Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
“I’ll decide for sure after my vacation time’s up. Right now, I just want to enjoy being home.”
In other words, don’t pressure him. “Got it,” Remy said. “Take a seat and let’s do just that.”
As Aiden pulled off his jacket and hung it over the empty chair, Remy’s gaze came to rest on Raven’s once more. A wistful look was on her face, her eyes sad, lips pursed as she watched his family. She stared at Brooklyn, who’d come around to talk to Aiden, then Raven’s gaze slid to his father and Lizzy, whose heads were tilted toward each other.
Suddenly she put the iPad onto the counter, pushed up from her chair, and walked out from behind the bar and toward the kitchen.
Without hesitation or a word to anyone, Remy shoved back his seat and headed to find her.
* * *
Raven never considered herself a jealous or envious person and she couldn’t say those were the emotions squeezing inside her chest now. But watching Remy’s big family caused a pang of sadness to fill her at what might have been if her father hadn’t run off, if her biological mother hadn’t passed away, if she hadn’t been adopted. If the Kanes had been a normal family.
She jerked her head from the warm, fuzzy scene, placed her iPad on the counter and strode to the kitchen, certain she could find something to do to keep herself busy. The last thing she wanted to be was the outsider looking in.
Once in the professional kitchen, she said hello to the chef and his staff. Noticing an empty counter that needed wiping down, she picked up a rag and began to clean.
She’d just finished and tossed the dishrag into a gray bin when the double doors swung open and Remy walked inside, coming straight toward her. He looked sexy, as usual, wearing a pair of dark jeans and sneakers, and a men’s white dress shirt, rolled at the sleeves and unbuttoned at the neck. The urge to place her nose into that space and sniff his bare skin was strong.
“Hiding out?” he asked, obviously oblivious to her sudden need to lose herself in him.
She forced a smile. “I figured it was time to check on Thomas.”
“You lie, little bird,” the chef said, using his nickname for her based on her name. “I never need checking up on.”
She shrugged. “What can I say? I wanted a few minutes away from the crowd.”
Remy glanced at the chef, who’d returned to chopping chicken for the tenders they served before giving her his full attention. “Everything okay?”
She nodded then, with a tip of her head, led him out of the kitchen and into the hall. If she was going to be honest, she wanted privacy. It also wasn’t like Raven to open a vein for anyone, male or female. But, as she was coming to realize, Remy wasn’t just anyone.
She leaned against the wall behind her and drew a deep breath. “I was watching all you Sterlings and it got me thinking about how different my life would have been if the people who adopted me had been more like your family. Warm, caring, supportive.” Her chest tightened at the hurt she still felt when she allowed herself to think too hard.
“Nobody’s family is perfect,” he said, reaching out and curling a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail around his finger. “In public, you only see a snippet of life.”
“I suppose.”
He placed his palm against the plaster over her shoulder. “I have no idea how much you know about my life but it wasn’t all sunshine and roses.”
She really had no idea what his childhood had been like, and met his gaze, curious about what he had to say.
“When I was seventeen, my mother was murdered by a financial client of my father’s.”
She gasped, covering her mouth, before dropping her arm once more. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” And she hated that she’d inadvertently caused him to bring up his pain.
“I’d like to say it was a long time ago, and I’m over it but… it stays with me.” He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Aiden was home sleeping, Dad was at a business dinner, and the rest of my brothers and my sister were busy out of the house, too. At different places. It doesn’t matter. Mom and I were supposed to go out for dinner but when a girl I’d been into broke up with her long-term boyfriend and showed me some attention…”
“You went for it,” Raven said with an understanding smile.
He raised one shoulder and lowered it again, trying to seem casual, but his pain was somehow hers. She felt the heavy, rhythmic beating of her heart, the fullness in her throat, and knew he was experiencing the same emotions.
“I was a typical teenager,” he said with disgust. “Selfish and self-absorbed. Mom said she understood and told me to go. If I’d just gone out with her like we’d planned…”