by Em Petrova
They raised their sweet teas. “To Jada and Dom!” Joss called out.
“To Jada and Dom!” The echoing toast had her leaning into Dom’s side. He anchored her to him with an arm around her waist, and they all drank to their efforts and success.
Toward nightfall, the smoker was packed full of meat for their first customers come opening time tomorrow. Cort and Joss had gone home to spend time with their son, and Kaoz and Aidan had taken their wives home as well.
Dom and Jada refused to leave their post, which meant camping out in the bed of Dom’s truck. He waved at the little door for her to crawl inside the truck topper.
“I can’t believe you borrowed a topper off your friend,” she said, hitching her boot onto the bumper to hoist herself in.
When she crawled inside, her knees hit a soft, spongey mattress. “Dom, you have this tricked out like a camper!”
“What did you expect? To sleep on steel and then get up in the morning and slave all day over barbecue?” Amusement tinged his tone as he crawled inside behind her.
His knee struck her in the hip, and she toppled over, face-planting into the covers. “Oof!”
“Oh crap. Hold on. Let me get the lights.”
A second later, the entire camper lit up with twinkle lights. She pushed her face off the covers and flipped onto her back to stare up at the magical sight. He’d strung twinkle lights back and forth across the ceiling of the space and down each of the sides. She lay on a mattress covered in fluffy pillows and a mix of quilts.
“Oh my gosh,” she whispered in awe. “How did you do this?”
He landed on the pillow beside her, staring at her instead of the lights. “I wanted to make it special for you.”
“For us.” She twisted onto her side and gazed into his eyes. “It’s perfect, Dom. You’re amazing.”
His crooked grin gave her all the warmth she’d need for camping out, with or without the additional comforts he’d brought along. “Look in that corner by your feet.”
She sat up a bit to see an ice bucket and a bottle of champagne chilling.
“Dom!”
His eyes glowed. “Why don’t you grab it and I’ll get the glasses.”
Her heart exploded with love for the man who went above and beyond in making their night special. As if just being together and seeing out their goal wasn’t enough.
She plucked the champagne from the bucket and when she sat up, he was there with a pair of champagne flutes hooked in his fingers. “What’s that dangling off the stem?” she asked and then went still as the object came into focus.
A ring.
Her jaw dropped and she stopped breathing.
He reached out and took the bottle from her hands. Then he carefully untied the ribbon that attached the ring to the stem. When it dropped into his big palm and the diamonds caught the light, a rasp escaped her throat.
“Dom!”
Staring into her eyes, he took her fingers and slipped the ring into place. “Jada Ellis, love of my life, partner of my soul, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
Tears rolled down her cheeks, and all at once her mind broke free and words tumbled out. “Yes! Oh my God, Dom! Yes!” She threw her arms around him, rolling him back into the bedding. Their lips met in a long, passionate kiss, and she found a tear on his cheek with her fingertips.
She lifted her head to meet his gaze. “I can’t believe you asked me to marry you tonight.”
He brushed his fingers along the curve of her cheek. “Thank you for saying yes.”
“Was there ever a doubt in your mind?”
“Yes. When I thought of all the things I’d done to make you unhappy—leaving Crossroads for the rodeo. Then putting my restaurant across the road from yours. The sign, buying up all the grills.”
“Well, I bought up all the charcoal.”
“I guess I didn’t know if my actions came off as self-centered. But never once did I think of hurting you, Jada. My only drive was to be the best and build a life that I could ask you to join me in being a part of.”
Another tear slipped free of the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek. He thumbed it away as his gaze intensified. “Will you forgive me for all of it?”
“Knowing your reasons behind it, yes. But you know I forgave you long ago.”
“We’ve been friends since the start.”
“And rivals,” she put in.
“Lovers.” His voice pitched low.
Butterflies whirled in her stomach. “And friends again.”
“We’ve had a long road, sweetheart.”
“But I think we’ve come to a crossroads, don’t you?” She searched his eyes.
He nodded. “A place where we work together.”
“And we’re going to win top barbecue. And live happily ever after.”
“Hell yeah,” he drawled, and kissed her. After they finally came up for air, he popped open the champagne and the frothy liquid flowed into the flutes she held. The engagement ring twinkled like another of the lights he took so much time to string up.
Sitting across from each other in the camper under battery-powered stars, they clinked glasses and sipped champagne to their future.
* * * * *
Dom circled the smoker and set eyes on Jada. His heart flexed at the sight of his fiancée, but he ached at what he had to tell her.
“Jada.”
She looked up from manning the smoker. She took one look at his expression and her brows crinkled. “What’s wrong?”
“I just came from the competition.”
They’d already ruled out that of the five pit-masters competing for the title at this fair, only one posed a real threat. She set aside the tongs she’d been using to shift the meat around on the rack.
“You tasted their food?”
He nodded. “It’s good.”
“How good?”
“Excellent.”
She compressed her lips. “Well, ours is excellent too.”
“I talked to the owner. They’ve won up and down the coast.”
“Well, that doesn’t mean we don’t have a chance.” Her voice cracked. “You don’t think we have a chance, do you?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know.” He only knew how much this meant to her—how she’d hung all her hopes on this competition and winning in order to validate her life.
“Jada, this is my fault.” He put his hands on her shoulders.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m the one who made you question if your food was worthy in the first place. If I hadn’t moved into your territory and taunted you that my brisket’s better…”
She shook her head. “This is a hard business, Dom. We both found that out. You’re not responsible for me questioning if I’m good enough—that’s the nature of the business.”
He studied her face and didn’t see the letdown he thought he would. “I’m still sorry for it.”
“You pushed me to better myself and think outside the box. You made me fall in love with you more every day.”
He closed his eyes and opened them again slowly to see the lights of love dancing in hers.
“And we will not concede defeat! They might have good food, but so do we. It’s down to the judges’ decisions, but I’m not giving up yet.” Determination resonated in her voice.
“Damn, this is why I love you so much. You’re right—I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess that pork melted in my mouth and I kind of freaked out, thinking about how to break the news to you.” He shook off the pressure. “No matter what the judges decide, we’re going home the best in Crossroads.”
“That’s right!” She leaned in and gave him a hard kiss on the mouth. The flavor of the woman he loved wiped away all his worries of being the best. Because as long as he was the best at being her man, that was all that mattered to him.
As he lifted his head and met her stare, he knew she felt the same. Together, they’d come out on top.
Chapter
Eleven
Jada and Dom stood in her parking lot watching their friends drive down the road, honking their horns and waving out their windows until they were out of sight.
She still gripped the big wooden cutting board that had FIRST PLACE PIT MASTER branded into the surface. She had to admit the minute the judge placed it into her hands, she hadn’t let it go except once to allow Dom to hold it and enjoy the victory.
She turned to him, and they bowed their heads over the board. “I can’t believe we did it,” she said for the twentieth time since the judging.
“Me either.”
“You didn’t have faith in us.”
“I had all the faith in the fact that even if we came in fifth place, that we’d be the best together.”
She smiled and bumped her shoulder against his arm. “Let’s put this up on the wall in your restaurant.”
He stared down at her for so long that her heart gave a hard squeeze of worry. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you, Jada.”
Her insides fluttered. “I’m listening.”
“Come sit down.” He twitched his head toward the picnic table that Theo and Dom had just unloaded into her yard again. She followed him to it and perched on the bench, staring at her fiancé.
He flattened his hands on the table, and she set aside the prize and knotted her fingers in her lap.
“I don’t like this,” she said after a moment of silence.
He nodded and then pushed out a sigh. “I’ve been in business three months.”
“Yes, same as me.”
“And in those three months, I haven’t turned very many days of profit.”
Her eyes flew open wide and she gaped at him. “What?”
“It’s true. My overhead’s too high.”
“Not even when you had The Georgia Peaches to play?”
He gave a doleful shake of his head. “I did make money on that, but it was short-lived. I don’t see how I can keep losing money and keep my doors open, Jada.”
“But…” She bit her lip and looked down at the surface of the table. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“I hoped things would improve. I know most businesses don’t earn profits the first year or even the second. But I’ve run through my resources faster than I hoped. Buying expensive kitchen equipment probably didn’t help, but I wanted the best. Anyway, I don’t know what to do now.”
The shock she felt ripped through her again. She hadn’t guessed at his financial state.
“I didn’t help matters by ruining your sign,” she began.
He reached across the table and settled his hand over hers, weighting it to the table under his callused touch. His eyes burned when he looked into hers. “It wasn’t your fault. The sign didn’t matter in this case. I did what I set out to do, but fact is, I’ve failed. I can’t afford to keep my doors open past the end of the month.”
“No!” Pain for his loss knifed through her.
He nodded. “I’ve spoken to my grandpa about this at length. Some of the money is his investment, and I feel bad about losing it. I’ll try to pay him back in time.”
“What will you do afterward? You won’t…return to the rodeo, will you?”
He shook his head at once. “No plans at all to return to that life. I have roots here. My life’s here. My wife-to-be is here.”
She turned her palm over to mesh their fingers together.
“I can’t bear the disappointment for you, Dom.”
His heavy sigh snaked around them both. “I won’t say I’m not disappointed myself. But I tried. And my smoked brisket won this.” He pointed to the award.
She twisted her lips. “I’m pretty sure my special sauce and spice rub won.”
He grinned at her challenging tone. He started to say something, but she sucked in a sharp breath as realization hit.
She stared at him for a long minute and then looked beyond him to Savage’s, closed up for the night and soon to be forever.
“I have an idea,” she said slowly.
“Uh-oh. Does it involve paint?”
She gave him an exasperated look. “No. I’ve retired my paintbrush. I’m talking about this.” She pointed to the award. “We did this. We’re the best in three counties, maybe up and down the coast if we want to try to win those titles too.”
He arched a brow. “What are you saying?”
“That we pooled our efforts and succeeded. We should do it again.”
He blinked at her.
“We should combine our businesses. We’re going to be married anyway. Having competing businesses doesn’t even make sense anymore. And here’s my confession—I’m not doing that well either. I’ve struggled for two months to make my payment to Mortimer.”
“Damn,” he said quietly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Same reason you didn’t tell me—pride. And we were adversaries. But not anymore. We’re smart, savvy business owners that realize something needs to change in order to make ourselves successful. I say we move your smoker over here to Mortimer’s kitchen and we serve Savage’s brisket and my award-winning sauce on the menu. We combine the menus into one and we work together to get all the business in Crossroads.”
Her excitement was contagious, and he bobbed his head as more ideas came to mind. “We dissolve the names and call it Crossroads Barbecue. We already have a sign from the fair.”
She grinned. “We do! It’s almost like it’s meant to be, Dom.”
“I think it is.” He thought of closing his doors on the space he toiled so hard in for these past months, and felt a weight of depression. But he knew it was the right decision for both of them and for their combined future.
“Now we’ve been friends,” she began.
His gaze locked on hers. “And rivals.”
“Lovers.” Her tone took a breathlessness that had his jeans tightening.
“Partners.”
“Business partners,” she added to their new venture.
“And then spouses,” he finished.
She grinned, eyes sparkling. “Sounds perfect.”
“Sounds like a happily ever after to me.” He leaned across the table to press his lips to hers, feeling less worried about his future now that he’d worked it out with the only person in the world who mattered—the love of his life.
* * * * *
Jada zipped her suitcase and then walked to her bed to fold over the cardboard flaps of the box to secure it shut.
She looked around her empty bedroom and at the boxes she had yet to carry to her truck. The suitcase, box and Thimble her cat and his belongings were the last to go in for this trip, and then she’d be on her way.
The decision to leave her rental left her with a pang. This had been her first place all on her own. Also, Joss had stayed with her here when she fled from New York City. It had sheltered them through many of their hopes and dreams. And it was time to move on.
At least she hoped.
She hadn’t exactly asked Dom if she could move in with him yet.
She carried the suitcase out and then the box. Finally, she grabbed the cat under one arm and his cage full of food dishes, food and toys in the other and placed them in the passenger side. Then she started her truck and drove across town to Dom’s.
Helping him to transfer items to Mortimer’s this afternoon had drained them both, and she’d recognized the slump in his shoulders at the end of the day. It had taken her only seconds to make the rash decision to combine their lives in another way. If he could give up his restaurant, she could give up her home.
As she neared his street, her insides jittered, her nerves like popcorn in a popcorn machine. “This is it, Thimble. Our new home. At least I hope.”
She parked in his driveway behind his truck and set the brake. Then she scooped Thimble into her arms, took a deep breath and walked up to his front door.
They hadn’t discussed moving in together. He might have
enough old-fashioned values to decline her idea. Maybe she should have consulted with Grandpa first.
Raising her fist, she said, “Here goes nothing,” and then knocked.
After a moment, the door opened, and Dom’s eyes widened as he stared at her. “Thought you went home for the night.”
All the words she planned to say locked inside her throat.
His eyes moved from her face to the cat. “Jada?”
“Let’s talk. Can I come in?”
Their relationship so far had been one big negotiation, a rollercoaster that pushed the boundaries every step of the way. This moment felt like another hill to crest.
He stepped aside, and she entered, closing the door behind her. The cat squirmed in her arms, and she shifted him to a more comfortable hold.
“What’s happening?” Dom asked.
“Well, today we closed Savage’s doors for good.”
He dropped his gaze to his socked feet.
“And I know how painful that was for you. But we have a new future ahead of us with Crossroads Barbecue.”
“That’s true.” He looked up.
“I thought about how much you gave up today. And I thought it’s only right for me to do the same.”
He waited.
She sucked in a deep breath and continued, “You gave up your restaurant, and I’m giving up my house. I thought it’s only right that we join our lives in this way too.”
He searched her gaze. “You mean…you move in with me? Here?”
She lifted the cat. “What do you think?”
He walked to the door and peeked out the window at her truck. “Is your truck full of boxes?”
She nodded.
Spinning to face her, he grabbed her by the hip. “You’re serious about this?”
“Totally serious. If you want me to, that is. I don’t want to force something on you that—”
He cut off her words with his kiss. The soft crush of his mouth grew firmer, more insistent as he swallowed the rest of what she was about to say and stole the last of her worry.
Pulling her into his arms made the cat freak out, and they drew away laughing so she could set Thimble on his feet to explore his new surroundings.