“But…”
“I can’t stop cooking. It’s what I do, who I am. When I arrived, I made a deal with Mari that if she let me take over the kitchen so I could create and test recipes for my books, I’d keep the restaurant open for her customers three nights a week. Now that’s gone up in flames around us no thanks to me.” She rubbed her hands over her face, heaved out a sigh. “I don’t know what to do until I can organize another stove.”
“How about take a break?”
She looked at him as if he was nuts. “Seriously? Have you not heard what I said? It’s my life. I can’t not cook, Jake.” She smiled and waved at the two women as they left the coffee shop, still giggling like star struck teenagers.
“Have you checked out the kitchen at the fisherman’s cottage? I’m sure that’ll have a decent stove in it. Dad’s very particular that the rentals have good appliances.”
“Sure, it’s lovely but cooking for myself is no thrill.” She stared at Jake as though she could see through him. A moment later, her eyes went wide and she grinned. “I can cook for you, because Cory told me you can’t cook anything more than…”
“Steak, steak, and more steak. Yeah, that’s right.” But at least he could do that, which was way more than he could do before Lisa passed away. And nobody had died from his efforts either, which was a bonus as far as he was concerned.
“Would you mind? I mean, I don’t want to take over or anything but I’m going to go nuts if I don’t do something productive. I’m sure it’s against the law for me to cook at home and take it into the restaurant, so that’s out. I don’t have that many options, not really.”
It wouldn’t be a hardship to have someone of her caliber take over the meals for a couple of days. “How many dinners are we talking here? One, two? Don’t want the family to get so used to your food that I get more grief than I already get when you get the restaurant back again.”
“Sorry. I know I’m only here for a short time but it would save my sanity if you’d say yes. It’s only going to be a week or so if that. That’s if I can pull off this oven delivery. I’ll get on my producer today and see what I can arrange.” She gave him a sweet smile and his heart flipped, leaving a breathless hollow rising in his chest. “I’ll do my best not to smother you in my brand of love, okay? A week or so of home cooked meals and I should have my kitchen up and working.”
Jake was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. But he wanted to see more of Bella, and that left him with no choice but to go along with her suggestion. “Sure, sounds great to me.”
“And you’d actually be helping me out, Jake. I have a deadline with my cookbook and if I don’t get started, I’ll never make it and then the publisher will be on my back. I don’t want to let them down.”
Chapter Five
Bella held her phone, punched out the numbers her sister had given her and pushed the send button. Her heart skipped a beat while her throat worked to swallow her nerves. It was ridiculous. She wasn’t the fainting type of women but there was something about Jake that her vivid imagination wouldn’t let go of. Sure, he was handsome, tall and built and had saved her life. Not quite, but she wasn’t going to split hairs. He’d come to her rescue when things had gone pear shaped and for that she would be forever grateful.
Plus, he’d won brownie points from her for letting her take over their meals for the next few days. It would seem ridiculous to an outsider that something that simple would make her happy. But even though it was for her own benefit – she was on a tight schedule after all and couldn’t imagine losing three or four days or even a week’s worth of cooking hours because of a ruined kitchen – it wasn’t all one-sided. He’d win, but so would she. But Bella had to give him credit for letting her walk into his family life and serve up her kind of food when he had no idea of who she was and what she was capable of.
It gave her a strange feeling of warmth to know she was cooking for someone who really didn’t know her. The ring tone echoed in her ear. She’d been so lost in her thoughts that the sudden noise jolted her out of her wandering. “Jake Woods.”
“Uh, Jake. Hi. This is Bella.” She swallowed. “You know, Bella, from the pink cottage?” Idiot! Could she be any needier sounding?
“Of course. How are you this morning?” She heard the smile in his voice, which only made her cheeks heat more. “Hope there are no lingering aftereffects of the smoke or the enthusiastic fans didn’t put you off?”
“No. No, I’m fine, honestly. Listen, I feel a bit rude annoying you but I wondered if you were free for coffee this morning?” She rushed on. “It’s just that yesterday didn’t really go to plan and I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you letting me cook for you for the next few days. You see, I didn’t even have a chance to ask if there was anything you or the family disliked or was allergic to.
