Deborah Mello - To Tempt A Stallion

“Actually, it’s Dr. Stallion and I’ve had a very successful surgical career since graduation and med school.”

“So the restaurant is just an investment thing for you?”

Rebecca chimed in a second time. “Not at all. Nathaniel is deeply committed to this new venture. He will be very hands-on with the day-to-day operations. He’s a marvelous chef and has gotten rave reviews for the two pop-up restaurants he tested in Los Angeles last year.”

Jeffry smiled. “Well, I look forward to visiting your place when you get it open, Stallion.” He stood back up. “Rebecca, I’d love to catch up. Maybe we can grab coffee one day this week? That is if you can tear yourself away from your work for a short while.”

Rebecca smiled. “Maybe.”

He pulled a ballpoint pen and a business card from the breast pocket of his button-down shirt. He jotted a phone number on the back then winked his eye at her a second time. “Here’s my number. Please. Call me. I’d love for us to sit down and talk.”

Rebecca nodded, her face lifting in a sweet smile. “I will do that,” she responded.

Nathaniel met Jeffrey’s outstretched hand with his own and shook it. “It was good seeing you again, Jeff,” he said politely.

The two watched as Jeffrey took his leave, sauntering back across the room and through the swinging doors into the employees-only area.

“Well, that was a surprise,” Rebecca quipped as casually as she could muster.

Nathaniel sensed her feeling out his mood as she tried to make sense of her own emotions. He nodded. “It’s not often you run into your ex-fiancé. Must have been like old times the way he was so touchy-feely.”

“It was not like that.”

“You sure about that, Bec? You looked like you were enjoying his attention.”

“I did not!”

“You did, too! And that’s okay if you were. I know how much you loved him. You were ready to throw your whole life away to follow him around the world. The way it ended left a lot unsaid. You may still have some residual feelings for him.”

Rebecca closed her eyes. Jeffrey Baylor had been so lost in her past that she had never imagined ever having to revisit him or that time period again. He’d arrived as a transfer student at UCLA their junior year. Tall, dark and handsome to the nth degree, he’d captured the attention of every woman on campus and Rebecca had captured his. His pursuit of her had been taken right out of the handbook for a romance novel. He’d said and done all the right things, never amiss with the romantic attention. He’d had her swooning by the third date and before she knew it she’d been his girl. Even then Nathaniel’s teasing her about it had been unmerciful.

But her best friend and her boyfriend had never meshed, unable to find any common ground. Not even her happiness. The two had butted heads at every turn, like two bulls in a china shop racing for the door. Nathaniel hadn’t trusted the man and had often pointed out flaws she’d chosen to ignore. When her grades slipped, her attention divided, he’d blamed her love life, often admonishing her to get back on track.

Jeffrey had graduated the year before she and Nathaniel did, with plans to head to France for a culinary career. When he’d shown up on her doorstep begging her to join him, she had wanted to say yes. When Nathaniel found out, enumerating every reason why that was a bad idea, doubt had set in. Although the two had never discussed it, the words never said out loud, she and Jeffrey had known that if she’d been made to choose one over the other, Nathaniel would have always won. He’d known and he had hated it and despised Nathaniel for it. But Nathaniel owned her heart, Jeffrey had only occupied a very small piece of it. She could have loved Jeffrey but she would have always been in love with Nathaniel. It had been the difference between her leaving and her final decision to stay. And Nathaniel didn’t have a clue.

She opened her eyes to stare at her friend. “You really don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Nate.”

“I know what I see, Bec.”

“Do you really? I swear, you are such a jerk sometimes!” she hissed between clenched teeth. She stood up abruptly.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my hotel room.”

“I thought you wanted to go walk on the beach?”

“You just ruined the mood!” she said and with a dismissive flick of her hand and a twirl on her high heels she stomped toward the door and out of the restaurant.

Chapter 4

Nathaniel hated when Rebecca was angry with him. It had been three days since she’d stormed out of the restaurant, pissed beyond measure. He still didn’t have a clue why she’d gotten so furious or how he could fix what he’d apparently broken. His calls weren’t being answered and his business dealings had been passed on to one of her associates. If he hadn’t checked, he wouldn’t have even known if she were still registered at the hotel.

He was barely listening to Naomi and Natalie who were both chattering away on the three-way call. When one of them, and he wasn’t sure which, called his name, pulling at his attention, he was genuinely surprised.

“Are you still on the line?” Naomi snapped.

“Yeah! I’m here. What’s wrong?” he questioned.

“We should be asking you that,” Natalie said. “You haven’t heard a word either of us has said for the last ten minutes. What’s wrong with you?”

“And we want the truth,” Naomi added.

Nathaniel heaved a deep sigh. “I just have a lot on my mind. Getting this restaurant open is just a challenge, that’s all.”

“And how is Rebecca?” Naomi asked, not bothering to beat around the bush.

“She is still working on the restaurant with you, right?”

“Does anything get past you two?” Nathaniel asked.

Both women answered simultaneously. “No!”

He chuckled softly. “She’s got an attitude about something and she’s not talking to me.”

“What did you do?” Natalie quipped.

“And why haven’t you fixed it?” Naomi interjected.

“Why is this my fault? I didn’t do anything. She’s just crazy! I’m sure all of it has something to do with that ex-boyfriend of hers. We ran into him at dinner the other night. He owns a restaurant not far from mine.”

“So did something happen to upset her?”

Nathaniel spent the next few minutes filling them in on the minor details of his time with Rebecca. He concluded, “Then she blew up when I told her I thought she still had feelings for him. But you should have seen how she was when he was hugging her all up. And he even kissed her! Clearly, she didn’t seem to mind that, right?”

Naomi laughed, noting the agitation in her brother’s tone. “When are you and Rebecca going to stop playing this game with each other?”

“What game?”

“Pretending you don’t have feelings for each other,” Natalie quipped.

“It’s not like that. We’re great friends and I care about her, but...”

“You love her, big brother. You’ve always loved her. You’ve just been afraid to admit it,” Naomi said, adding her two cents to the conversation.

“I’m not saying I don’t love Bec, I’m saying...”

“That you are a complete and total moron!” Natalie said. “You are such a man it makes my jaw tight!”

“What? I am not that bad.”

“You’re worse. You’re so busy telling Rebecca what you see between her and some other guy, but you’re blind to what’s happening right up under your nose with you and her.”

“I’m not blind. I...well...it’s complicated,” he said finally.

“So do you want us to tell you how to fix it?” Naomi asked.

Nathaniel hesitated. When he finally said, “Yes,” the two sisters laughed warmly.