Notorious (NeXt #1) - K.M. Scott Page 0,3
not trying to sell anything. I did hear the desserts are the best in the area, though, so we have to try them.”
“Quite the hard on for cupcakes, huh? You need to go out more, man. You’re starting to turn into some deranged version of that celebrity chef dude I watched the other night.”
“Whatever. Don’t try the desserts. Be a grumpy guy who refuses to enjoy anything,” he grumbles under his breath.
Times like this show how different the two of us are. Alex is all about the senses. He gets off on how good things taste or feel. The chef in him talks about how things are presented, like that’s a big deal.
I, on the other hand, am not as much a hedonist as he is. Oh sure, I indulge in almost anything that makes me feel good, but he takes it to places I never would.
Like desserts.
I can’t remember the last time I had a dessert. Maybe my grandmother’s birthday party last year? She had a cake, which Alex talked about like it was the goddamned Taj Mahal of food, so maybe then?
But he’s my best friend and practically my brother, so I accept how he is. Born three months after me, we basically grew up together. For the past twenty-three years, other than my time in college, we hung out every day. I’m closer to him than anyone else in the world.
“I guess I could try something. Maybe they have some kind of doughnut I’d like.”
Alex shakes his head and laughs. “You give me a hard time about stopping here because it’s a diner, but you want a doughnut?”
“Don’t bash the doughnut. It’s the breakfast of champions.”
“The person who makes the desserts is an artist. I don’t think she makes doughnuts.”
Now it’s my time to do an eye roll. “An arteest?” I say, making sure he understands how utterly ridiculous I think he sounds about all of this.
Before he can give me a hard time about not taking this whole pastry chef and their desserts seriously enough, a man stops at our table. I look up to see him smiling as he notices our empty plates.
He points at them and says, “I hope this means you enjoyed your meals.”
Quickly, Alex shoots me a nasty glance and smiles back at the man. “They were great. Best club sandwich I’ve had in a while.”
As they talk about the turkey and something about the lettuce tasting some particular way, I glance past the man and see the woman in the window again. For the first time, I smile. She doesn’t smile back, and after looking panicked that I noticed her, she disappears once more.
Strange.
“I’m dying to see what desserts you have today, Robert. I’ve heard great things about them,” Alex says, practically gushing about these fucking desserts again.
What the hell has he heard about these cakes? Now he’s on a first-name basis with this guy too?
Robert walks away to check what they have, but he returns a few seconds later looking all long-faced. “I don’t see any. Let me check in the back to see if there’ll be any ready soon.”
“I’d love the chance to meet your pastry chef. I work as a chef at CK,” Alex says with a smile.
“Oh, I wish I could, but I can’t let anyone back there because she’s very particular about her work.”
Alex nods. “I completely understand. Trust me. I do. I wouldn’t want strangers loping through my kitchen either.”
“Let me go check to see what she has. I’ll be right back.”
After he walks away, I nudge Alex’s forearm. “So the pastry chef is particular? Here? Sounds like bullshit to me.”
“She’s an artist, Cade. You don’t fuck around with an artist’s area. I get it.”
“Well, I don’t. This sounds utterly pretentious. Dare I say, snobbish?”
Alex shakes his head. “You don’t get it. I do. She has a space where she creates things. Having people she doesn’t know in that space affects her.”
“Can we leave yet, or are we sticking around for some cake or pie we could get anywhere else on the damn planet? I have things to do.”
“You have nothing to do that can’t be pushed off for an hour more. Whoever she is, she can wait.”
That he assumes it’s a woman that’s making me want to leave here is a logical guess but an incorrect one. Since I don’t want to start a discussion about my love life, I sit back and let out a huff of disgust.
All of this for something that