Chapter Three

"I don't want to work tomorrow, I don't like Mondays…" Brooke whined as Haley sat down on the stool in Brooke's kitchen in her apartment.

"That's not like you, you love work…" Haley stated, jokingly putting her hand on Brooke's forehead. "First you call me practically in the middle of the night and now this? Are you coming down with something?"

Brooke swatted her hand away and said, "Stop it! No, I'm just not looking forward to seeing Mr. Scott again and we have a meeting early tomorrow morning and I don't know if I can tolerate the jagged pill that is Suckass Scott."

"Lucas you mean?"

Brooke playfully smacked her hand away, "Yes, him."

"Is that why you're stress baking?" Haley asked, looking at all the goodies she baked.

Brooke shrugged, "Half of it."

"And the other half?" she asked knowingly, sensing that her friend was lying.

Brooke rolled her eyes, annoyed that Haley knew that there was more to the story. "Okay fine…he is the sole reason for my baking spree."

"And why is that?"

"Must you ask?"

Haley sighed then suggested, "You two just need to get to know each other outside of the business part, y'know what I mean?"

"Nope…not the foggiest." She quipped as she piped frosting onto the cooled Margarita cupcakes then garnishing them with coarse salt, lime zest, and lime wedges and a cut decorative straw before serving.

"Brookie…" she drawled.

"Haley…" she echoes in the same tone.

Haley huffed then said for what seemed like the thousandth time, "Lucas really isn't that bad once you get to know him."

"That's the thing! I don't want to know him! First impressions are lasting for a reason Hales." She said before licking the icing off her fingers.

"Not all first impressions are correct." She said meaningfully just before snagging her adult treat.

Brooke rolled her eyes then asked exasperatedly, "Can you let this go?"

"Okay fine…" Haley couldn't believe she was about to do this but she knew she didn't have much of a choice considering the way Brooke and Lucas continued to battle back and forth and how staunchly stubborn her friend was. "How open are you to blind dates?" she asked.

Brooke bit into her own cupcake and shrugged, "I'm pretty open to them…why?"

"I have someone in mind that would be perfect for you." Haley said with a convincing smile just before she polished off her cupcake.

Brookes interest was piqued as she asked, "Really? What's he like?"

"He's…exceptionally handsome and…" she hesitated as she thought of the good qualities of Lucas that Brooke could be drawn to. "…stoic, honest, and kind. Perhaps more than anything, he is thoughtful. In part from life experience, in part through his love of reading."

"If he's so great then how is it that he's single?"

"He wasn't always single. In fact he has adorable twin boys."

Brooke didn't mind children but she also wasn't keen on baby mama drama. "What happened to the mother?"

Haley winced then answered, "All you have to know is that she's far, far out of the picture."

Brooke considered it for a moment then said, "…I don't have time for romance Haley…you know better than anyone how hectic my schedule is."

"You're also the boss so you can make your own hours…" Haley suggested with a shrug before taking another cupcake.

Brooke narrowed her eyes and asked, "If I go on this date…"

"Yeees?" she drawled, already knowing what she was going to say.

She batted her eyes then asked, "Would you leave me alone about my romantic life or lack thereof?"

Haley laughed as she patted her on the shoulder then answered, "No, but nice try."

"Drat." She said playfully as she snapped her fingers, "Well since that didn't work how about a movie?"

"A movie? Depends on what kind…"

"Twilight…"

Haley rolled her eyes as they walked into the living room, "You only want to watch it to make fun of it."

She walked to the entertainment center and grabbed the remote then turned on the TV and DVD player. "Duh…but Bella's dad is hot and I think we should have that conversation…"

"Are you kidding? You like Charlie?"

"Yeah he's a total Dilf…"

Haley looked at her strangely then asked, "Okay…how much alcohol is in this cupcake and how many did you eat?"

"What?" she asked, laughing at her friends facial expression.

"The guy has to be in his late forties or something. There's at least two decades between you!" Haley exclaimed, totally disgusted.

Brooke shrugged playfully as the movie began playing upcoming movies. "So that means he has twice my experience."

"Okay its official, you definitely need to get laid."

"Charlie can so do the trick—" she broke off to cackle at Haley's widened eyes.

She quickly covered her ears and shut her eyes saying, "Ew enough! Forget I said that!"

Brooke laughed so hard at her that she forgot her woes with Lucas and spent most of the night cracking up with Haley, Reverie and Lucas Scott miles away from her mind.

-x-

"Daddy I don't feel so good…" Logan whined as soon as he saw his dad enter his room.

Lucas walked over and felt his forehead and frowned, "Yeah, you have a little fever going…"

Jamie blinked his eyes open and yawned, "Good morning Daddy…you came to read my story?"

"Yeah I did…but I have to do it right after I give Logan his medicine."

Jamie frowned then asked, "What's wrong with him?"

"I sick…" Logan whined as he curled up in his Spider-Man blanket.

"He has a fever…" Lucas answered before leaving the room. He went to the medicine cabinet and grabbed the children's cold and fever medicine then rushed back to Logan's side. He then measured the medicine through the syringe to a safe amount to give him. "Okay Lo open up…"

"Noooo…" Logan whined as he covered his head with his blanket.

Lucas sighed and had to uncover his sons face and force feed the medicine in his mouth to which Logan spit it up. "Come on dude you have to take this in order to feel better!"

"No!"

"Fine…I guess we have to go old school." He muttered.

Lucas rushed around gathering the things he needed, he then placed a cool, wet washcloth on his child's head to draw the fever out and gave him fluids – to prevent dehydration and aid the body in cooling itself.

"Daddy? You gonna read my story now?" Jamie asked impatiently.

"In a minute Jamie…" he said as he dialed the office, "Hi Kelly can you schedule my appointments to a later time?"

"No problem Mr. Scott…" his temporary secretary replied.

"Thank you…" he then hung up and turned to his son, "Now let's see where the monsters are…"

Throughout the morning Lucas gave Logan plenty of fluids, including water, clear soups and popsicles. When Sam finally came he informed her of Logan's fever and instructed her to take him to his pediatrician.

He looked at his watch and knew that he needed to go directly to Reverie for his meeting with Chef Brooke.

-x-

"Excuse me?" Brooke asked in disbelief as she and Mr. Scott went over plans for the restaurant area of his hotel.

"You heard me…" Lucas said as he stared in her eyes.

"I couldn't have possibly heard you right!" Brooke said as she paced, stress taking over her mood rapidly, clearly agitated.

"You're going with me to oversee the construction of Luxuriont/Reverie in Paris for three months. What's so confusing about that?"

She scoffed, "No I'm not! If you haven't noticed already I have a business to run! And besides that's one of the busiest times of the year for us!"

"Haley assured me last night that she could handle it while you're gone." He said with a cocky smirk, as if to say what's your excuse now?

She faced him, head on and gritted, "Haley isn't the head chef and boss of this restaurant! I am!"

"You're not the boss of this restaurant anymore! I am!" he pointed out as he crossed his arms in a no nonsensical way.

Brooke gritted her teeth, "Don't remind me!"

"Then stop giving me reasons to!" he shot back.

Brooke narrowed her eyes and mentally dug in her heels then said stubbornly, "I won't do it. I refuse."

"You can't just refuse Davis! This is about the welfare of our budding partnership! Reverie's representative must be there!"

"If its so important have Haley go!"

"As head chef you need to oversee what flow the kitchen takes, what appliances need to be installed…the design of it. In essence this will be another branch of your baby. Are you sure you trust someone else with that responsibility?" he asked as he gave her a know-it-all look.

Brooke knew he had her there but she still fought him saying, "If I leave…that shortchanges my crew! I'm not just sitting in the office writing up menus! I'm with them, working the line, making sure our customers are satisfied!"

"And I get that but you are also the head bitch in charge are you not?"

"Bitch?!" She practically yelled then glared at him, "I used to be a bit of a bitch just for the sake of being one, but now I am a bitch for the sake of my friends and family. You do not want to test that!"

Lucas rolled his eyes and said with frustration, "I'm not calling you a bitch Brooke. Head bitch in charge is slang for boss. Since you are the boss under me…"

That saying prompted images she didn't need at the moment, of heated kisses and caresses on her desk, images that made her feel a heat that had nothing to do with her present anger. Blinking she refocused on what he was saying.

"…you have to come with me to approve the construction of Reverie."

"Fine…but only for a week!" she said begrudgingly, knowing he was right.

Lucas rubbed his temples and prayed for patience saying, "The time constraints are non-negotiable. You have to be there the entire process just in case they get it wrong…unlike this place Site 2 will be built from scratch so you will have to be there to tell them what is right and what isn't!"

"Oh my God…fine I'll go!" Brooke exclaimed, feeling frustrated in more ways than one.

Lucas smiled, showing off his dimples as he said, "There was that so hard?"

Brooke closed her eyes as she imagined him hard, her hand closing around him. "Okay that concludes our business for the day! You have to go!" she snapped, pushing him out of her office.

"Wait we weren't done—" he said as he was practically shoved out of the room.

"Well now we are!" she said the slammed the door in his face. She wasn't even able to enjoy that small victory because her mind was racing.

Where had that come from, she wondered as she thought of the unexpected yet very sensual daydreams she experienced. How could she even imagine being with him in that way knowing he was such a colossal asshole towards her?

Maybe it was because she was just so stressed out about everything that was happening with Reverie and all the changes that were being made that she had delusions of desiring him.

"Yeah that's gotta be it…" she muttered absently, completely shaken.

Or maybe Haley was right and she needed to get laid…

"Uh Brooke you might wanna come out here…" she heard Skills say hesitantly through the door thirty minutes later.

Brooke blinked and stood to her feet, so lost in her thoughts she hadn't been aware of how much time had passed. As soon as she entered the kitchen she saw a towering gentleman in traditional chef uniform, yelling orders.

"Excuse me what the hell is going on and what are you doing in my kitchen?!"

"Hi I'm Daunte Jones…I'm your new cook." The outrageously handsome older chef said with a blinding white smile.

Brooke was seething as she narrowed her eyes, "Recipe for the day: 1 cup of cluster…2 cups of fuck." She muttered, feeling the anger welling inside her.

-x-

Lucas walked into his office feeling more than a little miffed with Brooke's cold dismissal earlier. Not really wanting to examine why her prickly attitude bothered him, he made a few calls and smirked, he wished he could see the look on her face when she discovered his little surprise. Just as he hung up the phone he noticed a letter set neatly on his desk for him to see.

He looked at the letter and instantly recognized the sprawling signature of the woman he had an intense yet one sided love affair with five years ago. Someone who had managed to capture his heart easily but hadn't given him hers. A woman who had walked away from him to chase her own dreams of becoming an actress. The mother of his children.

Flashback…April, 2, 2013

"Where are you going?" Lucas asked in disbelief, having come home to find his girlfriend of two months.

"I got a call from my agent…he said that it would be better for my career if I moved out to LA…" Lauren Fletcher said breathlessly as she packed her Louis Vuitton luggage.

Lucas eyes narrowed, "So that's it? One phone call from your agent and it's over?"

"Lucas…you knew what this was…" Lauren said as she closed her suitcase.

Even so, he was taken aback by her lack of emotion. Was it possible that he put more into this than she had? "I thought we had something here L…"

Lauren smiled gently as she cupped his somber face just before she kissed him goodbye. "Thanks for the memories Luke…"

As the months went by his heart grew a bit colder, each day he became detached from anything involving his heart. He was almost convinced that it no longer beat in his chest. That is until he received her letter at his parents penthouse and it was addressed to him…

He stared down at it, unable to believe his eyes.

Lucas hadn't heard anything from her until a half a year later from her departure.

He opened the letter and read it's contents and found that it contained information that forever changed his life.

Lauren had informed him that he was a father, that she had been pregnant when she left him and that he needed to fly to LA to meet his sons. The news caused him to drop the letter. Cursing he bent down to pick it up and saw that there was also a photo next to his feet.

It was a picture of two babies wrapped in blue swaddling cloth on a bed.

After he quickly scanned for her address he threw the letter in the fire, the sight of her fancy signature annoying him. But kept the photo in his breast pocket, closest to his heart and quickly arranged for his private jet to fly him to Los Angeles.

After a nearly five hour flight and a two hour ride in his family luxury car he arrived to Lauren's apartment. He began pounding on the door, impatient to find out what was going on. Lauren opened the door, her once glamorous face now haggard with fatigue.

"Lucas…please come in. I'm so glad you came…" she began, her tone desperate and tired.

He wasn't sure what he thought he would find but it wasn't this. His ex lover living in a hovel, rocking one of the twins as the other cried, her once healthy slim figure now a shade of what she'd been. She explained to him that she was seeking treatment for her opiod addiction that she developed after the twins were born due to her having a C-section and that she needed him to take care of them for awhile.

"Please Lucas…I need—no we need you to do this…please…"

That night had been four years ago. Four years she had left their sons in his care, four years he had been the sole parent worrying about their well-being, making sure they had the things they needed and in some cases wanted due to the absence of their mother. Four years worth of tears, bruises and scrapes, warm hugs and I love you's. Years of interviewing nannies, babysitters and nutritionists, picking out the best pediatricians…

Logan and Jamie often asked about their mother no matter what he tried to provide for them. They're intelligent boys and he had chosen not to lie to them, wanting to be an example and raise them to be as honest as possible.

"Daddy when can we see mommy?" Jamie asked one night as Lucas tucked them in.

"She's working on herself and if it were possible she would see you as soon as she could." He explained softly. It was the only answer he could offer them. But they still asked for her every now and then, no matter that it was the same answer.

He opened the letter with the sharp letter opener and was about to read what Lauren had to say when he heard his door slam open.

"How dare you send another chef to my kitchen without asking me?!" Brooke demanded after entering his office.

"I'm sorry Mr. Scott I tried to stop her—" Shelley Simon, his temp, rushed in to say. He held a hand up to stop her babbling.

Lucas put the letter into his desk and looked at Brooke then replied evenly, "Chef Daunte is a world class chef—"

"And we had a deal!" she said heatedly, unable to believe the audacity of the man before her.

"Ah, ah we didn't establish any rules about me sending you help. We established that I was not to give creative input to which I haven't!" Lucas said smugly, which made Brooke want to strangle him.

She looked at him in disbelief, her hands tossed in the air as she asked in great annoyance, "And you don't think that this isn't giving creative input?!"

Lucas rolled his eyes then explained, "No, it's not. Someone's got to take over for Haley when she takes your spot while you're in Paris with me." He shrugged then continued on, "You presented a problem and I came up with a solution. You're welcome!"

Brooke inhaled then exhaled deeply for more patience, "I really can't deal with you right now…"

"Face it…you know that I'm right." He said smugly, allowing it to show on his face.

"Just when I thought you couldn't possibly get anymore arrogant!" she growled, her anger boiling over.

Lucas scoffed as he walked around his desk to stand toe to toe with his opponent. "I'm not arrogant I'm confident—"

Her hazel eyes sparkled with rage as she looked him into his eyes, "No, no, no… Don't confuse confidence with arrogance," she seethed, finally unleashing what she wanted to say to him since the day he entered her kitchen. "Arrogance is being full of yourself, feeling you're always right, and believing your accomplishments or abilities make you better than other people. People like you often believe arrogance is excessive confidence, but it's really a lack of confidence. Arrogant people like you are insecure, and often repel others. Truly confident people feel good about themselves and attract others to them."

Her scathing words excited him for some odd reason, he liked seeing her passionate nature, it offered a glimpse of her personality which made him ache to actually know her. But for now exchanges like this were better than indifference.

"It's only arrogance if you're wrong." He found himself saying. The room fell silent as the air between them crackled with electric heat. "Brooke…you are singlehandedly the most frustrating woman I ever met."

Brooke looked at Lucas, her eyes blazing with anger and something else, something that he recognized and echoed resoundingly. "Really? If your brains were dynamite, there wouldn't be enough to blow your hat off."

Lucas couldn't have resisted even if he wanted to, her lips beckoned him—so lush yet stubborn. He kissed her sweet unsuspecting mouth and for a minute she surrendered, the anger and tension of the past few weeks melting away as she kissed him back eagerly with a hungry sigh. But then he pulled away.

Neither one knew how it happened but their lips had met again, this time with more heat. She groaned with pleasure when his lips clasped upon hers in passion. She kissed back with equal hunger and her body flaming at the contact of his lips on hers, his tongue inside her mouth, taking it savagely. Brooke broke the kiss with a slight shove.

"I don't know what you're playing at—"

"Oh shut up…" He then looked down at her lips as if they were magnetized, groaning with want he went for the kill and took her mouth fiercely once more.

Brooke melted but had to remind herself that this wasn't what she came here to do. So she once again broke the kiss and stepped away from him.

To avoid looking at him she looked inside her purse, anything to distract her from his kiss. "Wow look at the time! Funny how time flies when you're having fun." she whispered, after looking at her cell for the time.

Lucas smiled with satisfaction. "So you admit that kissing me was fun—"

She smiled reluctantly, "That's beside the point…" she then sobered and squared her shoulders, "That shouldn't have happened."

"You're right…it shouldn't have." He said, his facial expression closed off.

Brooke nodded and turned towards the door. Just as her hand clasped over the doorknob she heard him call her name so she turned to find him straightening his tie. "By the way we leave for Paris in a week."

Brooke grew angry once again and turned on her heel and strolled out of his office.