Yes, Chef (Sizzle & Burn Book 1)

by Linda Verji

  The last place she wanted to go back to was her apartment because Charlie would probably be there with his fake-ass apologies. He’d already sent her a picture earlier in the day to show her that her couch was now clean, so it wasn’t a stretch to imagine him turning up at her house and acting like everything was resolved between them. However, she didn’t want to wake up to Lauren’s subpoena tomorrow morning, so to the mall to buy a bike then straight home it was.

  Vina shook her head. “Wish I could go with you but I’ve got another blind date.”

  “You’re still going to those?” April asked as she emerged from the ladies changing room. Her black hostess-dress was gone replaced by a chic, blue, body-con dress.

  “Mm, April. You’re looking fine,” Oscar butted into the conversation, his beady eyes doing a slow, creepy tour down April’s body. “Maybe you and I should go on a blind date of our own.”

  “I’d rather gouge my own eyes out,” April retorted before turning to Vina. “I thought you were done with the matchmaking thing.”

  “I wish.” Vina let out a frustrated sigh. “But my mother and grandmother threatened to come and talk to Greyson about my work hours if I don’t go.”

  Both Snow and April burst into laughter. Ever since Vina had turned thirty, Mama Song and Grandma Song had been trying ardently to marry her off to a good Korean man. The last time she’d refused to go to one of the blind-dates they’d organized for her, they’d parked themselves at Tellers and refused to leave until she agreed to go for the date.

  “Speaking of blind-dates…” Vina looked around the break-room. “Where’s Pepper? I need her ripped jeans and ratty wigs.”

  That was enough to elicit another round of laughter. Rather than incurring the wrath of the older women in her family by refusing to go for dates, Vina’s new strategy was to make herself as unappealing as possible to her dates.

  Once Vina left in search of the ripped jeans, Snow turned to April. “What about you? Want to come help me pick a bike?”

  “I wish I could. You know how I love shopping.” April’s face fell. “Unfortunately, I’ve got to go home for Sunday dinner.”

  “Ugh! That sucks.” Actually, Snow’s family was also having dinner together tonight, but she was already having a bad day. The last thing she wanted to do was spend the evening defending her career – or as her father preferred to call it; her ‘silly, little hobby’.

  “Why don’t we postpone the shopping trip and do it tomorrow since we’re both off,” April suggested. “Then you can come with me for Sunday dinner. Everyone’s always asking when you’re coming anyway.”

  “No, thanks,” Snow said quickly. Why would she go to someone else’s family dinner when she was missing her own?

  “Don’t worry about it,” Snow reassured her friend. “I’ll pick the bike on my own.”

  By the time, Snow walked into the mall it was almost six p.m.. She could’ve gone directly to the supermarket to get the bike but she felt like poor Elsie deserved better than the low-quality stuff there. Unfortunately, since it was a Sunday evening most specialty stores in the mall were closed. She wandered around the ground, first and second floors but found nothing to her liking.

  It would have to be a supermarket bicycle.

  Lauren would probably throw a fit because of the low quality of the bike, Snow thought as she took the escalator down. But her reaction would be worse if Snow came empty-handed. Oh well, Snow could always get Elsie a better bike tomorrow. Charlie could afford it.

  “Snow!” A voice cut into her errant thoughts.

  She lifted her head to see Greyson coming up the opposite escalator. For a second, she was stunned by how good he looked. His hair was out of the band that usually held it away from his face when he was cooking, and a stray sun-burnished lock licked at his forehead. His chef-coat had been replaced by a black leather jacket over a navy t-shirt that stretched over his muscular chest, and his dark-wash jeans clung to trunk-like thighs before dipping to his black high-tops.

  Pulling herself from her not-so-innocent perusal of him, she smiled. “Hey.”

  “Hey,” he returned as he came up alongside her. “Shopping?”

  “Yeah.” She nodded. As their respective escalators drew them further apart, she waved. “Later.”

  Despite herself, Snow found herself turning to get one more glimpse of him as his escalator made its ascent. Those broad shoulders, the butt… her boss was definitely fine. Almost as if he could feel her checking him out, Greyson turned his head. Grinning, Snow hastily spun around to face forward.

  What? There wasn’t any law against checking your boss out.

  She thought that was the end of that but as she was approaching the supermarket, someone came up beside her. “Need any help?”

  Surprised, she came to a screeching stop and turned her head only to find Greyson beside her. “Chef, you startled me.”

  “It’s Greyson.” The slow, charming smile that accompanied his words was so impossibly wicked, so impossibly sensual, that her chest tightened strangely and her breath caught in her throat.

  She somehow managed to murmur, “Hmm?”

  “You don’t have to call me Chef outside the kitchen,” he clarified. “Just call me Greyson.”

  “Oh. Okay. Um…” She dragged a deep breath to ease the tightness in her lungs. “I thought you were going up.” Her hand fluttered towards the upper floors.

  “I was but the store I was going to is closed.” He started forward, forcing her to start walking too. “So I thought I’d pick up a few things from the supermarket.”

  Even to her own ears, her voice sounded strangled as she said, “Oh, I see.”

  What was this? Why was she suddenly so flustered by his presence? Why couldn’t she stop sneaking glances at him as they strolled towards the supermarket? She was acting like a teenager who’d unexpectedly found herself next to her crush.

  No. No. This had nothing to do with crushes and attraction, she quickly reassured herself. She was just not used to being around Greyson on her own unless it involved business. Furthermore, other than occasions that involved their co-workers, she and Greyson had never socialized outside the kitchen. Anyone would be a little nervous in her position. Yes, that was it!

  Greyson stopped at the supermarket’s entrance and pointed to line of baskets and carts there. “Basket or cart?”

  She shook her head. “Neither. What I’m here for won’t fit in there.”

  “Really?” Curiosity flitted through his blue eyes as he pulled a cart out for himself then led the way into the large store. “An appliance?”

  “No, just a bike.” She pointed towards the upper floor of the store. “I think they’re up there.”

  She expected him to say his goodbyes then go his merry way. Instead, he turned his cart in the direction of the moving walkway that led to the upper floor. “I didn’t know you bike.”

  “I don’t.” Snow chuckled. “It’s for my neighbor’s daughter.”

  “Her birthday?”

  There was no way to explain the circumstances that had led to her being forced to buy a bike without embarrassing herself, so she simply said, “Something like that.”

  Greyson studied her as if he wanted to prod further, but to her relief, he changed the direction of their conversation. “What kind of bike are you looking for?”

  Snow shrugged. “I don’t know - something pretty?”

  Greyson grinned. “I mean beyond just its prettiness what specs are you working with? What’s your budget? How tall is she? Is she a timid or aggressive rider? Can she stop a bike with a coaster brake or is she transitioning from a balance bike? What’s her inseam, her weight… that sort of thing.”

  Snow blinked, then stared at him. “I know you spoke English but all I heard was Greek.”

  His grin turned to a full chuckle as he parked his cart beside the moving walkway. “Come on, I’ll help you.”

  He led the way to the moving walkway but once she was standing beside hi
m, he set his palm on her lower back as if to guide her. Instantly, a rush of electric heat swept through Snow. Startled, she jerked her gaze to his face but found him looking straight ahead. His features were the epitome of calm, even as the heaviness and warmth of his palm continued to sear through the thin fabric of her t-shirt and agitate her senses.

  Couldn’t he feel that electricity? Or was it all in her imagination? But that didn’t explain why her pulse was suddenly racing or why she felt short of breath. It certainly didn’t explain why despite all these strange symptoms, she didn’t feel inclined to step away from his touch.

  Once they reached the top of the walkway, his hand fell away from her back. Immediately, she felt bereft. It took everything in her to keep from edging closer to him so she could feel his body against hers as they strolled towards the aisle that held the bikes.

  Stop it, Snow, she mentally berated herself. You’re here to buy Elsie’s bike. Not swoon over your boss.

  As soon as they got to the bike-aisle, a shopping assistant approached them. “Can I help you out?”

  “We’re looking for a bicycle for a-” Greyson turned his gaze to Snow. “How old is your neighbor’s child?”

  “Six-year- years.” Snow cleared her throat. “Elsie is six-years old.”

  “We just got new stock from Berkshers.” The assistant started towards a set of bikes. “They’ve got quality bikes.”

  Who knew buying a child’s bike could be as complicated as buying a car. Snow was glad to have run into Greyson because without him she would’ve ended up picking the first pink bike she saw. Though she provided Elsie’s specs and preferences, Greyson was the one who did most of the heavy-lifting. He thoroughly inspected each of the bikes the assistant showed them for flaws.

  “What do you think of this one?” Snow stopped beside a green and white bike.

  Greyson edged towards her then crouched in front of the bike. He inspected the brakes. “Okay. It has color coded brake levers that will keep her from getting confused about which brake to use and the handlebars aren’t too low.” He checked the tag hanging on the handlebar. “You said that Elsie weighs about fifty five pounds, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then no.” He lifted the bike up a few times. “This is too heavy for her.”

  “Oh! I see.” Impressed with his expertise, she asked, “How do you know so much stuff about kids’ bikes?”

  “My nephews and nieces,” he said simply. Snow didn’t ask for further explanation because she assumed he meant Roman’s older sister’s kids who were regulars at Tellers. Greyson moved on to another bike and crouched next to it. “Let’s see this one…”

  There was something about a man who knew his stuff that was a turn-on. Snow couldn’t help watching him as moved from bike to bike, couldn’t help admiring him. How come she’d never noticed how his eyes crinkled ever so slightly at the corners when he smiled? Or how long and elegant his fingers were? Or how deep and rumbling his voice was? Jeez, why did her throat feel so parched and why was her heart thumping so loud?

  “Are you okay?” His voice cut into her erratic thoughts

  Her gaze flew to his as she stuttered a rushed, “Yeah! Yeah! Why do you ask?”

  “You keep hitting your chest so I thought something might be wrong?”

  “Huh?” She lowered her eyes only to find her fist poised over the section right above her left breast. What the hell? She hadn’t even realized that she was the one thumping her heart. She had no idea why she was doing it, so she quickly hedged, “Oh, I felt like I was choking. It’s nothing really.”

  “You sure?” Concern streaked through Greyson’s eyes – those beautiful blue eyes.

  Good God! What was wrong with her? When had she started to think of his eyes as beautiful? To Greyson, she said, “Yeah, I’m fine,” though she was beginning to think that she might not be so fine.

  Thirty minutes later, they settled on a bike. While the attendant went to drop it off at the checkout counter, Snow and Greyson took the escalator back to the ground floor so he could shop for himself.

  “Thank you so much for helping me out,” Snow said as they strolled down the toiletries aisle. “I know this is not how you planned to spend your Sunday evening.”

  “No need to thank me. You saved me from a boring evening watching baseball.” Dropping two cans of deodorant into his cart, he added, “But I wouldn’t mind it if you bought me a cup of coffee once we’re done here.”

  “Sure-” Snow started enthusiastically then remembered that Lauren was probably tapping her foot at her doorstep. “Sorry, I can’t. I have to drop the bike off.”

  “Do you have a way to get it home?”

  Damn! She hadn’t thought that far. If she owned a car this would’ve been so easy. Quickly improvising, she said, “I’ll just take a cab.”

  “You don’t need to.” He stopped to pull a pack of eight rolls of tissue from a shelf. His eyes roving over the label on the roll, he suggested, “I can take you home.”

  The offer was made so casually that at first Snow didn’t know how to respond to it. “What?”

  “I’ll take you home,” he repeated as he dropped the tissue rolls into his cart then started to move again.

  “You don’t need to do that,” she quickly refused as she trailed him. The last thing she needed to do was spend more time with him, especially not when her body was behaving so weirdly. “I can take a cab.”

  “Why would you waste cash on a cab when we live in the same direction?”

  “We do?” That was news to her.

  “We do.” Greyson nodded, his eyes crinkling as if he was laughing on the inside – perhaps at her. “It’s been six months since you moved, right?”

  “Yeah!”

  “We’ve been going in the same direction since then.”

  “We have?” She stared at him in wide-eyed shock for a few seconds before a realization hit her. “You’re telling me that for the last six months you knew that I live in the same direction as you yet you never offered me a ride? Wow, Greyson! I knew you were a little stingy but damn!”

  “What?” His lips twitched as if he was holding back a smile. “You’re turning this on me now?”

  “You’re damn right I’m turning it on you! I’ve been wasting money on buses and cabs while I could’ve been riding in your sweet Merc. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.” Resisting the urge to smile, she shook her head. “I’m so disappointed in you, Chef.”

  “Well, if you were more observant, you could’ve asked for a ride yourself,” he countered.

  “It is not my fault that I’m too distracted to notice what’s going on around me,” she retorted. “You’re the one who overworks me.”

  “I overwork you?” His brows lifted and his lips quirked. “I spend half of every service trying to drag you away from your gossip girls.”

  “Did you just call April and Vina gossip girls?” She threatened, “I’m telling on you.”

  “Psh! I always knew you were a tattletale.” He bumped his arm against her shoulder.

  Snow bumped him right back. “Keep insulting me and I’ll also tell Vina you said she couldn’t cook cause she’s a girl.”

  “Okay! Okay, you win. No more insults,” he surrendered with a laugh, and just like that the ice between them was broken.

  Snow had always thought of Greyson as buttoned-up and standoffish, but the next moments proved that he could be just as laid back as anyone else. By the time Greyson finished shopping, she was mess of confused emotions. For one she felt flustered, like her body had discovered something about Greyson that her brain had yet to figure out. But at the same time, she felt more at ease with him than she ever had in their last three years of working together.

  It was really strange.

  CHAPTER 4

  This was going much better than Greyson had anticipated. Who’d have thought that he’d meet Snow at the mall just as he was thinking of how to approach her? It almost seemed like karma was shoving him in her direction �
� not that he needed much shoving. He hadn’t gotten an official date yet but Snow was getting more comfortable with him. He’d caught her checking him out a couple of times and she’d bought him dinner as a thank you for helping her out. If those weren’t good signs, he didn’t know what was.

  “Turn right there.” Snow pointed to a turn several feet ahead.

  “Okay.” Though night had already fallen, the streets leading up to her place were well-lit, and he had no problem seeing the turn she was referring to.

  Once he took the turn she directed, “Just up ahead. Second gate to the left.”

  Moments later, he brought his SUV to a stop in front of a large black gate. A security guard emerged through the pedestrian gate and strode towards Greyson’s window. He bent to ask, “Can I help you?”

  “Steve,” Snow called out before Greyson could answer. She leaned towards the driver’s window so that the guard could see her face, brushing her body against Greyson’s in the process and sending immediate shards of electricity spearing through him. She said, “It’s me.”

  The guard peered into the car then smiled when he saw her. “Snow, I didn’t know it was you.”

  He hurried off to open the gates and moments later Greyson cruised into the complex. The complex comprised four four-story buildings, two on each side of the large parking lot. Each building held eight identical apartments with a balcony. Quite normal really – which was surprising.

  Considering Snow’s background, he’d expected something grander. A swimming pool somewhere, a gym… maybe a tennis court or two. Seeing her living so modestly was a relief. It told him that she wasn’t high maintenance – one more thing to like about her.

  “Do you need me to help with that?” Snow asked as she stood beside him in the well-lit parking lot holding their dinner.

  “No, I’m good.” Greyson’s breath hitched as he dragged the bike from the trunk of his SUV, set it on the ground then closed the trunk of his car. “Where do you want me to take it?”

  “Umm… here.” She climbed the two steps leading to her building and tapped the wall. “I’ll let my neighbor know that it’s here.”