The Wedding Gift

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

He pressed a kiss to her temple. "Not just a great cook, but brilliant, too."

"But...but that's-"

Julie raised an eyebrow at the nasty woman. "What's wrong? Jealous?"

"Jealous? Of you? Some of us are real chefs, producing real food, with real quality."

Julie shrugged. "I'll settle for producing good food people want to eat-as long as I'm doing it my way."

"And that's why you'll never amount to anything," Geraldine snapped back.

Andrew raised an eyebrow. "As opposed to being a fine-dining chef who can't quite make the grade? I've seen some of the reviews for your cooking, Geraldine."

The chef stalked off, muttering to herself. Lanie, the Cuisine Channel presenter, waited a moment or two longer before talking with them. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I had to be harsh. I think I maybe got a bit carried away. Oh, and by the way, you are right about one thing. I am."

"You are what?" Julie asked, not quite understanding.

"Just a tiny bit jealous that you landed the best-looking man in the food industry." She smiled at them both. "Good luck."

Julie laughed as the other woman headed off, leaving her and Andrew as the calm center of the party chaos going on around them. Sooner or later, they would have to move out of each other's arms, but not yet.

Not for a while, she hoped.

"So what happens next?" Julie asked after a minute or two.

"Well, we could always head back to my place," Andrew suggested. "And then I could make good on my promise to seduce you."

"You know what I mean," Julie said, laughing as she stood on her tiptoes to brush her lips against Andrew's neck. "Though, I'll admit, your idea does sound nice. Very, very nice."

He buried his face in her hair for a long moment before saying in a low voice, "I was thinking of spending some time in France, but now I think I might just stay in San Francisco."

"You'd better," she warned him. "Though a vacation would definitely be fun at some point, working our way through offbeat, hidden restaurants over there."

"A woman after my own heart."

Julie didn't know many men who would have been excited about her idea, but then, Andrew wasn't most men. Not even close.

Suddenly she wondered about how easy it would be to put his previous idea into action and get them back to his place. Although, the truth was that the best part of it all was knowing they could stay here, enjoy the party, and still be there for one another afterward.

Because neither of them were going anywhere this time. They were a team from now on.

Julie was surprised when several people came up to ask her about the dishes she'd made in the cook-off. One woman, around Aunt Evie's age, said, "It's nice to see that real food, when it's done right, can keep up with all that showy stuff."

Everyone seemed to like the idea of Julie's "real food" even as they acknowledged that the way she'd done it had been unique and entirely personal. In fact, one of the producers even came up to her and Andrew, introducing himself as Rick.

"Hello, Julie," he said. "A few of us were just discussing the show. Everyone in the audience seemed to be really excited about your performance today."

"They've been very kind," she said.

Rick shook his head. "They're never kind. Trust me. They do know what they want, though. You're a natural in front of the camera."