “You’ll be sorry if you miss him.”

Curiosity captured, Kiera turned but tried not to make it obvious.

“Kiera, I need to speak with you for a moment.” Pierre, the restaurant’s general manager, called out.

“Fudge,” Kiera mumbled under her breath. Not once in all the year she’d worked at Mon Soleil had Pierre singled her out.

Kiera rolled her shoulders back and spun on her heel, prepared for anything. Then she saw who Erica had been gushing about standing next to restaurant’s general manager.

Okay, maybe
prepared for anything
had been a stretch. She certainly wasn’t prepared to see Gray in her kitchen.

It’d been a week since Gray had canceled their plans and she hadn’t spoken to him since. He’d called her twice, but she’d missed both calls. When she tried calling him back, she’d reached his voice mail.

A finger jabbed her in the back. “Go on, they’re waiting,” Erica whispered.

Kiera cleared her throat. “Jeremy, please keep an eye on this.” She waited for Jeremy to take her place, then made her legs carry her toward Pierre.

“Mr. Sherbrooke would like a word with you,” Pierre said. He gestured toward Gray.

“Do you mind if we use your office?” Gray asked.

Kiera held her breath and waited for Pierre’s answer.

“Go right ahead.” Pierre forced a smile as he left. “I need to make a walk through the dining room anyway.”

“Come on. Before he changes his mind.” Gray’s fingers wrapped around her wrist, and he led her into the office behind them.

Relax.
 

Gray pulled the door closed behind him, then crossed the room and closed the second door to the office. Tonight he wore jeans, and a black leather jacket. A five-o’clock shadow covered his cheeks, completing the bad boy look, and his eyes hinted at many sleepless nights.

“How did you ever get Pierre to let you in the kitchen?”

Gray’s eyebrow arched. “Do you really have to ask?”

Right, dumb question. Nobody said no to a Sherbrooke. “Then what are you doing here?”

“I heard there was a cute sous chef working here. I had to see for myself.” Gray flashed her a grin.