In Over Her Head: An Anchor Island Novel by Terri Osburn (reading eggs books .TXT) 📗

the Navarros were successful business owners, but he’d never heard the term super rich tossed around. “What exactly qualifies as super rich?” he asked.

She narrowed her eyes. “Like not quite Bill Gates, but a level above Beyoncé.”

“Seriously?”

“The Van Clement family is old money in Boston,” she said, lying back down. “I’ve grown to like this island, but if you saw the mansion Will could be living in, you’d wonder what the hell she’s thinking staying here.”

He’d had no idea and wondered if anyone else did.

“So that’s how I ended up here. Mom asked her if she knew a way for me to get my own restaurant. Will told me today that they hadn’t intended to revamp the Marina after buying it, but to grant Mom’s wish, they put the plan into motion, found me, and here I am.”

Then that was why Will hired such an inexperienced chef. “Did she recruit you, then? Didn’t you wonder why she’d contacted you out of nowhere?”

“She was smarter than that,” Lauren explained. “Mom told her I’d never take the job if I knew the truth, so Will contacted my boss and asked him to pass me the job info but to make it look like he’d told everyone.”

“And you didn’t think twice about applying?” he asked. “This isn’t exactly a short trip from Boston.”

Lauren rolled onto her back and crossed her arms over the top of the sheet. “To be honest, I’m not sure what possessed me to do it. When I applied, I didn’t really expect anything to come of it.” Looking his way, she added, “I definitely didn’t expect to come here and fall in love.”

Leaning over her, Nick trailed a finger along her cheek. “That’s the second time you’ve said that. Do you really love me?”

With a nod, she said, “I know it’s too fast, and I don’t expect you to feel the same way.”

“I love you, Lauren.” Relief softened her features and he wanted to keep her looking that happy for the rest of his life. “I love your strength, your determination, and most of all, I love that you have no idea how special you are.”

“I feel special when I’m with you.” Pulling him to her, she pressed her lips to his and Nick shifted until she was under him. Breaking the kiss, she stared into his eyes and whispered, “Don’t ever let me go.”

“Never,” he replied.

“Come on,” Lauren said, tugging Roxie through the crowd. “They’re about to announce the winner. I don’t want to miss it.”

“I’m going as fast as I can,” her friend said. “We already know he’s going to win.”

“That’s why I can’t miss it.”

Due to running her own tent, Lauren hadn’t seen Nick since they’d woken up that morning and dashed around each other to get ready. Despite her barrage of questions, he’d refused to tell her anything about the dish he’d entered in the festival competition. Though she was happy that Pilar’s was so popular, that popularity had made leaving the tent to taste anyone else’s food impossible to do.

Lauren had given up any concern about entering the contest, since Pilar’s was already filled to capacity every shift. What she’d always thought was a competitive nature had turned out to be more about survival than winning. Now that she was content for quite possibly the first time in her life, the need to prove herself and her food had disappeared.

“There’s Jackson,” she said, spotting the tall black man at the front of the crowd. “We need to get up there.”

“Cut around here,” Roxie said, pointing to an opening along the side.

They followed that path and reached her coworker at the same time that Will walked onto the makeshift stage. The competing chefs were lined up along the back, and Lauren caught sight of Nick in the lineup. She’d never seen him in a chef’s jacket before. Good Lord, he looked hot. He also looked nervous, which surprised her. She didn’t have to know what he’d cooked to know that he was the best chef up there.

“Welcome to the final event of this year’s Anchor Island Food Festival,” her cousin said into the microphone. “We’ve hit record attendance numbers this year, and thanks to the amazing eateries up and down the coast, the food has been better than ever. I speak for the planning committee and the entire island when I say thank you all for coming, and thanks to everyone who brought their delicious food for us to try.”

The crowd applauded, with a few louder whistles coming from the back, and Will waited for the cheers to fade before speaking again.

“The competition for Best of the Fest was tough, as always, but the votes have been counted and it’s my pleasure to announce the winner.” She paused to open a small envelope in her hand. Withdrawing the card inside, her smile widened as she said, “The winner of Best of the Fest for the third year in a row is Nick Stamatis of Dempsey’s Bar & Grill.”

Lauren screamed with excitement, leaping up and down and nearly jerking Roxie’s arm off. Then she found herself caught up in a celebratory hug with Jackson. As Nick took the microphone, she dropped to her feet and shushed those around her so she wouldn’t miss a word.

“Thank you, Will,” Nick said, accepting the trophy with much more calm than Lauren had displayed. “Thank you to everyone who voted for my dish, but in truth, you really voted for someone else’s.”

The crowd went quiet as people looked to their neighbors in confusion.

“Lauren, where are you?” Nick said, scanning the audience.

“Here she is,” Jackson yelled, while Roxie jumped up and down with a hand in the air.

“What’s he doing?” Lauren asked her second-in-command, but all he did was grin in response. Before she knew it, Jackson had shoved her up the stairs beside the stage and she found herself staring at hundreds of questioning eyes.

“Come over here, hon,” Nick said.

Unable to do anything else, she closed the distant