His Horizon - Con Riley Page 0,2
the bar, he thought, still no closer to acceptance. “Mum and Dad never meant to leave running the Anchor up to her for so long. It was only meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime adventure before they were too old to enjoy it. We just need to keep the pub going until they get back. It won’t be forever.”
“Okay, okay. But ask yourself this, Jude: you had a great career in London, didn’t you? Or the start of one, anyhow, if you really were a semi-finalist in that best-chef competition.”
“I was.” Now that contest felt as if it happened to a whole other person.
Concern etched deep lines across Tom’s forehead. “I know you were. I looked it up after agreeing to hire you,” he admitted. “I read about how you were tipped to win before you got the news about your parents.” He met Jude’s gaze and held it. “And I read that if you won the competition, you planned to use the prize money to set up a place of your own in London. You’d grown up cooking pub grub, you said in one interview, but you thought fine dining was special. You certainly wowed our charter clients with your menus.” Tom glanced at the pub Jude had grown up in. “Do you truly think you’ll find anything as special here?”
Anything as special?
Jude’s gaze slid to the front of the pub too, peeling paintwork visible as the sun rose, too much maintenance here for one person alone. Guilt weighed heavily, like the black anchor painted on the sign above the pub’s front door.
Tom’s voice dropped. “Or maybe you’re determined to come back because of someone special, instead? You know, I couldn’t help feeling there was a subtext to the interview I read. It mentioned sparks flying during the contest between you and another contestant. Rob, wasn’t it? Rob Martin?”
Jude’s brain conjured a mental image of someone he’d tried so hard to forget.
“The interviewer implied you two were opposites. Said you were deadly serious about winning while this Rob guy was a joker who only played at competing. Was it a case of opposites attracting, Jude? Is that why I never noticed you pick up anyone the whole time we sailed together?”
“No,” Jude murmured, doing his level best not to see the feathers of Rob’s laugh lines superimposed over Tom’s deep ones, or Rob’s wide smile when Tom’s lips lifted slightly. “Rob Martin’s not my type.” Jude also tried not to relive the one kiss they’d shared the night before a typhoon changed the course of his life. “He doesn’t take being a chef seriously. Or anything else, for that matter.”
“No? So why was he competing?”
“To annoy his father.”
Tom squinted, so Jude explained, abbreviating a story he’d taken months to think over. “His dad’s got a whole chain of five-star restaurants that he expects Rob to take over. I don’t know why when Rob doesn’t deserve them. He’s bone idle, but I guess blood’s thicker than water.” And wasn’t that exactly why Jude had left London the moment his parents went missing? “He only ever flirted with me for the cameras.”
“So if there isn’t someone special here for you, maybe you could think about me? I think we’d be good together.” Tom tugged him closer. “Tell me you haven’t ever thought about it. About us.” His touch skimmed from Jude’s wrist to his elbow, thumb pressed to the hollow where his pulse surged. Then it skimmed over the swell of biceps before coming to rest on Jude’s shoulder. “Because I did,” Tom said, plain and honest.
From this close, Jude could smell the engine oil ingrained on Tom’s hand, and a hint of the peppermint tea he favoured, his hold on Jude rock-steady. “You never let on. I didn’t have any idea.”
“I wasn’t about to come on to you while you were so low. And then I decided not to while you still worked under me, in case you felt pressured to say yes. Now that I’m not your boss, I can ask.” Tom made it sound so easy. “So, what do you think?”
It would be easy—so easy—to say yes.
Jude could spend the summer cooking for Tom’s wealthy clients while continuing his search.
Tom faked a glower at his new hire who blew him a kiss. “I should have asked you before I signed up that sauce-pot.” Tom sighed. “He’s going to be nothing but trouble.” Then he focussed on Jude again. “Yeah, I should have asked you before, and then showed you