"I'm lucky I met you. All of you."
Even Jules, although I still didn't know where he fit in the equation. We'd been at each other's throats since we met. Neither of us had let up. Sometimes we'd call an uneasy truce, but in the next minute one of us was snarking at the other. Trying to bait each other and get the last word. Was that how we were always going to be? Probably, but it did complicate the situation. On the other hand, it made it interesting.
Sparring with someone who wasn't trying to kill me was entertaining. And when it came down to it, neither of us meant the other any harm.
Mostly.
"I'm the lucky one," Cass said.
"Oh yeah?" I asked him over my shoulder. "How do you figure?"
He put down the board and knife and stepped over to me, chest pressed against my back.
"Because I get to listen to you come," he whispered in my ear. "When lunch service is over, that's what's going to happen."
Gone was the golden retriever persona, replaced for a moment by his dominant side.
My heart raced. "Are you trying to make me wet through the whole lunch service?" I asked.
"That's exactly what I'm doing." He kissed my hair and stepped away to clean the board.
I took a breath to clear my head. Vaguely aware of the back door opening and my servers stepping inside. Shelly and Yvette. Both started working for me shortly after Gina and Erin died. Both were professional and efficient. Both had a difficult few years, living both in shelters and on the streets. These were exactly the kind of women I killed for. Exactly the kind of people I wanted to help.
Giving them a job was the start they needed to get their lives back on track. Like Kayla and Dave, they'd been thoroughly vetted and watched for signs of an ulterior motive. If any was found, they wouldn't be working here.
So far, they were clean, but I hadn't been able to bring myself to trust them the way I did my previous staff. Once bitten and all that.
Honestly, after the things they'd been through in their lives, that went both ways. I also had to earn their trust.
There was a big difference between being someone's boss and being their friend. That was a bridge we hadn't worked our way across yet. Would we? I hoped so.
I wanted to surround myself with people I could trust, who trusted me. For people like us, that was huge. More than I deserved, maybe, but still something I'd work toward.
I gave them both a smile in greeting and went back to preparing the sauce and starting on the pasta. At the same time, trying to ignore the way my clit throbbed. One I knew he had every intention of keeping.
This was going to be a long lunch service.
CHAPTER 3
HARLOW
Ijust finished plating up the last bowl of spaghetti when a shadow appeared in the the corner of my eye. Holding back a flinch, I glanced up to see Archer in the doorway, his appreciative gaze on me.
I won't lie, his expression was good for my ego, considering my hair was a mess and I was wearing my chef jacket. The look he gave me, I could have been wearing lingerie or a ball gown, with heels.
I flashed him a quick smile, cleaned the droplets of sauce from the side of the bowl and handed it to Yvette, who took it and the other three over to the table.
"What are you doing here?" I asked as I leaned over to wash my hands in the sink.
"I thought I'd help you clean up from lunch," he said. "You know what they say, many hands make for light work."
"They do say that,” I agreed. "It's thoughtful of you to come and help out. I'd really like to get out of here and over to Redemption."
He glanced around the kitchen. Nodded at Cass before returning his gaze to me.
"What can I do?"
That was a good question. I kept a tight ship here. As much as possible, we cleaned up the mess as we went, but there were always things to be done at the end of a shift. Today was no exception.
