That didn’t really answer his question. He felt the same way about older city centers and buildings. He hated to see them torn down for new construction and had opened his Michelin-starred restaurant in an old sewing factory in Brooklyn.
“Nice sentiment, but what’s in it for you?”
“You’re persistent. I like that. I guess you’ll have to win the wager if you want to find out,” she said.
“You know I’ve earned three Michelin stars over the course of my career, right?”
She nodded, crossing her arms under her breasts as if to say “so what.”
“Just wanted to give you a heads-up that you’re probably not winning,” he said.
“Or maybe I have a dish that will tame the Beast,” she countered.
Interesting. He was going to win the wager and have Indy in his bed for one long weekend.
Indy hadn’t expected him to be so overwhelming in person.
His for 48 hours.That sounded...like too much to unpack before she was meant to cook in the Beast’s Lair and win.
The way he’d issued what he’d claim had a sent a shiver down her spine. It didn’t help matters that her hand still tingled from where she’d touched him. He was solid.
If his eyes had been bright blue in the photos online, in person, they were even more brilliant. She couldn’t stop looking at him. He rattled her.
But. She had a plan. She just had to stick to it. She’d been makingHometown, Home Againfor three years. After the incident at college, she’d come home and become a sort of shut-in, remote learning and avoiding everyone until her parents had bought a small bookshop and asked her to refurbish the dilapidated building. She’d made YouTube videos as a way of documenting the project at first, but also, she knew, to find her voice again.
At first her audience was small and that was fine. She’d made the videos for herself. But then it had started to grow and the TV offer had come in. For the last few years she’d been fixing up every building in her own hometown. Fixing something so she didn’t have to focus on the parts of her that probably could use some work.
If she could revitalize Gilbert Corners and draw in some big developers, it would be another feather in her cap. It was her dream. She liked the bookshop she ran and she got a lot of her ideas for the town from stories she’d read. She saw the potential in Gilbert Corners, and if she had to spend a weekend with Chef Gilbert to get it, she’d do it.
He faced her, raising both eyebrows at her. “Are you sure? I’m willing to let you back out if you want to. Once we start cooking, I won’t.”
“I’m sure,” she said. “I’d never renege. That’s not the kind of person I am.”
He tipped his head to one side, his gaze moving down her body, awakening things she was just going to ignore. “I can see that.”
“Good. So a handshake will seal the deal?”
He hesitated and then reluctantly held his hand out to her. She reached out, steeling herself to touch him again. The warmth of him enfolded her before his grip did. His hand was bigger than hers and there were calluses on his fingers as they slid along the back of her hand. He held it firmly, professionally, but she still felt that traitorous feminine awareness shiver up her arm.
She pumped their hands up and down and then pulled hers back as if she’d touched a hot poker.
He didn’t say anything, just raised his eyebrows again. She licked her lips and then turned to walk back to her cooking station.
“Anything else?” she asked, trying for a calmness that she’d honestly never had. But the chance to get him to stay in town longer than the few hours it would take to cook was perfect. She tried to distract herself from him by thinking of the three things she’d ask him to do.
“Nope. Good luck.”
“I have skill. I don’t need luck.”
“Your ego... I can’t wait for this competition to start,” she said.
“That eager to be mine?” he asked.
She flushed again and ignored it. “I’m eager to show you off around town. I can’t wait to see the excitement of everyone here when you host a spring gala at Gilbert Manor.”
“Dream on,” he said.
She tried to be cool as she looked at the back bench where she needed to start chopping vegetables to get prepped for the cook-off. Nola raised both eyebrows at her.