Stay by Paige Prince Read Free Book Online Page A

placing it in my purse, I walked into the restaurant and, I hoped, my new life.
     
    ***
     
    My interview for the position wasn’t like any other I’d ever been on. For starters, I’d never interviewed to be a chef. But I’d also never been required to prepare a four-course meal as part of the process, so that was definitely new. But apparently, I’d done something right because the manager hired me the minute he finished my dessert. He was actually still licking his fingers when he said, “You’ve got a gift, kid. You’re hired.”
    I was so excited, I ignored the “kid” part. Brandon was only maybe five years older than me, but he was my new boss, and he didn’t have to take a chance on a completely unknown chef.
    To celebrate my new job, Evan took me to the park for a picnic he claimed he’d put together himself when he got back from Japan. Overwhelmed by the sweetness of the gesture, I pretended not to notice the label on the container of potato salad he’d neglected to remove.
    He serenaded me with some truly horrible off-key singing along to the radio after we finished our food, then got a strange glint in his eye before jumping off the blanket with an “I’ll be right back” called over his shoulder. I shrugged and sat back, enjoying the feel of the rare semi-humid, not so hot my eyeballs are melting the minute I step outside day.
    Just as I started to wonder if I should put on more sunscreen and send out a search party, Evan stepped into my line of sight with a small spray of white flowers clutched in his large hand. Kneeling beside me, he pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Congratulations on the new job, beautiful. I’m so proud of you.”
    I reached up and brought my hand around the back of his neck to bring him down for a proper kiss. I was certain he sometimes forgot how severe our height difference was, because I always had to stand on tiptoe or pull him to my level. Then again, he probably enjoyed it, judging from his responses.
    “Thank you, Evan, that was very sweet.” I took the offered bouquet and looked down at the white star-shaped flowers more closely, then giggled.
    “What?” Evan asked as he lay down on the blanket next to me, making sure to put his head in my lap so I’d run my fingers through his shaggy dark hair.
    “You need a trim,” I said, setting all but two of the flowers down on the other side of me. “And I just think it’s funny. These little flowers are so pretty. They grow everywhere here in Texas, and they’re a common gift from children to their parents.”
    He squinted up at me as I poked a hole in the stem of one flower with my thumb and threaded the other one through it before picking up another. “So, what’s funny?”
    “The flowers are called Crow Poison.” I laughed when his eyed widened and he coughed like something caught in his throat.
    “You mean I just gave you poison?”
    I shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s actually poison. I can tell you I’ve picked thousands of these and never had any bad side effects.” My flower chain grew longer with each minute. “I used to give my mom so many in the summer, she’d start throwing them away behind my back. I never even noticed because there were at least six mason jars full to bursting with them on the windowsill.”
    Completing the final link, I held up the circle of flowers to show Evan then placed it gently on my head.
    “You make a beautiful flower child.”
    “If you couldn’t tell, you’re already getting lucky tonight. You don’t have to do any more sweet-talking today. Though it is rather nice being treated like the queen I am.” I grinned to show him I was just teasing about the sweet-talking, but judging from the look in his eyes, he knew deep down I wasn’t.
     
    ***
     
    By July, Evan no longer booked a hotel room when he had to fly into town for promotional appearances. We never talked about it; he just stopped making reservations when he knew he’d inevitably be spending