All Hours

by ANDIE J. CHRISTOPHER

  “We all want that.” Felix wasn’t talking about the chef’s shoulder getting better so he could come back to work. He wanted that so they could see if this thing between them—that seemed to have taken on a life of its own in the past few minutes—was real or just a product of circumstances. He wanted to see if they could be something. Anything they were would burn out and die eventually—all fires ran out of fuel at some point. But he just needed to know if Joaquin really wanted him—or if it was just a weak moment from the other man.

  “I want to be the one in my kitchen.” His voice held this vulnerability that filled Felix’s dick. He’d never seen that side of Roman, never felt like he’d been able to get to the core of his ex. Right now, because of where things stood, he felt as though he was looking into Joaquin’s soul. And he could feel how freaked out he was about it.

  “Of course you do.” Joaquin let out a shuddering chuff of a breath, and it snapped Felix’s control. Felix put his hand on the side of Joaquin’s face, nearly groaning with the sensation of his soft beard against his hand. “I’m not going to sink your baby. I promised that. But, right now, I think you need something else from me.”

  Joaquin licked his lips, and Felix mirrored the action. “I do.”

  “I’ll give you whatever you need.” And then Felix kissed him, and his senses were flooded with all the happy sex chemicals that he’d been missing over the past few months. There were no tentative pecks or licks, the kiss was full on from the start. Careful not to jar the other man’s shoulder, he drew their bodies closer because the air between them was almost painful against his skin.

  Joaquin’s good hand fisted Felix’s chef’s coat and pulled him closer, aligned their bodies, so that their cocks rubbed against each other through clothes every time either of them moved. They groaned into each other’s mouths, tasted each other as though it was a twenty-course tasting menu.

  Felix sunk his fingers into Joaquin’s hair, pulling his mouth into the position he wanted it. He would never, ever get enough of kissing this man. From the second he’d allowed himself to start thinking about fucking him, he’d been screwed. And, while he was versatile and open to a world of possibilities when it came to sex, one thing became clear from kissing Joaquin—feeling this man submit to his whims and take his cock into him was an obsession that might never leave him.

  They both needed air, and their lips broke apart. Felix knew it would be over as soon as Joaquin got oxygen going to his brain, so he stepped back. But he wasn’t prepared to see the other man so utterly wrecked by the kiss. Even more wrecked than Felix was.

  “I’m sorry.” Why was Joaquin apologizing?

  “No need to be sorry.” Felix smoothed the white canvas that was still wrinkled from his fist in an attempt to regain his composure. “I kissed you.”

  “I’m not sorry about the kiss.” That had Felix looking at Joaquin full on. He hadn’t noticed that he’d been looking at everything but him before that moment. “I’m sorry that I yelled at you in front of the staff.”

  “Oh, well I’m sorry too.” Felix cleared his throat. “I should have told you about any changes to the menu, but Lola threatened me with life and limbs—all of them—if I disturbed your recovery.”

  “She’ll probably kick your ass for letting me in the door.” Joaquin laughed, his fondness for his grandmother finally breaking apart the sex haze that kiss had created. “I’m actually here to meet with Javi. I got special permission from nurse/Abuela Lola to leave the house today.”

  “Why are you meeting with Javi?”

  “He’s thinking of funding a new restaurant concept.”

  If Felix didn’t have a sudden but growing crush on Joaquin, and if he was a lot more like his ex, he would use that knowledge against the man he’d just kissed. He’d had no idea that Javi was looking to get into the restaurant business, and he was a little hurt that his brother-in-law hadn’t thought of him as a partner.

  True, he hadn’t made his desires known. Honestly, he hadn’t thought about opening his own restaurant in years—not since Roman had put their partnership off one too many times. And Joaquin was a much safer bet than Felix, who had no track record of success outside of his tiny catering business. Of course, Javi would want to back the winning horse. It only made sense, but it didn’t hurt any less.

  “Of course.”

  Joaquin went to straighten the collar on his shirt and winced. Unable to stop himself, Felix reached out and fixed it. After all, he’d been the one to mess it up. And although Joaquin’s gaze still held heat, there was a wall there that hadn’t been before. Felix knew that there wouldn’t be a repeat kiss, and there wouldn’t be any of the naked times—now or after Joaquin had recovered.

  “I should go.” Joaquin looked for a second like he was going to go in for another kiss, but Felix stepped away.

  “I’ll come by after close tonight to keep you out of trouble with Lola. We can go over some stuff.”

  Joaquin nodded and exited the walk-in, leaving Felix in the cold.

  Chapter 6

  Joaquin stopped in the men’s room before meeting Javi at the bar. As much as he wanted to jerk himself to the memory of Felix’s tongue dancing with his, he wouldn’t. Making out with his ersatz sous chef in the walk-in was enough of a breach of his personal ethics for the moment. And he wanted to savor the memory of their kiss while he tried to pull the urge to do it again out of his cock by force.

  They were practically family, and when it went bad, it would go very bad. Felix was his employee right now, and he never—ever—fucked the payroll. But still, he’d been this close to pulling the drawstring on Felix’s pants and pulling his cock out in his walk-in cooler. He would have done it if he hadn’t already been late to meet Javi, his potential investor, the person he should be focused on right now.

  He hadn’t even meant to give him shit about the cake paper. Max had filled him in on the food at the restaurant, and he’d damned near waxed poetic about it. Any ire he had was about the fact that this place—his baby—didn’t seem to need him. That was why he’d finally agreed to meet up with Javi for dinner. If he couldn’t be in his kitchen innovating, if this place could run on its own—hell, ran better with someone like Felix at the helm—maybe he needed to be thinking about his next step.

  And if Javi were going to finance his new restaurant, it would be another reason that he shouldn’t get involved with Felix—the ties of blood and family would be even more intertwined. And, he could definitely see Felix’s sister gutting him like a fish if he hurt her brother.

  So no way could they kiss again. Not even if Felix really showed up at his house tonight to fill him in on how the service went. Shit. Had that been a ploy to get into his pants?

  Joaquin washed the hand that wasn’t in a sling and rubbed his damp palm over his face. A hand that had been touching Felix just a few minutes before. He’d been hoping that his attraction to the other man had just been a momentary lapse in judgment that wouldn’t repeat now that he was feeling better.

  After his brother had gotten him to shower and eat an actual meal and drink a beer, he’d felt a bit more like himself again. And walking in the front of the house, he felt as though something had clicked back into place. He felt the gazes of diners on him. People who’d traveled hundreds or thousands of miles to eat his food. And it was still his food, despite the minor change to the dessert menu that Felix had made.

  And it was something that had helped his brother propose. Something inside Joaquin softened when he let his mind travel back to his brother telling him about how excited Felix had been about helping with the proposal. The cake paper bearing edible ink, with the words “Will you marry me?” and a box for “yes” and “maybe later,” had been so thoughtful that Joaquin had hardly been mad. Just disappointed that he hadn’t thought of it himself.

  When he saw Javi at the bar, he waved with his good arm. The bartender had a
beer for him before he could even ask for it, right after he’d gotten a solid half hug from his cousin.

  “Place is hopping.” Javi had the look of a useless playboy about him—or at least that’s what his wife said about him—but people who underestimated him did so at their peril. Since he and his sister Alana had taken over their family’s financial holdings, they’d been making money hand over fist. The idea that they’d want to invest in a restaurant—a notoriously risky proposition—and that they wanted to invest in him was immensely flattering.

  And now that his family didn’t really include his father anymore, Joaquin quite liked the idea of being related to his investors. He’d have a little more freedom to try new things than he would with a fund he didn’t have a personal connection to.

  “If you’re not a Delgado or a Hernandez, you can’t get a reservation here for months.” He didn’t even bother to keep the pride out of his voice. He’d built this, and he deserved to be proud.

  Javi nodded and took a sip of what looked and smelled like mezcal. If he was going to close the deal, he should probably feed the guy. He only hesitated for a moment before motioning for the bartender. Although Max had sung Felix’s praises, Joaquin hadn’t tasted his own food interpreted by Felix yet. He was almost worried that it would be better and that Javi would see him as a fraud.

  The bartender smiled as she approached them, looking genuinely happy to see him, probably because she didn’t work in the kitchen and didn’t normally have to deal with his bullshit.

  “Can we get one of everything on the bar menu?” That would be a good selection. They served a lot of snacky things there that soaked up alcohol for their bar guests.

  “We’ll need double of everything fried,” Javi said.

  Joaquin looked at him askance. “Are you eating for two?”

  His cousin raised his eyebrows. “No, but my wife is keeping me busy trying for that. It takes fuel.”

  Joaquin shook his head. It was weird to think of Javi starting a family, almost as weird as it had been when his sister had announced she was knocked up. So many babies that it almost made Joaquin long for one of his own. Babies were cute, and you could get them to eat almost anything if you started when they were young.

  But no one would put up with him long enough to raise a kid with him. And he certainly didn’t think he was equipped to do it on his own—not with the childhood he’d had. It was a stupid thing to even wish for at this point. He needed to be focused on healing his shoulder and getting back to work. Expanding his empire, not the space that his personal life took up in his head.

  Maybe this was Lola’s doing? She’d fixed the love lives of his siblings, and now he was her Everest. He knew better than to assume that she’d given up now that he was injured, and he was fairly certain that enlisting Felix’s help with work was just a ploy to get them to spend more time together. That had to be all it was.

  “Let’s talk about the concept for the new restaurant.”

  Javi popped a piece of chicharrón in his mouth from the platter that had just arrived and chewed before saying, “I think you have the whole fine dining game locked up. People wait for months to eat here.” He gestured at the crowded dining room. “What about something a little more homey?”

  The idea of a less formal restaurant pricked at something inside Joaquin. He wasn’t entirely opposed to it, but he’d found refuge in the formal kitchens he’d trained in. “I’m not sure—”

  “Listen, I think it could be a great way to make more money.”

  “I have enough money.” He did. His life was totally comfortable, and he’d paid back the initial investment that his father had made into his business because he hadn’t been able to stand owing his father anything.

  “There’s no such thing.”

  True, fortunes in the restaurant industry could turn on a dime. Maybe the economy would tank tomorrow, and no one would be able to afford the five-hundred-dollar tasting menu at Cielo anymore. Having a more casual option available while still utilizing his flavors might be a prudent option.

  But he wasn’t the guy who treated a restaurant like his home, welcoming guests in as though they were family. He could see Felix doing that, but it wasn’t him. Never had been. He was more like Max, his artist brother, that way. He wanted to create and present, not host. “I’m just not sure if it fits my vibe.”

  Javi wrinkled his forehead. “What about partnering with someone who does have that kind of style?”

  He had a sneaking suspicion that Javi was thinking of his brother-in-law. “You mean Felix?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m just not sure we can work together.” And not just because he wanted to get naked with Felix every time he saw him.

  “You’re working together now—”

  “But that’s different.” He lifted his arm in a sling to point out the obvious. “We’re not actually working together. He’s filling in.”

  “He’s not fucking things up.”

  From the delighted looks on diners’ faces and the festive din in the room, that much was clear.

  “No.” He paused. Maybe this could work? If Felix were at another location, he certainly wouldn’t be tempted to fuck him over his desk quite as often—or vice versa. He wasn’t sure what Felix was into. “Let me think about it.”

  Javi knocked back the rest of his drink. “We’ll all look at some locations together next week.” And then he stood up to leave.

  “Going so soon?”

  “My wife is insatiable.” The twinkle in his cousin’s gaze made him feel even lonelier than he normally felt, which was pretty lonely. “And she’s going to be glad to hear that I might have come up with a way to keep her brother in town.”

  “He’s really planning on leaving?” Joaquin had thought that was just something Felix had said. If he was serious about going back to New York, even with the prospect of being an uncle on the horizon, he must really think that there was nothing left for him in Miami.

  “Yeah, since Roman finally cut him loose, he’s been talking about moving back to New York.”

  As much as Joaquin didn’t want Felix in charge of his kitchen anymore, the idea of him moving didn’t sit well—at all. This was the first time it occurred to him that Felix’s devil-may-care attitude about his ex was really just a front. And maybe the way he was flirting with him was him saying he was open to a rebound. And it didn’t have to get all that serious even if they got naked.

  If there was a chance that Felix was going to leave town after his stint at Cielo was over, then they could indulge in the crazy chemistry brewing between the two of them temporarily. But, if he was going to stay in Miami and they were going to be in business together, it would be a bad idea for them to even think about kissing again.

  Although not thinking about kissing him again was not an option for him.

  “You have a thing for Felix?” When Javi spoke, Joaquin realized he’d been quiet and thoughtful for far too long. Whether Felix stayed in Miami or moved to New York wasn’t any of his business. The fact that he’d been deep in thought about it was a huge tell. His cousin knew him far too well not to pick up on it.

  “No. But I like him, and I didn’t realize how much the breakup had hurt him.”

  Javi sat back down. “Felix is a solid dude. He was skeptical of my pursuing Maya at first—as he should have been. He’s fiercely loyal, and once he loves someone, he’s all in for them. Roman’s cheating—if you can call it that since they technically had an ‘open’ relationship—tore at him. I shouldn’t be telling you all this. He should tell you himself.”

  “It’s not like that between Felix and me.”

  Javi laughed. “But it could be.”

  Joaquin wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t. “We’ve just kissed.” He didn’t know why he admitted that. He knew that the news would get back to Felix’s sister, who would t
hen demand details from Felix. And what should have been a one-time lapse of judgment would become family news.

  And then he’d never hear the end of it from Lola. He and Felix would become her sole mission—other than making everyone uncomfortable with her and Grandpa Rogelio’s PDA.

  “Don’t tell Maya.”

  Javi shrugged. “She’s going to know I’m not telling her something, and if I don’t fess up, she won’t do—things—so I’m not making any promises.”

  Exactly what he was afraid of. “It’s not a big deal. If Felix leaves, it would just be a fling. If he stays, then we have to work together.” The if it doesn’t work out was implied. None of Joaquin’s relationships ever worked out. He was too single minded and focused on his job to ever give enough attention—enough love—to a partner. He put his nose to the grindstone, and his lovers were always gone by the time he looked up from his work.

  “When was the last time you dated anyone?”

  Two—maybe three—years ago, but he wouldn’t admit that out loud. “I don’t know.”

  “That’s such a waste.”

  Javi could say that because he was happy with the love of his life. For someone who could never quite make it work—a man who was never enough for anyone—it was almost easier not to try than to let himself be broken over and over again.

  “What’s the point?”

  Javi sighed. “The point is that you enjoy each other’s company. The way you blushed when you told me about the kiss tells me that you like him. And he needs a distraction.”

  “Did Lola get to you?”

  He hadn’t considered the fact that Lola might have gotten her claws into Javi and might be using him to further her matchmaking efforts. “No. I just think you two might have fun together.”

  “He’s practically family.”

  “But he’s not.”

  “We’re nothing alike.”

  “Which is probably a good thing.”

  “This is none of your business.”