Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
“ I s it annoying to eat out as a chef?” Dev asked Warren when they were tucking into the desserts. “Are you constantly thinking about how you’d have cooked it better?”
“Only if the food’s really bad,” Warren replied, making them all chuckle. He shook his head. “Most of the time I’m just happy I didn’t have to cook.”
“You like your job, though?” Kylie asked.
“Yes.” He glanced at Anna. “Not that I’d dare say anything else. She might tell my boss.”
Again, they all chuckled while Anna gave his arm a playful shove. “You do like your job, though,” she said, with a questioning lilt to her voice. She’d always assumed he did, but maybe he wasn’t actually that fond of it. Which could explain why he lost his temper so much with the kitchen staff.
“I love it,” he said, looking directly at her. His gaze flicked to the table at large. “It feels like a privilege to do what I love for a living.”
He swiped his fork over his dessert plate, scooping up the last piece of rich chocolate cake with the final smear of cream.
While she waited for him to polish it off, he aimed it in her direction instead.
The hush that descended over the table told her that all eyes were on them as he fed her the last of his dessert.
Warren wiggled his eyebrows at her, easing her nerves as her lips closed around the fork.
She didn’t dare look at her friends and had just moved her hand to wipe the crumbs from her lips when Warren brought his hand to her face.
His thumb dragging over her lower lip made her breath catch in her throat, and she completely forgot to breathe when he moved in and laid a gentle kiss on her mouth.
“I really wish I didn’t have to work tomorrow,” he said, eyes locking with hers as he pulled away.
“Can’t you call in sick?” Kylie piped up beside him.
His acting skills were impressive. For a moment, even Anna believed he was considering it.
“I can’t,” he finally said, looking genuinely pained.
Standing, he shook hands with the guys around the table. Kylie and Frannie both stood to hug him, which was a sure sign he had their approval.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he said when he bent to Anna. His hand rested on her shoulder again, sending a shiver up the back of her neck. Her heart rate soared as he leaned in to kiss her.
Again, it was only a soft brush of lips, but it sent a buzz of excitement all the way to her toes.
“It was really great to meet you all,” he said when he straightened up, fingers still caressing her shoulder. “Enjoy the rest of your night.”
Through the cheerful goodbyes from her friends, Anna inhaled deeply. He was supposed to be her boyfriend, so it wasn’t as though it was a bad thing that her friends noticed how much a couple of kisses affected her.
And they definitely noticed.
That much was clear from the way Kylie and Frannie beamed at her .
“He’s so lovely,” Kylie said, reaching over and squeezing her hand. “He definitely gets my seal of approval.”
Frannie looked a touch emotional. “You’re absolutely smitten, aren’t you?”
“No,” she said weakly, forgetting that’s exactly what she’d wanted them to believe and instead focusing on convincing herself that she didn’t have actual feelings for him.
As far as fake boyfriends went, it turned out he was quite a good one.
It was all for show – she reminded herself – nothing more.
“Oh, no,” Frannie muttered. “Aunt Margaret is looking over here. Shall we all hit the dance floor? It’ll save me from having to make small talk with more elderly relatives.”
While Dev protested half-heartedly against dancing, Anna turned in her seat – her eyes finding Warren as he neared the door at the far side of the room.
It was a shame he’d left before the dancing. Although her notion of him sweeping her around the dance floor was probably too wild of a fantasy, anyway. She couldn’t imagine he’d have indulged her in any slow dances, no matter how much he’d thrown himself into the role of devoted boyfriend.
He’d just reached the doorway when the waitress he’d been talking to caught up with him and grabbed at his elbow. Confusion wrinkled his brow as he turned to her, but was quickly replaced by a warm smile.
They exchanged a few words before he followed her to a nearby table. Hastily, she wrote on a notepad and tore the paper off for him. As he slipped it into his pocket, Anna’s stomach knotted tightly. Her breath caught in her throat as Warren squeezed the waitress’s arm.
As she watched him head for the door again, she registered the silence from her friends. Presumably it would be too much to hope that they hadn’t witnessed that .
Slowly, she turned back to them. All eyes were on her as she forced a smile.
“What just happe–” Dev was cut off by Frannie, who elbowed his ribs.
“Are you okay?” she asked, tilting her head.
They’d all seen, then.
“I’m fine!” Anna said, her voice overly bright. “Did you say you were going to dance?”
“We should all dance,” Kylie said, springing from her chair. “Come on?”
“I’m just going to finish my drink.” Anna pulled her glass towards her. “I’ll catch you up in a minute.” Her friends all had those pitying looks she’d been desperate to avoid. “Go on,” she said, making a shooing motion. “Liven up the party.”
Kylie gave her shoulder a squeeze, then took Dev’s arm and pulled him towards the dance floor. The rest of them followed, leaving Anna to stare at her wineglass and remind herself that Warren wasn’t really her boyfriend and she shouldn’t be upset by his interaction with the waitress.
Admittedly, it was slightly humiliating that her friends had seen it, but that was her own fault for lying to them about her relationship status.
“Come and dance,” a soft voice said, snapping her from her trance. Hayden stood with his hand out and a wealth of sympathy in his eyes.
“I’m not really in the mood.”
“That’s exactly why you should dance.” He took her hand, and she let him pull her onto the dance floor, where an increasing number of couples danced to the slow music.
It didn’t even occur to her to protest when Hayden slipped an arm around her and pulled her close. He held her other hand in his, and they swayed gently.
“Are you all right?” he asked after a moment.
“Yes.” She tried to sound perky but failed. Stupidly, she’d got caught up in Warren’s flirting and had blurred the line between what was real and what was pretend.
“Just because he took her number doesn’t mean he’s going to call her,” Hayden said quietly.
Anna’s eyebrows shot up. She’d assumed they’d just ignore that little incident.
“Maybe he was just being polite,” Hayden suggested.
“By taking the waitress’s number?”
He shrugged. “He might not have wanted to hurt her feelings, so just took the number. It doesn’t mean he’s intending to use it.”
“Do you think so?” Anna asked, stupidly hoping that was true.
Hayden didn’t reply, but pulled her closer, resting his cheek against her temple.
“Is it serious between the two of you?”
She gave a small shake of her head. “I don’t think so. It’s still new.”
“I’m sorry, anyway.”
She pulled back to look him in the eye. “It’s not a big deal, so you can stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you feel sorry for me.”
“I don’t feel sorry for you.” He pulled her closer again, speaking quietly in her ear. “I think you can do better, that’s all.”
“You just said he might not have any intention of calling her.”
“Because I don’t like seeing you upset. But it really wouldn’t have been impolite to tell her he has a girlfriend.”
Anna shook her head and tried to step away, but his arm tightened around her back. “I’m sorry,” he said, and his earnest gaze made her relax in his arms.
Gently, they swayed to the music until Hayden spoke again.
“I know things have been weird between us since we split up, but you’re still one of my closest friends, and I care about you a lot.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“If Warren doesn’t know what a good thing he’s got, then he doesn’t deserve you.”
She huffed out an ironic laugh. “That’s rich, isn’t it?”
His eyebrows dipped a fraction. “I messed up, and I know it. I should never have…” His eyes drifted to somewhere over her shoulder.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing. Never mind.”
“Hayden! Tell me what you were going to say.”
Finally, his gaze bounced back to her. “I should never have split up with you,” he said so softly she wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly.
She opened her mouth, but couldn’t find any words. Once again, Hayden’s attention moved over her shoulder. He held her hand tighter when she turned to look.
Through the crowd on the dance floor, her gaze collided with Warren’s.
The fierce look he gave her made her heart beat erratically.