Maverick blinked at me, trying to look innocent, but I didn’t trust those baby blues for even a second. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Pretty sure you do.”
He smirked, his full lips glistening with some kind of lip gloss. It made his lips shiny and…distracting. “That’ll hold up in a court of law.”
“Oh, it’s not the law that’ll come back to bite you in the ass, darlin’.”
He gasped, slapping a hand to his chest. “Are you saying you want a piece of my ass? Sorry, babe. You’re not my type.”
I sputtered out a denial, but he was already shutting the door in my face with a laugh.
Ohhh, that little troublemaker.
He was about to fuck around and find out.
Damon Cassidy always got the last laugh.
CHAPTER 5
Listen to your Mamas. We’ve been loving longer than you’ve been living!
— MATCHMAKING MAMAS
Maverick
“When you offeredto bring lunch to the shop, I wasn’t imagining this kind of spread.”
The vintage chrome-and-vinyl table that I’d picked up at Agatha’s Aged Treasures and crammed into my tiny break room between the refrigerator and the sink was now covered in catering samples.
Jamie flashed me a quick smile as he unloaded the last few cartons. He pointed to each one. “Steak caprese, tomato bisque in a roasted bell pepper, pasta carbonara, chicken marsala, summer grilled squash, sweet potato fries with a sweet chili sauce, and?—”
“Dessert,” I interrupted with a happy wiggle. “Somuchdessert.”
Jamie chuckled. “Our clients were a little indecisive, so we made them three samples.”
“Who are these clients? I need to get invited to shindigs like theirs.”
“You get to eat it all with me instead,” Jamie said. “Isn’t that better?”
“Mm.” I’d already stuffed a bite of steak caprese into my mouth. Thankfully, these were only sample sizes or I’d stuff myself into a coma. The steak freakingmeltedin my mouth. “This is so good. It’s not possible to make steak this good. How do you do it?”
Jamie grinned. “That was all Marissa. I just assisted.”
“Is she a magician? I’m serious! This is fantastic.”
“It’s aged. It’s a whole process you’d probably rather not know the details of. Just enjoy it. You know magic is always better when you don’t know the secrets to the tricks.”
“Says the guy who knows all the secrets.”
Jamie nudged the tomato bisque toward me. If he was trying to shut me up, it worked. For the next few minutes, I worked my way through the tasting menu at lightning speed. I should’ve slowed down to really savor it, but it was just too delicious.
Jamie nibbled at his share, prompting me now and then to give him some feedback to note for his boss. Apparently, “mmm” and “nom nom” wasn’t enough to go on.
“If you were going to rate these from five to one, with five being the best,” he suggested, “what gets top marks?”
“Well, normally I’m more of a pasta guy, but that steak caprese was pretty wow. The carbonara is so Maverick 2004. These days? I’m all about the steak caprese and tomato soup in a roasted pepper. Sign me up! It’s so fresh and vibrant. I love a good bread bowl, don’t get me wrong, but this is great for summertime.”
Jamie chuckled as he made notes. “So the soup is number 2?”
