Three for Dinner
Three for Dinner
Three for Dinner
Three for Dinner
When Tesa Reynolds fell in love with Erik Montgomery, she didn't know he had an identical twin brother--or that the brothers shared everything. Unable to understand how two men could share one woman--or that she was actually in love with both men--she broke off the affair.
Three years have passed and the Montgomery twins search her out, confessing their love and wanting her back. Tesa has never forgotten Erik and Sean and seeing them again only renews her passion. Can Tesa realize now that it is indeed possible to be in love with two men at the same time? Or that two men can actually share the one woman they love without conflict?
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Three for Dinner
Copyright © 2010 Fawn Lowery
ISBN: 978-1-55487-526-9
Cover art by Angela Waters
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Three for Dinner
By
Fawn Lowery
Dedication
To Jay—Thanks for all you do.
Three for Dinner
Chapter 1
Tesa Reynolds closed the cabinet and wiped her forearm across her brow. The air conditioning had been on the blink for the past two hours and it was heating up terribly in the restaurant kitchen. She carried the pie plates over to the pastry station and began assembling the strawberry tarts. If that repairman doesn’t hurry, I’ll have to send everybody home and close the restaurant for the night. She grimaced. Business hadn’t been so good that she could afford to close for the evening. New York was having a heat wave and every aging cooling system was choosing that time to break down. And little establishments like Caleigh were moved to the bottom of the repair list.
It wasn’t fair, but then neither was life. Tesa chuckled and shook her head. She tried to keep thoughts like that out of her mind and concentrate on what she was doing. She picked up a plump strawberry and admired it, then poked it into her mouth. Closing her eyes, she savored the sweetness on her tongue.
“I just heard from the repairman, Tesa.”
Tesa turned as Janet Bishop rushed into the room. Janet was the hostess at Caleigh and a close, personal friend. They had roomed together in college, then, when Tesa decided to leave the university in lieu of studying at The Culinary Institute in Paris, Janet promised she would come work for her if she returned to the States and opened her own restaurant. Three years abroad had earned her a chef’s degree in pastry creations. Caleigh was her brainchild. She sunk every penny she could beg, borrow and steal into getting the restaurant up and running.
“Please tell me he’s on his way,” Tesa said, pausing and looking at Janet.
Janet shook her head. “He won’t be here until tomorrow afternoon.” She wrinkled up her nose. “I hate politics, Tesa. I know damn well politics are involved in this somehow.”
Tesa sighed and wiped her hands. Glancing at the tarts she had assembled, she bit her lip. “Well, lock the door. We can’t possibly open tonight with the air conditioner on the blink.” She turned to the massive wall oven and slid the two trays of tarts inside. “I hate to keep heating up this room, but I have to get these baked. At least I won’t have to come in early and bake tomorrow.” She turned to Janet. “Cancel the reservations for the evening. And call Carl. There’s no sense in him coming in.”
“Carl already called. He’s at the hospital with his wife. The baby is on the way and he won’t leave her side.”
Tesa smiled. Carl and Lilly had been trying to have a child for two years, the length of time she had been fighting to get Caleigh on the society pages of the New York Post. “That’s good. I hope it’s a boy. Carl will make a great dad. He deserves a son.”
“I hope it’s a girl,” Janet commented, cocking her head at Tesa. “I want to pretend I’m an aunt and I don’t know anything about boys—except that I’d like to have a grown up one to take to bed.”
Tesa nodded. “I’d like one, too, if you’re taking orders. I’d like a blond hunk with muscles and a penchant for making love.” For an instant, she fought a sensual memory.
“I’ll make the calls,” Janet announced, spinning on her heel. “Then I’m going home. My air conditioning is still working.” She fanned one hand. “You’re not staying here all by yourself, are you?”
“I can’t leave until I get everything in order for tomorrow. Did the repairman give you a time?”
“Nope, just sometime after twelve o’clock. Sorry. I tried to pin him down, but you know how those guys are. They want to work at their own pace.”
Don’t we all? Janet left and Tesa turned to check the oven. It was stifling in the room. She walked to the refrigerator at the back of the room and removed a bottle of wine. Taking a glass from the rack near one of the prep stations, she poured herself a glass. The first sip made her close her eyes. The coolness of the drink quickly engulfed her senses. She perched on a stool near the pastry table and tried to cool off.
It was the second time in a month that the building had problems. First, the roof sprang a leak and a repairman had to be called. After three days he arrived, late in the afternoon, but had the leak patched before the dinner hour and another rainstorm. The thought of all the mess the leak caused brought to mind the notion that she should intensify her search for a different location.
“Would a new location make any difference since I can’t even keep a cook for more than a few months?”
She drained the glass and poured more wine. Since opening Caleigh, she had hired and fired more cooks than she could count on one hand. Except for Carl, and lately, he too, seemed to be making his way to the unemployment line. Not counting the pending birth of his first child, he had missed two days already that week.
What’s wrong with these chefs? I offer steady employment. All I ask is that they show up and pull their own weight. She bit her lip. And Jack, an expert sous chef, is teetering on the brink. He has a habit of coming in late and disappearing for long periods at a time.
Her brows drew together. Once, she had found him asleep in the stock room. Memories of her mom came to mind, gentle, reassuring, always there when she needed her. She had been a wonderful cook and Tesa’s mentor. Raising the glass to her lips, she pushed aside the thoughts. There was little anyone could do for her now, or Caleigh, for that matter. She was the sole owner and everything about the business fell on her shoulders.
“I wish I could find a chef who didn’t put everything else in his life ahead of his job.”
A burning hot thought came to mind. I should have kept in contact with Erik and Sean.
“Oh, God! Those two...”
Tesa reached for the pins holding her hair atop her head and released the long blonde tresses. It only tormented her mind to think of Erik and Sea
n Montgomery, the twins she had studied with in Paris. They were gorgeous, tall, blond, handsome beyond her wildest dreams, and very much the alpha males. In the institute, they had excelled at every culinary challenge, graduating at the top of the class. Opening their own restaurant was not at the top of their list, however. They wanted to backpack across Europe for a year or so before returning to the States and settling down.
She had almost fallen in love with Erik, until she discovered he had an identical twin. She remembered the shock she suffered the day she saw the men together for the first time. She was hard pressed to tell them apart. Having slept with Erik the night before, she wasn’t able to tell him from his brother, Sean.
Her mind spun as she stared at the two. Of course, they were delighted that she couldn’t tell one of them from the other, and purposely went out of their way to play tricks on her. One evening Sean arrived at her apartment pretending to be Erik and after only a brief petting, took her to bed.
Though their lovemaking was very similar, she had grown accustomed to Erik’s actions toward her just seconds before he climaxed. He would tighten his arms around her body and drive his cock inside her with such intensity it was obvious he was on the verge of orgasm. When the man she was coupled with began to kiss her so passionately she thought she would pass out, she knew it was not Erik she was having sex with, but his twin.
It was then she realized she had to put an end to the affair with the men. Feelings of love for them both filled her insides and thinking she was much too sensible for such a relationship, she broke off the affair. Luckily, it was only a week before graduation and she would return to New York. Her eyes misted and she pushed aside the thoughts. Since the twins, she had found herself unable to love any other man.
The oven timer chimed and Tesa slid from the stool. She pulled the pastries from the racks and set them aside to cool. As soon as she could refrigerate the cakes, she would finish tidying up and go home for the day. She looked around the large kitchen. It was versatile in so many ways and every time she thought about looking for a new location, she feared she could never find another facility that afforded her the space she needed to run her restaurant properly. And too, keeping the restaurant at one location was good for business.
Everyone had gone home; the main dining room was shuttered and stuffy without the benefit of air conditioning. She walked through the white draped tables, making certain there were no lit candles on any of them before returning to the kitchen and sliding the strawberry tarts into the cooler. Removing her apron, she turned toward the rear of the kitchen to gather her purse and car keys. “Maybe things will be better tomorrow.” She sighed. “They can’t get much worse.”
Three for Dinner
Chapter 2
Tesa left the restaurant and headed across town to her apartment. The afternoon traffic was dreadful, as usual. It seemed like every person in the city owned a car and was trying to rush somewhere. Cars were lined up bumper to bumper as far as the eye could see. Sounds of horns honking and people leaning out of their windows shouting obscenities at other drivers filled the humid afternoon air. She rolled the dial of the air conditioner, directing the cold blast of air straight into her face. The sweltering heat in the restaurant had sapped her energy.
At times, she felt like giving up. The chore of running the restaurant and trying to keep all her employees happy was a full time job in itself. Good kitchen help was hard to find, as she had already learned in the short time she had been an employer. She had yet to find the perfect match between herself and a head chef. Time and time again she had to remind her cooks that the entrees had to be consistent in flavor and presentation. She grimaced. “Maybe I’m just a bitch when it comes to being exact.”
The apartment building came into view up ahead and she slumped in the car seat. The two miles had seemed like a million. Pulling into the parking garage, she shut off the motor and sat for a moment. If she could live anywhere, it would be Paris. The old world city was steeped in romantic history and flavored with diversity. Just to stroll along a Parisian street made her senses come alive.
Dashing the thought, for it was highly unlikely that she would ever leave New York again; she grabbed her purse off the passenger seat and opened the car door. The sooner she got inside out of the heat, the better. A long soak in the tub came to mind. She didn’t often have the time for such luxury and wouldn’t now except for the problem with the air conditioner at the restaurant.
Letting herself in the apartment, she checked the answering machine for messages, removing her clothes as she listened to the hastily recited memos. Carl had left a message that he was taking Lily to the hospital and expected to be a dad before morning. She smiled as she listened to his excited words. Being a parent was not on her list of things to accomplish, so hearing someone who was really anxious to have a child expound on the joys of waiting for his offspring to be born, filled her maternal need.
As Tesa sank into the cool froth filling the bathtub, she reminded herself that she would have to go to the restaurant and wait for the repairman before noon tomorrow. Sleeping in would be a little hard since she was worried about losing business tonight and possibly tomorrow.
The main dining room at the eatery was large and would take several hours to cool sufficiently before opening the doors to the public. The heat of the ovens and stoves in the kitchen would only add to the burden of the old cooling system. She considered calling the owner of the building, but dashed the idea. He had been trying to make her a deal for ownership of the property and she kept balking at the idea. Even though the location was ideal for Caleigh, close to downtown attractions and transportation, she wasn’t comfortable assuming such a large debt.
As she dried and pulled on pajamas, she thought about the prospect of taking on a partner. In the past she had wanted to be the sole owner, but since problems with building maintenance and employees arose, she was beginning to think having someone to shoulder part of the burden might warrant more consideration. She shrugged. Well, she didn’t have anyone in mind to partner with. My business life mirrors my personal life. She shook her head and went toward the kitchen to fix her lunch.
The afternoon soon gave way to evening and all Tesa could think about was how much money she was losing by having the restaurant closed. She combed her fingers through her hair. She supposed she couldn’t do anything about the fact that the air conditioner broke down or that it was nearing a hundred degrees in the city. New York was a wonderful city to live in—it had nightlife that was only comparable to Las Vegas, and renowned people making it their homes.
Tesa stabbed a piece of melon and brought it to her mouth. At times she wished she had a man in her life. Maybe the nights wouldn’t seem so long if she had someone to talk to, cuddle with, and have sex with. She smiled. She missed having regular sex. Sometimes she blamed the absence of sexual relations on her inability to do anything aside from work. Rarely did she come out of the kitchen and greet any of her patrons. Janet was the hostess and that seemed enough. If there was a problem with a dish, and the manager was called, she tightened her apron around her waist and made an appearance.
Her thoughts returned to the Montgomery men. Damn! They were sexy and fun. She never wanted for companionship or sex. Oh God, the sex was indescribable. Two weeks after she met Erik, she was certain she had met the man of her dreams. She wanted him to propose so badly she almost took the initiative and asked him to marry her. Thank God she had the foresight to wait a while. When Sean appeared, she couldn’t believe her eyes. And when he pretended to be his brother, she found it hard to believe that Erik would share her.
She wrestled with the fact that she might be in love with both men. How could a relationship like that survive? Her brows drew together. Why should she be thinking of either man now? She hadn’t seen either since flying home from Paris. When she opened Caleigh, she had called the institute just to boast her good fortune and let the instructors know she had achieved her goal. She had hesitated to as
k about the twins, but finally managed to work the question into the conversation. Disheartened with the news that they were somewhere in Europe, she tried to put them out of her mind.
“Easier said than done,” she mumbled, taking a bite of salad. She left the table and went to the refrigerator. Whenever she thought about Erik and Sean, she usually needed a drink to get them out of her head. She removed a bottle of wine and poured a glass. “Forgetting the twins is like climbing a mountain blindfolded.” She laughed and took a sip of wine. “That might be a stupid analogy, but it’s true.”
Three for Dinner
Chapter 3
The lights dimmed, blinked, then ceased. “What the hell—”
Tesa jumped off the couch, the thought that the city surely wasn’t in a damn blackout coming to mind. Drawing the drape aside, she gasped. “Son-of-a-bitch!” The city lay in total blackness. As far as she could see from her high-rise apartment, there was nothing illuminated. “This is all I need.” At least the refrigeration system at the restaurant had a backup generator. She tried to hold on to that thought as she raced to another window in the apartment to check for city lights.
As far as she could see, blackness stretched like a long dark ribbon of despair. She leaned her head against the cool windowpane and closed her eyes. It often took hours for the utility company to regain access to the power grid and set things right. In the meantime, the building would heat up and it would become an oven inside the structure. As badly as she wanted to scream her discord at the situation, she stifled her emotions and went to the couch. The room was pitch black and the first thing she did was bang her shin against the coffee table.