No Funny Business (The Lennox Brothers Romantic Comedy)

not from Nat.
“It wouldn’t be a good idea.” My voice sounded rough.
She dropped her gaze to her shoes. “Of course not. I know it wouldn’t. I’m not sure what I was thinking.” Pulling off her glasses, she concentrated on polishing them with the bottom of her T-shirt, her focus too intense for such a simple job, and her cheeks slowly growing redder.
“Let’s meet at the café at seven in the morning.” I gentled my tone. “It’ll be a busy day.”
She slipped her glasses back on and nodded, squaring her shoulders as she finally met my gaze. “Yes, okay. Thanks. I’ll see you then.”
“Lock the door behind you.” To clear the air, I reached out and tugged a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail. “Stay safe, Nat.”
“I’m safe.” A hint of a smile broke through her obvious embarrassment, but it looked rueful. “A little too safe, in fact. But thanks.”

Chapter Six


Natalie
I stuck my head out of the kitchen, peering into the café's dining area. For the first time since we’d opened this morning, I spotted some empty tables. The crowd had finally thinned.
Finally I had a chance to take a breather. My feet were aching, and I had at least five different kinds of sauces splattered on my apron and T-shirt. The wedding anniversary party had been a spectacular success, and they’d left with big smiles almost two hours ago. I’d intended to close the doors right after they were gone, but more customers kept pouring in.
“It’s getting quieter,” I called in to Kade. “I’m normally closed by three o’clock, and it’s after four. I’ll put the Closed sign on the door, and stop taking food orders.”
He turned from the stove. The burners were all fired up, and he had six pans of food on the go. Carlotta and Janice both looked as exhausted as I was, but Kade wasn’t showing any sign of being tired, though he deserved a rest more than anyone.
“What a day.” He sounded cheerful. “Busiest one I’ve had since I worked in Paris. I’d forgotten how much fun it could be.”
“Fun?”
“Didn’t you have any?” He turned back to the stove to flip zucchini fritters onto plates.
I gave a non-committal grunt, because not much about the café had ever been fun for me. But I’d enjoyed watching him work. I’d thought a celebration for twenty-eight people was a lot to deal with, but he’d cooked for more customers today than I’d had in several months. And even though Kade must have made at least a hundred fritters, their smell was still making my mouth water, especially when he passed them to me to drizzle with thick sauce, and add a side of watercress with tangy dressing.
“Will you make me one of those?” My stomach rumbled, and he chuckled.
“Hungry?”
“Starving.”
“Here. Have one of these.” He handed me one of the dishes he’d just cooked. “There are hardly any customers still to feed, and they can wait a little longer. They won’t have worked as hard as you have today.”
“In that case…” I added extra watercress and a double helping of sauce. “I’d better deliver the other plates first though,” I said, and put my special order aside while I delivered them to the hungry diners.
“Kitchen’s closed,” I told Carlotta, before she could ring up another sale. “We’re wrapping up for the day.”
The cabinet we’d filled last night now held nothing but crumbs, and from the way she had to shove the cash register drawer closed, it must be stuffed full of money. That was something I’d never seen before.
“Good.” Carlotta made a show of wiping her brow. “I haven’t worked this hard since… well, never.”
“You hungry?”
She shot me a grin. “You didn’t see me taking a break an hour ago? I ate so much I could barely walk. If you haven’t tried one of Kade’s fritters yet, do your tastebuds a favor.”
By the time I got back to the kitchen, Kade was halfway through making a fresh order to replace the one he’d set aside for me. He finished it in record time and handed it to Janice to deliver.
“You should eat too,” I told him, sitting on one of the stools at the far end of the counter with my plate. “It feels so good just getting off my feet.” I took a bite of my meal and let out a groan. “This is incredible. No wonder we were so busy today. Word must have spread fast.”
He put another full plate beside mine, and sat next to me. At this end of the counter, we were out of sight of the customers and couldn’t be seen through the serving hatch. Kade had been visible all day while he worked at the stove, and had smiled and joked with customers as he cooked, just the way Dad used to. Even run off his feet, he’d charmed everyone. He deserved a medal.
“Have you seen the realtor or the potential buyers?” he asked while we ate.
“Emmy dropped in with them earlier. We were still so busy I couldn’t talk to them, so Emmy said she’d bring them back once the café emptied out. They should be here any minute. And thanks to you, they’ve seen the café's potential.”
Kade smiled and the sexiness of his dimples was so distracting, I forgot about my aches and pains. He was sitting close enough that his leg was almost touching mine, and I had the sudden urge to press my knee against his like a nervous teen on a first date.
“I thought up three new recipes I could use in my show,” he said.
“Is that good?”
“It’s great.”
“How many more do you need?”
“Twenty-nine.”
“What?” I spluttered crumbs out with the word and slapped my hand over my mouth. “Sorry. But did you say twenty-nine?”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds. If I can come up with three new recipes every day, it’ll only take another ten days.”
“You can do that?”
“Well, that depends. I finished shooting the last season of the show three weeks ago,