First Taste of Amore (That’s Amore! #3)

Chapter 1 Caught in the Cooler

Sophia Rossi had been five seconds from her first kiss when Gia opened the walk-in cooler.

Maybe four, maybe three. She wasn’t sure because her brain had stopped counting the second Vinny Marino looked at her mouth.

Cold air hummed around them. The shelves smelled like lemon cream, basil, metal, and the container of tiramisu sheets Gia had apparently come in to find at the worst possible moment.

Vinny’s hand was still half lifted between them.

Sophia couldn’t stop noticing how close she was, close enough to see the tiny scar along his knuckle, the flour on the side of his wrist, and to know he smelled like garlic, heat, soap, and something that was just him.

Then Gia stood in the doorway with a clipboard and one eyebrow raised so high it had become a threat.

“Well,” Gia said. “This isn’t tiramisu.”

Sophia couldn’t move. Her whole body forgot how.

Vinny lowered his hand slowly. “Gia.”

“Nope.” Gia pointed the clipboard at him. “Don’t say my name like I barged into your bedroom. This is the walk-in. There’s mozzarella behind you.”

Sophia stared at the floor. There was a wet spot near her shoe, probably from a container or melted ice, and she stared at it because looking anywhere else felt impossible.

Nothing had happened, except Vinny had been close and warm and serious for once, and he had asked if she was sure, and she had said yes.

Yes. She had said yes to Vinny Marino, in the walk-in cooler, while lemon cream sat three feet away.

“Oh my gosh,” Sophia whispered.

Gia’s face shifted when she looked at her. The sharpness stayed, but the teasing softened a little. “Sophia, honey, breathe.”

Sophia breathed badly. Vinny took one step back, giving her more room at once.

That almost made it worse. If he had joked, acted normal, or made some loud Vinny comment and turned the whole thing into nothing, maybe she could have followed him there.

Instead, he gave her space like he knew she needed it.

Gia saw that too. Gia saw everything except where she put her own phone charger.

“Out,” Gia said. “Both of you.”

Vinny held up both hands. “I was putting away lemon cream.”

“Sure. Looked very lemon-cream related.”

Sophia squeezed her eyes shut.

“Gia.”

“What? Am I wrong?”

Vinny said nothing. Sophia opened her eyes.

Vinny was looking at her, not Gia. He wasn’t smiling, and that was new too.

She had seen him grin through burned fingers, late deliveries, Gia threatening to replace him with a toaster oven, and Antonia telling him he had the focus of a golden retriever near a meatball.

Vinny smiled through everything. But now he looked quiet, maybe even a little worried because of her.

Sophia hated how much that did to her chest.

“I’m fine,” she said.

Her voice sounded tiny.

Gia looked unconvinced. “Great. Everyone is all right, and no one kissed anybody near the dairy. Out.”

Vinny stepped aside first, turning his body so Sophia had a clear path to the door.

Sophia moved past him without looking up.

The second she stepped into the kitchen, heat rushed over her arms. Noise came back hard: pans, water, the fan over the line, and someone laughing in the dining room.

The whole restaurant kept moving like nothing had happened.

Victoria stood by the prep table, arms crossed, dark hair pulled back tight.

Her blue eyes moved from Sophia’s face to Vinny’s face to Gia’s clipboard.

“No,” Victoria said.

Sophia’s stomach dropped. “What?”

“I said no.”

“To what?”

“To all of this.”

Vinny came out behind Sophia. “That’s broad.”

Victoria pointed at him. “You. Quiet.”

Vinny pressed his lips together.

Gia looked impressed. “Wow. That worked fast.”

Sophia wished she could disappear inside a stockpot.

“Nothing happened,” she said.

Victoria looked at her. Sophia looked at the floor again.

“Nothing happened,” she repeated.

“Right,” Victoria said. “That’s why your face is bright red.”

Gia made a sharp sound that might have been a laugh.

Vinny looked down and rubbed the back of his neck.

His ears were red. That wasn’t allowed. Vinny wasn’t supposed to get embarrassed.

Vinny was supposed to make everyone else embarrassed.

Sophia understood that. It had been true since her first day at Bella Luna months ago, when he had leaned through the kitchen pass like he owned the whole building and told her she looked like she was about to take notes on the bread baskets.

She had been so nervous that day. Orientation hadn’t sounded scary when Antonia explained it over the phone.

It had sounded professional. A few hours to learn the floor layout, table numbers, service steps, staff expectations, and where not to stand during rush unless she wanted Gia to take her out while carrying espresso.

Then Sophia walked into Bella Luna and realized the restaurant was alive.

It hadn’t been busy exactly, but it had felt alive.

The kitchen doors swung open every few seconds.

Gia talked to three people at once. Antonia moved like she had a map in her head no one else could see.

Victoria, who had started the same day because Sophia had begged her to apply, looked calm and gorgeous and annoyed that the apron didn’t flatter her waist. Sophia had stood near the bar, holding her notebook too tightly.

And Vinny had noticed. He was impossible not to notice back.

He was tall, broad, loud, with close-cropped hair and a grin that looked like trouble had arrived early.

He had leaned on the pass and said, “You the new teacher?”

Sophia had blinked. “I’m not a teacher yet.”

“Future teacher, then.”

“She has a name,” Victoria had said.

Vinny had looked at Victoria, then back at Sophia. “I know. But she looks like she’d correct me if I got too familiar too fast.”

Sophia hadn’t meant to laugh. It slipped out, small, quick, and embarrassing. Vinny’s face had changed like he had won something. After that, he called her teach every shift, every chance he got.

“Order up, teach.”

“Careful, teach, plate’s hot.”

“You look like you have notes on my garnish, teach.”

“I am judging your garnish,” she had said once, before thinking.

He had held a hand to his chest like she had stabbed him. “She speaks. She judges. I am honored.”

Victoria had rolled her eyes so hard Sophia worried they might stay that way. Sophia smiled at the memory now without meaning to. Then she remembered where she was: the kitchen after the almost-kiss, with Victoria watching, Gia watching, and Vinny watching. The smile died.

Antonia came in from the dining room with a stack of menus under one arm. “Why is everyone standing in my kitchen?”

Gia lifted the clipboard. “Walk-in incident.”

Sophia’s heart stopped.

Vinny said quickly, “No incident.”

Victoria said, “There was an incident.”

Sophia said, “There was no incident.”

Gia said, “There was almost an incident.”

Antonia looked at each of them. Then her eyes landed on Vinny. He straightened. That was interesting. Vinny joked with almost everyone, but when Antonia looked at him like that, he stood like she was about to grade him.

“What happened?” Antonia asked.

“Nothing,” Sophia said.

She had answered too fast, and heat climbed her neck when everyone looked at her.

Antonia’s face softened, just a little. “Sophia?”

Sophia couldn’t answer. Her throat closed, and all the words locked up.

That happened sometimes. When too many people looked at her.

When she was embarrassed. When her mother asked too many questions at once.

When a professor called on her before she had finished deciding whether her answer was smart enough.

She knew the answer. She just couldn’t always get it out.

Victoria stepped closer. “Gia opened the walk-in and found them standing too close. That’s all.”

Vinny looked at Victoria. He looked more grateful than offended, which confused Sophia.

Antonia turned to him. “Vinny.”

“I didn’t touch her,” he said at once.

Sophia looked up. His face was serious now. Completely serious.

“I asked,” he said. “She said yes. Then Gia came in. Nothing happened.”

The kitchen went quiet enough that Sophia heard the fan over the stove.

Antonia’s gaze moved to Sophia. “Is that true?”

Sophia wanted to vanish. But Antonia’s voice wasn’t angry. It was careful. Sophia nodded.

Then forced herself to speak. “Yes.”

Antonia held her gaze for one more second. “Are you all right?”

“Yes.”

It was mostly true. Physically, yes; emotionally, she was never entering a walk-in cooler again.

Antonia looked at Vinny. “You and I will talk later.”

Vinny nodded. “Yes, chef.”

Sophia had heard him call Antonia that only a few times. Usually when he had messed up. Or when something mattered.

Gia lowered the clipboard. “Fantastic. Then can somebody please bring table seven their tiramisu before they complain?”

Antonia sighed. “Back to work.”

The kitchen moved again too quickly, like everyone had permission to act normal before Sophia knew how. Sophia grabbed the tray waiting at the pass because she needed something in her hands. Vinny reached for the same tray. Their fingers almost touched. They both stopped. Victoria made a noise.

Gia muttered, “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, give me strength.”

Sophia took the tray first. Vinny let her.

“Careful,” he said.

His voice was softer than usual.

Not “careful, teach.”