The Gate to Everything (Once Upon a Dare Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

fight with her, for which she was grateful.
    “Okay, we’ll see,” he said after a long pause.
    She looked at the table again, tracing the grain of the wood. This wasn’t how it was supposed to have happened. When she’d imagined this conversation in the past, she’d pictured a celebration. Non-alcohol sparkling wine and fried chicken and mashed potatoes, her favorite meal.
    “What are you going to do about the restaurant?” he asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
    The topic of her career was one that added to her nausea. Pregnancy and motherhood were not easy for female chefs, and Jordan knew it. “The doctor thinks I can work my regular hours up until my thirtieth week. Then, I’ll need to cut back some and stay off my feet more.”  
    He didn’t say anything, which made her fidget. They both knew how demanding the work was.  
    “Tony thinks he can move me to the lunch shift and let me do more of the prep work, which I can do sitting down. You know Tony. He and the rest of the staff are already making me small dishes to eat, saying it’s good for the bambino .”  
    A smile flashed across Jordan’s face. “Tony will always do right by you. I won’t have to worry about you with him around, and that’s a relief, let me tell you.”
    No, Tony and the rest of the kitchen staff’s old-world machismo would ensure she didn’t over-exert herself or lift any heavy industrial cooking pots. Her biggest concern was the adjustments she’d have to make to balance being a single mother with her career.
    He took a deep breath, and she braced herself, knowing what was coming.
    “Don’t get mad, but I have to ask. Do you want to keep working, Grace?”
    “Of course I do. You know how much I love it.” Until learning she was pregnant, all she’d truly had was her career. It hadn’t felt like enough. Now, she would have a career and a family—just not the way she’d ever envisioned it.
    He shifted nervously in his chair, which at other times, she would have found endearing. “I was just checking. Grace, you know anything I have is yours.”
    “That’s all in the past now,” she said, hoping he would drop it.
    Jordan wagged his index finger at her. “No, it’s not! Whether you like it or not, I am this baby’s father. I make millions of dollars each year, and I will support both of you. I won’t have you slaving away like my mother did after my dad left.”
    Their eyes clashed and held. Money had always been a point of contention between them. Grace had not liked the lavishness his lifestyle afforded. She had resented him for buying her designer clothes so she could comfortably socialize with the rich people in his growing circle. “I’m not slaving away, Jordan. I love what I do, and you know I make good money for a chef.”
    The more he’d tried to buy her clothes and make her look more polished, the more she’d feared she wasn’t good enough in his eyes. Worse, she’d worried he would leave her for someone more beautiful and more interested in sharing the hard-partying, heavy-spending, highly publicized lifestyle he seemed to be gravitating toward. Someone who’d encourage him to do more ads, TV spots, maybe Dancing with the Stars one day.  
    He reached for his coffee, and she could all but hear him growling his frustration into the mug when he remained silent.
    “Do you want a cookie?” she asked to lessen the tension between them.
    He leaned back in his chair and grabbed one off the island. He took a hearty bite. “No one makes a better chocolate chip cookie than you, Grace. The fact that I can even choke it down at a moment like this speaks to your culinary magic.”
    Grace sat quietly while he ate. She’d needed to make the cookies to release stress, but she’d chosen his favorite in the hopes of creating a fragile peace between them.
    After brushing his mouth with the back of his sleeve, something Grace had watched him do all her life, he rested his elbows on the table again.