“Whichone?” The Daily Durham review had come out last week. They’d raved aboutWyatt’s successful takeover and seamless transition. Lilou had been hailed asbetter than ever. They had been especially impressed with Wyatt’s new dishesand couldn’t wait to see what else was going to come from “Durham’s risingstar.”
In astrange turn of events, Wyatt had seemed ignited by the review, instead ofpacified by it. He was more desperate than ever to make changes to the menu andimprove nightly service. I’d walked in on him yesterday when he’d been on thephone with Ezra, fighting over yet another menu change that Wyatt wanted tomake. I could only imagine what another review would do to his already feverishpace.
RebeccaJones had stopped by a couple of nights ago, but she would visit the restauranta few more times before she wrote anything up. She never reviewed after herfirst stop.
“Theone on Episessed.” Charlie paused to listen to Wyatt’s latest callouts. “Itcame out this morning.”
Iread Episessed like every other foodie in the region, but I only checked itevery so often. They didn’t post every day, so I usually caught up on theweekends.
Dreadcurdled in my stomach. I glanced at Wyatt. His back was to me again, his handssplayed on the counter in front of him. His arms were locked, forcing hisshoulders to stiffen, and his head was bowed over order tickets.
God,it was unfair how sexy he was.
Thatwas it. Right there. My hottest fantasy. Not that it was necessarily Wyatt. Buta chef that looked like him and commanded a kitchen like he did and stood likethat. And also sounded like him. And talked like him. And had an ass like him.Yes, please.
Ofcourse, I was referring to a totally different human. That other person in myfantasy. Not Wyatt. Obviously.
“Youshould read it,” Charlie coaxed.
Thedread came spilling back in full force. If it was bad, we were all going tosuffer. As we should. They could give Wyatt as many exaggerated honors as theywanted to, but he couldn’t run this kitchen by himself. Still… I wasn’t sure ifhe could handle it emotionally if it was negative. He didn’t seem to be themost stable person lately.
Itore my eyes from Wyatt and focused on Charlie. “Is it bad?”
Hesmirked. “You might think so.”
Glaringat him, I began plating the slices of wagyu filet over a bed of crispy jicamaand sweet potato frites with a side of glazed green beans topped with roastedpistachios.
Wipingthe edges of the dish with a towel, I focused more on the plate in front of methan on the annoying cook to my left. “Are you going to tell me what it says?”
“Justread it, Swift.”
Holyhell, he was annoying. I couldn’t tell if he was taunting me or preparing me.But his suggestion was on my mind as I carried my plate over to Wyatt.
Iset it in front of him and ran my lip ring back and forth in my teeth while heinspected my handiwork. “The filet looks okay.”
“It’sperfect.”
“Didyou do the green beans?”
“Thoseare all Benny.”
“Hmph.”
Hestarted wiping the edge that I’d already cleaned off. It wasn’t worth sayinganything. This was his way.
UsuallyI would have retreated to the fire by now, but I had a break in orders and theEpisessed review was on my brain. I cocked my hip out to rest against thecounter. Wyatt gave me a side glance but remained focused on the dish goingout.
“Iheard a rumor that Episessed reviewed Lilou today.”
Hesmiled at the filet and my heart kicked with that same obnoxious pitter-patterhis smiles always caused. “They did.”
“Thereview was a good one?”
Heturned his head, that smile still lifting the corners of his too wide mouth.“It was.”
Somethingtugged at my guts, warning me it wasn’t all good. Not if Charlie was all butdaring me to read it. “Congratulations,” I told him, but to be honest, itlacked all the congratulatory feelings.
Hedidn’t say thank you. A normal person would have said thank you. But Wyattwasn’t normal.
