“Fucking finally, if you ask me,” says Rina.
Eden frowns. “Fired? You mean—”
“We’re going out for drinks tonight to celebrate,” Freddie says. “Want to come? It’s his treat.”
Peter puts his hands up in protest. “Whoa, what? I didn’t agree to that?”
“You’re the one getting a pay bump, man. Treat us a little.”
She spots Alexander exiting the kitchen office. He looks… Well, normal. Ready to get back to work.
“Congrats,” she mumbles before brushing past her friends. “Please excuse me for a sec.” Eden rushes over to the head chef, frowning.
“Yes?” Alexander asks casually. Too casually.
“What the hell happened?”
“What are you talking about?”
Eden grits her teeth. “Seriously? Now’s not the time to be coy. You fired Hector? I told you not to do anything stupid,” she hisses. “Why did you do it? And why is this the first I’m hearing about it? Aren’t you supposed to run things like this by me first? As your sous chef, I’m—”
Alexander sighs, lowering his voice so that it’s soft and impossibly gentle. “I had a number of legitimate reasons to terminate him. He said inappropriate things to you, his work performance was lacking, and…” He reaches behind him and retrieves her old knife roll, the one that had suddenly gone missing from her staff locker.
Eden frowns, taking the item from him. “He took it? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Consider the situation handled,” Alexander says firmly. “Hector will never work in this industry again.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have a number of contacts. Food critics, other chefs, restaurant owners... I called everyone I could think of to warn them that Hector might try to find a job with them. Let’s just say he did not earn himself a stellar work reference.”
Eden swallows, a bit shaky. “So you just destroyed his career? Just like that?”
“Hector was an asshole. He was given fair warning time and time again. He pissed off the wrong people, so this is what he gets.”
An odd feeling brews in the pit of her stomach. A part of her is relieved. Yes, Hector was an asshole. He made her life miserable at work and said some truly awful things. She knows she shouldn’t feel guilty, and yet… To have his whole career ruined just like that? Just because Alexander said so?
Why do I have a feeling this is going to bite us in the ass?
As if reading her mind, Alexander says, “He can’t do anything to you anymore, Eden. As long as I’m here, you’ll have nothing to worry about.”
She nods slowly, only because she doesn’t know what else to do. What’s done is done, and it’s not like she particularly wants Hector to have his job back. Not after everything he’s put her through. When the first chit prints on the line, she decides to let it go.
They have work to do.
It’s smooth sailing tonight. Without Hector trying to sabotage them around every corner, things flow with ease and precision. Orders go out hot and ready, their chefs are able to keep their stations clean and clear, and the entire kitchen works as a well-oiled machine.
She leaves the line momentarily to head to the walk-in in search of more ingredients. It’s a moment of reprieve in the small, cool space away from all the hood fans and the flaming gas stove tops. She locates what she needs and grabs a bushel of carrots by their greens when she hears the door open.
It’s Alexander.
“Chef? Did you need some—”
Before she can finish her sentence, Alexander swoops in. He circles her waist with one big arm and dips her back, claiming her lips with a heated ferocity that makes her melt like butter over a high flame. Her skin burns against the cool air of the walk-in, pressure mounting between her legs. Her lips come away swollen and tender, her heart beating rapidly with a newfound craving.
“What happened to yourno-PDA-in-the-workplacerule?” she teases, breathless.
He pauses, hovering barely an inch away, waiting on bated breath.
