She swallows. The pulse at the base of her throat speeds up. Her hair almost quivers with anger.
She’s magnificent. For someone uncomfortable with emotions, I sure love riling her up and watching her come close to exploding.
She opens her mouth, and I’m sure she’s going to snap at me, but all she says is, “Of course, not.”
She heads for the door, and I call out to her.
“Oh, and Richie?”
She pauses.
“Remember the cardinal rule of my kitchen. Something I should have mentioned earlier, but…never too late, I suppose.”
Her shoulders rise and fall like she’s drawing in a deep breath and calming herself. When she looks at me over her shoulder, her features are composed.
Damn, she’s good.
“If you follow that rule, we’ll get along just fine.” I allow myself a tiny twitch of my lips, one that’s almost a smile but doesn’t reach my eyes, and which comes across as even more threatening.
I know, because I see the impact it has on my team.
It doesn’t fail.
Her eyes widen. Her face pales. “Wh-what’s that?”
I knock my knuckles three times on my desk. “Don’t talk back to the boss.”
7
Harper
Me: Your brother is an arse.
Phe: Ugh. What has he done now?
I lean against the cold brick of the alleyway and stare at the screen of my phone. I’m messaging in the shared group I have with Phe, Zoey and Grace.
It is my second week on the job.
If I hear my jerk-ass boss say 'make it again, three more times’ in that gravelly voice, I swear I am going to have a nervous breakdown.
I hate him for the number of times he makes me cook every dish until he deems it ‘Adequate.’
I busted my guts to deliver that menu revamp in the impossible timeframe he set. Did he acknowledge it?
Of course, not.
He exhausts me. He also leaves me aching in ways that have nothing to do with fifteen hourson my feet.
If I'd slept with him five years ago, he would have ruined me for anyone else.
But he decided for me that I couldn't handle it. That choice should have been mine.
There was something real between us. He never gave it a chance. That's what upsets me.
I tighten my fingers around my phone.
In the sliver of time between wrapping up lunch and starting the dinner prep on the first day, I managed to sneak out into the alley behind the restaurant and message my friend group. I needed to let Phe know that I was working with her brother.
