Preston Pruitt put aside his dreams of becoming a gourmet chef at a high-end restaurant to raise his daughter while her mother was on active duty in Afghanistan. Now Abby is a precocious eight-year-old in love with fairies and princesses, and Preston works at an unimaginative and monotonous job as a short order cook.<br><br>Abby has her quirks, and when she tries to wear a pair of costume wings for her school pictures, her father is called to help talk her out of them. That's when Preston meets Cam Richards, a handsome photographer with his own studio in town. Between Cam's quick smile and flirty manner, Preston is smitten and surprises himself by asking the guy out. Late night phone calls lead to dinner dates, and soon Preston is falling for Cam. It helps that Abby approves of her father's new special friend.<br><br>With Cam’s encouragement, Preston gets the chance to interview for an executive chef position. Now that he has all the ingredients, will he finally fulfill his dream of becoming a top chef and find the perfect recipe for romance?

Recipe for Romance

Monday Cam arrived with a bag of fresh blue crabs, green tomatoes, and goat cheese, which Preston made into a stunning salad topped with homemade vinaigrette dressing. Tuesday it was a capon, cornmeal, and jalape?o peppers, which became roasted chicken with spiced cornbread stuffing. Wednesday, Preston turned pork belly, bok choy, and rice noodles into a tasty Asian stir-fry. On Thursday, he braised short ribs in a red wine reduction and served them with homemade ravioli in an alfredo sauce concocted from scratch. And Friday he made Thai-inspired pizzas with curry duck, fresh basil, tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet chili sauce. Even Abby wanted a slice along with her usual Friday-night tacos.


By Saturday night, he felt he could handle anything Mel might possibly throw at him. When Cam texted him in the afternoon to see if he was ready for the evening, Preston’s reply only had two words in it.


Chapter 46