Chapter 1

1

DEREK

S undays were often the easiest day of the week. While there was always a brunch service at the restaurant, by two it was all over, and I packed up my knives, changed into comfortable clothes, and gave Ally a ride back home to the place she shared with my brother Noah and their little toddler, Bella. That was if Noah and Bella weren’t already hanging out at the restaurant.

The rest of the day was for us, the King brothers and our growing families. Noah was engaged to my sous chef, Kane was with one of the wine authorities and had had a baby with her, and Alex had just begun to settle down with a sweet woman named Camilla. That left Cameron, the de facto CEO of our business, and me, the chef.

I had a feeling I would be the last among us to fall. While Cameron spent an impressive amount of time obsessing over numbers, he was at least out and about on a regular basis. I preferred my tiny universe of the kitchen, where I saw the people who mattered, occasionally people who helped us, and absolutely no one else. I liked it that way.

It wasn’t that I was a loner—far from it, really. I just knew what I enjoyed out of life, and it was cooking. I loved the adrenaline of a rush, the creativity of plating new and unique dishes, the collaboration with respected peers like Ally, and the satisfaction that I got to do my job as part of the family empire. With all that, I didn’t find a need for other people, though I was often told I was charismatic and outgoing. I didn’t push to be that way.

That was a reason why having a major family get-together that took over the entire rest of the day on one of the few days a week I had any time to myself didn’t bother me. It wasn’t like I was going to go out to a bar, especially on a Sunday night. I would rather spend it with my family, their ladies, and their kids.

On this particular Sunday, there was a game on in the living room, and we had opted for delivery rather than cooking ourselves. Most often, Noah was the one cooking, usually out on the grill, though Ally almost always chipped in. Oftentimes I would find myself in the kitchen in spite of myself.

But with pizza delivery, there was no chance for me to do that. Aside from going to find some extra pizza seasonings and red pepper flakes, that was. I had those at the ready for when the delivery came later in the evening, snacking on the chips Ally had put out as an appetizer. The beers had been flowing since I opened the door, and Noah stuck one in my face. It was the traditional seasonal brew from one of our favorite breweries. I was on my third or fourth one when Ally and Danica sat on the couch on either side of me. Immediately, I knew something was up.

“Oh no,” I said, starting to stand. Ally pushed me back down into the seat, and the two girls turned halfway toward me.

“Sit down, dickweed,” Ally said. I wasn’t sure if it counted as a full-on nickname or not, but it was certainly the most common name she had for me in the kitchen, and occasionally it spilled over to regular life too. She might have been a lady outside of the double swinging doors at the vineyard restaurant, but inside she was one of the guys. Hell, she was the guy. She gave me a run for my money on casual vulgarity in the midst of flame and cooking oil.

“Why?” I asked, looking between them. “What did I do now?”

“It’s not what you did,” Danica said. “It’s what you haven’t done.”

“I don’t follow,” I said, tipping back my beer. “But I need another beer. I’ll be right back, I promise.”

“Nope,” Ally said. “No more beer until we finish.”

“Dammit,” I muttered.

“When are you going to get a steady girl?” Danica asked. “You aren’t getting any younger, you know.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I hardly find thirty-two to be an aged spinster of an old man, but I can agree I am running a little behind. Not like Kane and Noah were spring chickens, mind.”

“But they found people. Us,” Ally said. “You deserve a person, Derek. Wouldn’t it be nice to have something else other than the kitchen and these Sunday dinners?”

“What is this?” I asked. “Are you trying to get me to join a cult?”

“One of us, one of us,” Danica joked. It got a laugh out of me.

“Seriously,” Ally said. “It’s sad, man. We watch you wander around all lonely all the time, and it bums us out.”

“I am so sorry my lack of a love life bums you out,” I said. “I do fine, by the way. I just don’t do serious.”

“That doesn’t exactly help your case on not growing up like your brothers,” Danica said. “We could set you up with someone.”

“Oh, dear Lord.”

“Come on, it would be fun,” Ally said.

“No,” I said sternly.

“But there’s this girl at the grocery store,” Danica began.

“I said no,” I said again. “I’m picky, alright? I’ll find someone. Or I won’t. That’s fine too. Now, can I have my beer?”

“Fine,” Ally said. “But if you don’t have a girlfriend in a year, I am setting you up with Mrs. Grober.”

“Mrs. Grober, the eighty-year-old lady at the bank?” I asked.

“That’s the one,” Danica said. “She thinks you are just adorable when you come in for deposits.”

“She thinks everyone is adorable,” I said, standing. “Now, if you will excuse me. I have alcohol to ingest to help me forget this conversation.”

A little while went by, and I had mostly forgotten the exchange as we waited on the pizza to arrive. I went into the kitchen, and the doorbell rang. Danica was busy with a baby on her hip, most of my brothers were outside, and the toddlers were chasing each other in and out of the house. It was madness, and I was making my way to the door, pulling out my wallet to pay for it if they hadn’t already, when Ally swooped in front of me and swung the door open.

At first, I was thoroughly confused as to how Ally knew the pizza delivery girl so well that she would want to hug her. Then I noticed she was wearing body-hugging tights and a shirt that was rather sheer that accentuated when the wearer was chilly.

“Jessica!” Ally exclaimed. “So glad you could make it. Come on in.”

A woman, roughly my age, perhaps a little older, came in with Ally. She was wearing sparkling makeup that made her look like an extra from a David Bowie video and had her hair straight and down. She looked like she had spent a fair amount of time putting that outfit and look together, and it took roughly three seconds to see where it was going. It helped that as soon as she came in, both she and Ally made a beeline for me.

“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath.

“Derek, this is Jessica,” Ally said. “She’s my friend from the meat supplier. Jessica, this is Derek.”

“I’ve heard so much about you,” Jessica said. “It’s like I know you already.”

“Wow, that’s…” I started, took a pause as I tried to push down the opinion I truly had deep into my belly, and swallowed. “Great.”

I smiled a disingenuous smile, but the intent was either ignored or unnoticed by both Jessica and Ally, who promptly turned on her heel and walked back into the living room, grabbing her glass of wine. I saw, very briefly, Noah and Danica poke their heads around to see us in the kitchen and then flitter away. I made a mental note to curse all of them with whatever curses I could find on the internet later that night. Something that gave them gastrointestinal problems or something. Make them feel the discomfort.

“So, you’re a chef,” Jessica said, helping herself to a bottle of wine and a glass. “It’s so interesting, the life of a chef. So many late, late nights.”

“Heh, yeah,” I said. “Late nights. Early mornings sometimes too. You know. Work.”

I was flustered. Not because of the girl exactly. I was fine with women, and she wasn’t exactly my type anyway. It was the situation that was bugging me. Being cornered by this woman, who was obviously thinking she was bagging me up and taking me home tonight while my family stayed in another room on purpose, pissed me off. It was a great practical joke on one hand, I had to give Ally that, but on the other, I felt like smooshing her face into a hot pan like a grilled cheese sandwich.

Slowly, I guided her to follow me back into the living room, gently giving her signals that I wasn’t as interested as she seemed to be, but she wasn’t getting them all. I took my exits where I could, getting the pizza, passing out the plates, generally being a bit of a host. Since it was pizza, we forewent the formal dining room meal which was a blessing. It meant I could keep on the move and avoid Jessica as much as possible.

Somewhere during the evening, another friend had also shown up. A taller, ganglier woman, who, while attractive, had the look of someone who was more interested in getting a ring on her finger than actually getting to know the person she’d be marrying. She had cornered Cam, and he had about the same look on his face that I did.

Finally, after dinner, I found a chance to slip outside, joining Noah, who was taking out the trash. He was already down the steps of his porch, and I jogged after him.

“Noah,” I started.

“Hey, bud, let’s go back inside,” he said, trying to ignore me.

“No, wait. We need to talk for a second.”

“Sorry, bud, Ally is waiting.” He tried to bypass me, but I put one arm up and stopped him from getting up the steps.

“Before you get up there, I need to ask you a favor,” I said.

“Sure.” He stopped, clearly unhappy about it.

“Please, please tell your wife to stop parading women past me,” I said. “I’m sure Cameron would say the same if he had the opportunity. But at least with me, I have to work with her every day, so it would really suck if I were forced to put her through the meat grinder and make her into a ragu.”

“Alright, Hannibal,” Noah joked. “I hear you. It wasn’t my idea, by the way. But I hear you.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll be sure to tell her,” Noah said, heading up the stairs.

Sighing, I headed back up myself, prepared to slog my way through the rest of the night.