“I told you!” Molly beamed.
“You’re welcome,” Vera teased.
“You did it!” Dillon laughed. “Oh my God, you actually did it. Kaya, you’re my hero.”
Laughing and crying and sniffling all at once I just looked at them. They had each played a part in this success. I couldn’t have done this without them.
Molly had been my friend for a while now. And she had always encouraged me, always put up with me, even when I was snarly. I had no doubt she’d also whispered high praise into Ezra’s ear. Because that’s how she was. So giving and generous.
Vera had taken me under her wing and pushed me toward my goal. She’d inspired me to get to know the restaurant, all the ins and outs and ups and downs, and then she’d showered me with invaluable advice.
Dillon was my ride or die. She was always there to challenge me and help me get better. And she’d put the very idea in my head.
I was nothing without these incredibly, super talented women by my side. None of this would have been possible without them cheering me on and pouring into my life.
They were the kind of friends that would mark my life forever. One day, I would look back and see that some of my best moments were because of them and with them. I could have done this on my own. It probably would have taken longer. And it would have hardened me in a way that could have made me bitter.
But I preferred this way. I preferred having friends I could count on and lean on. I preferred not being able to take all the credit myself because I’d rather share it with these wonderful women.
The Lilou staff was next. I hugged so many people, I knew the Free People maxi dress I wore was wrinkled to crap and I smelled like a kitchen again, even though I’d showered and dressed for a date with Wyatt.
“Hey, if you get tired of him,” I pointed to Wyatt across the room, “You can always come work for me. I promise to be nicer. And not to yell as much.”
Benny laughed. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, chef. Besides, he doesn’t yell nearly as often now that he’s getting action on the regular.”
I stared at Wyatt across the room. “Yeah, those hookers I’m paying for nightly are really doing wonders.”
“Ridiculous!” Benny groaned. “Happy for you two,” he murmured and then disappeared.
I turned around and found my mom waiting for me. “Er, hey, Mom.”
“Kaya,” she said stiltedly. She held a glass of wine in her hand and a napkin with a shortbread on it. Wyatt had made his staff cater this little party. One last hoorah from Lilou. “This is quite the party in your honor.”
My cheeks hurt from smiling so much, but I couldn’t stop. This was too much. I didn’t know it was possible to be this happy, this excited for life. My little Grinch heart grew fifty whole sizes and I knew one more piece of good news would tip me over the edge and I would just explode into itty bitty pieces—like a human confetti cannon.
Which I realized was a super gross analogy if you got into the logistics of it, but also legitimately how I felt.
Feeling extra forgiving in light of my new job, I said, “I’m sorry about how we left things the last time you were in town.”
She raised a single eyebrow, surprised by my apology. “How did we leave things?”
She was going to make me say it. “With you mad at me over Nolan, because I don’t want to marry him. Or move back home to be with him.”
She waved her shortbread around. “Oh, Kaya, I wasn’t mad at you because you don’t love Nolan.”
I resisted an eye roll. Yeah, right. Her pushing Nolan on me has only been a constant conversation since I left Hamilton. “Mom, I know you love him. I know he’s like… the son you never had. But we were never meant to be together.”
“Kaya, stop.” She sighed. “All I have ever wanted was for you to be happy. Maybe I got it wrong, but I thought Nolan made you happy. The last time I really saw you excited about anything was when you two were together. You know, I don’t get to see you cook. And I’m not a part of your life here. So maybe you’re those things when I can’t see you, but from my perspective you were so much happier at home. I just wanted you to have that light back in your eyes again. It had nothing to do with Nolan.” She made a sound in the back of her throat. “Honestly, I could take him or leave him.”
Emotion rushed through me, testing the boundaries of my body. “Oh, Mom.” I sniffled, pulling her into a tight hug. Her arms swung wide to protect me from the wine and dessert. “I am happy. I’ve never been happier.”
I pulled back and I was shocked to find real tears dampening her eyes. “I see that now.” We simultaneously turned our attention to the party, both of us embarrassed to be caught teary-eyed. “And this new boy you’re with? What’s his name?”
“Wyatt Shaw,” I told her.
“Wyatt. He’s nice?”
I ran my lip ring through my teeth. “He’s amazing.”
“I’d like to get to know him better,” she insisted.
He turned to face me from across the room, and I wondered if he’d felt my gaze on him, if he was always as cognizant of me as I was of him. “I’d like that.”
Wyatt crossed the room in long strides as if sensing my desire to be with him again. Or maybe he just had the same intention.
When I introduced him to my mom for the second time, she was much more pleasant. She even laughed when he made a joke about how difficult I was to work with. My dad joined us and then my sisters. We spent the rest of the afternoon laughing over drinks and yummy food that was familiar for probably the last time.
But by three p.m., it was time for everyone to get to work. We’d put it off for as long as possible, but dinner service waited for no one.
I said goodbye to my parents, my sisters, my friends, and the staff at Lilou. I would cook tonight with Vera so she could show me the ropes and help me get familiar with the menu. Ezra wanted me cooking on my own by the weekend. That meant I had a lot of work to do over the next few days.
I walked Wyatt to his car while my new staff trickled into the kitchen and began quickly prepping for tonight’s service.
“How long have you known?” I demanded when we were all alone.
He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, a smile already dancing across his mouth. “Three weeks or so. Give or take.”
“Three weeks!” I gasped. “You knew right away?”
He shrugged. “I mean, if we’re honest, I knew you’d get the job as soon as I found out you wanted it. Come on, Kaya, was there even a question?”
“Yes! Yes, there were many questions! Starting with if you knew three weeks ago, why did it take so long for me to find out?”
“Well, we had to plan a party,” he explained evenly, like it wasn’t the most insane reason ever. “And that took time.” He sensed my annoyance and quickly added. “And Ezra really did interview other candidates, but obviously you were the front-runner. Ezra felt the same way.” Before I could launch into another round of arguments, he pulled me into a hug and said, “I’m so goddamn proud of you, Kaya. You’re going to kick ass at this job.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on tight. “I’m scared,” I told him honestly. “I don’t want to mess this up.”
He laughed and squeezed me tighter. “Then don’t. Don’t mess up. Just do what you always do, and everything will be fine.”
He was right. Ezra wasn’t looking for reasons to fire me. He wanted every reason in the world to keep me. I needed to do what I always did—cook amazing food—and everything would be fine. I smiled again, and my cheeks ached with exhaustion. “I love you, Wyatt. Thank you for all of this and for believing in me.”
“I love you too.” He pressed the sweetest kiss to the corner of my mouth. “More than I ever knew was possible.”
We stood like that for a very long time, but eventually he pulled back. He had a restaurant to run. And so did I.
“This feels weird,” I told him. We stood next to his driver’s side door, holding hands. I didn??
?t want to let go. It felt oddly permanent. Not in a bad way, but like the beginning of a new chapter. I wasn’t sure I was ready for it yet.
“It will feel good soon enough,” he countered. “As soon as you step into your kitchen, you’ll get over the weirdness.”
My heart kicked, knowing he was right. My kitchen. Mine.
Just like this man was mine.
“I think I might miss you though. Maybe a little bit.”
He smiled at me, his mouth full of joy and wicked secrets and everything I loved so dearly. “I think I might miss you too. But more than you’ll miss me.”
“Obviously.”
He chuckled and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Come over tonight,” he suggested. “I want to hear all about your first day.”
I had been nibbling on his ear, but I perked up at the prospect of a night with him. “Liar,” I teased him. “You don’t want to talk.”
“I’ll talk for a little bit,” he laughed. “Then we’ll get to the good stuff.”
Pulling back, I met his warm, wonderful gaze. “I thought this was the good stuff.”
His brown eyes were all promised heat and bright, beautiful future. “Oh, it is, chef. This is the very best stuff.”
Then he kissed me into oblivion and I couldn’t have agreed with him more.
Thank you for reading The Problem with Him! This series has been an incredible outlet for me to not only create sweet, steamy, super fun love stories, but to highlight issues that women everywhere are facing every day.
Wyatt and Kaya are one of my most favorite couples to have ever written. But I especially love Kaya. As a difficult, headstrong, ambitious woman, I loved creating and developing and getting to know a difficult, headstrong, ambitious woman in the pages of one of my novels. And I hope you did too!
And to the other difficult, headstrong, ambitious women out there—Never feel bad about wanting something big and impossible. Never feel bad about fighting for it with all of you, for letting it take over and consume you until you’ve done all that you possibly can to get it. Never feel bad about being a driven, informed, feisty woman that owns her seat at the table. You’re amazing and worthy and I wish you the absolute best in this beautiful life.
The fourth and final book in the Opposites Attract Series, The Something about Her, is coming in February 26th, 2019. Each book is a standalone romance following a different couple! Keep reading to find out more about Dillon Baptiste and Vann Delane.
The Something about Her coming February, 2019!
I quit life. Or at least my new job.
My fancy head chef position at one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the city is not turning out like I’d hoped. I’m a mess. Totally out of my element and underqualified, I’ve been thrown into a fiery kitchen and I’m not sure I can handle the heat.
But I owe my brother. And since it’s his restaurant and he’s my favorite person in the world, I can’t walk away.
Even though I’d love to do just that. If we’re being really honest though, it’s more than just my kitchen. It’s the bad date I went on last week. And my building superintendent that won’t fix my heater. It’s the creepy guy from my gym. But mostly, it’s my friend’s brother who keeps showing up in all the worst places.
I’ve never claimed to have it together, but I certainly don’t need a man to rescue me every time I get my heel stuck in a sewer grate. Except that’s what keeps happening.
Vann Delane is pushy and stuck up and thinks he knows everything there is to know about everything. And for whatever reason, he keeps saving me.
Not that he’s happy about it. He’s made it clear what he thinks about my money and dream job and the designer shoes he saved last weekend. He’s not impressed with me or my penchant for disaster.
I’ve decided to stay away from him. I’ve got too many other fires to put out to worry about the something between us that doesn’t have a name.
So he can give his knight in shining armor kindness to someone else. He can save those intense glances and butterfly-inducing smiles for the nice girl he’s looking for. And he can deny it all he wants, but I know he likes me.
He says I drive him crazy. But I know there’s something about me that he can’t deny.
Rachel’s next project, a second chance romance is coming October 23rd, 2018! This heartwarming love story is about a small town and a big second chance.
Trailer park born and raised. It’s my legacy. That’s how my mama lived. And how her mama lived. It’s the life I was born into and it’s the life I swore I would leave the second I was old enough to make it out.
Only legacies have a funny way of sneaking up on you. An innocent decision the night of high school graduation led to a series of complications in my plans to escape.
Seven years later, I’ve resigned myself to this small town and the roots I’m tied to. Nothing could make me leave. And nothing could make me spill the secrets that keep me here.
Until he walks back into town with a chip on his shoulder and a stupid hunch nobody else in town has been smart enough to follow.
Levi Cole is my opposite. Born on the right side of the tracks with family money to spare, he’s the kind of black sheep that can afford to be rebellious—because his family will always pay for his mistakes. He’s also the only living heir to Cole Family Farms, after his brother Logan was killed in an accident seven years ago.
He sees something in my life that he thinks he has a right to. But he’s wrong. And obnoxious. And he needs to take his stubborn good looks and that intense way he stares at me and go back to wherever it was he came from.
I know better than to trust men like him. I was born and raised in a trailer park, I know nothing good happens to girls like me—girls with trailer park lives and trailer park hearts. Especially from gorgeous, kind, pigheaded men like him.
Acknowledgments
To my God and for this blessing of needing You. Every book, every day, every hour.
To Zach, thank you for all the ways you take care of me and our family and the house while I hide away and pull my hair out. You’re the reason our kids eat supper, the reason the house isn’t falling down and the reason I can write such incredible, swoon-worthy heroes. Thank you for being a better grown up than me. I love you.
To Stella, Scarlett, Stryker, Solo and Saxon. Thank you for delaying your summer fun so I could finish this book and for letting me leave every evening to find some quiet. You’re chaos and mayhem and crazy all at once and I love you more than anything else in this world. Thank you for letting me kiss you in public, for thinking our handshakes are the coolest thing ever and for always forgiving me when I forget birthday parties and doctors’ appointments. You’re my favorite. Each of you.
To my mom, for being the strong, independent woman who raised a strong, independent woman. You taught me how to work hard and to sacrifice for family and the things that I want most. You taught me how to be resilient. You taught me how to be relentless. But most of all you taught me how to love recklessly. And thank you for the days you took the kids and made it possible to finish this book!
To Katie, Tiffany and Sarah Jo, my prickle. Thank you for our hours of laughter and our commitment to friendship and for all the big plans we have for this small life. You girls are friendship I didn’t know was possible and I am so grateful for the grace and encouragement you give me daily. #squadlife forever and ever amen.
To Georgia, Shelly, Amy and Samantha, thank you for always being there for me, for always listening when I freak out and for always supporting me through everything. I could never survive this job without you. Your wisdom, your sane advice and your laughter saves me on a daily basis. I’m working on an island for us.
To Lenore, the best beta reader on the planet and my all-time favorite Canadian! Thank you for dropping everything for me, for finding all the last little mistakes I would never see and for being such a kind, gracious, amazing human. You are my people. And I am so blessed to know you. Also, yay to being al
most-on-time!!!
To Amy Donnelly from Alchemy and Words, thank you so much for pushing me beyond where I’m comfortable, for demanding more from my words and characters and stories. Thank you for being an editor invested in your work, willing to sacrifice for your clients and for all around, being a truly upstanding woman. I fully acknowledge what a nightmare I am to work with, thank you for taking the job anyway.
To Caedus Design Co, hey, another great cover! Good job. Thank you for never giving up on me when you ask me to describe the book and I don’t. Thank you for the endless teaser pictures and covers and all those times you make the business better and more efficient than I ever could. And thanks for putting up with all the people that ask if you’re the cover model for The Opposite of You. Have I told you lately that I love you?
To the Rebel Panel, thank you for sticking around and sticking by me despite how entangled in life I am. Thank you for continuing to love my characters and read my stories and for never giving up on me. You ladies are a group of women I am proud and honored to be a part of. Thanks for being some of the best women I have ever had the pleasure to know!
To the bloggers and reviewers, thank you for your time and energy and for investing in my words when I know you have a million other things to be doing. Thank you for taking time out of your life to write a review and post a teaser and support not just me, but all of the authors you work with. Your encouragement and kindness means the world to me. I am so blessed to be a part of this industry where you exist in such incredible ways.
To the reader, thank you for taking a chance on me and on Wyatt and Kaya. Thank you for picking up one of my books or all of my books or some of my books and reading words that have come straight from my soul. Your time and support, your reviews and messages, are the fuel that keeps me going. You’re the best readers on the entire planet and I am beyond honored that you would pick one of my books, but especially this one.