Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Kat
Monday morning, I’d been anxious all day, knowing that Miles would be there when I got to work. I knew that I shouldn’t let it bother me as much as it did, but he did something to me, and the resolve that I’d had against him started to waver.
While I didn’t know Miles personally, I knew men like him. Good-looking, flirty, the kind of personality that drew people in just so they could get what they wanted. I’d been burned plenty of times in my short twenty-eight years, and very few of those occurred in the kitchen.
I’d slept like shit last night; my nerves were shot, and a knot in my stomach made it difficult to get comfortable. I stopped by my favorite little coffee shop on my way to Ambrosia and asked for a double shot of espresso—I was going to need it today.
When I got there, I hoped I would be the first one to arrive but was disappointed when I found the door unlocked and Clarissa upfront at the hostess station. If she was already there, there was a good chance that Miles was too.
“Hey,” she said casually as she thumbed through the papers in front of her. “Early again.”
“I wanted to get a head start.”
She looked up and smiled.
“Or were you worried that he’d be here before you and invade your space?”
I narrowed my eyes at her and took a sip of my coffee.
“You’re the one who invited him here to invade it in the first place.”
“Yes, but you guys are the ones who came up with this competition. I was just giving you a location to have it and wanted it to be fair. Imagine if you were thrown into his arena and had no idea where things were.”
“Fine,” I rolled my eyes, earning a laugh from her. “Is he back there?” I lifted my to-go cup toward the kitchen.
She shrugged and then picked up the phone that started ringing.
Sighing, I pushed my purse up my shoulder and made my way to the back.
I was relieved when I didn’t see him and hung my purse and coat by the door. As I turned around, coffee in hand, I almost spilled it all over myself when I saw him walking past casually.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” he said with a wink.
I tried to smile, but it fell flat, so I headed to my station and set the cup down before I had a chance to spill it again.
“So, is there anything special you’re working on today?” he asked, stirring whatever he was making in the pot on the stove. I didn’t want to admit it, but it smelled fantastic.
“I have a few ideas I want to flesh out.”
I kept my head down and focused as I tried to remember what those ideas were. It was like having Miles around put me in this fog, and I couldn’t think straight.
I grabbed my phone, opened the app where I’d kept all my recipe ideas, and thumbed through them until I found the one I was looking for. I nodded and went to the walk-in freezer to get what I needed.
I heard the door open a few minutes later as Miles walked in.
I glanced at him and then turned back to look through the meat options. Just as I reached for a cut of pork, I felt his arm brush against mine as he grabbed the one next to me.
“Sorry,” he apologized, not bothering to move his arm as the electricity sparked between us.
I wanted nothing more than to turn into his body and kiss him, but I knew I couldn’t. He was dangerous and had heartbreaker written all over him. From the tattoos that stretched up his muscular arm to the piercing green eyes that were fixated on me, I found it hard to walk away.
I knew he was attracted to me; he’d made that much clear already. What I didn’t expect was how attracted to him I would be. Being this close to his body was detrimental, and I needed to move away, but my feet refused to oblige.
He grabbed a rack of ribs and pulled away, watching me with curiosity.
“Did you need help?” he asked, nodding to the pork loin I was still touching.
“No,” I whispered, looking for the anger that usually resided so close to the surface when I was around him. That dream had really done me in the other night.
“Okay.” He took his meat and left me alone in the cold freezer where I belonged until I cooled off a bit.
I came out a few minutes later, keeping my chin tucked as I avoided looking at him. He was busy slathering a sauce from the pot onto the ribs, slowly gliding the brush along every inch in the most seductive way—or maybe I just imagined that was what his hand would look like as he touched me.
I shook my head, forced the thoughts away, and got to work on my dish.
An hour later, Clarissa came back to check in with us. I talked to her about the herb-crusted stuffed pork loin dish I’d created.
“This looks and smells delicious,” she commented before cutting a piece and taking a bite. She closed her eyes and moaned while she chewed. “Miles, come here; you have to taste this.”
I felt my shoulders stiffen as he walked over, smiling broadly before opening his mouth to accept the bite she offered him off the new fork she’d grabbed.
He kept his eyes on me while he chewed, lifting a finger to wipe his mouth in a way that had my insides tingling.
“What do you think?” Clarissa asked.
“Perfection.”
I smiled nervously, feeling the weight of his gaze still on me.
“I’d like to add it to the menu this week,” Clarissa announced. “Do you think you can have this ready to go by Thursday?”
“Absolutely.” I smiled and held my head proudly.
After she left and went back up front, I sat down at my desk in the back and made a list of ingredients we’d need on the next order.
Soon after, the staff started filling the kitchen as Miles said goodbye and left to work the food truck. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out, determined to be more focused than I was on Saturday.