Across the Miles (The Not So Bad Boys of Rock #1) (31 page)

“Hey, would you guys mind it if we snuck out of here, we’re kind of tired.” Mom gave me a look, but dad only gave a smile. No matter how old I was it would always be the same with them.

“Of course sweetie. Oh Brooke, thank you so much for stepping in for Nikki today, you fit in so perfectly up there. You’ll have to be sure and come by the house before you head back home.” They hugged and said their goodbyes as I stood by and watched, just seeing her with my family proved that asking her to move in with me had been the right decision, they had accepted her just as easily as I had.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Brooke~

“So, how is it out there in paradise? No, don’t tell me, I already know what I’m missing.” Jade had been moping around the apartment before I left on this trip and now that I was here, and she had been left behind, she was even more despondent. “Did he have a date for the wedding?” She and Dek has struck up a bit of a long-distance romance after his surprise visit to Michigan, talking on the phone regularly and texting cute little messages back and forth, which I only know about because she accidentally left her phone on the bathroom counter while I was in there getting ready for work.

“Well, actually, he did, but she was only there as a friend, he didn’t want to show up alone. He was asking about you,” I said sweetly, hoping that would smooth things over.

“Really? Are you sure this girl was only a friend? You can be honest with me,” she sighed.

“ I swear, I never once saw him hold her hand or kiss
her, it appeared to be strictly platonic,” I assured her, as best as I could.

“How was the wedding, was it hard to watch Sebastian dancing with that back-stabber?” I had called Jade after my little incident with Hilary, telling her all about the altercation, which she, of course, had sided with me.

“Interestingly enough she failed to show up, she called an hour before the ceremony and backed out.”

“Oh my god! Are you serious? The nerve… So what did Nikki do, who did she pair up with Sebastian? Please tell me that hunk of a man did not have to dance alone while the rest of the bridal party paired up,” she gasped.

“Good heavens, no, she had me take Hilary’s spot. So, Sebastian didn’t have to dance alone; he had me.”

“Oh, that sounds so romantic,” she said dreamily.

“Oh, that’s not even the most romantic part, during the whole ceremony he couldn’t take his eyes off me, and when the groom said ‘I do’ Sebastian mouthed the words right as he looked at me, I swear I thought I would die on the spot. Can you believe that!”

“Oh my, that would have been something worth seeing. I would have died too if the man of my dreams did that to me. You are so lucky.”

“There’s more. When we were dancing, and he was holding me close, he serenaded me as Ed Sheeran sang “Thinking Out Loud.” I’m telling you; this man knows how to woo a woman.” I leaned back and fanned myself with my free hand.

“So are you still coming home on Wednesday?”

“Yes, but there’s something that I wanted to talk with you about.” I shifted the phone to my other ear as I made my way out onto the patio. “Sebastian asked me to move in with him,” I whispered.

“What!” Jade shrieked.

“You heard me,” I responded flatly.

“And you said…”

“I told him I need a little time to think about it. That’s a big decision, living together.”

“Not to mention the fact that you’d have to move out of state in order to do that. Hello? What about your job? How would you pay the bills?”

“I’m not too sure I would have a whole lot of those to worry about if I were to move in with him, he has made that perfectly clear. I know it seems off the wall, but I’m seriously considering it. I love him, and I want to be closer to him,” I told her honestly.

“So do you think he is the one?”

“Without a doubt.”

“Then I think you already know your answer,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Ugh! How is it that you always do that?” I groaned.

“Do what?” she asked innocently.

“Somehow manage to know just what I need.”

“Oh, I don’t know, I guess that’s just what best friends are for, we tell you what you need to hear at just the right time you need to hear it.”

“I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you too.”

I had just hung up the phone and placed it on the counter when it started ringing again; Sebastian was still in his studio, so I plopped down on the sofa and answered it.

“Hello,” I answered, cheerfully.

“Hello, is this Brooke Caldwell?” asked a strange, male voice.

“Yes,” I reply hesitantly, “who’s calling?”

“Oh, hello dear, this is Max Wolf calling, you interviewed at my restaurant in L.A. almost five months
ago.” My heart nearly stopped beating, I leaned forward and gripped the edge of the leather sofa cushion.

“Yes, I know who you are. How are you Chef Wolf?” I asked, trying my best to keep it together. If he was calling me this could mean one of two things, he was either going to tell me that I didn’t meet his criteria for a chef, or that, by some stroke of luck, he wanted to offer me a job.

“Well I’m just great Brooke, I want to apologize for not contacting you sooner, things out at my London establishment aren’t going as well as I had originally planned and I just returned from there. Listen, I’ve spoken again with Kimberly and watched the video of your interview, and I have to say that I am most definitely impressed. I would really like it if you could come back out and meet with me, I’m sorry to make you fly all the way back out here, I will take care of all the necessary arrangements.”

“No, that won’t be necessary, I mean, no arrangements are needed, I am already here in L.A.” My heart was racing a hundred miles an hour and I prayed that he couldn’t hear it beating out of my chest, I wanted to come off as confident and secure, not nervous and damn near terrified.

“Perfect,” he made a noise that sounded an awful lot like two hands clapping together. “Can you meet me at my house tomorrow morning, around eight? I’ll prepare breakfast for us.”

“I would be honored, thank you so much,” I gushed.

“Terrific, I’ll text you the directions. See you bright and early.” I heard the sound of a dead line and sat there holding the phone in my hand, unable to fully process what had just happened; the irony was almost too much to take in. I had to go talk to Sebastian.

“What’s up?” he asked
, slipping off his headphones as I stepped through the closed door. “I’m sorry I’ve been down here so long, I’m kind of struggling with this chorus,” he apologized. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, great actually, I just got off the phone with Max Wolf, he wants to meet with me tomorrow morning,” I blurted, still in shock from the news.

“Max Wolf?” he cocked his head, confused.

“I’m sorry, Chef Wolf, from Lardon’s. He told me that he’d just recently returned from London, that’s why he never contacted me. I just thought I hadn’t met his qualifications, this is unbelievable.”

“Babe, that’s amazing; I’m so proud of you. What did he say?” he asked, sliding his stool up to my waist and wrapping his arms around me.

“I still can’t believe it. He said that he watched the video of my interview and was impressed by my skills; he was willing to fly me out to meet him but I told him that I was already in town. I’m meeting him at his house tomorrow morning for breakfast.”

He looked up at me from his seated position, eyes full of pride. “You know he’s going to offer you a job don’t you?”

“That thought has crossed my mind,” I chewed nervously on my thumbnail. “I mean, it makes sense that’s why he would call me back out but I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

“If he offers it to you will you take it?” he asked quietly.

“You know,” I ran my fingers through his hair, “it’s ironic actually, I had just been speaking to Jade and we were talking about the possibility of me moving out here.”

“And, what did she have to say?” he prodded.

“After listening to everything I had to say, she told me that I already knew the answer, and then Max called.”

“So, you already know you’re answer?” he smiled.

“I do,” I nodded.

“Damn, you have no idea how much I love hearing you say those two little words,” he sighed.

“Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea,” I whispered, bending to kiss him, right before he stood and threw me over his shoulder, carrying me up the stairs and into his room, with me screaming the entire way.

We were lying on his bed, he was straight up and down and I was horizontal, so that I was on my back with my head resting on his stomach, and we’re talking while he played with my hair.

“What would it be like, us living together, would it things change between us?” I asked.

“I think it would be pretty much the way it is now, only better, and we’d get to share all of our free time with each other. Things would definitely change though, there’s no way they wouldn’t, right now we share most of our lives with one another over a telephone or a text, this way we’d get to come home and talk about our day face to face.”

“Don’t you worry that we might grow tired of each other, we’re not used to being together every single day of our lives,” I twisted my head around to look at him.

“What are you talking about? We lived together for nearly ten days and got along great,” he scoffed.

“Ten days is nothing compared to the next forty years, Sebastian. What if we take this step only to realize that we aren’t right for each other, that would be a pretty hard adjustment to reverse.

“Do you think we aren’t right for each other?” his hands stopped moving and he leaned toward me. “Is that
what you’re afraid of? Cause I can tell you right now that I know you are right for me, it won’t take living together to prove that to me, I just don’t want to waste anymore time being apart.” He adjusted his body to lay parallel to mine. “I’m ready to start our lives together, this just seems like the next logical step before we get married.”

“You want to marry me?” I buried my face in his neck, taking in the warmth of his scent.

“Yes, I would, someday when the time is right for both of us. When I think of my future, and what it would look like, you’re the one I see standing beside me, and the thought of that makes me very happy.”

“That would make me very happy too,” I cried, snuggling tighter against him just as he rolled me over onto my back and straddled me, pinning my arms loosely over my head and staring down into my eyes.

“Brooke Caldwell, I’m going to make you the happiest woman in the world, I promise you that. I love you.” And with that, his lips found mine, and all of the passion that he exuded was poured into me as he began to show me just how much he loved me and wanted to take care of me, and this time, I didn’t stop him.

“Brooke, I am so
glad to finally meet the woman behind the video.” Max greeted warmly as he opened the door for me to enter. The ride to his house had taken nearly thirty minutes. Sebastian had lent me one of his cars to drive while I was visiting.

“The pleasure is all mine Chef Wolf, I’m flattered that you are still interested,” I gushed.

“Please, call me Max, I hope you’re hungry, I’ve prepared a feast for us.” He led me through his home and into a kitchen that was every chef’s dream. Dark cherry wood cabinets accented the marble and stainless steel surfaces, one side of the kitchen was lined with pots and
pans of all sizes that hung from a stainless rack that was suspended from the ceiling, knives of every type dotted a magnetic strip on the wall behind the commercial range, each one honed to perfection and organized by blade size.

“Wow,” I exclaimed, standing stock-still in the middle of the floor, unable to move. “This is incredible.”

“I agree, but thank you, it took me years to finally get the kitchen of my dreams in my own home. Everyone seems to think that just because you are a chef by trade that you must have an amazing kitchen to cook in at home, but for years that just wasn’t the case.”

“Really, why was that?” I asked, interested in learning more about this culinary genius.

“Well, for starters, I didn’t really need it, I was hardly ever home to cook, I did most of my cooking and dining at my own restaurants. Over time I began to realize that I needed to spend more time with the people who mean the most in my life, so my wife and I built this house five years ago and now I’m eating at home a lot more frequently.,” He smiled and directed me to a chair at the kitchenette. He began placing platters of food before me on the expansive counter. There were eggs Benedict, homemade hash browns, maple-glazed bacon, fresh fruit, and thick slices of toasted fresh-baked challah bread.

“It all looks and smells amazing,” I announced, carefully eyeing each selection as I reminded myself to not overindulge.

“Please, help yourself, try everything.” He handed me a large plate, and I reached across the items to start with the bacon, my one true weakness, Max leaned over at the same time and grabbed two pieces.

“Looks like we both share an affinity for pork,” he chuckled.

“It’s one of the reasons I’d love to work at your
restaurant,” I shot back, referring to the name of his high-end restaurant, Lardon’s, his eyebrow arched up and he gave a quick wink.

“Speaking of working for me, I’d be interested to know what it would take for you to relocate to L.A. and be my new executive chef.”

“Seriously, I would have assumed that position to be filled months ago.”

“Now Brooke, you know what they say about assuming,” he volleyed.

“I know, I know, but I would never have guessed that you would still be looking, that has to be one of the most sought after positions around.”

“Indeed, it is, but we just hadn’t found the right chef for the job, until you,” he responded, as he took a bite of eggs. “So, what do I have to do to convince you to leave Michigan for California?”

“I don’t…I.,” I struggled to find the words, “I’m speechless. This would be an incredible opportunity for me. Wow, I’m blown away.”

“So, is that a yes, I hope?” he persuaded.

“It’s definitely something that I would like to say yes to, can you just give me a little time? I need to talk this over with my boss and a few other people,” I looked at him hopefully.