The Story Of Us - Teri Wilson Page 0,23

and crossing the room toward her with determined footsteps.

Oh, boy.

Rick cast a panicked glance at Sawyer. What was he supposed to do—physically throw himself between them? That seemed extreme, even for a wingman.

“Hi.” Lucy returned Sweater Guy’s smile. “Do you want to…”

She pointed at the only unoccupied cooking station, and Sweater Guy nodded. “Sure.”

“I’m Lucy.” Lucy extended her hand.

Sweater Guy shook it gently, and then offered her one of the aprons from their station. “I’m Quinten.”

Lucy pulled the apron over her head. “I like your sweater.”

Ouch.

At the head of the class, Rick visibly wilted, his spirit sinking faster than a ruined soufflé. Sawyer needed to do something. Fast.

He cleared his throat as he tied his own apron in place. “All right, Chef. What is on the menu?”

It worked—temporarily, at least. The room grew quiet as the attendees waited to hear what they would be cooking.

“We’re going to start off with an arugula salad, marinated figs, cherry tomatoes and feta cheese.” Rick sighed, shoulders slumped.

“Mmmm,” Lucy said, loud enough for everyone—including Rick—to hear.

Rick brightened somewhat. “Followed by our entree of miso-glazed salmon, roasted potatoes and bok choy.”

Lucy gasped. “I love glazed salmon!”

Shocker.

Sawyer bit back a smile. Watching Rick attempt to woo a woman by way of seafood would’ve been painful if it weren’t so amusing. He’d never seen Rick so off his game before.

“What’s for dessert?” Sawyer prompted, because again, Rick couldn’t seem to do more than just stand there staring at Lucy with a panicked grin plastered on his face.

“Raspberry chocolate torte.”

Nice choice. The room erupted into oohs and ahhs.

Rick managed to take a breath and laugh until Lucy gave Sweater Guy a playful punch as she shouted, “Yes!”

Sawyer figured he was in for a long night. He wasn’t sure if anyone had ever needed to wingman this hard in the entire history of wingman-ing. He met Rick’s gaze, nodded and did a little shadow boxing motion.

Don’t give up, champ.

His attempt at subtle encouragement didn’t go unnoticed—not by Jamie, anyway. When Sawyer glanced over at her, he found her glowering at him, mouth agape.

His face went warm. “What?”

While Rick answered questions from a few of the attendees, Jamie murmured to Sawyer, “Oh, I mean, I just think if a guy wants to say something to a woman—like ‘Hey, I like you’ or ‘Hey, I’m actively employed by the company trying to tear down your store’—that direct communication goes a lot further than dancing around the topic or, you know, being vague about it.” She wagged a finger back and forth between Sawyer and Rick. “But you guys do you.”

Sawyer shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Beside him, Anita shook with silent laughter. Councilman Eric just seemed confused, and Sawyer was in no mood to fill him in.

“Okay, if one partner would head to the back and grab some salad fixings…” Rick pointed at a long table set up behind the cooking stations.

Jamie—clearly energized by her wave of indignation—grabbed a silver bowl and a pair of tongs and took off as if she’d been shot out of a cannon.

Sawyer followed, hot on her heels. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention my involvement with Ridley when I first saw you at the bookshop.”

There. He’d said it. He’d apologized.

She whipped around to face him, blond ringlets flying. Her skin was so beautiful, it made Sawyer want to weep. “Thank you.”

“But, in my defense…” He just couldn’t keep his mouth shut because, after all, he wasn’t totally in the wrong. “I didn’t know it was your bookshop until just then.”

“But you knew it was True Love and you knew how much that place means to me.” She grabbed a chunk of arugula with her tongs.

Was she seriously not going to cut him the tiniest bit of slack? He was just doing his job. He shook his head and shoveled arugula into his bowl. “Well, yeah, but not for a long time.”

“No, it wasn’t a long time ago to me. And if you think your being a part of Team Ridley is going to stop me from saving True Love, then you have another thing coming.” She clicked her tongs together right in his face for emphasis. The effect was surprisingly ominous.

Sawyer grabbed his bowl and chased after her. He still knew Jamie well enough to know when she was up to something. The high fives when she’d walked in with Lucy, the wielding of kitchen implements…these things weren’t insignificant.

“What are you cooking up?” he asked once they’d returned to their side-by-side cooking stations.

She