Rules of Contact

by Jaci Burton

  He caught her genuine smile. Damn this kid who wasn't a kid anymore. She made him feel like an old man.

  Was this how Dad felt, watching them all grow up and get lives of their own? Mia's maturity caused an ache in the pit of his stomach and made him realize how quickly time passed. It wasn't that long ago that she was chasing him in the dirt on the ranch, her ponytail flying and her tennis shoes kicking up dust. He could still remember her high-pitched squeals when she laughed.

  Now she was a grown woman.

  Jesus. Time to stop thinking about that.

  He finally picked up his phone. "We should head over to the restaurant. I don't know about you, but I'm hungry."

  "No surprise there. You're always hungry."

  "True."

  They got into his SUV and drove to the restaurant. Mia was busy on her phone texting with someone, so he stayed quiet, figuring she was either chatting with friends or conducting business. He parked on the street, leaving space in the small restaurant parking lot for patrons.

  They got out and walked toward the restaurant.

  "This place is awesome, Flynn," Mia said as they headed to the door. "I love the feel of the neighborhood. It's right on the corner, with shops all around. And you're within walking distance for a lot of folks."

  "Yeah, we've already got people who live nearby who we consider regulars."

  "That's amazing."

  He held the door for her and they walked in. Mia took in a deep breath.

  "I can tell by the smell I'm going to love everything in here."

  He grinned. "I thought you were going to be super critical."

  She shot him a look. "This is me being critical. And shut up."

  He laughed and waved at Ken, who came over and shook his hand.

  "Hey, Ken. This is my sister, Mia. Mia, this is Ken, my restaurant manager."

  Ken shook Mia's hand. "Nice to meet you, Mia. Flynn's told me all about you."

  "All the awesome things, no doubt."

  Ken smiled. "Of course. Are you two having dinner with us tonight?"

  "Yeah. Is Amelia here?"

  Ken nodded. "She is. And she said she wants to talk to you, but as you can see we're pretty busy right now."

  "Okay. I won't bother her while she's slammed."

  Ken got them a table, then Candace, one of the waitresses, came by. Flynn introduced her to Mia, then Candace took their drink order and left menus for them.

  Mia looked around. "The ambiance is fantastic. It's not fussy, but it's not lowbrow, either. It's very homey feeling." She met his gaze. "That's what it feels like, Flynn. It's like being at home. Kind of a rustic yet modern feel to it."

  He smiled at her. "Good. That's what I was going for."

  "And who is Amelia?"

  "She's the head chef."

  "Oh. Okay."

  They ordered their food and several people stopped at their table to chat. The one thing that Flynn liked about Ninety-Two was how friendly everyone was. And he made a point to make himself accessible to his patrons. So he signed a few autographs, took some pictures and chatted with a few fans. After they left the table, he focused his attention back on Mia, who was grinning at him.

  "What?"

  She shrugged. "I just never think of you as some big-time sports star. You're just my dumb brother."

  "No, I'm your smart brother. And the best-looking one of the bunch."

  She rolled her eyes, then picked up her glass of wine. "If that's how you can face yourself in the mirror every night."

  He laughed. "Smartass."

  "So you're playing Grant's team this weekend?"

  "Yeah."

  "You know they're playing exceptionally well this season."

  He arched a brow. "Which means what, exactly?"

  "Don't get your panties in a twist, Flynn. It means that I'll get to see a good game. I wouldn't want to watch a game where you steamroll the other team."

  "I'd like that."

  "I'm sure you would. But I'll be more entertained if you have to work for it."

  "You're mean, Mia."

  She waved her hand in dismissal. "Yeah, yeah."

  The salads arrived and they dug into those, jabbing verbally at each other through the course. There was nothing he enjoyed more than having one of his siblings visit. It made him miss the family dynamic, when he and his brothers and sister would sit at the dining room table and toss barbs at each other through dinner. His parents would mostly laugh as long as they weren't truly mean to each other. And since all the Cassidys had a healthy sense of humor, no one's feelings were ever hurt.

  Mia had had to toughen up at an early age since she'd grown up with four older brothers, but she had the best sense of humor out of all of them, and had learned to hurl insults at them from an early age. It was sink or swim in the Cassidy family, and Mia had been born a champion swimmer.

  The main course arrived. It didn't surprise Flynn at all that after their discussion last week Amelia had already incorporated the caramelized bluefin tuna into the menu, so as soon as he'd seen it he'd ordered it. Mia was having crab ravioli.

  He dug into the tuna, which was tender and delicious.

  "Oh, my God, Flynn," Mia said after taking a sip of her wine. "This ravioli is incredible."

  "I'm glad you like it."

  "Now let me have a bite of your fish."

  He sliced off a piece and laid it on her plate. She took a taste, her eyes widening. "Do you eat here every night? I would eat here every night."

  He laughed. "No, not every night. But I do come here a lot."

  "I can understand why. This is amazing."

  He knew she was being nice, but his sister was nothing if not brutally honest. If she didn't like the food she'd tell him. He felt good hearing her praise and he knew Amelia would, too.

  He glanced toward the kitchen, wishing he could see Amelia, but the restaurant was super busy right now and the last thing she needed--or wanted, he knew--was him sticking his nose in her kitchen. He could wait.

  But he really wanted to talk to her.

  Besides, he had Mia to keep him company for now.

  They finished their meal and opted for dessert, even though Mia protested she was already too full to eat anything else. She had sorbet and he had cheesecake. By the time they finished dessert it was a lot less crowded in there.

  "Excuse me for a minute. I need to dash into the kitchen to talk to Amelia."

  "Sure. Oh, and have her come out here," Mia said. "I want to praise her cooking."

  "I'll see if she has a few minutes to spare."

  He headed over to the kitchen. Everyone was busy, so he stepped inside to see Amelia reviewing orders. He moved up behind her.

  "Hey."

  She spun to face him. And there was no smile on her face. "I need to talk to you."

  Uh-oh. Something was up. "Okay. Sure."

  "Stefanie, take over. I'll be right back."

  "Okay, Amelia."

  Amelia stepped out of the kitchen and Flynn followed. He expected her to talk to him there in the hall, but he was surprised when she made a right turn out the side door.

  Ah, okay. Maybe she wanted a kiss. Now, that, he was on board for.

  She pulled him down the sidewalk, midway between the door and the back patio. He leaned in close but she put her hand to his chest.

  "What the hell gives you the right to fire one of my cooks?"

  He blinked. This was not romantic, and definitely not a kiss. "Huh?"

  "You fired Jeff. My prep cook. The one I told you about the other night. The next day, you went and fired him."

  "Oh. Right. I figured I'd deal with that so you didn't have to."

  "And I told you I'd deal with it. So what did you do? You dealt with it without discussing it with me first."

  "Amelia--"

  She cut him off before he could say anything else. "Before you hired me I made it very clear that the kitchen staff would be mine to hire, supervise and fire. You and Ken both agreed.
"

  He scratched the side of his head. "Well, yeah, but--"

  "Do not but me, Flynn Cassidy. You undermined my authority in my kitchen by firing one of my staff. You let your male asshole ego take control and decided you knew what was best. I realize this is your restaurant, but we agreed this was my kitchen. And I'm pissed as hell about what you did."

  He opened his mouth to object, but then realized he'd fucked up. "You're right. I'm sorry. I did agree to give you full control in the kitchen. If it means anything to you, my heart was in the right place. I know you have your hands full and I knew Jeff was a problem. I'm a problem solver and I thought I could fix this for you, which I now see was wrong. I apologize for stepping on your toes. And for being an asshole."

  She was standing across from him like a fierce blond warrior, her arms folded across her chest as if she was ready to do battle with him. But then her shoulders relaxed--a little.

  "Okay. I appreciate the apology. But don't ever do that again. Just because we had sex doesn't mean you get to make all the decisions for me."

  Flynn heard someone clearing their throat behind him. He turned around to find Mia standing by the door.

  "Sorry. Went looking for you and someone said they thought you and Amelia were outside. So, you two are dating, huh? Or are you just having sex?"

  Well, shit.

  Flynn turned back to Amelia, giving her a pained smile. "Amelia, I'd like to introduce you to my sister, Mia."

  ELEVEN

  Amelia gaped at the gorgeous dark-haired young woman who was looking at her with a smile on her face.

  She was still pissed off at Flynn, so her emotions were running a little hot. And now she was confused as well. She dragged her attention back to Flynn.

  "Wait. What? This is your sister?"

  "Yeah. I meant to tell you I was bringing her by but I didn't have the chance."

  "Obviously. And now I need to get back to the kitchen. Oh, and hi, Mia. It's very nice to meet you. I'm so sorry you had to witness me yelling at your brother."

  "Oh, it's not a problem. I very much enjoyed it. Dinner was awesome, by the way."

  Her anger somewhat subsiding, she smiled at Mia. "Thank you."

  Amelia headed toward the door, with Mia following.

  "You should come by the house when you get off work," Mia said. "I'd love to spend some time getting to know you, seeing as how you're having sex with my brother."

  "Mia, knock it off," Flynn said.

  Amelia laughed, though she was cringing inwardly. "Sorry you had to hear that part, too."

  "I'm not. This is a new side to my brother and I'm intrigued. I'll be in town for a week and I'd love to see you. Will you be around?"

  She paused just inside the door. "I suppose I will, providing your brother doesn't fire me for calling him an asshole."

  "Not firing you."

  "Good. Now I have to go. See you later, Mia."

  Mia wiggled her fingers. "Later, Amelia."

  Amelia headed back to the kitchen, mortified about her behavior. Not toward Flynn, of course. He'd had it coming. But to do it in front of his sister?

  Yikes. That had been unfortunate. But she couldn't take it back so she'd have to figure out how to deal with it.

  Later.

  She washed her hands and got back to work. Fortunately, the rest of the night was as busy as the beginning had been, and for that she was grateful. Diving full speed into work was the best way to not dwell on problems. They'd already hired another prep cook to replace Jeff, and the new one was working out great, so tonight's dinner service had flowed smoothly.

  Not that she had helped much, because after her altercation with Flynn, she'd felt . . . scattered. She hadn't seen him since he'd dropped her off at her house after she'd spent the night with him a week ago. He'd called her and texted her, but he'd had to leave town because of a road game, and they hadn't really . . . connected. And she'd been so angry with him after he fired Jeff, which had left her feeling out of sorts in so many ways. She'd wanted to see him in person and talk to him about that.

  She'd ended up watching his game on TV on Thursday night. He'd looked really good. No surprise there. But now that she'd seen him naked, there was an underlying heat to the way she viewed him and she found that kind of disconcerting.

  "Amelia."

  She snapped her attention to Tony, one of the cooks. "Sorry. Yes?"

  "We're all cleared out here. Is there anything else you need us to do?"

  She looked around, doing a mental check off. "No. It looks great. Thanks for another good night, everyone."

  She really had to get her head back in the game and off of Flynn. This job was her priority, and he was way too distracting.

  She drove home and immediately kicked off her shoes once inside the front door. She changed into yoga pants and a long-sleeved Henley, headed right into the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of pinot grigio and poured herself a full glass.

  She dug her phone out of her purse and checked her messages. There was one from Laura asking her to call. It was after eleven, so she decided to wait until tomorrow. Maybe they could have lunch since Amelia had the day off tomorrow.

  The next message was from Flynn.

  Text me when you get home.

  She arched a brow. That was rather commanding of him, wasn't it? Not a request or a "Hey, if you're not busy, could you text me?" kind of thing.

  Whatever.

  She decided to ignore him, instead grabbing her e-reader and wineglass. She settled in to read a book from one of her favorite authors, letting the tension of the day melt away.

  She was four chapters in when her phone rang. She picked it up.

  Flynn.

  With a sigh, she pushed the button.

  "Hi, Flynn."

  "Did you get my text message earlier?"

  She decided not to blast him. At least not right away. "I did."

  "You're home, right?"

  "I am."

  "What are you doing?"

  "Reading a book and having a glass of wine."

  "Okay. So you decided not to answer my text message?"

  She took in a deep breath before answering. "Yes, that's exactly what I decided."

  He waited a few seconds before he responded. "You're still mad at me."

  "I wasn't, but I didn't appreciate the commanding tone of your message."

  "The . . . Huh?"

  Was it just her, or was he that obtuse? "You said for me to text you, as if I was at your beck and call."

  "So you are still mad at me. I said I was sorry about firing Jeff. I meant it."

  She set her glass of wine on the side table and rubbed her temple where a headache was forming. "I know you did. I think I need to just go to bed. It's been a day."

  "I'm sorry if you had a bad day. I probably didn't help that."

  "It's not all on you. I didn't get in the mussels I ordered so I had to do a quick substitution on the menu, and the fried eggplant didn't turn out like I wanted it to. It was just one of those days."

  "The bluefin tuna was excellent."

  "You had that?"

  "I did. I'm really glad you added it to the menu. It was spectacular. Mia loved it as well, though she had the crab ravioli and raved about it."

  That, at least, made her smile. "I'm so glad to hear that."

  "She wants to see you. Which was why I wanted to talk to you. I know tomorrow is your day off and you have a million things you probably need to do, but if you aren't too busy would you have some time to spend with us?"

  "I was going to have lunch with my friend Laura."

  "I have practice tomorrow anyway until about four, and Mia has meetings. How about dinner? I'll cook, or we can go out to eat."

  She owed him that for being such a bitch about the text message. She might be tired, but Flynn didn't deserve to be the recipient of her mood. "Either sounds good."

  "Great. I'll text you and I promise it'll be loaded with all kinds of Would you like tos and questi
on marks. No commands of any kind."

  She laughed. "Okay, Flynn. I'll see you tomorrow."

  "Get some rest, Amelia. Good night."

  "Good night."

  She put her phone down and found herself staring at it for a few seconds, then shook it off.

  She hadn't intended to have anything to do with Flynn after the night they spent together, firm in her resolve to keep their relationship strictly professional. But since his sister had requested they spend time together, it would be rude of her to say no.

  So this was a special occasion. Or at least that's what she told herself.

  After that, though, no personal time for the two of them. And she'd make that very clear to Flynn when she saw him tomorrow.

  TWELVE

  It was an event when Amelia and Laura had a day off at the same time. They were set to meet at noon at Laura's place. Laura had texted her that the door was unlocked and she was running late, so Amelia let herself in.

  "I'm here," Amelia hollered as she closed the door.

  "I'm upstairs getting dressed. I'll be down in a sec."

  Laura's house was a train wreck and she made no excuses about it. She often picked up double shifts at the hospital, and her husband, Jon, wasn't any better at housekeeping than Laura. Shaking her head and smiling, Amelia shifted the pile of books on the sofa along with the blanket and cleared out a space to sit down.

  She checked her e-mail while she waited.

  "Sorry," Laura said about ten minutes later as she dashed down the stairs, her shoes dangling from one hand. "I'm so sorry. I overslept."

  "As often as you work, honey, sleeping is a good thing."

  Laura picked up a laptop that was on a chair and set it on top of a pile of papers on the table next to the chair, then sat to slide on her shoes. "Well, I sure as hell don't get enough of it, so thanks for being so understanding. Sorry the place is such a wreck. De-cluttering is on my to-do list for later this afternoon."

  "Unless we decide to go shopping."

  Laura cocked her head to the side. "Do not tempt me with shopping. I'm on a strict no-shopping budget until next month. Or possibly the month after that. Jon told me if he spies another pair of new shoes in our closet he's filing divorce papers."

  Amelia grinned. "Right. Like he'd ever do that. The man adores you."

  "'Tis true. But I did agree not to buy any more shoes until after the first of the year."

  "So just purses, then, right?"

  Laura slid her a lopsided grin. "You are such an enabler, Amelia."