Page 28 of Burning Rivalry

The thing was, I couldn’t argue with that. One of Felix’s many talents was understanding the way people thought. It was what made him excellent at his job—staffing my restaurants, managing the investors, and maintaining relationships with vendors and suppliers. I couldn’t have done it without him.

“Wow, that should be the tagline for the restaurant,” Claudia mused. Felix burst out laughing, and I joined him, leading her to offer a grin. “I’m just saying. It would really bring people in.”

“If it makes you feel any better…” I offered, “… we could wrap the day up with a show at Planet Hollywood. A good friend of mine cast and rehearsed the new show over there. He could score us a block of tickets with a few days lead time.” I’d owe Jackson a favor after this, but it would be worth it.

“That would be fun!” Claudia looked much happier about that idea. “I could almost make it through that Bigshot thing if I knew I’d see a show afterward. I’ve been meaning to see what’s out there at the different hotels, but my job sort of takes up a lot of my time.”

“Your boss sounds like a real tyrant,” I murmured with a smirk.

“Yeah, he can be a real bastard when he puts his mind to it,” she agreed. “He has this thing about reacting before he thinks.”

Sitting up straighter, I replied, “I heard you have a habit of bringing up issues that have already been resolved.” I wasn’t joking anymore, but then neither was she.

“Uh, I’ll see myself out…” Felix grimaced comically, pulling me up short. What was I thinking, letting her get to me while we were in front of him?

“Thanks for your insight,” I choked out, ignoring the way he eyed me while forcing a brief smile for the sake of playing nice.

“No problem.” She wandered off, her voice ringing out with a question for Stella, and I reminded myself not to follow her progress with my gaze.

Felix, on the other hand, had no problem openly watching her walk away. “She’s got a great ass,” he said. “She can’t be sampling a lot of what she bakes with an ass like that.”

“I know you’re not talking that way about the pastry chef you were dead set on bringing here to improve our image.” Folding my arms hid my hands, now balled into fists. I did my best to affect a joking tone despite the tightening of my jaw and the sudden thudding of blood in my ears. “Because you let the wrong person hear you say something like that, and we have a whole other shit ton of problems on our hands.”

And I already had enough problems. The ultimate cliché—a boss fucking his employee here in the kitchen, no less. It meant crossing countless lines and should have meant me avoiding the woman like I’d avoid the plague, but the concept was unthinkable. There was no choice but to clock her every move, to pick up on her every word, even in the midst of a dozen overlapping voices. Never had a woman challenged, fascinated, or tempted me the way she did. The fury she stirred in me had a way of exploding into undeniable passion.

It was addictive. Dangerously so.

“Gotcha. I’ll keep my thoughts to myself. Good thing, too,” he added as he stood. “You wouldn’t want to hear them.”

I held up a hand to stop him from leaving right away. “Everything’s smooth with the construction? No more permit issues?”

“Smooth sailing at the moment, but let’s not forget, we weren’t aware of any issues before they reared their ugly heads, either. There was no warning.” Scratching the back of his neck, he added, “I still can’t get a straight answer on how it all went down.”

Neither could Grayson, according to his latest update earlier that day. “We’ll figure it out,” I decided because there was no other option. “So long as construction is rolling again.” In the end, we hadn’t lost more than a day of work before everything was settled, but I very much had the feeling the goal wasn’t so much setting us back as it was getting inside my head, making sure I knew everything could crumble at any time. There was nothing I could do about it.

It was not a pleasant thought to carry with me throughout the day as I drove down to the new site and watched the men at work. I needed to confirm for myself they were still at it. That things were moving forward.

Rather than call Jackson, I invited him for a drink later in the afternoon before asking for a favor. “Oh, no problem,” he assured me with a grin while lifting a glass of scotch. “Here I was, thinking you needed something huge. I can score a block of tickets for you. No problem, especially if that sexy little blonde you’ve got working the ovens is involved.”

“Watch it,” I warned, and I wasn’t playing. It took a conscious effort to loosen my grip on my glass.

“Just saying. She’s hot,” he mused while checking out the ass of a passing server in a short skirt.

“You think any woman with a cute ass and decent tits is hot,” I sighed. If anything, his wandering eyes made it possible to laugh off his comments about Claudia. I wouldn’t have to say anything that might start a fight. “Don’t you have enough of that to look at while you’re working?”

His brows knitted together in frustration. “Don’t remind me.”

“What happened?” I asked, glad to let him distract me with his problems so I wouldn’t have to think about mine. Things weren’t terrible at the moment—progress made at the new location, things moving smoothly at Home.

None of it did a thing to ease my frustration. I was as tense and cagey by the time we closed for the night as I’d been all day. There was no keeping my thoughts away from her for long. It got to the point where I waited for everyone else to leave, knowing she would stay around to play in the kitchen.

By the time I emerged from my office with only one thing in mind, she looked like she was also thinking about it. Her hand ran through her golden hair, leaving me to imagine my hand in her hair, holding tight to control her mouth’s progress up and down my shaft.

Rather than indulge in those dark, needful impulses, I announced, “Jackson said the tickets won’t be a problem.”

Her brows lifted, her baby blues sparkling. “That’s great! It’ll be something to look forward to while my life is flashing before my eyes.”

“Oh, come on,” I cajoled with a smile as she went to her locker and hung up the white jacket she wore every night. The sleeveless tunic she wore over leggings shouldn’t have turned me on, long and shapeless, but I was horny enough to hump a fire hydrant by now. “It’ll be fun.”