by Linda Verji
“What’s up?” Snow asked.
“Charles is there.” The annoyed glint in April’s eyes said that Charlie was up to no good.
Snow was about to ask for more information but Greyson chose that moment to notice April. “April, what are you doing in the kitchen?”
“Just getting a glass of water,” April returned with a cheerful smile.
“There’s water in the dining-room.”
“Yes, Chef.” April mumbled a, “Hurry,” to Snow before hurrying out of the kitchen.
Snow was tempted to leave Charlie to April and Burton, the restaurant’s front-desk person, but she knew Charlie. He was petty enough to cause a commotion that would not only draw the attention of other diners but that of Greyson to. She waited until Greyson’s back was turned before asking Vina to watch her station then darting out of the kitchen. She arrived at the front-desk to find April, Burton and a couple of waiting customers watching Charlie rant drunkenly.
“I’m a regular here.” Charlie fumed. “I don’t need a reservation.”
“I’m sorry, Charles,” April coolly returned. “Even our regulars have to book in advance on Fridays and we’re fully booked tonight. Would you like me to recommend a different restaurant for you?”
Though she was the epitome of calm hostess, the stiff set of her shoulders and the thinness of her smile made it clear that she was irritated.
“Do you know how much money I’ve got,” he hollered. “I could buy this whole, damn pl-”
“Charles.” Snow cut into the rant.
Charlie’s gaze moved past April to settle on Snow. Immediately a wide grin creased his face. “Hey, look who’s here.”
April turned too. When she saw Snow, she sighed. “Thank God.”
“I’ll handle this,” Snow said.
With obvious relief, April and Burton turned to the other waiting customers. Meanwhile, Snow focused her attention on her errant ex. “Charlie, what are you doing here?”
“We want to eat,” he said. Before Snow could ask who ‘we’ was, he beckoned to a slender, skimpily dressed, bottle-blonde woman who was standing by the door. “Baby, come here. I want you to meet someone.”
A grumpy expression on her face, ‘Baby’ moved closer to them. “Charlie, can’t we eat somewhere else?”
Ignoring her question, Charlie slung his arm around the blonde’s waist and dragged her close to him. “Baby, this is my ex-girlfriend, Snow. Snow, this is my new girlfriend-” He paused as if trying to dredge up his companion’s name and ended up with, “-Katie.”
“Trish,” the woman corrected as she gave Snow a nervous once-over. The poor girl probably didn’t know what she was up for when she’d agreed to come to Tellers with Charlie.
“Yeah, Trish.” Charlie dismissed the correction as if her name wasn’t that important before turning back to Snow. He gloated, “We just started dating and I wanted her to taste the best food around here. But April won’t let me in.”
Snow wasn’t a fool. Anyone with a brain could tell that Charlie was trying to make her jealous. Given that she was the one who’d ended their relationship, his ploy shouldn’t have worked. Yet, it did. Fury stabbed through her, an angry lump built at the back of her throat and residual feelings of possessiveness flooded her senses.
All she wanted to do was lunge at Trish and claw her eyes out. Or maybe it would be better to plant a hard one on Charlie’s face. Snow’s hand curled into a fist as if preparing to do just that and she took a step forward. But then she saw his smirk – the smirk that said he was waiting for her to do something like that. Seeing that smirk was like being sprayed with cold water and it brought her back to rationality.
No, she refused to give Charlie the pleasure of watching her explode.
With self-control she didn’t know she possessed, she said, “Like April said, you can’t come in without a reservation.”
Disappointment flashed through Charlie’s eyes at her calm response, but he wasn’t one to give up. Pulling Trish closer to him, he coaxed, “Aw come on, Snow, pull a few strings for us. Get us a table.”
“I’m sorry but I can’t do that,” Snow gritted through her teeth. “We’re fully booked.”
Trish placed her hand on Charlie’s chest as if trying to push him slightly away from her as she coaxed, “Charlie, do we have to eat here? I know a nice place that isn’t far from here and doesn’t need reservation.”
“No. No. We gotta eat here.” Charlie’s gaze lingered on Snow as he added, “I’m loyal to this place. Unlike some people.”
Snow was sure that there was an underlying meaning to his last words but she wasn’t interested in deciphering it. Besides that, their conversation was beginning to attract the attention of other diners. She edged closer to him and grabbed his arm. “Let’s talk outside.”
Charlie tried to shake off her hand. “I like talking in here.”
“We’re talking outside.” Snow tugged harder on his arm.
For a moment, she thought he might continue resisting. Fortunately, he sighed. “Fine.”
Not waiting to see if he’d follow, Snow strode out of the restaurant and down the steps. Charlie followed soon after, pulling a reluctant Trish behind him.
“Snow did you ever consider being an interior designer?” Charlie offered Trish an indulgent smile as he added, “Trish here was just telling me how great the course is. She’s still in college. I think I might help her with her tuition too. Maybe she’ll be more grateful than some people.”
Okay, that one was easy to decipher. This dude! Snow internally rolled her eyes. Did he think that paying someone’s tuition meant that you officially owned them and could now treat them like crap? Ignoring the dig, Snow turned to Trish. “Could you give Charlie and I space to talk?”
Trish started, “Ok-”
“No!” Charlie cut in. “Whatever you have to say to me, she can hear it too.”
Trish tried again, “Maybe I should just-”
“No, stay here.” He held her tighter to the side of his body.
Snow felt a pang of pity for the younger woman. Charlie had always had a cruel streak but using the woman as a pawn in his mind games crossed the line.
Snow sighed deeply. “Charlie, what is wrong with you? Do you think that this idiotic nonsense will somehow convince me to come back to you?”
“What are you talking about?” Charlie gave her a defiant look. “I’m not trying to convince you to come back to me.”
“You really are a child.” Setting both her fists on her hips, she raged, “It’s bad enough that you’re harassing me at my apartment, but now you’re bringing your drama to my place of work?”
“I just wanted to eat,” he returned sulkily.
“Well go eat somewhere else or make reservations like other diners.”
“You don’t own this place.”
“No, I don’t,” she agreed. “But this is where I work and everyone knows that you and I used to date. You’re embarrassing both of us with these childish stunts so stop-”
“Used to date?” he cut into her words. Looking genuinely offended, he said, “Wow. You say it so easily.”
“Sorry, I’ll try to say it with more sadness next time, ” Snow retorted with no remorse.
He scowled.“Fine, you want me to leave so bad? I’ll leave. Let’s go, Trish.”
“Could you make your exit permanent this time?” Snow tossed at him as he started to stride away.
Charlie’s steps screeched to a halt, and he turned to shoot Snow a fierce glare. “You’re one cold bitch.”
If it had been any other person, the words wouldn’t have hurt. But this was Charlie, the man who’d been closer to her than her own family for the last twelve years. His insult sent unexpected pain stabbing through her. Refusing to show him that she was hurt, she asked coolly, “I thought you were leaving?”
With one last glare Charlie left, dragging poor Trish along with him. Snow stayed outside for a couple more minutes to calm her still raging temper before head
ing back to the kitchen.
* * * * *
AS SOON AS Snow walked back into the kitchen Greyson could tell that something was wrong. He was going to yell at her for ducking out in the middle of dinner service, but her frown and the straight set of her lips made him hesitate. It was obvious that something had happened while she was out in the dining-room. He grew more worried when she disappeared into the pantry and came back out a few minutes later with her eyes swollen and red as if she’d been crying.
What in the world had happened out there?
As soon as the dinner rush slowed somewhat, he ambushed April in the dining-room. “Why did Snow leave the kitchen?”
“Huh?” April stumbled over her words. “Umm, I don’t know.”
“Then why did you call her out?”
Her eyes widened. “You saw that?”
“Yes, I saw that.” He repeated, “Why did you call her out?”
“Umm. One of the diners wanted to speak to her,” April hedged. “Nothing for you to be worried about. Oh, look, Table Ten needs me…”
She scrambled away before he could press her further. Fortunately, Burton wasn’t as tight-lipped and he briefed Greyson on Snow’s unexpected guest and everything that had happened at the front-desk. Greyson wasn’t surprised to find out that Charlie was the cause of Snow’s abrupt change in mood or that he was childish enough to bring another woman to the restaurant his ex worked at. That seemed like just the sort of thing he’d do.
Greyson wished he could pull Snow into a hug and ask her if she was okay, but this was their workplace. As much as he ached to hold her, he pretended not to notice her trembling lips and the way she kept swiping her eyes with her sleeve.
As soon as they closed the kitchen for the night, she hurried up to the employees break-room to change as if she was in a rush to leave.
He quickly shot her a text message. Don’t leave without me.
Half-afraid that she might leave anyway, he hurried to his office, changed into his street-clothes before hurtling back downstairs. Fortunately, he found her in the dining-room with Vina, April and a few other members of staff.
“Who’s locking up?” Greyson asked.
Oscar lifted his hand. “I have to come in early for the fish delivery.”
“Make sure Dan gives you pure squid.” Greyson tossed Oscar the restaurant’s keys. “I don’t want to have to change the menu halfway because he filled up the bottom of the cooler with octopus again.”
“Yes, Chef.” Oscar caught the keys deftly.
Greyson turned to Snow. “You ready to leave?”
“Yes, Chef.” Snow nodded. On seeing the curious looks from the other members of staff, she quickly explained, “We live in the same direction.”
That was enough to quash further questions and soon they were on their way. The ride home was silent and Snow seemed preoccupied with the passing scenes on her side of the car. Greyson wanted to ask Snow if she was alright, he wanted to know what Charlie had said to her, but something told him that she didn’t want to talk right now. So instead of soothing her with words, he reached across their seats and set his hand over hers.
She shot him a startled look then glanced at their hands. For a minute it looked like she might pull away. In the end, all she did was turn her hand in his so that their fingers interlocked before she turned her attention back to the window and her thoughts. He rubbed his thumb over her hand, using his touch to say what his mouth couldn’t.
Sometime during the drive, she started crying. She was so quiet that he didn’t realize it was happening until he heard her sniff. Women’s tears had never bothered him before, but Snow’s tears cut into him. A fist closed around his heart and squeezed it tightly, while a painful lump formed at the back of his throat. He wanted to ask her for Charlie’s address so he could punch some common sense into the man, but he knew that Snow would never let him do that. All he could do now was tighten his hold on her hand and squeeze it soothingly.
By the time they got to her place, Snow had stopped crying. Greyson parked his car then rounded it to open her door for her. She avoided his gaze as she exited the car but he could see that her face and eyes were swollen. As soon as he closed the door behind her, he pulled her into his arms. She came to him easily, burying her face in his chest. With extreme care, he curved his arms around her shoulders and waist. Her arms came around his waist as she pressed her body into his until he could feel every inch of her soft curves.
Though the embrace was meant to be soothing, heat lanced through Greyson with a swiftness that no longer surprised him. Repressing the urge to turn the embrace into more, he ran his hand soothingly over her back and hair. “I’m sorry he hurt you.”
Snow stiffened as if she was surprised he knew what was going on with her. A moment later, she relaxed back into him and inhaled deeply. “It’s okay.”
Greyson couldn’t tell how long they stood in the darkness, holding each other, but eventually Snow lifted her face from his chest. Suddenly, she arched upwards and touched her lips to hers. Surprised by the kiss, he didn’t react at first. She lifted up again and kissed him. This time it wasn’t just a peck - it was plea for more.
He moved one hand from her back to slide it into her hair before tilting her head just right so he could kiss her the way she wanted. He slanted his lips over hers and drew her into a dark, sensuous kiss. Her hands tightened into fists on his waist and she clung to him tightly as her lips parted on a deep moan. It was the single most erotic sound he’d ever heard and it only made him want to devour her. Only a reminder of what she’d been through tonight and that she’d just been crying kept him from pushing for more. He eased them both out of the kiss with gentle pecks.
After the kiss ended, Snow’s eyes stayed glued to his and she bit her swollen lips before she asked, “Do you want to come in?”
Such a simple question yet there was so much meaning to it. He knew that she was asking him if he wanted to take the kiss further, much further. He was tempted to take her up on her offer, but he wasn’t stupid enough to do it. She was feeling vulnerable right now – because of Charlie – and only a bastard would take advantage of that. If anything ever happened between them, Greyson wanted to make sure that it because they wanted each other and not because she was trying to forget Charlie.
He lowered his head for another gentle kiss. “Next time.”
The disappointment that immediately glinted in her gaze almost made him change his mind. Almost. To steel himself further, he let his arms fall away from her and took a step back. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
Snow watched him for a long moment with those disappointed eyes before she nodded. “Okay. Goodnight.”
Leaving her standing there was one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do but somehow he managed it. However, he couldn’t resist one last glance at her through the rearview mirror as he drove away.
CHAPTER 9
Snow had a hard time getting out of the bed the next morning and it had nothing to do with being sleepy. The real reason she wanted to crawl back into her bed and hide deep under the covers was because she was embarrassed. About what? So many things.
So many things!
First, there was Charlie. By now she was sure that everyone in the kitchen knew that that asshole had come to the restaurant to flaunt his new relationship. No doubt her nosy coworkers would spend the day gossiping about her and throwing her amused – or worse, pitying looks.
As if that wasn’t enough to be embarrassed about, she’d actually cried over Charlie. After breaking up with him, she’d thought that it was all over. She’d thought that there’s be no more riding on the rollercoaster of emotions that he was so good at shoving her into. No more feeling jealous or hurt. But yesterday she’d learnt that breaking up didn’t translate to being completely over and it certainly didn’t come with an automatic switch to turn off emotion. You could still feel jealous and hurt. That sucked!
What was worse was that after crying about
Charlie in Greyson’s arms, she’d had the gall to try and seduce him. Ugh! What was wrong with her? It was a good thing he’d turned down her offer because this morning would’ve been even more mortifying than it already was.
Still, how could she face him today after everything she’d done?
She mulled over her dilemma as she showered. Maybe she should tell him not to pick her up from home today? No, that wouldn’t work! He’d know that she was trying to avoid him. Maybe she should act like yesterday had never happened? But what if he started to ask questions? No, Greyson was the type of guy to let sleeping dogs lie. But what if he wasn’t? Should she apologize for propositioning him last night? Yes? No? Maybe?
By the time Snow stepped out of the shower, she still hadn’t decided what to do and before she could, the sound of her phone ringing sent her running back to her bedroom. The moment she saw who was calling she regretted rushing. Marlene. The last person she wanted to talk to so early in the morning was Charlie’s mother.
“Should I pick? Should I not? Should I pick? Should I not?” she murmured as she stared at the still ringing phone. After several rings, the phone quieted down. But Marlene was just as persistent as her son. Hardly a minute later, the phone rang again. Knowing that the only way to quiet Marlene was to talk to her, Snow sucked in a fortifying breath, drew her lips into a smile and answered the phone. “Hello, Marlene.”
“ Snow, darling, how are you?” the older woman trilled.
“I’m fine, Marlene,” Snow returned. “How have you been?”
“Fine. Fine. The usual,” Marlene said. “I was calling to ask you if you could meet me at the club later today.”
“Aw, I wish I could but I have to work.” Snow injected remorse she didn’t feel into her voice. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s a pity.” Marlene sighed. “I really wanted to talk to you.”
“Is it something urgent?”
“No. No. It’s just about this little tiff you and Charlie had.” The older woman chuckled softly as if she found the whole thing amusing. “I wanted us to talk about it and figure out how to solve it.”