Cooped Up for Christmas - Sabrina York Page 0,40

pierced eyebrow rose. “Hollandaise is boring and derivative.”

“Okay. Eggs Benedict with Béarnaise—”

“With caviar on top!” Olivia, again.

“Good. Good,” I said. “Keep the ideas coming.”

“How about, like, a bread pudding?”

“Or monkey bread.” Wren surprised me by actually looking enthused. “My sister makes an amazing monkey bread.”

Jed wrinkled his nose. “Is it made of monkeys? Man, these rich folks are weird.”

Wren gaped at him. “Of course, it’s not made of monkeys.”

“What’s in it?” I asked. Beggars couldn’t be choosers. But, whatever it was, we weren’t calling it Monkey Bread.

“You can use those frozen rolls Noel has in the freezer, put them in a baking pan, then dump a jar of butterscotch topping and toasted pecans on it. Let it come to room temperature, double in size, and bake. Easy.”

“Sounds good too.” Or I was hungry. “How can we elevate it? Make it fancier?” I added when I noticed Jed’s puzzled expression.

“Some kind of sauce?” Olivia suggested.

“Excellent.” I smiled at her. “How about Crème Anglaise? Does anyone know how to make Crème Anglaise?”

Crickets.

“Okay. I can tackle that one.”

Cooper’s mouth dropped. “You know how to make Crème Anglaise? You been holding out on me?”

I gusted a breath. “Of course I know how to make Crème Anglaise. I took some cooking classes in my hospitality training.” Mostly so I would know what I was serving. But I really loved the patisserie classes. Oh, and on that note, I turned to Olivia, “Let’s add some cinnamon and nutmeg to the monkey bread and we’ll call them Christmas Clouds with Crème Anglaise. So we have a savory dish and a sweet… It probably wouldn’t hurt to have a quiche on hand and maybe a fresh fruit salad. And of course, coffee and mimosas. OJ for the minors. How does that sound?”

I was surprised at their response. A huge cheer. I almost told them to be quiet because they might wake the guests, but I caught Coop’s expression, and his salute as he mouthed the words, “Good job.”

Something warm rose in my breast. “Okay, everyone. Great work. Let’s keep it up and push through to the finish. Thank you. Thank you all for your great work.” Yea! I could make a motivational speech! At least, they all seemed motivated as they set out on their various assigned tasks as we prepped for breakfast.

Jed, of course, was assigned to watch over Noel and clean things up if he, ah, urped again, but Jed preferred that over making a quiche anyway.

We did as much prep as we could that night, but still knew we had to get up at the butt crack of dawn, so we all went to bed as soon as we could.

It was lovely cuddling with Coop. All night long.

* * *

Some things cannot be done in advance. Such as Crème Anglaise. I woke up early—again quietly disentangling myself with deepest regrets—and headed for Noel’s kitchen to make sure I had time to practice. Just in case I forgot something. Trouble was, I totally forgot that I’m not a morning person. Even navigating Google was a challenge for me. It was a fat finger morning.

Finally, I got Crème Anglaise typed in.

The response I got on my screen was that unending Circle of Doom.

“Dammit!” I glared at my phone. I didn’t have time to wait three seconds for this. I was a busy person. “Come on.”

I felt Coop’s laugh on my cheek. “Are you seriously yelling at the internet?”

I glared at him. Why did he have to stand so close? I was trying to focus.

“Here. Let me.” He took my phone, making sure our hands brushed. I wasn’t sure whether to smack him or laugh at his blatant flirting.

“Stop that,” I hissed. “I have too much work to do for you to get me in a frazzle.”

“Oooh!” he bleated. “Are you in a frazzle?”

I snatched my phone back and leaned in. “I. Have. Work. To. Do.” He totally ruined my hard on for work when he kissed my nose.

Dammit.

I never could resist that.

He hovered, then moved in for a—

“Stop,” I said in a shrill, panicked bark.

At that word, at my tone, he took a step back and held up both hands.

Dammit.

I shot him an apologetic smile. “I really do have to get moving.”

He took another step back. “I know.”

“If you start kissing me, I’ll never get this done.”

“I know.”

“They could wake up at any moment. And I have to get this breakfast ready.”

“I know. I know. I’ll, um, go see if Ben needs any help.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

And then he left.

Dammit.

I