Just Add Spice

The entire staff had gathered—family and friends of Rafe’s.

Reesa, the hostess, had returned early from maternity leave, excited to be a part of the reopening. She handed a beautifully wrapped gift to Jenna and said, “We all pitched in. We can’t thank you enough, Jenna. This is our livelihood, and you’ve injected some much-needed vibrancy.”

“I cast the place in a different life,” she told them, “but you all have put your heart and souls into Rafe’s restaurant—and continue to do so. That means something to me.”

Gio said, “I get to do what I was trained to do, Jenna. I talked about wine all night long—and not a single person ordered Chianti.”

She smiled. “Let’s not write it off the list entirely, Gio.”

“I know,” he said with a laugh. “But it was nice to actually talk up the cellar and make a dent in our collection.”

“And the tips…” one of the servers chimed in with a shake of his head. “We each made more tonight than we typically do in a week.”

“You earned that money,” she said. “You’re all really good at what you do.”

“Open the box,” Reesa urged.

Jenna pulled the white satin ribbon from the pale-blue box. She lifted the lid and laughed softly. “A customized Tiffany & Co. iPad cover. I love it.”

“There’s also a matching pen and notebook. We know how much you like blue.”

“They’re perfect, thanks.” Hugs and kisses ensued.

Reesa added, “We have something for you too, Tad.” She gave him a sleek-looking box.

Tad rubbed his hands together. “Oh, goody. It’s from Hermes.” He opened his gift and clapped excitedly. “Beautiful, dove-gray leather gloves. These will serve me well in New York.”

He thanked everyone, clearly reveling in the way they’d accepted him into the fold.

Rafe pulled her aside and said, “One last night at the loft before you head out?”

Jenna nibbled her lower lip for a moment. Then she stared up into his ocean-blue eyes and said, “Tad and I have a five a.m. flight back east. We planned to leave from here. Our luggage is in the car.”

“Jen.” He let out a long breath.

“I’m sorry. I have a meeting tomorrow afternoon with my agent that I can’t miss. A couple more endorsement deals he wants to discuss with me. Then we start the Vandenberg project the next day. And I’ve got a few others to wrap up for the website before we start shooting the next season of my show.”

He shook his head. “Don’t leave just yet.” A gentle plea that nearly broke her heart.

“Rafe.” She smoothed the pads of her fingers over his set jaw. “You know I have to do this. And I never once said I was staying beyond the two weeks. We both knew…” She sighed. “For the record, I don’t want to go. I really don’t. But I’m committed—I gave my word and signed a contract.” She kissed him. “I’ll call you tomorrow evening. There’s no reason we can’t go back to talking every night, right?”

“Why is it that I don’t know how to make this work?”

“We made progress,” she asserted. “I’m not discounting our time together. But I can’t back out of my deals. It’s not just about my professional reputation, Rafe. It’s the right thing to do. I can’t leave people hanging when I’ve promised to help them. Even you can’t dispute that.”

“No,” he said, albeit reluctantly. “I can’t. So go.”

Jenna stared up at him and said, “You’re going to have your hands full with this restaurant, but I do expect you to answer my phone calls.”

“I won’t miss a single one.”

A tear tumbled along her cheek.

Rafe brushed it away. He kissed her heatedly—yet with an underlying longing that saddened her. Because she felt the same way.

Tad softly cleared his throat. “Sugar plum…”

“I know,” she said on a fractured breath. It was pure hell leaving Rafe. Worse than ever before.