Luke tilted his head. “I frequent several restaurants in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, but there’s this one place where the chef caters to his exclusive clientele.”

“Gerard’s,” she answered for him, loving that he knew the place.

“You learned to cook from a Michelin star chef.” He sounded impressed.

“Yep. He was really appreciative of the work I did. He always keeps a table for me. I still eat there several times a week and every once in a while he lets me back into the kitchen to help him cook.”

Luke cocked his head. “Isn’t there like a four-month waiting list for a reservation?”

Sarah shrugged one shoulder. “Not for me.”

Luke swallowed another big bite of brownie, set the box on a table, held his hands out to Nick, who immediately went to him. “Sounds like he got quite a deal for the work you did for him.” Luke settled Nick on his hip.

“I don’t have a single memory of anyone ever making me cookies. So if you ask me, I got the better end of the bargain. You can’t put a price on the memories the kids and I make when we get in the kitchen, make a huge mess, and cook something yummy.”

His eyes filled with admiration.

Good. She’d blown apart another of his misconceptions about her. “You know, you’d figure me out a lot faster if you’d forget everything you think you know about me.”

“I want to know everything.” He held her gaze, completely sincere.

Sarah wanted to believe that, despite the fact he’d once believed she’d used Sean to rise out of her dire circumstances, only to take his money and company in some selfish power grab to steal all his wealth.

She took this as a sign he trusted her in some small way.

She hadn’t lied when she said she’d sworn off men, but looking at how sweet Nick looked in his arms, and remembering how good Luke looked without a shirt, maybe what she really meant was she was only interested in getting involved with the right man.

But was that Luke?

Maybe. He was certainly the only man in years who’d grabbed her attention.

“Kitties, Mama.” Nick looked from her to Luke.

Luke headed over to one of the cupboards outside the horse stalls and pulled out a can of cat food and two small paper plates. He set Nick on the ground, put the two plates out, then popped the top on the cat food can.

The sound brought meows from two different directions and Nick smiled. “They heard it.”

Luke pointed at the top of one stall where an orange tabby walked along the wood then jumped down and came running to the plate. “Say hello to Tiger.” Luke rubbed his big hand over the tabby’s back and received several head-bumps. “He’s a real sweet boy.”

All of a sudden, a gray cat with a black-dots-and-lines pattern ran and leapt onto Luke’s shoulder, rubbing his head against Luke’s head.