“Oh, yes. I’m good. Just peachy.”
She’s anything but.
6
RAINA
To say I feel awful for lying to Kaleb is an understatement.
It adds tension to an already complicated situation, mainly because I’m having so much fun and I’m discovering precious parts of myself in said complicated situation. Hell, I’d rather have a lifetime of said complicated situation than go back to being the old Raina. It’s as if they flipped a switch inside of me, and I don’t want to flip it off.
“Focus,” I tell myself as I head into the kitchen.
A lavish dinner must be prepared for the Haus’s guests. Some molecular gastronomy is involved, along with a few fresh ingredients that require additional preparation steps before they’re added to the dishes or sauteed or pureed or reduced on a small flame. My fingers mist knead the fine pastry until the layers are perfect. Thick slices of Wagyu beef need attention and a final touch of spices before they go on the grill tonight.
Not to mention the desserts. I plan on wowing everybody with my reinvented strawberry cheesecake.
When I enter the kitchen, I find Matty chatting and laughing with Deanna by one of the fridges. They seem a little too close. Perhaps too intimate for my comfort. Deanna’s skimpy, floral robe has slipped from one shoulder, giving Matty a generous view of half her breast—implants, for sure.
“Matty,” I say, my tone slightly clipped. “We have work to do.”
“Yeah, I know. Just talking to Dee here. I’m allowed, right?”
I will never appreciate the snark. The passive aggressive smirk. He’s lucky he’s so good at what he does and has quickly adjusted to my program, which makes him hard to replace at a moment’s notice.
Deanna, on the other hand, gives me a sly grin. “You look like hell, Raina.”
“Probably because it’s snowing again,” I reply and run my fingers through my frizzy hair before I pull it into a tight bun at the back of my head, then cover it with a net. “Unless you’d like to help in the kitchen, Matty and I need to focus.”
She laughs lightly and walks closer, her hips swaying in a manner that makes Matty’s gaze soften. Oh, she’s got him hooked and then some. I wonder what it is about Matty that Deanna likes so much. Maybe he’s the submissive type, and she sure loves to crack her whip in the bedroom. I’ve heard that thing in passing, more than once.
“You should be careful,” Deanna tells me.
I hold her gaze without hesitation. “What about?”
“Hooking up with the bosses. It’s a bad idea. Take it from me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I do, but the fact that Deanna seems to be aware of it turns my stomach inside out. Max did warn me to keep my interactions with her to a minimum because of her sharp tongue, but I figured I could handle it. Maybe I can’t.
“I told you, you don’t belong here,” Deanna says in a low voice. Her hand comes up, and she traces the contour of my cheek with one finger. I pull back, almost disgusted. “At best, you’re a flavor of the month. You’re not their type, Raina. Stick to your kitchen. Nobody’s going to parade a gal like you at a dinner gala. You’d only embarrass them.”
“What I do in my private life is none of your concern, Deanna,” I say.
“Just trying to look out for you, that’s all. You’ll get your heart broken.”
“Not your problem. In fact, you shouldn’t even be in the kitchen during working hours,” I retort. “Please, remove yourself from my workspace immediately.”
“Stay away from them,” she says. “You can’t handle them, sweetie.”
“Oh, I can handle them just fine. Now, scram.”
She shoots me a death stare for a moment, then scoffs and sashays out, her heels clicking with a fading echo. As soon as she’s gone, Matty shakes his head.
“You shouldn’t antagonize the hostesses, Raina. The bosses need them. They take really good care of them.”
I don’t like the implication, especially if Deanna’s involved. And I don’t like being tested on my own turf either. If there’sone thing I’ve learned during my formative years in the foster system, it’s to defend my place in the world.
