Oh, my God.
There was more I wanted to do. More I needed to do. But first, I had to catch my breath. Our temples were pressed together, his breathing as erratic as mine. The only difference between us was I had my pleasure, and he was still hard and tense beneath me.
Which was perfectly fine with me. I could help him out with that.
And I planned to.
Unfortunately, he had other plans.
When my breathing had finally evened out, he pressed a sweet kiss to the corner of my eye and stood up without warning. I let out a squeak of surprise as his hands went under my bum, taking me with him.
Apparently, the fun part of the evening was over. Killian was officially on a new mission.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Where are we going?” I laughed as he moved through the restaurant.
He didn’t say anything. He just continued to stalk through his kitchen, his domain, flipping light switches as he went.
The kitchen was just as beautiful as the first time I’d been here, only bigger without all the activity that brought it to life. Nevertheless, my breath caught, and my stomach flipped, feeling the deep, familiar pull that whispered I belonged here.
Maybe not here-here. But somewhere like it.
I loved Foodie, but this was what I wanted. I wanted it to be mine. I wanted the staff and the space and the rush of dinner service. I wanted the acclaim and the challenge and every single thing.
No matter how satisfying running my food truck was, it would never compare to this. And I wasn’t made to settle for it. I couldn’t shut off the need to be something better, something more… something great.
If I could, I would. Truly. It was like a burden that I didn’t know how to carry. I just wanted to put it down and walk away from it, leave it for someone else to find.
But I couldn’t.
Killian set me down on the center counter, the stainless steel cold against the backs of my thighs. He stayed between my legs, playing with the ends of my hair.
His eyes had lost the listlessness from disappointment and too much whiskey. They were now clear, green and endlessly deep.
He dropped my hair and brushed the backs of his fingers over my jaw. “You’re incredible, Vera.”
I reached up and grabbed a handful of his beard, bristly to the touch, and tugged. “I’ve wanted to do that since I met you,” I explained. “Sorry.”
He smiled patiently at me, but untangled my hand from his facial hair so he could link our fingers together. “Hungry?”
A blush stained my cheeks, and butterflies buzzed in my belly. “Mmm-hmm.”
He dropped a lingering kiss to the corner of my jaw and spoke against my skin. “Me too. But how about some food instead?”
I shivered at his implication. “Are you going to cook for me?” Apparently, I’d been body-snatched by a horny alien with a much sexier voice. Was that really me?
He pulled back, and I watched his mouth spread in a slow smile. “Don’t move.”
I laughed when he held up his hands, wiggling those unfairly attractive fingers. He walked deliberately over to the sink and washed his hands, sending me a quick wink.
We shared another searing look, a promise for more, but then he got down to business. He moved around the kitchen, turning things on and gathering ingredients. I decided watching him cook was my new favorite activity.
Who knew prepping vegetables could be sensual? Or spicing meat? Or filling up a pot with water?
This was crazy.
Those things weren’t erotic.
They were just normal, everyday things that had no sexual connotation whatsoever.
I gripped the edge of the counter, digging my fingers into the hard edges of the lip. Yeah, no. It wasn’t working. Killian Quinn was sexy as sin in this kitchen. He could have been deboning a fish right now, and I’d want him deboning me.
See what I did there?
“He’s a prick.”
My thoughts were way too far in the gutter to have any context for his comment. “Who?”
“The critic. Noble. He hates Ezra, which means he hates me. The review was a setup to talk shit about Lilou. I should have known better.” He shook his head, giving the food at his fingertips all his attention. “But I’d been cocky. I thought I could outcook his opinion of me.” He lifted his head and met my gaze. “I was wrong.”
“Why does he hate Ezra?”
He chuckled darkly. “A lot of people hate Ezra. That doesn’t mean the review was less true.”
My chest squeezed with sympathy. “The review is tainted by a bully with an agenda. You can’t let it get to you.”
A bitter smirk lifted one side of his mouth, unamused and surprisingly self-deprecating. “Trite. Unimaginative. Formulaic. Those were the words he used. They’re the truth I’ve needed to hear for a while, but nobody has been brave enough to say them to me.”
He wasn’t any of those things. Not even a little bit. But his menu was, and there was nothing he could do about it. “What’s the deal with you and Ezra? Why are you so loyal?”
“He’s my brother.”
“Wait. What?”
Killian moved around in the kitchen, pulling ingredients from the fridge and pantry. “Well, foster brother. But we might as well be blood. He’s the closest thing I have to family other than Jo.”
My eyes widened in shock, but he didn’t notice. “She raised you both?”
“I wouldn’t say that.” When he laughed this time, the sound was lighter, full of warmth. “She whipped us both into shape. Ezra and I were both products of the system. Me, because my parents were absolute degenerates. Drug dealers. Drug addicts. The state pulled me from their care when I was five. Ezra’s mom was a decent human; she died when he was ten and didn’t have family to take care of him.” He paused for a minute as he moved to the stove and started a sauce over hot flame. “Not surprisingly we turned into troubled teens. Ezra was smarter than me and got caught less, but both of us bounced around in the system never fitting in with the foster families that couldn’t handle us. He got to Jo first. By the time I showed up, Jo had her hands full with one rebellious teen; I had figured the last thing she wanted was another.”
“So, you pulled it together?” I guessed.
His smile was full of memories and nostalgia. “No. I got myself arrested for stealing her car. She called the cops on me, then made me sit there overnight and think about what I’d done wrong. The truth was Jo didn’t put up with shit. She’d already whipped Ezra into some shape, and he’d only been there for weeks. I knew she’d try to do the same thing to me. But I had never had an adult in my life that cared about me before. I mean, maybe my case worker. He seemed to care if I lived or died. But other than that, there was no one. I knew Ezra’s story because we’d housed together more than once, but never for long. I saw the way he looked at her like he trusted her. I watched him do what she asked and use manners. It was the most terrifying thing I’d ever seen. I didn’t want to turn into him.”