Chapter 10 #2
As soon as I exited my car, Wayne stepped back, giving me a respectable gap between us.
I looked him over, my eyes gluing to his forearms. I realized then that every time I’d seen him before, he’d had long sleeves.
Now, I saw a tattoo on his inner forearm, the light from the front door illuminating it.
“You look beautiful,” Wayne said in a husky voice. “Please, come in.”
He led the way through the dark restaurant, and then through a dimly lit kitchen. “Where are we going?” I asked.
“Back here. I wanted to show you where I work. Olivia doesn’t do dinner most nights, just brunch and lunch, but I have my own area back here.”
We went through another door into another kitchen. There weren’t any windows in this area, and all the lights were on. Immediately inside the door was a desk and office area, which was decidedly pink.
“You like pink?” I asked, gesturing toward the desk as I sucked in a deep lungful of the most delectable smell. I had no idea what it was, but it made my stomach growl. Meat combined with some sort of… curry? I couldn’t tell.
He chuckled. “You know I have a female receptionist. She’s who you booked the catering contract with. Olivia and I share her for admin stuff.”
I grumbled under my breath teasingly at his deception and how he’d maneuvered it, so he was the one that did my catering.
“Come on, don’t grump. Sit.” He pulled out a stool beside a long, silver prep table. “I’m trying out new menu options. I want you to taste test for me.”
He turned to the oven and grabbed a potholder before he opened it, pulling out a covered casserole dish. “So how is your new career going?” he asked as he moved around the stove, grabbing plates and silverware, spatulas, and other things for serving out the food.
“I love it,” I said honestly. “I’ve never felt so much like I completely fit at something than I do with this job.”
“It’s not a job,” he said over his shoulder.
I sat up straight, my hackles rising, ready to defend myself and how many hours I had to work to be an influencer. But he redeemed himself.
“It’s a career. A calling. Some people won’t ever understand, but when you find the right fit, it ceases to be a job.”
Well, that I could agree with. “I could see myself being in this game for a long time,” I said. “I know my videos won’t last forever, but I’d like to start taking some classes and maybe someday go toward something in the dermatology or aesthetician field.”
Wayne paused and smiled over his shoulder.
“That sounds awesome. It’s always good to plan for the future.
I think that’s when I really started to relax, when I knew deep down that this business I’m doing now can be a forever thing.
I can work like this for the rest of my life, happily.
Or eventually, become more management if I tire of cooking, but the business itself should be pretty evergreen. Everybody needs to eat.”
I nodded eagerly. “Everyone watches online videos. Heck, when people get broke and have to cancel cable, videos like mine might be their only source of entertainment, watched on their laptops or phones. It wouldn’t seem that way but making content can be a long-term investment.”
Wayne set a glass in front of me, then filled it with red wine.
I knew jack diddly about wine, so I just smiled and took a sip. It was a bit tart for my taste, but I trusted he knew what to offer for the food he was preparing. I didn’t even know what it was, besides red.
Didn’t have to tell him that, though, did I?
“I’ve got my first brand trip coming up,” I said, unable to keep the excitement out of my voice.
“I’m sorry.” He screwed his lips in a wry smile. “I don’t know what that is.”
I giggled and explained while he finished by the stove. When he turned, he had a large plate in his hands with several items dished out onto it.
“Bianca,” he said in a low voice, but I interrupted him.
“Call me Bee, please.” My friends all did. And if nothing else, I was counting Wayne as a friend now. He’d made quite the change from the surly chef who had pissed me off in my kitchen.
“Bee.” He smiled and set the plate in front of me before climbing onto a stool beside me. “When I worked for you, I wasn’t in a good place. I was stressed and didn’t know how to channel my frustrations and anger.”
I tried to hold up a hand to tell him I understood, but he kept going.
“I’m sorry. Sorry for the way I talked to you, for butting in. For you getting caught up in my frustration.”
“It’s okay,” I said softly. “I understand. Sometimes you go through shit. It happens.”
His smile was hopeful, tentative, and then he dipped his fork into a pasta dish with brown sauce. “Try this,” he said.
Instead of waiting for me to grab my own bite, Wayne lifted the fork to my lips.
Oh, damn.
Wayne’s eyes burned into me with every bite. And each sampling was more delicious than the last.
Finally, when I thought I was going to explode with desire, I held up a hand.
“I’m getting full,” I whispered. “And there’s no way I could pick a favorite.
They were all amazing.” He’d made something with shrimp, one thing he said was duck, and a steak so tender I would’ve thought it was some sort of roast.
“I hope you have room for dessert.” His voice came out low and growly, matching a sound I thought I’d heard him make when I’d moaned around a bite of shrimp.
Maybe he really had growled. I’d dismissed it as me mishearing him clearing his throat or something.
Hopping up, he went to the far table and picked up a tray. As he got closer, I realized it held about six different tiny desserts. “Oh, no,” I moaned. “You’re killing me.”
His eyes flashed again as he moved the plate out of the way and replaced it with the tray of decadent sweets.
“Hopefully, you’ll last a bit longer.”
The man hadn’t let me take a bite of my food all night. He’d lifted each sampling to my mouth, which would’ve been weird if someone had told me he’d be doing it. I would’ve thought I’d think it was off-putting.
It was not. It was so sexy my core trembled with desire, and he hadn’t technically touched me at all.
I sipped the last of my wine and sighed. “Okay,” I whispered, meeting Wayne’s heated gaze.
This was turning him on just as much as it was me.
Oh, damn. I didn’t know how much longer I could last. “Only one bite each,” I said. “I can’t take much more.” Literally and figuratively.
He nodded and lifted a pink mousse to my lips. “Strawberry,” he said in a soft voice.
I opened my mouth dutifully and let him slip the dessert inside.
Oh, sweet heaven. I closed my eyes and swirled the flavor in my mouth, trying not to let myself moan again. That would just turn him on more.
I made it, resolutely trying the dishes without a sound, until the last one.
Some sort of chocolate cheesecake with whipped cream on top.
As I closed my lips around the fork, I felt the whipped cream land on my lip. As soon as I could, I licked it slowly off my lip and sighed. “That was amazing.”
Lifting my gaze, I found Wayne’s gaze glued to my lip where the blob of whipped cream had been seconds before. He cleared his throat.
I looked down. He’d set the fork down and gripped the sides of the silver table so hard his knuckles were turning white. Heat had been radiating off of him all night, but I’d attributed it to the stove behind him. As he sucked in a deep breath, I touched his arm.
“Wayne?” I whispered. The heat was coming from him. Almost scalding hot.
His gaze met mine again. “I’m going to be a gentleman and walk you to your car now.” His low, tight voice told me he wanted to knock all the food off this table and take me on it right then and there.
Hot damn, but I probably would’ve let him.