Nice & Naughty (21 page)

She said she’d spent Thanksgiving with her honorary aunts, whoever they were. She sounded really happy too, which made Gordy very nervous.

Now here he was, giving her time to make a decision that could take her away from him. His heart clenched just at the thought.
 

Gordy was being amazingly well behaved, in his opinion, by not driving up there and trying to sway her decision. Not that he’d had time to drive back there between work, Santa School last week and then volunteering as Santa at the hospital on his days off this week.
 

He did call Zoey though, every night before bed. It gave him great satisfaction that he was the last person she thought of before falling to sleep in that soft down-covered bed they’d shared for two brief nights.

He hadn’t been this close to being happy in a while. Nor had he been this miserable. Gordy sighed. “Women.”

“Yup.” Scotty laughed and then glanced over at him. “Hey, if you’re all lovesick over some woman, what are you going to do when you get sold tomorrow night at the auction?”

Gordy groaned. “Thanks, another thing to worry about. I’d forgotten about that.” He’d been so preoccupied with thoughts of Zoey moving away he hadn’t even remembered to tell her about the calendar or the auction. It was just some trivial part of his life right now. Scotty was right, though. What was he going to do about it? Going out on a date, even for charity, with a woman who wasn’t Zoey was the last thing Gordy wanted to do.

He blew out a frustrated breath and continued to chop. “I’ll figure something out. What are you going to do? You’re with that Lexi Cooper, aren’t you? Isn’t that the reason we’ve all been cooking for this damn thing, because you’re getting laid by a famous chef and we all have to pay for it?”

“We are all cooking because it’s a good cause and good publicity. My getting laid is just a fringe benefit.” Scotty grinned.

“Yeah, benefit for you maybe. All I’m getting out of it is practice chopping vegetables.”

“To answer your question, Lexi is going to buy me. And you should be glad I’m not charging you for cooking lessons.”

Gordy made a rude noise. “I don’t need no stinking cooking lessons and you know it. Engine 31 eats just as well as Ladder 3, maybe better on the nights I cook.” Gordy pointed at his chest to emphasize the point.

Scotty raised a brow, knife paused above the green pepper on the cutting board. “You want to put your money where your mouth is?”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“A cook off,” Scotty challenged.

“Judged by who? Your girlfriend?” Gordy scowled.

“No, the guys from both houses. A blind taste test so it’s fair.”

Gordy sighed. “Can we get through this auction crap first and talk about this contest later?” Like after he knew if he was losing the girl he might very well be in love with.

“You chicken of a little competition?” Scotty smirked.

“Chicken? No.” Gordy shook his head. Pussy whipped? Most definitely.

~ * ~

It was Friday when Zoey finally lost her mind. Over the last week and a half, she’d packed her aunt’s clothes and donated them to charity. Organized the cabinets in the kitchen. Gone through all the old photo albums and cried until her eyes were bloodshot. Cooked for the aunts. Even read a book, which was something she hadn’t had time to do since opening her business. But the house that she loved so much had started to stifle her.

Cabin fever, was it called? Whatever it was, she missed the sounds of the city streets at night. She missed the never-ending phone calls and stream of people coming and going at the store. She missed Gordy, so much so it scared her. She’d tried staying away to give herself a real taste of what life would be like if she did actually close up shop and move to her aunt’s house—make that her newly inherited house—permanently.

It taught her one thing—two actually. One, she was a city person at heart. This country stuff was fine for weekends or vacation, but not full time. Not for her. And two, she thrived on the hard work and pressure. Granted too much pressure had made her believe she was having a heart attack, but a little pressure was good. It kept her on her toes.

So she’d said goodbye to the aunts with a promise to come back soon, packed her bag and took off. Driving back to her shop she ran all the pros and cons through her head again and it didn’t matter which side of the list came up longer, she still came to the same conclusion, she didn’t want to close Zoey’s Events and retire to the country to bake cookies for the locals. Not yet anyway. Maybe when she was sixty, or seventy.

She pulled up in front of the shop and found a parking space immediately. Taking that as a good omen, there was a renewed spring in her step as she pushed open the door and stopped dead in the doorway. The place was buzzing. Waiters in black and white uniforms zipped around carrying rentals and wrapped trays of food. Ralph and she counted one, two, three other chefs yelled orders and last minute instructions all while she stood dumbstruck.

Ralph finally saw her and made his way through the crowd, and it was a crowd, to get to her.

“Zoey. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home?” He stopped with the cheerful greeting when he saw the expression on her face. “Okay, you’re surprised. That’s fine. I can explain.”

She raised a brow. “Okay. Go ahead.”

Secretly, she wondered if Ralph had staged some sort of coup d’état and now owned Zoey’s Events without her. She had left him to himself for a long while.

 
“I took on more jobs so I could take on more employees. Well, actually, it was the other way around.” Ralph spoke rapidly. “When I took on more employees, I realized I could take on more jobs and still turn a profit for you. So when Lexi Cooper left a message saying she needed staff for her fundraiser and asked if I could recommend any waiters or a Sous Chef—”

“You stepped right up.”

Ralph grinned. “Damn right. It’s Lexi Cooper.”

“Did she also tell you she’s paying cost of goods because it’s for charity?” Zoey cocked one brow.

“Oh, we’re not doing the food. She got the firemen to do that. We’re just supplying staffing and she’s paying them. On top of that, she listed us in the program for free just for helping her out. That’s going to be great advertising. Apparently there’s a shortage of caterers and wait staff at the moment. She was happy I could help at all.”

Zoey glanced around. “How did you get so many?”

“I put a sign up in the bar.” He grinned.

“Do they have any experience?”

“Well, I wouldn’t have any of them doing French service at The Plaza but yeah, they’ve all waited tables before. I mean really, who hasn’t, right? And it’s just passed hors d’oeuvres and stations tonight. Not a sit down dinner or anything.”

“And the job I had already scheduled for tonight?”

“That was a simple gig. One of the interns is going to do it. That’s what all this food and the rentals are for.”

“We have interns now.” Zoey said flatly.

“Yeah.” Ralph paused. “You’re not mad at me, are you, Zoe?”

Zoey shrugged.

“Look. I have this whole great plan and I even printed out a business proposal for you. We can make this work, Zoey. Just like Gordy said. With your creativity and my business sense, we’ll be as big as Lexi Cooper.”

“Gordy said that?”
 

“I wanted to wait for you to get home before I approached you with it, but he’s the one who gave me the idea to propose a partnership to you.”

That took her aback. Though the more she thought about it, the more she realized, from the time they’d met Gordy had always been concerned about her working too hard. Sharing the work with Ralph would relieve a lot of the stress. She tried but couldn’t help the smile that crept onto her lips as she shook her head. “Have you seen him today?”

“Gordy? No. Not today. Actually, not the last few days.”

She’d called him on the drive but got no answer. Disappointed she couldn’t talk to him, Zoey decided to do what she did best, throw herself into work. “Do I have a clean chef’s jacket here?”

Ralph’s face lit up. “You’re going to help?”

“Sure. Why not? I’ll go to the first gig with our new intern, make sure he’s set up and the customer is happy, then I’ll meet you at Lexi’s party. It’ll be an experience working with Lexi Cooper anyway. I can add it to my resume.”

Ralph laughed. “She should be adding working with you to her own resume. We have to get over there…and look how convenient, you parked right in front. I’ll have the food for the other party loaded into your car.”

He rounded up the waiters and had them and the food loaded into the cars like he’d been managing staff forever. Then, with Zoey’s head still spinning from the speed with which this all happened, they were all off to their various assignments.

Chapter Eight

Gordy realized fairly quickly that getting through this bachelor auction wasn’t going to be so easy. Not one little bit. And it wasn’t only him having a problem with it all.

“Shit. How many do you see?” Troy hid behind a large leafy potted plant and tried to observe the overwhelming crowd of women without them seeing him.

“I’m not sure. At least half a dozen. You have to look yourself, Troy.” Antonio joined Troy behind the plant. “How am I supposed to recognize all the women you used to sleep with? It’s not as if you branded them or anything.”

Scotty broke out into a loud laugh. “Hey, I’ve got the brand for you, Troy.
Certified TC
for Troy’s Choice.”
 

“Yeah, thanks a lot, Scotty.” Troy scowled and dared to step out from his cover and look at the crowd himself. Troy groaned. “Shit. I count a dozen. Oh, great. There’s one standing right next to my fiancé…and they’re chatting. I’m so screwed.”

Troy’s photographer sister, Tessa, appeared beside them, camera held in one hand. She shook her head. “I told you. You should have warned Amy before tonight that there could be a few ex-girlfriends here bidding on you.”

“A few.” Gordy let out a snort.

Troy shot him a nasty look before turning back to his sister. “Thanks, Tessa. An ‘I told you so’ is exactly what I need right now.” Troy crossed his arms across his naked chest.

With a grin, Tessa raised her camera and aimed in Troy’s direction. “Smile.”

A string of foul language that would have cost Troy about a twenty for the Engine 31 cuss jar met Tessa’s suggestion.

Gordy peeked at the crowd to make sure his own plan was in place. After getting a look at these women, all circling in wait like hungry sharks, he knew for absolute certainty he did not want to be bought tonight by any one of them.

He glanced around at the dozen bachelors for sale and realized how funny they all looked waiting for the public auction about to start on the stage set up on Bryant’s third floor. Twelve firemen, shirtless, wearing nothing but fire pants and boots as Troy’s sister ran around taking pictures to capture their embarrassment for posterity. The owner of Bryant’s, Jason Bryant himself, glided through the event with his assistant, checking the sound system and last minute details.

Gordy saw Scotty wave at his girlfriend Lexi Cooper as she zipped around behind the scenes, wrapping up the cocktail party. Scotty was safe. Lexi was going to buy him.

Antonio had nothing to worry about either. Gordy remembered that as he saw Antonio waving at a blonde woman.

“That your girl?” Gordy asked.

Antonio nodded. “Maddie. She and the women from her law firm are chipping in to buy me. They’re going to share me at the firm’s holiday party and make me dance with them all. There are worse things, I guess.” He laughed and shrugged.

Troy snorted. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

Gordy sighed. He certainly hoped his own safety net didn’t fall through. With Zoey still in Connecticut, he’d had to make alternate plans to keep his own virtue safe from the throngs of women.

He had the sudden urge to call Zoey, but he’d left his cell phone in the car. He sighed. Oh, well. Once this gig was over he was driving out there and cementing the fact that he was a part of her life, no matter what decision she eventually made.

That resolve in mind, he braced himself as the music started and Jason Bryant took his place as announcer behind the podium.

“Here we go, boys. Good luck.” Gordy hiked his pants up a bit higher over his naked torso and moved closer to the stage as Jason called Mr. January up first. Being Mr. February, Gordy would be up next. As the women screamed Gordy blew out a breath hoping that as Mr. February, Cupid would be on his side not only for this auction, but with Zoey too.

~ * ~

Zoey rode the escalator from the parking lot to the restaurant level at Bryant’s Department Store. She’d set up the other party and then left the intern, confident all was well, but it had taken her forever to get across town and then find a parking space. She supposed traffic would be like this until January, when the holidays were finally over.

By the time she arrived in the Bryant’s kitchen, everyone was cleaning up and wrapping the leftovers.

“Guess I missed it,” she said when she found Ralph.

He grinned at her. “You may have missed the cocktail party, but you’re just in time for the main event.”