Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Madison woke up Tuesday morning knowing she hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep, but looking at the man lying next to her in bed made her tiredness more than worth it. Gabe was still asleep and very handsome, with his dark hair falling over his forehead, his lashes insanely long, and the lips of his sexy mouth slightly parted.

Her pulse jumped at the thought of kissing him again. They'd spent half the night exploring each other, but it still hadn't been long enough. She was fast becoming addicted to this man, and that was a little terrifying. She had a lot on her plate. Falling for Gabe definitely wasn't on the agenda. He was her rival.

But her nerves were still humming from the night they'd spent together, and the thought of kicking him out of her life was impossible to consider. She didn't even want to kick him out of her bed.

Gabe shifted and rolled onto his side, facing her. She was sorry to see him waking up, because then she had to stop staring at him, stop remembering how good it had been between them.

As his eyes opened, an intimate smile lifted his lips, and her stomach flipped over. The way he looked at her, like he knew her, really knew her, touched her in a way that made her wonder how it was possible someone she'd only known a few weeks could understand her better than people who'd known her for her entire life. Somehow, Gabe saw the real her, the person she usually hid from everyone, the person she was sometimes ashamed of for being weak or not good enough.

But Gabe made her feel good enough, and that was a power that scared her, too. She had to be the one to make herself feel good. She couldn't let someone else do that. Then she'd be hurt if they pulled their approval away. She knew that to be true from a lifetime of trying to please her father, a man whose love was always conditional.

But last night hadn't been about love. She didn't know why the word had even jumped into her mind.

"Morning," Gabe said, the sleep finally leaving his eyes. "You've been staring at me."

"How would you know? You just opened your eyes."

"I could feel the heat of your gaze."

"You could not."

He laughed. "No, I couldn't, but it was a good guess, wasn't it?"

"Possibly," she conceded.

"It's what I would have been doing if I'd woken up first." He lifted his hand, his fingers running down her bare arm. "Last night was great."

"It was, but I need to get up and go to work."

"I had a feeling you were going to say that." He glanced at the clock on the nightstand. "Damn, it's late, isn't it?"

"Only eight. Is that late for you?"

"It is this morning. I'm meeting Ava in a half hour. She's been going over my books to help me analyze my business."

"She's connected to venture capitalists, isn't she? Are you looking for an investor?"

"Possibly down the road. At the moment, I'm trying to figure out how to keep everything going. I have a lot of expenses. The truck needs repairs. I'm getting a lot of customers, but the food prices have gone up, and I haven't raised my prices. There's a long list of issues and questions and problems."

"I get it. I have a pretty long list myself."

"But you have a financial backer."

"For the time being." She let out a sigh. "It's back to reality, isn't it? Fun and games are over."

"Maybe not quite over. I have to take a shower, and you probably want to take one, too."

She smiled at the wicked look in his eyes. "You know if we shower together, you might be late for your meeting."

"I'll take that risk."

She threw back the covers. "Let's do it."

His eyes lit up as he followed her out of bed and into the shower, which was the longest one she'd ever taken and worth every minute.

As Gabe listened to Ava talk about his finances, he had trouble concentrating on the numbers she was showing him on the computer. His mind kept going back to Madison, to the night they'd spent together, and the hottest shower he'd taken in his life.

He hadn't expected to feel such a gut punch when it was time to say goodbye to her. He'd never felt like that before. He'd never had a problem leaving someone after a great night. Sometimes, he'd looked forward to seeing that person again. Sometimes, it had just been what it was.

But this thing with Madison felt different.

When Ava gave him a questioning look with her steel-blue eyes, he realized he hadn't heard anything she'd said in the last several minutes. "Sorry. Did you ask me a question?"

"About ten questions," she said with a smile. "You're not into talking about this today, are you?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't get much sleep last night. I will focus now, I promise."

"Let's do this another time."

"I can do it now. And can I say again how appreciative I am you're taking the time to help me?"

"It's not a big deal. I have the time. My new job doesn't start for a week."

"That's right. Liam said you're joining an investment firm in San Diego."

"Yes, and I'm excited about it. They're promising to give me autonomy from day one, which will be a nice change from the last place I worked."

"That's great."

"It is. As much as I've enjoyed helping Liam build his business, I'm ready to start working with other businesses. I love helping people get their dreams." She paused. "I think your food truck and your culinary skills could be attractive to a number of investors, and I want to put together a package for you. But with the competition going on this week, it's probably best to wait. Not only will you be able to concentrate better when it's over, if you end up with first place, that wouldn't hurt. You'll have media attention, and that will open up more opportunities."

"Good point. But competition and investors aside, I have a lot of expenses coming up, and I need to figure out a way to take care of them all."

She met his gaze head-on. "That won't be easy. What you're doing now is not sustainable, Gabe. The truck will need a major overhaul sooner rather than later. You'll need to adjust your pricing to keep up with inflation, and you may have to make other changes, like limiting the menu to lower-priced items that will give you the most margin."

"I don't want to limit my menu or lower the quality of my food," he argued.

"I'm not talking about quality, just about what you choose to serve. I'm a dollars-and-cents kind of woman. I'm not looking at your numbers with emotion or a dream in my heart." Ava gave him a smile. "Which is why I'm not usually very popular when it comes to these kinds of meetings, especially with friends."

"It's fine. I don't want you to sugarcoat anything."

"You need to improve your cash flow, Gabe. You should also consider pulling back on the free food giveaways, at least until you're in a better financial position. Getting an investor to help you take your business to the next level would probably be the best step you could take. But the trade-off may be giving up control."

"Which I don't want to do."

"There's a lot to think about. But on the positive side, you have a great base of customers, which will make someone interested in bringing you into a restaurant."

"It hasn't worked so far," he said dryly.

"Well, the value of a restaurant often starts with the value of the chef's name. This competition you're in could make the difference. Not only with the cash prize but with the celebrity that comes with it. You should try to win."

"That's my goal, but the competition is fierce."

"And so are you." Pausing, Ava added, "I feel a little guilty saying you should win because I'm sure Madison really wants to win, too, but I don't know her as well as I know you."

"I'm happy to have you on my side. But speaking of Madison, I want to get a group together to dine at her restaurant tomorrow. Would you and Liam like to come? You can experience her food, and I don't think you'll be disappointed."

"That sounds fun. I'll talk to Liam about it." She gathered her things together. "We'll speak again about business matters after the competition is over and plan next steps."

"Perfect." He got up and walked her to the door. "Let me know about tomorrow night. I'll make a reservation once I have a final count."

"I'll call Liam and get back to you."

After Ava left, he sent out a group text to see who else wanted to go to dinner tomorrow. Hopefully, he could get a big group and fill up Madison's dining room.

He smiled to himself at how much had changed since he'd met her. Before, he'd been rooting every night to see empty tables when he walked by her door. Knowing how much was on the line for her, he definitely didn't want that anymore. He wanted her to succeed. He also wished they could both win the competition, but that wouldn't happen. He just hoped they could make it to the finals, but there was another round with four other chefs to get past, and that would take some work.

So far, the challenges had played into his strengths. But he had weaknesses when it came to plating and fine dining. If the competition went in that direction, Madison would definitely have an edge on him, and not just her. The other chefs left in the competition all had impeccable pedigrees. They'd trained with renowned chefs. He was the odd man out. But he had too much on the line not to fight until the end, so that's what he would do.

Before going to work on Tuesday, Madison did a load of laundry in the laundry room downstairs. She was just putting her clothes into the dryer when Emmalyn walked in.

"Good morning," Emmalyn said as she set her basket on top of a washer. "I heard you and Gabe have moved on in the competition. That's exciting."

"It is. Two more rounds to go before the end."

"When is the next round?"

"Friday. And the finals are on Sunday, so it will be a busy weekend."

"It sounds like it. By the way, I just told Gabe I'm in for dinner tomorrow night at your restaurant. He's gathering a big group to come in. I'm very excited about it. I've never eaten in a fine-dining restaurant." She paused. "I hope I won't embarrass myself by using the wrong fork or something."

"Don't worry about that," she said, although she did use between four and six forks depending on the dish that was ordered. But she didn't want Emmalyn to be afraid to eat at her restaurant.

"I'll be among friends, so it will be fine," Emmalyn said. "At least, that's what Kaia told me when I expressed my concern."

She'd been eating in high-end, fine-dining restaurants her entire life and had been instructed in what to do and how to behave from an early age, but clearly Emmalyn's upbringing had been very different from hers. "It will be fine," she assured her. "I want you to be comfortable. If you have any questions, just ask. No one will judge you."

"It's okay if they do. I've been judged a lot in my life." Dark shadows entered her eyes. "But I've learned it only matters what I think, not what anyone else thinks. That's been a big breakthrough for me."

She could totally relate to that sentiment. "I'm still learning that lesson. I have a very judgmental father."

"I don't know who my father is, but I was raised by people who were not always very nice. Anyway, I'm excited to try something new."

She was more than a little curious about Emmalyn's background, but clearly there was some pain in her past, and she didn't appear to want to talk about it.

"After I get this laundry started," Emmalyn added, "I'm going to head to the beach and work on my tan, although it will probably just look like a sunburn at the end of the day. Want to join me?"

"I wish I could. I'm doing paperwork this morning and then heading to the restaurant around two."

"You work long hours, don't you?"

"It's usually midnight before I get home. That's the restaurant business."

Emmalyn finished loading her clothes into the washer and said, "It sounds hectic. Gabe is always working nights, too."

"That's true," she murmured. "I'm surprised Gabe is organizing a dinner for tomorrow night."

"He said his employees will be running the truck for him." Emmalyn gave her a curious smile. "It seems like two are no longer enemies."

"We never really were." Before Emmalyn could ask her more about that, they were distracted by the sound of an argument going on outside the laundry room.

"I wonder what that's about," she said, following Emmalyn to the door.

She saw Kaia arguing with her brother, who was sitting in a chair at a table by the pool while Kaia cleaned blood off his face.

"What's going on?" Emmalyn asked. "Ben, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he said shortly.

"You're not fine," Kaia said. "You might need a stitch over your brow."

"Just bandage me up. It's nothing," Ben argued.

"This was not supposed to happen here," Kaia said, worry in her voice. "You're not supposed to be working in vice. You left that behind in LA."

"I'm not working vice. I just got caught up in a bar fight."

"You were in a bar fight this morning?" Madison interjected, before she realized it was really none of her business.

"The fight was about some illegal activities going on at the bar," Ben said. "The good news is that some bad people were put out of business."

"I hate seeing you hurt again," Kaia muttered.

"I should have just gone to the clinic," he said with a sigh. "I don't need a lecture from my little sister. If you don't want to bandage me up, I'll go somewhere else."

"Sit down." Kaia shoved him back in the chair. "I'll do it."

"Do you need anything?" Emmalyn asked.

"No, I have everything this idiot needs," Kaia said. "By the way, Madison, I'm looking forward to dinner tomorrow night. I was able to switch my shift so I can come."

"That's very nice of you."

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss it."

"Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it," Ben said. "Sorry, Madison. I have to work. But I'll get there another night."

"It's fine. I'm happy to welcome you any time. I better go. I'll see you all soon." As she hurried up the stairs to her apartment, she felt both excited to welcome her new friends into her restaurant and also a little worried that her food wouldn't measure up. While she'd tried to put the one bad review out of her head, it still stung.

She didn't want her food to be soulless or boring. She wanted it to be the best thing anyone had ever tasted, something they would always remember. Tomorrow night, she would make sure that her friends got the best of everything. Gabe was being very generous to pull everyone together to support her. She knew they were coming as much for him as they were for her because he'd been the one to ask. And she didn't want to let him down. She didn't want to let herself down, either. So, she would cook them a fabulous meal and show Emmalyn she didn't have to be afraid to eat at a fine-dining restaurant.