“You’re too good for this world,” Bailey sighed appreciatively.
“Not really.” His smile was stunning. “But believe it or not, you’re not the first women to fight over my culinary skills.”
Kaya sent him a smirk. “This is true. I don’t think I’ve told Dani about the recent club for single senior’s tussle. Those ladies really wanted to kiss the chef. Didn’t one of them pinch your—”
“What can I say?” He interrupted, the humor in his voice belying his glare. “It’s a curse to be this talented.”
Male laughter drifted from the kitchen and Liam glanced at Dani regretfully. “I guess it’s time to face the food critics.”
“Are they picking on you, my angel food cake?” Bailey made a fist. “Let me at ‘em.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’ve got math and secret sauce on my side. All men think they were born knowing how to grill. Ninety-nine percent of them are wrong, even the ones who work in a professional kitchen. I plan to show them the error of their ways and take all their money while they’re full and distracted.”
“Careful, Cookie, that Texas-sized ego is showing.”
She saw a flash of relief at her use of his nickname. “You know it, Shortbread. But you also know I earned it, fair and square. No one has ever been able to resist my ribs.”
“You’ve got my vote.” Kaya, who’d already cleaned her plate, was in complete agreement. “Your taste in male friends is questionable, but your food and choice in roommates makes up for it.” Dani watched her smirk widen. “You should set a plate of this aside for Gillian.”
A knot instantly formed between Dani’s shoulder blades. Gillian. She was talking about the pastry chef from the resort where Jace, Liam and Kaya all worked. The one who’d taken to baking strawberry tarts for Liam twice a week.
He loved strawberry tarts.
Liam frowned. “She’s not my type.”
“She’s exactly your type,” Dani blurted before she could stop herself. An adorable, tiny-hipped redhead who volunteered at a soup kitchen on her days off and made tarts. She was practically a saint.
The bitch.
“I think that’s my call, don’t you?” He stared at her as if waiting for a response, then looked away with a frown. “There’s more sangria in the kitchen when you run out. I’ll leave you three to it.”
The palpable silence after he went inside would be comical if she wasn’t a big ball of stress. She took a fortifying sip of her drink before waving her hand. “Go on. One of you spit it out before you explode.”
“Me?” Bailey placed her palm against her chest with a false look of surprise. “I didn’t say anything. Did you hear me say anything?”
“There’s nothing to say.”
“If you say so.” It didn’t sound like Bailey believed her.
Kaya took her hand. “Something’s finally happened between the two of you.”
“There’s no way you can know that.” How did she know that?
Magic.
After what she’d been through, Dani should be more than cynical. She should know miracles and magic didn’t exist. But she’d never really stopped hoping, and there was something about this rocky oasis in the high desert that didn’t allow for disbelief. Sedona was magical. Red rocks and runaways. Pink jeeps and possibilities. Vortexes and views to die for.
Sedona had people like Bailey, who’d befriended her, no questions asked. And Kaya, who, from the moment they’d met, seemed to see inside her with an ability Dani barely understood. Saw her, and more importantly, cared about her anyway.
The way Liam did.
“I’m right, aren’t I?”
“I knew it.”
“You guessed, B,” Kaya corrected her. “But now you’ll know, because Dani is going to give us details.”
“I really wasn’t planning on that,” Dani muttered.
“Yes, you were.”
“Damn it.” Yes, she was.
It tumbled out of her as if she’d been chugging truth serum instead of sangria. From the giant spider that had conveniently disappeared to her surprise embrace with her talented roommate.
“Now it’s all weird,” she finished, waving her arms toward the house. “You saw it for yourself.”
“I wouldn’t say weird,” Kaya demurred.
“No, don’t lie to her, Kaya. That was weird. Which doesn’t mean it isn’t also about damn time.” Bailey grabbed another ear of corn and leered before she bit into it with gusto.
“I want us to be like we were yesterday.”
Liar.
Bailey finished chewing, tilting her head, as if weighing her words. “You know Fran, the bartender from the Laughing Coyote? She and I have had a bet since the day we met you two. We didn’t let Kaya in on the action because she’s psychic and it wouldn’t be fair. But I bet good, hard-earned money that Liam would finally wear you down. Just you and that knight in shining chef whites in this secluded getaway every night? And we don’t have to mention his hotness factor again. I’d be jealous if you weren’t disgustingly perfect together.”