Her Big Easy Wedding The Complete Series

by Abby Knox

  Buster seemed to ignore her, but allowed her to stroke his neck and speak to him as he gobbled up the innards. “I hope you like your new bowl. I know it’s crazy and you’re not my pet, but I couldn’t help myself from going in to that cute little pet store down the street.”

  She looked behind her, but it sounded as if her sous chef was still trying to get the rusty bucket of a dishwasher to work. The last thing GiGi needed was for a pregnant employee to peek outside and have the liver scared out of her at the sight of a wolf at the back door.

  GiGi was barely making enough to cover the expense of having a full-time sous chef, but breaking even was the way it was going to be for the foreseeable future. Hopefully Uncle Lionel’s investment would hold out until she started turning a profit. GiGi had not wanted to accept his offer in the first place, but as an unknown in the business, and fresh out of culinary school, it was too tempting to pass up. So, she left her job as a line cook and took the leap.

  “No niece of mine is gonna spend her best years waiting for her big break,” he’d said. This investment came at a price, as her sense of responsibility forced her to oversee every last detail of the cafe’s operations and work until her back ached, day in and day out.

  “You’re nice company, Buster,” she said, stroking the wolf’s neck. “I feel like you get me. You should come around more than once a month. I’m too busy to have a pet at my place so this is a nice arrangement, even if all you’re interested in is hog intestines. At least it was a happy pig. You got the most pampered pig on the planet. No rabid squirrels for you tonight. Oh, but I almost forgot. I did save you something special.”

  She took out a foil-wrapped package from her pocket and the wolf looked up with intense, ice-blue eyes, licking his chops. “Oh, you smell that squab already?” She laughed. “Here you go, stud. But shush, don’t tell the sous chef, she would freak if she knew I was doing this with the leftovers.”

  The wolf downed the bird in seconds and then licked GiGi’s fingers clean. Then licked her face. GiGi laughed again. “You know, for a ferocious beast, you sure are full of sugar.” The wolf licked her whole face in one swipe. “All right, calm down, man.”

  She stood when she heard footsteps coming toward the back of the restaurant, and then a voice. “GiGi, did you already bleach the cutting boards? I told you, let the crew do that.”

  GiGi stood and glanced at the door and called over, “Yeah, I know, but it takes two seconds and I was right there, so, you know. I can’t help it.” She turned back to the alley. The wolf was gone. There was no sign that he had even been there. The full moon lit up a damp, empty alleyway.

  She sighed. Her big, terrifying gray pet was gone again.

  The first time GiGi had seen the wolf in the alley, about a year ago, it had scared the shit out of her, obviously. But now they were basically best buddies. As much as someone like her could be friends with a huge, blue-eyed gray wolf.

  GiGi looked off into the darkness and said, “See you next month, Buster.”

  Chapter 3

  Vann

  The famous celebrity chef needed to find a way to get to his old buddy Ash’s engagement party without drawing too much attention to himself from the drunks on Bourbon Street.

  It was Mardi Gras, so of course his driver couldn’t just pull up in front of Ash’s building.

  “I can’t let you out this far away, it’s not safe,” said his driver. “How would it look if I abandoned the winner of the Foodie Network’s Carnivore World Series of Cooking?”

  Vann West sighed. As ridiculous as that title sounded in his ears these days, it had been a huge hit and catapulted him to stardom.

  The cable television cooking competition had boosted the popularity of his titular New Orleans restaurant in the Freret neighborhood by about 1000 percent. The winnings and the avalanche of new customers meant he was able to hire a staff the size of a small army, take on full-time assistants and open locations in the French Quarter and in Times Square.

  And if that weren’t enough, his audacious behavior on the Foodie Network show—and some said his wolfy, ice blue eyes, flowing Thor-like hair and massive biceps—had scored him an extra dollop of attention. Now, a certain streaming television company was paying him to travel all over the world to eat and give his opinion on world affairs, as if he had an opinion that mattered. In what world could a hot-shot chef make so much money and not even have to cook?

  At this moment in time, Vann West was the shit. And now, all he really wanted to do was crash the engagement party of one of his oldest friends without causing a ruckus. He finally decided that being the shit meant sometimes you had to suck up the attention. So, he got out of the car and looked at the crowds. He donned his baseball cap and sunglasses, pulled his leather jacket tight around himself and hoped for the best.

  But on some level, if he was honest, he knew that getting recognized on the street doesn’t actually suck that bad.

  Chapter 4

  GiGi

  GiGi barely registered what her cousin and best friend Rosemary was saying. It was so loud up here.

  The idea of a rooftop engagement party overlooking Bourbon Street on Mardi Gras might have been the best or the worst idea ever. But that was Rosemary and Ash in a nutshell. Tonight, Rosemary was wearing a mask, and a dress entirely made out of beads. That’s right, all Mardi Gras beads. That girl was a wrecking ball and Ash was here for it, 100 percent.

  But GiGi was good at rolling with the punches for her Rosemary, and the advance paycheck for catering tonight’s shindig was going to come in pretty damn handy. Maybe she could go all out and buy a fancier chef jacket for special events, rather than this one she wore tonight that was starting to fray at the edges.

  Rosemary, slightly buzzed from some signature drink that Ash’s bartender friend Bobby had concocted for the night, had been lamenting to GiGi about one of Ash’s friends who was missing from the party that night. GiGi couldn’t hear half of it over the noise of this “gumbo-ya-ya,” but apparently said person had a crush on Ash. The whole idea was laughable; as if anything or anybody could get between Ash and Rosemary in the midst of their whirlwind — or hurricane — romance. GiGi, who didn’t have much experience in relationships, nodded and smiled and tried to change the subject by pointing out the amazing view of the French Quarter from up here on the rooftop.

  “GiGi, these beignets are a-fucking-maze-balls, darlin’,” Rosemary said, finally moving on from the subject of missing party guest.

  GiGi had also made, from scratch, mini-king cakes and cookies in the shape of wedding rings. For something savory, she went with homemade sausage and goat cheese wrapped in mini-pancakes. Everything was disappearing as fast as she and her sous chef and extra help could refill the serving trays.

  GiGi smiled and shouted at her cousin over the din. “Rosie, I’m so happy for you and Ash, I had to do something special.”

  Rosemary hugged her and said she had a few more requests. “I want you to do the cake for the wedding. Will you do it? Ash and I will pay whatever it takes to get it done. It’s got to be insane and only you know what I like.”

  GiGi expected nothing less. “Absolutely. Anything you want. It would be an honor and I’ll do it as my gift to you.”

  Rosie shook her head. “We’ll argue about that later. And since we’re in a bit of a rush to plan this thing in five months, can I lock down your people to do the catering as well?”

  GiGi realized that when Rosemary said. “your people” she assumed that GiGi’s little struggling cafe had a staff of dozens of servers and extra help waiting in the wings just for big events. The truth was, GiGi had her sous chef, a line cook, about three servers, one host that doubled as a wait staff manager, and an out-sourced cleaning crew that came once a week.

  As Rosemary shouted her requests over the loud music and revelry, GiGi smiled and nodded while anxiously doing acrobatic logistics and math in her head.

  She knew she was going to throw herself into some extra debt f
or one big splashy event, but hopefully the payoff would be worth it. Word of mouth that rippled around from a DuChamps wedding was invaluable.

  She’d just have to manage her time very closely. And hire more people. But the cakes? That would be all 100 percent her. Nobody was going to touch a DuChamps wedding cake but GiGi herself. Cake and pastry were her heart and soul.

  Suddenly, there was a mood shift in the party. Rosemary turned, and GiGi followed her gaze. The hum of activity was coming from the rooftop’s doorway leading to the stairwell. GiGi heard excited shouts and claps and even some whistles. And then she got a view of flowing blond locks glinting under the torchlights. Vann West was in the house.

  The crowd was freaking out. All GiGi could do was roll her eyes. Fuck. Me.

  That over-built showboating barbecue-grill man who now thought he was an expert in world affairs had decided to crash her best friend’s engagement party because…why? And everyone was OK with this because he was male, blond, and spent most of his time cashing checks and yammering on TV about Vietnamese street food.

  Yeah, she admitted it to herself. She was jealous. She wanted to go to Vietnam and eat street food and climb mountains and sleep on the beach and collect a paycheck from some anonymous subsidiary property management company that ran a restaurant with her name on it. Living his life that way certainly seemed to be good for his skin and hair.

  “Oh, slap my mama, I heard he might be coming, but I didn’t believe it. Can you believe that’s one of Ash’s oldest friends?” Rosemary was ecstatic.

  “I didn’t know,” GiGi replied, trying to look enthused.

  The crowd that gathered around the blond behemoth finally calmed down. A little chick with fake boobs and a Barbie-thin waist was hanging on his every word and giggling at what GiGi assumed could not possibly have been that funny.

  GiGi rolled her eyes and tried to focus on refilling her tray of appetizers.

  As she worked her way through the crowd, with an excited Rosemary on her tail chattering way, GiGi couldn’t help but glance back at the celebrity chef. Soon, it seemed to GiGi that the famous Vann West did not seem at all interested in this Barbie-style woman. If GiGi was not mistaken, this world-traveling slab of too-perfect manhood was eyeing her. GiGi. In fact, every time she glanced over, his piercing blue eyes seemed to become more and more intense.

  And, if GiGi was not mistaken, her dormant nether regions were waking up at all this attention. As time passed and this strange behavior of his continued, she felt herself blushing, and despite her feelings about the idea of this man, felt herself becoming aroused.

  Aroused was putting it mildly. Just being in the same room with a stare like that, she was afraid her panties were about to become sentient and remove themselves on their own.

  Come on, GiGi, don’t be an idiot. He’s not staring at you. He’s probably hungry and staring at this platter of appetizers you’re holding.

  She may not like the guy’s TV persona, but GiGi never turned away any creature who was hungry.

  Chapter 5

  Vann

  Vann could hardly believe what he was looking at. What were the chances that his favorite chef in the whole entire world was at Ash Boudreaux’s engagement party?

  He was not prepared to lay eyes on this beauty tonight, but now his eyes could not stop staring at her.

  Vann had made a point to eat at GiGi’s Cafe twice each time he came home to New Orleans to take a break from filming. Once as a disguised customer in the dining room. And then, wearing an entirely different kind of disguise on full-moon nights, she would feed him out the back door to the alley behind the cafe.

  And now, here he was in front of her as a man, undisguised, feeling totally exposed. He already knew he loved this woman. She was kind and generous and ridiculously talented, and had a gorgeous scent on her. Even in a chef’s uniform, with her hair pulled back in a bun, he could see the curve of her breasts, the tempting line of her jaw, the way she moved. It was all working for him. And she had absolutely no idea who he really was.

  And now she was walking toward him carrying a platter of something that smelled delicious, and he was starving.

  The chattering Barbie doll fangirl hanging on him finally shut up when Vann took an appetizer off of GiGi’s platter and handed it to her. The fangirl looked at him and giggled, “Oh, I can’t eat that. I haven’t eaten meat or bread in five years.”

  Vann looked from her to GiGi and back at her. “I’m sorry. What’s your name?”

  “Candi with an ‘i.’”

  “Candi-with-an-i, it was nice to meet you. Thanks for watching. I hope you have a wonderful time at the party, and now I have to talk business with the chef here.”

  Candi eyed GiGi resentfully and clomped away in heels that were about two inches too tall for comfort.

  GiGi looked at him and smiled. My god, he would do anything just to have this woman smile at him like that and bring him food every day.

  He winked at GiGi as he picked up another pig in a blanket and said, “Imagine not eating meat or bread. Why do you even watch a cooking show? Why be a fan of someone who’s clearly a carnivore?”

  GiGi smirked. “I can’t even imagine why that would be.”

  Then the taste hit him. It was a maple and cardamom-infused mini pancake wrapped around pork sausage with a natural skin and goat cheese. “Oh good god. Did you make this?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “This might be the best thing I’ve ever tasted in my life. Do you do your own casings?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  Vann thought he might orgasm right there in his pants.

  “How are you even able to do that in that teeny tiny restaurant?” he asked.

  GiGi’s eyes widened. “You know my cafe?”

  He blurted out, “Sure! I eat there all the time!”

  GiGi eyed him suspiciously. “That’s not possible. There’s no way you would walk into my restaurant and my entire wait staff not alert me. They all have the hots for you.”

  He blushed. Oh god, was he really blushing? “Yeah, I’ve gotten really good at disguises.”

  “Oh. I’m still impressed you even know who I am by sight.”

  Now he was almost busted, so he turned on the most charming television-worthy smile he could muster. “Well, I’m not gonna lie. I like your food so much I found out your name and then creeped on your Facebook page.”

  She laughed. “Weirdo alert! Why not just friend me?”

  He shook his head and shrugged. Fuck, this woman was busting his balls. It had been a while since anybody had dared to, but he kind of liked this. Who was he kidding? He really liked it. Finally he went with a half version of the truth. “Because I’m a weirdo and uh…I thought you were hot and I was content to just be obsessed with you from afar.”

  Her eyes widened and she said, “Wow. And now that we’ve met in person?”

  “And now I’m going to be a super creeper because I’m full-on obsessed.”

  “Come on,” she said, rolling her eyes. How does she do that and still look so sexy?

  “Don’t believe me? You don’t know what it’s like to travel to foreign countries, feeling like a fish out of water, and then come home to a beautiful woman from your hometown, bringing you food on a silver platter. It’s true love for a man like me.”

  Her mouth fell open.

  Yeah, he knew this approach was over the top and an insane way to hit on a woman. But he had never not taken risks. And look where he was? All these risks had landed him an amazing job and right back here to his mate.

  Before he could nail down a date night with this woman, Ash and his girl sidled up.

  “Ash! Congrats, my man!” Vann’s pack buddy hugged him and they instinctively let out a howl together.

  “Thanks, buddy. May I introduce you to my fiancée Rosemary DuChamps? By day, a kindergarten teacher at Saint Mary’s and by night, destroyer of men.”

  Vann kissed her hand chivalrously. She said, “So nice to meet yo
u, Vann. I see you’ve met GiGi, my dearest cousin and one of my oldest friends. She’s going to be doing the cakes and all the catering for the wedding. I see you’re enjoying her food already.”

  Ash suddenly looked super awkward and then said, “Um, baby girl, I apologize. In my haste I asked Vann to have his people do the food. I feel like a right idiot.”

  Shit. How do I fix this? thought Vann. Then, he came up with the perfect solution.

  “GiGi, why don't you take the job, you need it more than I do.”

  GiGi looked stung by his words and he realized what that sounded like. “That came out wrong…”

  She put up her hand and pasted on a concrete smile. “No, no, it’s fine. I mean when you have Vann Fucking West at your disposal, how could you not accept his offer to cater your wedding? You’d be insane not to.”

  Yikes. He had offended her and taken away a gig. He felt like a total piece of shit. This is how he repaid her, after months of her feeding his pathetic, hungry ass out in the back alley?

  Rosemary broke in then. “Look. How about this? GiGi, we’ll have the rehearsal dinner at your cafe, and then of course you’ll do the cake.”

  Ash nodded. “Sounds like a fair compromise to me,” he said.

  Vann felt like such an ass. He could tell GiGi was still not happy but she was evidently going to roll with it.

  “I’ll let GiGi call it.”

  “It’s fine,” she said, her face unreadable.

  “Think of it this way,” Vann said. “We’ll all be handling what we do best. You’re really a pastry chef at heart. I couldn’t stand to do the cakes anyway. I am not a dessert man, by any stretch.”

  GiGi looked up at him and smirked. “You perhaps haven’t tasted my desserts yet.”

  That he hadn’t. “Soon enough, angel face,” he said.