Brandon (Anderson Billionaires #3) - Melody Anne Page 0,5

two more bites. “This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”

She beamed at him. “I will give you a few more, but I’m testing them out today. Be honest—do you think they need any tweaks?”

He shook his head. “No tweaks at all needed. And no need to test anyone else. I’ll take them.”

This made her beam. Why couldn’t her parents say something like that? She was sure her mother and father would tell her something like “A little less salt” or that there were too many nuts. Something would be wrong with them. Something always was.

“I will make more tomorrow. I guess you’ll just have to come back,” she told him.

She wanted to continue creating new things to keep people coming. One thing that drove her crazy with any business was when the menu never changed. Her favorite places were always those that brought something new to the menu often. Not just once a year or even once a quarter. If a business wanted to keep her coming back, they had to give her a reason to. They had to make sure she felt as if she’d miss out on something if she even took a week off.

“You know I’ll be back every day,” Sal told her. He truly was one of her best customers. They chatted for a while longer before Chloe turned.

Then she stopped in her tracks.

Of course it was him.

Brandon Anderson was now casually strolling up to her place of business. He walked with confidence wherever he was going. It was something she admired about the man.

And though she’d deny it even on her deathbed, she’d caved in to him . . . once. She hadn’t even told her best friends about that night. It wasn’t exactly that she felt ashamed. It was just that she had known better.

She’d been feeling down the night of Sarah’s wedding. And though she’d let Brandon know in no uncertain terms nothing would happen between the two of them . . . well, somehow she’d woken up in the morning next to the man.

She had done the ultimate walk of shame that morning and was more grateful than words could ever express that no one had seen her. Though she’d made a clean getaway, she absolutely remembered every single detail of their time together—and it had been spectacular.

The man knew how to please a woman, and she’d been pleased over and over and over again. Chloe had always been a small woman no matter how many Cheetos she shoved into her face. She’d rather have the curves her friends had, but it just wasn’t in her genetics. She was grateful she could eat whatever she wanted, since she loved to cook and do multiple taste tests, but she wouldn’t mind a bit more junk in the trunk.

But Brandon hadn’t seemed to mind her body at all. He’d touched and kissed every single inch of her. Before that night with him, she hadn’t known those words could actually be true. But his hands had slid up and down her body as if she were a string on a violin. His mouth had trailed after.

Where she was petite, he was huge. The man had shoulders she could caress all day and night and abs she wanted to run her tongue over again and again. He had a rugged face, but the sparkle in his eyes took away any roughness. She wasn’t sure why she was fighting this thing between the two of them.

He’d made it more than clear he wanted more. She could tell herself all day long it was because she wasn’t attracted to him, but that would be a lie. She didn’t have a traumatic past relationship making her afraid of love. She just didn’t want to be a girlfriend. She didn’t want to settle.

She’d seen often how amazing a relationship could be in the beginning. Both parties would be putting on their best behavior, willing to do anything for their significant other, but then as time went on and the love hormones began to neutralize, she’d also watched as they stopped pretending, as they each grew more selfish, as the fighting would begin.

Yes, she saw the perfect matches of her best friends. But they were the exception, not the rule. So she’d made it a lifelong mission to never be in a long-term relationship. And that had always worked for her.

Perfection had been her aim her entire life. And there was no way to have perfection in a relationship. The