Read an Excerpt
Some Like it Sizzling
A Perfect Recipe Novel
By Robbie Terman, Stacy Abrams Entangled Publishing, LLC
Copyright © 2015 Robbie Terman
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63375-177-4
CHAPTER 1
The wedding was perfect. Or, it would have been. If the groom had shown up.
Jenna had planned everything down to the last detail. The 150-year-old church she'd picked was a historic landmark, filled with handcrafted wood, medieval stained glass, and gothic tapestries. The church had been featured in more than one bridal magazine, putting a premium on rental and having a waiting list so long she should have been old and bottle blonde before making it to the top. The only reason she'd been able to book was through a connection of Hal's.
White lilies filled the sanctuary, accented with purple ribbon. Three hundred and fifty guests were waiting in the pews, waiting for the bridesmaids, who wore strapless, lavender cocktail dresses, to lead the way to the altar, clutching bouquets of calla lilies, and for the flower girl to sprinkle pink rose petals on the white silk covering the aisle.
Three hundred and fifty guests were waiting for the bride to arrive on her father's arm, breathtakingly beautiful in a Vera Wang gown.
Jenna was waiting for the groom.
The door to the bridal suite opened, but Jenna kept her position at the window, staring out at the torrential downpour. She'd picked Labor Day weekend for the wedding, since it was usually mild weather in Chicago. She couldn't remember the last one with this kind of rain. Somehow, it was fitting.
"Jen," her best friend, Ashton Grey-Cates, whispered.
People always whispered when bad things happened, as if normal volume would make the pain that much worse. She put her hand against the foggy window, dampness sinking into her skin. "He's not here." Yet lingered in the air, unspoken.
Ashton put a hand on Jenna's shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze. Well, it would have been comforting if Jenna could feel anything. Numbness had set in forty-five minutes ago.
"I sent Ty to the apartment to make sure he's not there," Ashton said about her husband. "Chloe and Griffin are calling around to local hospitals, just in case."
"I didn't talk to him this morning," Jenna said, not wanting to even acknowledge the idea of her other best friend, Chloe Nelson, and Chloe's fiancé, Griffin Lange, making calls to see if Hal was lying in some hospital bed. "I thought I should uphold at least some wedding traditions, and not see him or speak to him before the wedding. I shouldn't have stayed at your place last night."
Hal had been fine at the rehearsal dinner, hadn't he? Jenna searched her brain for any oddity in his behavior, anything he'd said or done that would have clued her in to his disappearance today. But, to her embarrassment, she could barely remember conversing with Hal. She'd been too busy entertaining their guests.
Jenna finally tore her gaze from the rain and turned to Ashton, who was leaning against a chair, rubbing her lower back. "What are you doing? Sit down!" Although she was only seven months pregnant, Ashton looked like she could pop at any moment.
Ashton hesitated as she looked at the chair with longing. "I know you don't want the dress to wrinkle."
Jenna rolled her eyes, even as she admitted to herself that Ashton's words were true. She hadn't wanted the dresses wrinkled, either walking down the aisle or in the pictures. But what did it matter now?
"Please, sit," she said, pressing a hand on Ashton's shoulder to make sure her point was clear. "It doesn't matter anymore."
Ashton sat with a sigh of relief, but Jenna couldn't bring herself to do the same. What if Hal had just been delayed because of the rain? What if he walked in at any moment? He'd want her to look perfect, to make everyone forget he'd been late.
But even as she made excuses for him in her head, she knew he wasn't coming.
Appearances were as significant as breathing to Hal, and his colleagues and every important client in his accounting firm were sitting in the church. Hal would never leave them to wait an hour. This wedding had been more for the guests than the bride and groom, which was why Jenna had agreed to go so far over budget. If it would help Hal succeed in his career, she was on board. Because his success meant more security for her.
Not that she was a deadbeat who needed a man to take care of her. Four years ago, Jenna had returned from living abroad when Ashton had offered her a partnership in her new restaurant. Ashton would be executive chef, their third partner, Chloe, would be pastry chef, and Jenna would be the general manager. She hadn't known anything about the restaurant business, but she'd thrown herself into learning, and she was damn good at her job. Plus, she made a decent income. That, combined with Hal's compensation and drive for success, meant she never had to worry about where she would live or how she'd put food on the table.
After another fifteen minutes had passed and Hal still hadn't shown, Ashton hobbled to her feet. "I'm going to see if I can get a hold of Ty and check in with Chloe and Griffin. The cell service is terrible in the building, so they're making calls in the vestibule."
Jenna could only nod as Ashton waddled out of the room. Tears clogged her throat, but she didn't want any to escape. Crying didn't solve problems, so it was pointless. It also didn't make you feel better, only made you look weak and vulnerable. So she held on to those tears with everything she had, which gave her something to concentrate on rather than the three strongest probabilities of the day.
Hal had gotten cold feet.
Hal had been in an accident and was lying unconscious, unable to contact her.
Hal was dead.
"Angel?"
Jenna jumped at the sound of her father's voice. Ben Rawley stood in the doorway, worry etched on his face. She forced a smile as she watched him tug on his tuxedo jacket. He was far more comfortable on a construction site than in a ballroom, and Jenna couldn't ever remember seeing him in a tuxedo before. Even at her brothers' weddings, he'd just worn a suit. But he'd put on a tuxedo today, because he was the kind of father who'd do anything his only daughter asked.
"Should I" — he hesitated before continuing — "make some sort of announcement?"
"What kind of announcement?"
Her father smiled sadly. "Angel, the wedding was supposed to start nearly an hour and a half ago." He held out his arms to comfort her, but she stepped back, conscious of wrinkling her dress.
"We don't know what happened yet," she said, folding her arms across her chest.
He sighed and nodded slowly. "Okay, we'll wait." He gestured toward the hallway. "Your brothers would like to see you. Can they come in?"
"No," Jenna said sharply. Even though she loved her four older brothers, she knew what they would say. Some macho bullshit about how they'd find Hal and beat the crap out of him. She didn't want to hear it, not when there was a chance he could still show up. "Please, Dad. I just want to be alo ..."
Her voice trailed off as Ashton and Chloe returned to the room, the same grim expression on both their faces.
Jenna backed away, a hand over her racing heart. "Oh my God. Hal's dead, isn't he? What happened? Did he get hit by a car, walk in on a robbery? What?" Hysteria raised her voice at least an octave.
Her father reached her side, putting his arms around her, but she remained rigidly straight, unable to lean on him.
Chloe cleared her throat. "Griffin and I called every hospital in the city, and no one matching Hal's description has been admitted."
A wave of relief washed over her. "Thank God. Then why do you look like you're about to tell me the world is going to end?"
Chloe looked at Ashton, who continued. "Ty called from your apartment. Jenna, Hal's things are gone."
Jenna blinked several times. "What?"
"His clothes, his laptop, even his toothbrush. All gone."
Gone. Gone.
The word bounced around Jenna's brain, and she grasped for the meaning. "Hal's gone." It wasn't a question.
Tears filled Ashton's eyes. "Yes. I'm so sorry, sweetie. He's not coming."
The bones in Jenna's legs instantly melted, and she crumbled into a heap of silk on the ground. As multiple arms reached to comfort her, she could only think one thing.
My dress is ruined.
* * *
I need to get out of here. Jenna frantically fanned herself as she paced the bridal suite. Despite the cool, damp day, her body was overheated, and she couldn't seem to get enough air in her lungs. Ashton, Chloe, and her father had gone to make the announcement that the wedding was off, and Jenna was stuck in the room until the crowd of people left. As anxious as she was to leave, the only way to the front door was down the stairs and through part of the main chapel. She was humiliated enough; she didn't need to add a walk of shame.
But the longer she waited, the more desperate and agitated she became. Stepping to the window, she threw it open and sucked in the cool air, not caring that rain pelted her. When she finally heard the door open, her knees wobbled and she grabbed hold of the windowsill for support. Her momentary relief evaporated when she turned to see the frowns on Chloe's and Ashton's faces.
"Are there still guests down there?" Jenna asked.
"They're standing around talking," Chloe told her.
Jenna clamped her eyes shut as the pain, which had been centered in her chest, made its way to her skull. "About me, what I did to drive Hal away." She wrung her hands together. "Please, I need to leave, one way or another."
As she glanced back at the window, two sets of hands grabbed her. "You're not jumping out the window," Ashton said. "We're a story up and there's a garden beneath this room."
"With some prickly looking bushes," Chloe added.
"Then you need to get everyone to leave," she begged.
"Okay," Ashton soothed. "We'll go back down and try to usher people out."
"Hurry," Jenna called after them as they walked out the door. She began pacing again, unable to sit still, as she waited for Chloe and Ashton to come back. The more time passed, the thicker the air became, the harder to breathe.
Back at the window, she hung her head outside like a dog in a car and sucked in deep breaths. But the more air she took in, the more she needed, and when black dots began to form in her vision, she knew she needed to get out right this instant.
Rushing to the door, she threw it open and darted toward the stairs. The cacophony of voices stopped her before she reached the first step. There had to be at least one hundred people still in the church. At the door of the bridal suite, she wrapped her arms around herself and rocked back and forth. She couldn't leave, and she couldn't stay.
To hell with the huge drop and the prickly bushes; she was going out the window.
Then, a red beacon caught her attention. Her hands reached up of their own accord, her body operating separately from her brain. And before her mind could fully comprehend what she was doing, she pushed the lever of the fire alarm.
And inside the 150-year-old church, it began to rain.
* * *
Jenna was married.
Luke Kearney closed his eyes to avoid looking at his watch for the one millionth time that day. He didn't need to look to see that three o'clock had come and gone, and by now Jenna and that asshat fiancé of hers were probably in the middle of their first dance.
Fine. So he didn't actually know that the fiancé was an asshat, but it was a pretty good assumption on his part. If the fiancé was such a great guy, why had Jenna come looking for Luke five months earlier?
An image of Jenna flashed through his brain. Jenna with her golden hair flowing and wild, creased from his urgent fingers running through the blond locks. Jenna with swollen pink lips from frantic, consuming kisses. Jenna with her shirt wrinkled and skirt clinging high on her thighs. She'd looked so delightfully disheveled that day. So un-Jenna.
Luke scowled, rubbing his hands over his head as if he could erase the memory of Jenna Rawley from his brain. He'd spent close to fifteen years actively forgetting about her, and then one pointless almost-fire at her friend's business and she was back in his mind. If only she hadn't come to the firehouse that day. If only she hadn't kissed him like the last decade-plus hadn't happened. If only she'd never broken his heart.
But she had, and he was over her. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Asshat.
He just wished he hadn't seen their wedding announcement in the papers. Otherwise this would be just another day, and not the day his high school sweetheart, the woman his stupid teenage heart had thought was his soul mate, married another man.
And on a day when he could have used a little distraction, they hadn't had a call in hours. What he wouldn't give for a small abandoned car fire. Hell, he'd even take a cat stuck in a tree.
"Yo, Kearney, you got cotton balls in your ears?"
Luke's head snapped up, and he returned his attention to the game. He glanced at his cards, and then threw some down. "I'll take three."
Donut — so nicknamed because he always had at least one donut at hand — set down a cruller and dealt the cards. Luke glanced at them, but they could have been written in binary code for all the attention he had. "I fold."
"Guess that means you'll be taking my kitchen duty this week," Mattie, a fellow firefighter and the only woman in the group, said with a wicked grin.
They played for chores and personal favors instead of money. The last time he'd been this distracted during a poker game, he'd ended up detailing Donut's car.
"Dude, can you get your head out of the clouds?" Kai asked beside him. "No offense to your cooking skills, but Mattie's are a hell of a lot better."
Luke gave him a playful slug on the arm. "Just for that, you can go hungry."
"You've been distracted all shift," Mattie noted.
He ignored her, although Mattie was right. Because if he gave the slightest indication something was off ...
"Leave him alone," Donut said, reaching for his jelly-filled namesake. "The poor guy's heartbroken. His girl is getting married today."
Ah, shit.
"Wait a minute," Mattie hooted. "The blond ice princess from a few months ago? The one who came in looking like a Neiman Marcus mannequin and left practically undressed?"
"She was dressed," Luke said, rolling his eyes. Rumpled, yes, but definitely dressed. "And I'm not distracted because of Jenna. I'm not distracted at all."
"Sure." Mattie quirked up one side of her lips.
He shot her an annoyed look, which she returned tenfold. Not hard to wonder why Kai had nicknamed her Medusa.
Damn, this teasing was exactly the reason he hadn't wanted his teammates to know. The firehouse thrived on gossip; secrets were nearly impossible to keep. And if someone thought you were holding something back, they'd badger you until you broke. Donut claimed it was about trust. If you couldn't trust your fellow firefighter with a secret, how could you trust him or her with your life?
Well, Luke wouldn't hesitate to put his life in the hands of any man or woman in this house, no questions asked. Didn't mean he wanted them nosing around his personal life. Especially when it came to Jenna. If only Donut hadn't seen him looking at Jenna's wedding announcement.
"She was your old girlfriend, right?" Kai asked as he shuffled the cards and dealt a new hand. "Dude, she was hot. You still tappin' that?"
"You're a pig," Mattie said with a scowl before Luke could reply. "She's getting married. To another man."
Kai shrugged. "You're the one who said she left here half dressed. Do you get what that means, or do you need me to draw you a picture, Medusa?"
"Enough," Luke commanded as he put an arm out to his left, keeping Mattie in her seat. Her green eyes shot darts at Kai, no doubt tipped with poison. Kai didn't look that concerned, but Luke was pretty sure everyone at the table knew Mattie could take him in a fight.
"Whatever you say, Lieutenant," Mattie said icily.
Luke needed to end this before things got out of hand. This was what happened when a group of people spent nearly twenty-four hours together without much action. He let out a long sigh. "Yes, Jenna and I dated in high school. She left after graduation to model in Europe, and I didn't see her again for nearly fifteen years. No" — he leveled a glare at Kai — "I'm not 'tapping' that. She's married by now, and I have no interest in resuming our relationship anyway." He threw down his cards, not even bothering to glance at them. "The question and answer period on this subject is over. Forever."
Some divine force must have been looking out for him that day, because just as three mouths opened to protest, the loudspeaker came on with a squeak, alerting them to a call.
Their chief stepped out of his office. "We've got an alarm triggered at the Church of the Everlasting. No reports of smoke but, because it's a historic landmark, we're being sent in to back up Station Fourteen."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Some Like it Sizzling by Robbie Terman, Stacy Abrams. Copyright © 2015 Robbie Terman. Excerpted by permission of Entangled Publishing, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
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