Ifound Wyatt in his office after almost everyone else had cleared the kitchen. Iloved working on protein, but my station was a nightmare to clean at the end ofthe night. And it didn’t help that I was a perfectionist.
Apolite person would have knocked and waited for an invitation to open the door.Poor Wyatt, because I didn’t have any manners left after that Epissessedinterview.
Helooked up at me from where he leaned over his computer. “Oh, hey.”
Islammed the door behind me. Wyatt jerked back, surprised by my outburst.
Wavingmy phone in the air like a crazy person, I said, “Oh, hey? Oh,hey?” He blinked at me in confusion,only fueling my fire. “When you said the Epissessed interview was good, Ididn’t realize it was because you threw your entire kitchen under the bus! Whenyou said it was good, I didn’t realize you meant because it’s literally onlyabout you! You selfish, son of a b—”
Hecut me off, throwing his body back in his chair and giving the ceiling anexasperated look. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’mdead serious. They asked you who you can rely on in the kitchen and you saidyour instincts! Are you for real?”
“Isaid more than that.” He waved a hand at his computer. “They chose to printthat. I had no control over what parts of the interview made the final cut.”
Irolled my eyes so hard it hurt. “Now it makes sense. You went on and on abouthow kickass your staff is, and they went with the offhand remark about yourinstincts. Those dirty rat bastards.”
Heslid forward in his seat, his posture stiffening. “I did talk about thekitchen, Kaya. I talked a hell of a lot about you. But yeah, I also said myinstincts because that’s true. My instincts have made this transition seamless.My instincts have known when to push Ezra into new dishes and when to wait forthe fight.”
“Andare your instincts to thank for me saving your ass every night too?”
Hestood up and moved around the desk so quickly, I jumped. I wasn’t proud of it.But he had the quickness of a jungle cat. And his stupid long legs moved himfaster than I could escape. Ugh! More reasons to hate him.
“Myinstinct kept you sous, did it not?”
“Thatwasn’t instinct, dummy. That was common sense.”
Hismouth split into a sardonic grin. “I have never met anyone fuller of themselvesthan you. You’re unbelievable.”
Ifolded my arms over my chest and said something I was not proud of. But totallyblamed on Wyatt. He turned me into a child. This was all his fault!
“Oh,yeah?” I taunted. “Have you looked in the mirror lately?”
“GoodGod.” He groaned and laughed at the same time. “You’re impossible. Is this whatyou wanted to talk to me about earlier? This? You’re pissed because I didn’tsqueeze your name into a random interview?”
“Yes,”I answered quickly. “I mean no. I mean, yes.” God, what was the question? I hadwanted to talk to him about his weird looks lately, about that kiss that he hadnot bothered to bring up since it happened. I wanted to figure out what wasgoing on between us to put an end to it.
Butnow that we were here, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. His actions inthe interview had been enough to squash the weird sexual tension I felt earliertoday.
“Whichis it, Swift? Yes or no? Is there something else you want to talk about?”
Hesat down on the edge of his desk, his long legs spreading out to both sides of me.We suddenly felt too close. I wanted to move back, but there was nowhere to goin his tiny office.
Ireached for sarcasm, the lifeline to sanity. “I think you being a selfishasshole covers it.”
Hesmiled, and it was so genuine and significant, aimed so wholly at me that ittook everything in me not to smile back. I mean, damn, his smile was a weapon.
Hehid them so well. Deprived the entire world of that face looking that perfect. Butwhen we were alone? He whipped it out like it was no big deal. Like I wouldn’tautomatically melt into a pile of goo. Like he couldn’t get away with whateverhe wanted because all he had to do was smile.
“Youdrive me crazy, you know that?” he asked, his voice soft, teasing.
Iheld my arms more tightly around my waist. “Good.”
Hiseyes twinkled, catching the affection from the smile. “We’re even, see?”
Thiswas a trick. It had to be. Because I should have already stormed out of theoffice with my middle fingers thrown in the air for good measure. Instead, Ifound myself leaning against the door, my shoulders relaxing, my scowl fading,my entire body warming to him. “How do you figure?”
“Idrive you crazy. You drive me crazy. Win-win.”
