Billionaire Behind the Mask (Texas Cattleman's Club: Rags to Riches 5)

“Do you have one restaurant or a chain? Remember, this is your ultimate dream. You can have anything.”

Lauren opened her eyes and looked at him. “One is enough for me. I’m no Bobby Flay or Wolfgang Puck. I want more than just my name on the sign, I want to be the executive chef in the kitchen. A chain is...too much. I just want to have my restaurant and to make people happy with my cooking. Isn’t that enough?”

Sutton realized he’d overstepped and tried to backpedal with a bright smile. “Of course, it’s enough. Whatever you want. I just want to make sure you’re letting yourself dream big enough. Your food is amazing. You could have a chain of restaurants if you wanted to, someday. Or one amazing place, if you’d prefer. I think you could put that Italian place in Dallas to shame. Hey—maybe you could do a pop-up event like they did and get a taste for the permanent restaurant life.”

Lauren shook her head. “While I’d love to, that place was successful enough to be able to do things I could never do, because I don’t have the money. You have to have money to make money in a business like this. With most restaurants folding within five years, I’m lucky to still be open, much less thriving.”

“I don’t think it would take that much to pull it together. You don’t have to make it as fancy as they were. You could scale back the decor. Maybe work with some local businesses to rent dishware or get floral arrangements in exchange for free advertising. I know a lot of people in this town. I bet I could pull a few strings to make it happen.”

Lauren looked at him with eyes that wanted to believe it was possible. But she wasn’t certain of herself. Or of him. He could tell.

“Next Saturday,” Sutton declared. “Lauren Roberts’s Eatery is coming to Royal, Texas.”

Nine

Lauren walked around the big, empty space that would be her restaurant dining room come Saturday night. It was the empty spot on the square she’d always eyed for her future location. It had been a restaurant a while back, so it had a fully outfitted kitchen and the layout she needed up front. Honestly, she never expected to get this location for the pop-up, but true to his word, Sutton had contacts. He knew who owned this building and contacted him about letting her use it for free under the premise that if it was a success, she might rent it from him permanently. Since it was sitting empty and earning no revenue, the owner had agreed.

He’d also apparently called in every favor he had to make this work. The local florist was providing her with the florist’s choice of twenty, small, tabletop arrangements and a larger one for the hostess desk. The party rental company in town was bringing her tables, chairs, linens, dishes, flatware and glasses in exchange for a full-page ad on the back of her menu. The local paper had even interviewed her for an article about the pop-up event, which had driven curious readers to her Instagram account, nearly tripling her followers and even her sales at the truck that week.

Sutton had taken care of everything. He had gone over and above to make her successful. It was costing her almost nothing aside from some temporary labor up front to make it happen. It was... incredibly intimidating.

She was grateful, but also apprehensive about the whole thing. What if she didn’t succeed? He was pushing so hard to make her into this great restauranteur. He’d provided her with every tool she could possibly need because he believed she had the talent. But a lot of people had talent and still failed. What if even his best efforts couldn’t turn her into a culinary star?

Lauren took a deep breath and tried to push away her doubts. All

she could do was her best. She needed to make the most of the unexpected gift she’d been given, and let the chips fall where they may.

Now that she was inside the building, she could see the space would need a lot of TLC if it were ever to be her dream restaurant. The walls could use patching, and some new paint and crown molding. The dark green carpet needed replacement and the florescent overhead lighting was too harsh for a romantic or chic dining space. But it would work. She had to keep reminding herself that updating this space was a problem she would love to have and one that was dependent on the success of this pop-up event.

Today wasn’t about the end product she envisioned in her mind with Sutton. It was about putting together a place good enough for one night in the hopes that one day, it could be more. Planting her hands on her hips with a newly determined air, she knew she could turn this dream into a reality.

She went back into the kitchen and was amazed by how much space she would have to cook here. There could easily be seven or eight people back here prepping dishes—a proper kitchen staff for a busy restaurant of this size—and there would be plenty of room to work. Considering that she and Amy were constantly bumping into one another in the truck, it was a welcome change. Food trucks weren’t particularly spacious.

Or prestigious.

Lauren sighed and leaned against the stainless-steel countertop. Her can-do attitude deflated a little as she crossed her arms protectively over her chest. She wasn’t quite as excited about all of this as she thought she would be. It was a chance she didn’t think she’d have for years, easily. But if she thought hard enough about what was dragging down her thoughts, she knew it wasn’t just her fear of failure. It was what her failure might mean for her future with Sutton.

In the last few days, as he’d spent all his free time trying to pull this event together, Lauren had realized the full extent of the Wingate’s influence in Royal. She knew his family was rich. They were club members, after all. But she was slowly beginning to realize that they were damn near royalty here in town. Even with scandal looming over their heads.

Maybe she just didn’t run in the right circles to realize it sooner. Royal had a lot of rich and influential people, so one was just the same as another to her. She didn’t fit in amongst them and only interacted long enough to sell them the occasional lunch, so it never mattered if she kept up with the hierarchy of Royal society.

That was probably at the root of her worries today. She didn’t fit in, yet through a twist of fate, she was dating one of Royal’s most eligible princes. Even having feelings for him. She was just a commoner, and she was okay with her station in town, but she was beginning to wonder if Sutton was okay with it, as well.

Under the guise of helping, he really seemed to be pushing her to do more, faster than she planned. Do a pop-up event, open a “real” restaurant, sell the food trucks... It was the path she hoped to take someday, but his insistence made Lauren feel like maybe she wasn’t good enough for Sutton as she was. They’d been out in public together, so he wasn’t hiding her away in embarrassment, but they hadn’t spoken to anyone else when they were out, either. If he had to introduce her to people he knew, would he tell them she was a chef and conveniently leave out the trucks? Was a restaurant with wheels not esteemed enough for the Wingates and their club-going cronies?

Lauren looked down at her fingernails, which she’d been nervously chewing the last few days. Her makeover manicure was basically destroyed now, with chipped paint and rough edges. And she’d noticed this morning when she looked in the mirror that her highlights had grown out, showing dark roots that needed a touch-up. She probably needed a blowout, too, to smooth her naturally unruly waves. She hadn’t been wearing makeup or dressing up much unless they were going someplace nice.

She looked like the Lauren she recognized again. But somehow she didn’t feel like that was good enough anymore.

All in all, she just didn’t feel like Cinderella ready for the ball any longer. The beautiful and mysterious woman that had enchanted the prince from behind a mask was gone. Now Sutton was left with the real Lauren and, although he’d never said anything to make her think he was disappointed with reality, he seemed determined to mold her and her life into something more presentable, like Pygmalion or Henry Higgins. An unpolished food truck chef was just not the kind of girl a Wingate wanted to take home to mother.

And yet... Lauren brushed a stray strand of hair from her face. He was helping her achieve her dream. Perhaps she needed to look at it that way and push her doubts aside. She didn’t want to be a food truck owner forever, either. It had always been a stepping-stone for her on the way to her dream restaurant. And while Sutton might have grand ideas about a chain of Eateries across the country, she would be happy with this one and the help he gave her to get there.

“Enough moping,” she said aloud to the empty kitchen. Regardless of why he’d helped her, she was truly grateful, and tomorrow The Eatery would be a reality, if for just a single day. That meant that today, she had a lot of work to do. She’d closed down the trucks for a few days so she could have her staff focused on helping her, and she’d need every man on deck to make it happen. Amy, Javier and his assistant Ed from truck two, plus a few waitstaff temps she’d hired from a local agency would be meeting her here at ten.

Today, they needed to focus on cleaning the space up and getting it ready. Then she had to plan the menu, go shopping for necessary ingredients and establish a game plan for tomorrow night. It was almost overwhelming, but she kept telling herself she could do this. She made multiple dishes every day in a truck. She could handle dinner service with a team of helpers.

A chime at the front door drew her attention from the kitchen. “We’re here!” she heard Amy shout from up front.