Spooning Leads to Forking (Hot in the Kitchen #2) - Kilby Blades Page 0,3

store. Frankly, she didn’t know how the place stayed afloat. But being alone with him was A-Okay with her. Sapling was a place where people stopped to greet one another. When it came to Shea, Dev’s prevalent emotion seemed to be amusement. And far be it from her to disown her own quirks.

“Mornin’ Shea.”

Dev’s warm baritone made her as melty as Nutella on oven-fresh brioche. She’d come to crave it like sugar. As expected, he sat in front of his laptop and the desk was littered with papers. Apart from Tuesdays and Thursdays—when the deliveries came—he tended to be glued to his seat, unless he was helping a customer.

Half the fun for Shea was being that customer. Seeking his guidance had become addictive. At the beginning, it had been legitimate to confirm whether he carried things like prepared guacamole, MCT-enhanced cold brew coffee and manuka honey. But she knew the store so well by then, most new requests were pure theater.

The exception were her special orders, which Shea could admit must seem bizarre. She was certain Dev thought she was a little weird. She didn’t dress like anyone else in Sapling; though, by New York standards, she was quite toned down. If not for Dallas Eaton—the guy who wore 80s track suits and walked with his macaw on his shoulder—Shea could win an award for most unusual fashion sense in town.

Dev pushed back in his rolling chair in a single, smooth motion and rose to his feet to stand. Shea was ridiculously charmed by the gesture. Men who walked on the outside and who rose when a lady walked into the room were a dying breed. Sure, she could chalk it up to attentive customer service, but her intuition told her Devon Kingston was a real gentleman.

“Looking for anything special?” She caught the bemused smirk that played at his lips a second before said lips captured his straw. He drank dark green juice from the same clear cup every day. Whatever he put in there was working. Dev was the picture of vitality—tall and lean and built like a cyclist, or a swimmer or a player of any endurance sport. A healthy tan proved he found time to be outdoors.

His beard was lustrous and dark—in her fantasies she had touched it and it was impossibly soft. It matched silky hair that was shaven on the sides and grown in on the top and tousled just right. Spiked up at the roots somehow with ends that fell into form without looking stiff, it managed to achieve a frightening shine. But his eyes—God, his eyes—they were the real stars of her fantasies; not dull green like his juice—bright and vibrant like aspen leaves. Even his skin seemed to glow.

“Any chance my order is in?” Shea asked, knowing full well today was Monday.

“Sorry. You’re a day early,” he said.

“Oh.” She pouted a little, then appeared to recover from feigned disappointment.

Dev leaned his hip against the counter and his lips eased into a slow smile. The rumble of his voice gave her a shiver. “Guess you’ll just have to come back tomorrow.”

With that, she gave another little smile and continued inside, taking her time as she thought of items she really might need. It was a well-thought-out store, with plenty of fresh staples in the produce section and aisles full of dry goods fit for a health nut or a gourmand.

Shea made her leisurely way up and down the aisles.

Coffee. Honey. Probiotics. Dried currants and slivered almonds for tomorrow’s salad. A bottle of that Malbec I like...

The simple foods she limited herself to were the extent of what she was willing to cook herself. Shea hadn’t done any real cooking in a long time.

It didn’t hold a candle to what she’d grown accustomed to in New York. But she did like a good, hearty salad—the kind that had nuts and fruit and meat and dairy protein. They weren’t haute cuisine, but they sustained her. Prepared foods and hearty salads were what she’d been living on for weeks.

“Hey—do you have any sumac?” she asked, circling back to the front after picking up the other items and searching for the herb herself. She’d become convinced that a little bit of the tangy spice would be the perfect addition to the aioli they served with the calamari at The Big Spoon. It was one of only three restaurants in Sapling. Delilah’s served sweet and savory pastries and Gator’s Sports Bar had pub food and wings. The Big