Just Add Heat Read online

  Just Add Heat

  Genevieve Jourdin

  Justine can hardly believe her good fortune. She’s a web star with her own cooking show and living with a sexy man. The only problem with the whole setup is that she can’t remember any of it.

  Luckily, her memories seem to be tied up with her hormones, and Carter is more than happy to do whatever’s necessary to help her to remember.

  Also included is a bonus read A Peek Into the Mind of Carter Ross

  Table of Contents

  Just Add Heat

  A Peek Into the Mind of

  Carter Ross

  Chapter One

  “Juss, wake up.” I stiffened as I tried to pry my eyes open, a difficult task since they felt like they were glued together. A moment later something touched my face and it didn’t feel like a Chihuahua tongue.

  “Baby, come on.” Crap. There was a man beside me. Or maybe I was still dreaming?

  I managed to open my eyelids a crack. Green eyes were peering down at me. This can’t be good.

  “What are you doing?” I managed to croak. I couldn’t believe how dry my mouth was.

  “It’s been two hours. How are you feeling?” He started to stroke my arm. Holy crap. What did I do last night?

  “Two hours? What’s going on?” I was able to open my eyes a bit more to see my best friend Cheryl’s brother leaning over me. Her very hot, younger brother. Unfortunately, his hotness didn’t make it any less icky.

  “Don’t you remember what happened?” His face creased into a frown.

  “Uh, not really. Did we go out drinking?” Drinking seemed like the only reasonable answer.

  “No. You slipped getting out of the shower and hit your head on the toilet. You wouldn’t go to the hospital so Dad told me to keep an eye on you.”

  “Where is Cheryl?” And why wasn’t she with me right now?

  “At home. Do you want me to call her?”

  What the heck was Carter doing here alone? Why would I be showering while he was here? My stomach started a slow roll. Something wasn’t adding up.

  “Do you want some water?” He reached over me to the night table and grabbed a glass half filled with water and some mostly melted ice cubes.

  “Thanks.” I took the glass and gulped a huge swallow. My mouth now felt better but I was still confused.

  “Does your head hurt at all?”

  “Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you here?”

  “Where else am I supposed to be?”

  I looked around the room and recognized the furniture, my furniture. We weren’t at Carter’s apartment, this was my room.

  “Carter, this is my house. I think it’s time you left.”

  He stared at me and then his eyes widened. “Do you know your name?”

  “Justine, duh. What’s your problem?” I was getting a little uncomfortable now; something might be wrong with Carter. “How did you get in here?”

  “I’m going to call Dad, just hang on a sec.” He rolled over to the other side of the bed and picked up a phone.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I hissed as I grabbed for it. “Don’t call your dad. How do you think you’re going to explain being here?”

  He held the phone out of my reach and scooted to the edge of the bed. “Just calm down, don’t get overexcited, my dad will know what to do.” He sounded freaked out, and I was starting to feel the same way.

  “Hey Dad, sorry to call so late, but something’s wrong with Juss. She doesn’t remember hitting her head and she asked me what I was doing in her house. No, she hasn’t mentioned that, hold on.” He turned back to me. “Are you having any trouble with your vision?”

  I shook my head feeling mortified. Carter was telling Cheryl’s dad he was at my house at…I looked at the bedside clock, 3:34! What was he doing here in the middle of the night? My heart started pounding. Something wasn’t right. That wasn’t my bedside clock. My clock had bright blue illumination so I could easily see it. This clock was round and old timey looking. Like the ones my mom used to have. What the hell was going on?

  “Okay, yeah, I’m going to bring her right now. Thanks.” He looked serious.

  “Dad said we should go down to the hospital. It sounds like you might have a concussion.”

  “I don’t have a concussion. My head doesn’t even hurt.” I put my hand up to my head and felt around. “See? I’m fine.” Right about then I hit a tender spot on my right temple. “Ahhg.” A searing pain shot through my head followed by a low throb. I slouched back down onto my pillows.

  “Come on, sweetie; let’s get you down there so they can check you out.”

  I noticed he’d called me sweetie, but I let that slide since I had a bigger issue on my hands. “I am not going to the hospital, I just need some Tylenol and I’ll be just fine,” I panted. My ears started buzzing, a sure sign that a panic attack was coming on. I couldn’t think. Suddenly I felt hands on my upper arms and then Carter’s face was directly in front of me.

  “Just breathe. It’s okay, everything will be all right. Calm down.” I knew I was about to lose it and right at this moment I was glad Carter was with me. The only problem was that he was the reason I was panicking. “I’m going to get you a cold towel. Hang on.” He got up off of the bed and bolted out of the room. Seconds later he was back, holding the towel to the back of my neck.

  “Okay, I’m cool.” I wasn’t, but it felt better to tell him I had control of myself.

  “I’m serious; we have to get to the hospital.” He reached down then held out a pair of grubby runners.

  “Those aren’t mine.”

  He looked down at them and then at me. “Yes they are. You don’t remember your shoes?”

  I stared at them. I had never seen these shoes in my life. Had someone gotten in and somehow traded out my shoes? And my clock? That didn’t even make sense.

  “Come on, we have to go.” He bent down and scooped me up bridal style. “You can put them on while I drive.” He carried me out to the living room and grabbed some keys off of the table in the entryway. He managed to open the door, walk out, and lock up while never putting me down. The beep of a car alarm made me jump as Carter stalked over to a black truck. He popped open the door and set me in the passenger seat while I sat there like a dead fish, too freaked out to even fight what was happening. A moment later he sat down in the driver’s seat before leaning over to fasten my seatbelt.

  “It’ll be okay, Juss.” He gave my hand a squeeze and I fought the urge to pull away. It hurt if I tried to think too hard, so I just stared out the front window and tried to stay calm. In no time we were pulling up to the hospital. I’d never been to a hospital in the middle of the night before. It was lit up and shadowed, with hardly any cars in the parking lot. Surreal.

  Carter pulled into a spot close to the entrance of the ER, picked me up again and closed the door with his hip. Before I realized it, we were in the building and facing a mean-looking nurse in a room half-filled with dejected looking people. "Excuse me; I have a head injury here.”

  “Okay, fill these out and I’ll we’ll be right with you.” She handed Carter a clipboard with a pen on a chain. “I’ll go get a chair.” She turned and walked away as I sat there with my hands wrapped around Carter’s neck. It was almost like all of this was happening to someone else.

  He found a seat in the middle of the room, leaving me on his lap. He moved the clipboard to his left hand and started filling out the forms while I watched idly. He had beautiful hands. And beautiful fingers. Hmm. This was the shiniest floor ever. I wonder what they use on it? Suddenly, the nurse was in front of me with a wheelchair.

  “Let’s get you in here and see what’s what.” The nurse had a kind voice that didn’t match her fac
e.

  As he set me in the chair I heard a familiar voice. “Justine, how are you feeling?” I looked over to see Cheryl’s dad, Robert. I felt a strange sense of calm mixed with dread because he had a concerned look on his face. Luckily, Cheryl’s dad was an Ob/Gyn, and I knew he was often at the hospital at odd hours. It made me feel a lot better to have someone I knew here. “Well, okay I guess. Carter woke me up, then he called you.” I was too embarrassed to tell Robert that Carter was in my bed. He might think we had sex or something. “I’m sorry he dragged you down here. I really don’t know what’s going on with him.”

  “Don’t worry about that. I had a delivery to attend to a couple of hours ago. I’m glad Carter caught me before I left. Let’s go into the exam room so we can check things out.” He turned and walked to a room right off of the lobby. I started rolling that way and turned to see Carter was pushing me. Strangely, I had gotten over my earlier panic and now I was freakishly accepting of Carter being with me.

  “Justine, why don’t you sit up here on the table and let me get a look at you until an ER doctor is free.”

  Carter helped me up onto a table covered with crinkly paper. I scooted up so that my legs were dangling off the side. Robert picked something up and pointed it at my face. A second later a blinding light pierced my eyeball.

  “Ow. That’s too bright.” He moved to the other eye with similar results. After that, everything was a blur. I know I was x-rayed and prodded, but I really wasn’t paying much attention. I was so drowsy. All I wanted was to go back to sleep.

  The next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes to a hospital room. I felt a whole lot better than I had when I had fallen asleep. To my right, Carter was slumped on a chair. Why was he still here? I needed to call Cheryl. Why wasn’t she here with me? I sat up looking for my purse. I needed my phone but it wasn’t anywhere I could see.

  “Can I get you something?” Carter’s voice made me jerk my head in his direction.

  “I really need my phone. I want to call Cheryl.”

  “I’m sorry; I left your bag at home. I already called Cheryl, though. She’ll be here a little later. Do you want to use mine?”

  “Carter, why are you here? Why were you at my house in the middle of the night? God, I don’t even remember last night.” Thinking about that stirred my feelings of anxiety and I realized something was very wrong.

  “I love you, where else would I be? Obviously, I’ll stay until we find out you’re all right.”

  He loves me? Okay, now I was sure something was wrong. Cheryl’s brother was telling me he loved me. We didn’t have that kind of relationship. Cheryl was more like a sister to me than a friend, and I guess you could call the feelings I had for Carter brotherly, but this was just weird.

  “Carter, you’re freaking me out. Don’t tell me you love me. That’s just weird. Why were you at my house last night?” Maybe something was wrong with Carter. Yeah, that would make more sense.

  “What are you talking about? Of course I love you. We live together.” He had gotten up to stand by me and took my hand off of the bed. I couldn’t help it, I jerked it away.

  I could see the shock and hurt in Carter’s eyes but I didn’t care. “Don’t say that. We don’t live together. Are you crazy? You. Don’t. Live. With. Me.” I enunciated each word clearly so that he could understand.

  “I’m calling the doctor. Just calm down.” He turned and left the room. I didn’t know what to think of what Carter had just said. I think I would know if I was involved with Carter. Like that could ever happen. Sure, he looked good, but I had known him since he was fourteen. He was Cheryl’s little brother, so he was four years younger than me. There was no way I would ever get involved with him, there wasn’t. Anyway, I wasn’t ready to jump back into the dating pool; I had just dumped the cheating scumbag, John. It hadn’t even been two month yet. I really needed to talk to Cheryl.

  Just then the door opened and a doctor I didn’t recognize came in with Carter on his heels. “Carter, could I please have some privacy?” He stopped and looked at the doctor before nodding at me and turning around. Once he was gone and the door was shut I looked to the doctor. “I’m sorry about him, he’s my best friend’s brother.” I shrugged to let him know that Carter’s behavior was no reflection on me.

  The doctor gave me a funny look and wrote something down on a clipboard.

  “Do you know what day it is, Justine?” Huh?

  He was looking serious. “Um, Thursday, yeah, Thursday. My movie was due back yesterday and I dropped it off before I went grocery shopping.” Whew. It felt good to remember something.

  “Do you know what month it is?”

  “July.” Okay, easy questions.

  “Do you know what year it is?”

  “2010.” What kind of inane questions were these?

  He paused as if trying to find the right words. “Justine, I’m afraid you might have a slight case of amnesia. Do you remember last night at all? Falling and hitting your head?” He was frowning, never a good sign.

  “Amnesia? No, I don’t have amnesia, doctor. I don’t remember falling or hitting my head.” My hand automatically went to my temple and I felt the spot that hurt earlier. Wow. There was a lump there. What the heck happened last night?

  “Justine, it’s 2012. It’s September 2012. You had an accident last night and hit your head in the bathroom. Your friend outside brought you in because you were confused and agitated. I know it’s hard but you need to relax and let your body heal. You’ll feel a lot better as soon as the swelling on your brain goes down.”

  Holy crap! 2012? How could it be 2012? My brain was swollen? Two years of my life were gone? I couldn’t believe it. There had to be some mistake.

  “Are you sure?” I looked around the room for any sign of the date. Unfortunately, there was no handy calendar hanging on the walls, just ugly pinstriped wallpaper. If only I had my phone.

  “I’m sure, Justine. I’m going to order some tests, but I’ll go get your friend to come sit with you.”

  He went to the door and stepped out. I had amnesia? How could that be? That’s soap opera crap. I tried to gather myself. I needed all my wits about me for this. When the door opened it wasn’t the doctor coming, it was Carter. He looked ashen. Freakishly hot, but ashen.

  “Carter, tell me the truth. Is it 2012? Give me your phone.” He held it out and I snatched it up. It took a second to make my shaking fingers work, but finally the screen came to life. September 29, 2012. Holy crap!

  “Yes. Listen, I called your mom, she’ll be here in a couple of hours. She’s leaving right now. Cheryl will be here soon, too. Your neurologist is setting up some more tests and said he’d be right back. Is there anything I can get for you?”

  He was looking at me earnestly. I didn’t know what to say to him. “You said we lived together? As roommates or…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. I couldn’t even finish the thought. It seemed all wrong. Surely he couldn’t mean we lived together. With sex and …stuff. I would definitely remember that.

  “We’ve been living together for almost seven months as a couple. We’ve been together for about a year and a half. About as long as Just Add Heat.”

  “Just add heat? How did we get together? I hardly ever spend any time with you.” The questions were all garbled in my mind. I didn’t know what to ask first.

  “You write a food blog. It’s very popular. You try foods at restaurants then dissect them, recreate them by spicing them up, and post recipes and video, but with a sexy spin. That’s what we were going to do last night; you wanted to try out the Thai place for new dishes.” He didn’t answer me about our supposed relationship, I noticed.

  “What about my job? Did anyone call them and tell them I’m in here? I think I’m supposed to work tonight.” Crap. Thursday nights were busy. This was a bad night to be out.

  “Justine, the website is your job. You haven’t worked at the restaurant for more than a year. When you started getting popular, you started mak
ing enough on advertising to quit your job and do the site full time. You also do a web show. Right now you’re working on a cookbook.” He looked at me for some sign of recognition. Nope.

  Wait. I haven’t worked at the restaurant for a year? Oh god. Maybe I really did have amnesia. I was finally in charge of my own kitchen, I would never quit. I was starting to hyperventilate. I’m writing a cookbook? That was actually kind of cool if only I could remember it. But wait, back to the important stuff.

  “We’ve been together for a year and a half? Together together? How did that happen? No offence but, you’re young. Too young. You’re just out of school.”

  “I finished college two and a half years ago. I’m a graphic artist at Webster and James, the advertising firm. We started going out last April, after we spent time setting up your website and getting it off the ground. You came to me for some help with the layout. Do you remember that at all?”

  I shook my head. Didn’t ring a bell. Nope. I couldn’t really see myself doing something on the internet. I’m a chef, a damn good one. That just didn’t seem like me. Going out with a younger guy didn’t seem like me either. Well, not Cheryl’s brother, at least. That would be too bizarre. Yucky even.

  He sighed but didn’t say anything. We just sat there, staring at each other and not talking. I didn’t know what to say, what to ask. I could tell that I was going to go to pieces soon. Nothing was adding up. I didn’t recognize that life as mine.

  There was a tap on the door and Cheryl breezed in smiling. “I fed Lucy, she gobbled up everything, I also fed Fred and Ethel since I wasn’t sure when Carter was going to go back home. Are you feeling okay?”

  “Cheryl.” I was relieved to have some familiarity. “What did you do to your hair?” It was in shoulder length waves. Cheryl had a sleek bob that was at her chin. Hair doesn’t grow overnight.

  She peered at me strangely. “It’s been like this forever. We were just talking about that the other day, remember? We were going through those magazines to find a new style.”