Chapter Three
Kai
“Good morning, Kai!” Mary said cheerily as Kai walked into the breakroom two weeks later.
“Good morning, Mary. How are you today?” Kai smiled as he slipped off his backpack and placed it into his locker.
Mary was the nicest hostess he’d ever met.
She didn’t seem to think she was better than him because she was a hostess.
Since his first day she’d made him feel welcome.
In some regards she reminded him of his sister.
“Great! Oh my gosh, look what my husband bought me yesterday!” Mary pulled out her phone and showed him a picture of a large goat stuffie that was taking up half of a bed.
“That’s so adorable!”
“I know! Donnie knows how much I love goats so he’ll just randomly buy me goat stuffed animals or toys or anything goat related.” Mary blushed then turned toward her own locker.
“That’s so sweet. Do you have a lot of goat stuffies?
” Mary nodded still blushing and showed him her collection of goat stuffies.
Kai smiled and listened as she listed each name.
After a minute the door opened and Kai felt his heart stutter as his hot new boss walked in.
For the last two weeks Marco had trained Kai, they’d been together for each of his eight hour shifts.
According to Mary though Marco took a very active role in the restaurant he usually left the training of the new employees to Heather or Mary.
It had been hell on Kai and this crush he was nursing.
He’d thought he wouldn’t see Marco a lot but instead he’d seen him and been around him every single day for the last two weeks.
“Hey, Marco,” Mary said brightly as she closed her locker and swiped her time card.
“Good morning, Mary. Have you clocked in yet, Kai?”
“Oh, not yet.” Kai tied his apron around his waist then clocked in. That was another thing that Marco did was he never talked about work stuff until you were clocked in.
“Now I am. What's up?” Marco held the door open and Kai followed Mary out. He got a whiff of some expensive cologne and immediately blushed as his thoughts turned naughty. His favorite fantasy was an image of Kai on his knees with Marco standing above him naked.
“Heather called out.” Marco said, frowning. Kai also frowned but didn’t say anything. It seemed in the last two weeks Heather had only attended one or two of her shifts.
“Again?” Mary asked. The three of them paused near the order window to the kitchen. Mary was frowning as well which seemed like a completely foreign expression on her normally happy face.
“Yep. Ted is off today and Yvonne is on vacation. Those are the only two that I’d trust to wait on our VIPs later this afternoon.”
“Crap, I forgot about them,” Mary chewed her lip.
“So, are you going to call in Ted?” Kai asked. He wasn’t worried about being without a trainer as the layout and the general order of operations was the same as most restaurants that he’d worked at. Kai knew that he’d be okay by himself today.
“No, Ted deserves his day off. I’ll work in Heather’s place.”
“Really?” Kai blinked, surprised. Marco looked down at him with a cocked eyebrow.
Damn, that's hot.
“I’ll work for Heather today then I’ll call her later.”
“I hope she has a good excuse. I’m going to unlock the doors.” Mary walked off toward the front.
“Wasn’t expecting the boss to work?” Marco asked with a lopsided smile.
“No. I wasn’t,” Kai answered honestly. His heart beat wildly at the smile.
“I will never ask any of my employees to do something I’m not willing to do myself. You’ve been a natural and you pick up instruction really well. Will you be okay today by yourself? It’ll be just us until Christy and Josh start the dinner shift.”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ll ask questions if I need help.
” Kai smiled then went and made sure that the tables in his section had utensils, full salt and pepper shakers.
Marco’s Lounge wasn’t the biggest restaurant he worked at so two waiters could comfortably help half the tables each.
It seemed like Marco usually had two working at a time with a part timer in the middle to help clean, stock, and cover lunches.
Soon the morning rush started and Kai lost himself in the job. Taking orders, running food, writing tickets. Kai was surprised when Josh had clocked in and started helping with bussing his tables.
“Josh is taking the table that just got sat, go to lunch now, please.” Kai nodded and had soon stationed himself at one end of the bar with a plate of lasagna. One of the perks of working here was free lunch each shift and the food here was amazing.
"What's for lunch?" Kai stiffened as Marco sat next to him with a plate of baked ziti and a carrot cake. It wasn’t a surprise for Kai, every shift they sat down and had lunch together. Kai was trying so hard to keep Marco at arms length but it was getting harder each day.
"Oh, um, lasagna," Kai muttered around a mouthful of food.
"You shouldn't eat with your mouth full," Marco lectured, frowning.
"I shouldn't?" he asked after swallowing. "Why not?"
"Because you could accidentally choke on your food. It’s rude as well."
"I guess that's true. Maybe you shouldn't ask me questions when I put food in my mouth." Kai said then ate another bite with a smile. He eyed the carrot cake. It was his favorite dessert and he couldn't help himself.
"Do you want some?" Kai startled then shook his head as he drank some soda.
"Oh, no, I couldn't. It's yours."
"True, but I could share. You seem to really like staring at it."
"Sorry… carrot cake is my favorite dessert."
"I can tell," Marco said smiling. Kai picked up his fork but was surprised when Marco held a forkful of cake up to his mouth.
"Here, have a bite." Kai looked at the man behind the fork and gingerly took the bite.
This is new. Kai liked it. He really shouldn’t like it this much.
"Good boy." Kai blinked even more shocked. He had to have misheard Marco.
No way did he just say good boy? That wasn't very appropriate at work. Kai tried to tell himself that but his stomach was flip flopping and he wanted to hear Marco call him a good boy again.
"What are you drinking?" Marco asked, breaking the spell and turning back to his ziti. There was a faint blush around the collar of Marco’s polo. Kai took a deep breath and turned back to his lasagna.
He’s your boss. He’s your boss. So inappropriate.
"Um, Dr. Pepper."
"Have you had any water today?" Marco asked, once again frowning.
"Uh..." Kai hadn't but the glint in Marco's eye told him that he shouldn't tell the truth. Normally he did drink water, he’d just been busy today.
"I've had some," he hedged as his bottom tingled. Marco's eyes narrowed but Mary suddenly appeared.
"Marco, I just sat the VIPs in the Butterfly Room." she said as she was frowning at her phone.
"Thank you. Tell them I'll be in soon." Mary nodded and walked away quickly.
"Do you have a water bottle?" Marco asked.
"Not with me." Kai frowned in confusion.
"Next time you work I want you to have a water bottle and drink out of it regularly. Eat the rest of the cake." Marco stood and walked away with his empty plate.
"Or what?" Kai called after Marco. He shouldn’t have asked but he couldn’t help himself.
"Or you'll be punished." Kai's mouth dropped open as Marco disappeared.
No. Way. Marco didn't just say that. There's no way.
Punished how?
No, no, he didn't want to know that. He should go tell Marco how inappropriate that was. He shouldn't feel pleased and like there was a fire underneath his skin at that statement.
Oh boy… I'm in so much trouble.