Under Her Clothes

by Louisa Edwards

  When Colby St. James dresses like a man to prove she can succeed in the male-dominated world of professional cooking, she never expects to fall for the handsome chef who will decide her fate. They agree that nothing that happens after hours will affect Colby’s chances in the competition and begin a secret affair.

  It’s been years since Dominic Fevre felt a sexual attraction toward another man. He thought he’d put that stage of his life behind him when he focused everything on his career. But something about Colby St. James makes him want to break all his own rules...

  For Ann Leslie Tuttle, this story’s unfailingly smart, kind, classy and open-minded editor.

  Louisa Edwards

  UNDER HER

  CLOTHES

  Sexy, contemporary romance stories

  for today’s fun, fearless female.

  Cosmopolitan Red-Hot Reads from Harlequin

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter One

  Colby turned back the cuffs on her clean white chef’s jacket to expose the tattoo of an antique silver serving spoon on her left forearm and resisted the urge to adjust the rolled-up athletic socks tucked down the front of her pants.

  The intricate swirls of the spoon’s inked handle, crisscrossed with old burn marks and a wickedly curved knife scar, would bolster her cred in any restaurant kitchen in New York. Giving away the fact that the only bulge in her checked pants was cotton instead of cock? Would not.

  No big deal, she reminded herself as the 6 train lurched to a stop at the Seventy-Seventh Street station. Just another one-on-one interview in just another kitchen with just another arrogant misogynist of a head chef. You’ve done this a hundred times. Man up.

  Colby’s snort was swallowed by the hydraulic hiss of the doors opening. Man up? That’s exactly what she intended to do.

  Because no matter what mantra she repeated as part of the pep talk she’d been using since she started fending for herself at sixteen, this was definitely not just any old job in any old kitchen. Scoring this gig at Maison de Ville would prove, once and for all, that she was every bit as talented as any male chef who’d been promoted over her.

  Hustling across the platform and up the stairs into the chill brilliance of autumn in New York, Colby shoved her way through the mob of early-morning commuters still yawning into their blue paper coffee cups. She glanced up and down Lexington Avenue to orient herself—the Upper East Side of Manhattan was so not her hood—and caught a glimpse of herself reflected in the glass of a shop window. Superimposed on the clear surface separating the fur-clad mannequins from the street, a stranger stared back at Colby.

  She lifted her hand to the side of her head, watching as the boyish reflection copied the motion, fingertips brushing across the soft bristles of buzzed hair. Colby had intended to shave off every single strand, but Grant had flatly refused. Once he quit trying to talk Colby out of this stunt, he’d argued that leaving a fall of dark gold across the top of her head would be enough to change her look from feminine to androgynous—and since she was never going to pass for übermasculine, androgyny was her best bet. Hence, the tousled fall of longer blond hair along the crest of her skull.

  Because nothing said “take me and my kick-ass knife skills seriously” like a Mohawk.

  Grinning at the young guy mirrored in the window, Colby straightened her shoulders and took off for the restaurant. The sound of her best friend’s voice in her head reminded her to butch up her walk. Confidence was key.

  One thing Colby had never lacked was confidence. Supporting herself independently since the age of sixteen would do that for a girl. And she’d been practicing for this daring social experiment of professional cross-dressing practically her entire adult life.

  A woman in a high-end restaurant kitchen worked hard to be “one of the guys,” or she didn’t work at all. Colby was lucky—she was tall and lean, without any of those distracting curves at the bust and hips that would’ve made it even harder for her to blend in with the other chefs on the line. She’d despaired over her flat chest as a preteen, but now she was grateful not to have to bind her breasts like some ingenue in a Shakespeare play.

  Just go in there and show Chef Fevre what you’ve got. In one hour, you’ll have the proof you need to make restaurateurs finally take you seriously as head chef material.

  Colby’s steps hitched briefly at her first peek of the elegant town house at Seventy-Seventh and Park. Smaller than the mansions and skyscrapers around it, Maison de Ville still commanded its corner of Manhattan’s ritziest neighborhood. Creamy white awnings shaded large, sparkling windows, a larger one covering the crimson carpet that led to the restaurant’s main entrance.

  Swallowing down nerves and hitching the strap of her knife roll higher on her shoulder, Colby marched up the white stone steps and shoved her way into the dim cool silence of the restaurant’s foyer.

  A giant floral arrangement bristled from an antique entrance table under the cool glitter of an unlit crystal chandelier. The air was heavy with the scent of fresh-cut roses, but when Colby inhaled the perfume into her lungs, she caught a deep, savory note underneath. Following her nose, she stepped around the entry table and past an unattended hostess stand toward the empty dining room. Large comfortable chairs, plenty of space between tables—this place was all old-school elegance and luxury, a bastion of wealth and high society where the city’s elite came to see and be seen...and to eat some of the most consistently perfect classical French cuisine available anywhere outside of Paris.

  Colby stepped lightly across the plush navy-and-gold carpet, almost afraid to breathe too loudly. It was like being in church. If she wasn’t running late already, she’d stop and genuflect.

  A door swished open at the back of the spacious dining room, hidden from view behind a discreet partial wall. For an electrifying moment, the silence of the restaurant was shattered by the industrious bustle of a kitchen hard at work. Heartbeat quickening, Colby hurried toward the comforting clatter of pans and the rap of sharp knives against cutting boards just as a man stepped out from behind the partition.

  Tall, was all she could think for a moment as recognition seared through her. Colby’s gaze traveled up...and up to meet a pair of piercing, ice-blue eyes. She was five foot eleven. She topped most guys she knew by an inch at least; if she got lucky, she’d generally be eye to eye with her boss rather than towering over him. This man? Had a good half a foot on her, along with fifty pounds of broad, sinewy muscle.

  “Arriving later than five minutes early is arriving late.”

  His voice rolled through her like thunder, dark and menacing. The barest hint of an earthy French accent grounded the words, making Colby shiver.

  Scrambling for a legit excuse that wasn’t “I couldn’t decide how many socks to stuff in my jock,” Colby was lucky she remembered at the last second to pitch her tone low and a little husky. “Oui, chef. I’ll remember that.”

  Screw making excuses or whining that she wasn’t actually late. She’d never justified herself or asked for special treatment as a female chef, and she wasn’t going to start now.

  Colby did her best to meet the man’s glittering, pale gaze and felt a thrill that shook her down to her bones. Because this huge, imposing man with the stern jaw and the shoulders of a linebacke
r was Dominic Fevre. The executive chef of Maison de Ville, which was the crown jewel in Eva Jansen’s tiara.

  There’d been a profile in the New York Times about Eva Jansen, the city’s most successful restaurateur, and the coup she and her most famous chef had pulled off by reinvigorating a landmark classic like La Maison. There were photos, an online slideshow that Colby had pored over when Grant first mentioned this interview.

  None of those images had done Dominic Fevre justice.

  In pictures, he looked exactly like his reputation: a hard-ass, no-nonsense, totally old-school chef. And she had no doubt that’s exactly what he was. But pictures didn’t capture the soulful slash of dark brows over those unearthly light blue-gray eyes, or the pure, angular perfection of his wide mouth. The pictures of Fevre had cemented her determination to pull off the craziest scheme she’d ever come up with.

  The living, breathing reality of Fevre made Colby squeeze her thighs together to stifle the sudden surge of aching heat.

  Fevre didn’t smile, but the tightness at the corners of his eyes eased. Maybe that was as close as he got to a smile. “Bien. And you are...?”

  “St. James. Colby St. James.”

  “Ah yes. The late addition to my list. How nice to have influential friends.” Those impressive dark brows lowered slightly. “I would not normally take on a candidate based purely on a recommendation, but apparently Grant Holloway has some sway with my boss. Ms. Jansen asked that I include you, and of course, I agreed. But do not think for a moment that you will be exempt from the rigorous examination I would give to any other applicant.”

  Colby stood up as straight as she could and met his gaze straight on. “I wouldn’t expect anything less, chef. Thank you for the opportunity.”

  A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Welcome, Mr. St. James. Please join the others in the kitchen. I’ll be with you in a moment.”

  He strode past her, close enough that she could feel the warmth pouring off that big body. As Colby wobbled toward the kitchen door, she told herself the weakness in her knees was relief that he’d seen what he expected to see—a young male chef—and that meant her disguise was workable. She was so busy clamping down on the ridiculously inconvenient surge of lust at first sight, she almost missed everything else Dominic Fevre had said.

  But when she pushed open the serving doors and entered the white, sterile brightness of the cleanest, most streamlined kitchen she’d ever seen, her gaze fell instantly on the spit-polished crowd of young chefs milling nervously between two stainless-steel work tables in the center of the room. Everyone around them moved with a purpose, intent on various culinary missions like prepping vegetables for stock and breaking down large cuts of meat into smaller portions.

  So who the hell were the guys standing around with their thumbs up their asses?

  Join the others, Fevre had said. Remembering it, Colby felt a chill flash-freeze her insides. What others? What the hell kind of interview was this?

  She knew going in there’d be stiff competition for the chance Jansen Hospitality was offering to be head chef at their newest restaurant. She knew she’d have to excel, to distinguish herself as a cut above the rest, to be offered such a plum job. That was the entire point of this stunt, after all. She’d beat out the competition and get the job—then unmask herself and show the world that a woman did belong in a first-class restaurant kitchen, after all.

  But a group interview? Could she pull this off?

  Colby set her jaw. Nothing had changed, not really. She’d always had to work twice as hard as anyone else in the kitchen, just to get in the door. When it came to standing out from the crowd, Colby St. James was a pro.

  * * *

  Dominic squeezed his eyes shut for a moment after the newest young man slipped into the kitchen, working to ensure that none of his dismay would show in his expression.

  Merde. Why this? Why now? Why him?

  Colby St. James wasn’t Dom’s type—not even back when he’d had a male type. And to feel this quick and dirty spike of hunger for a tall, whipcord-lean boy now, when all of Dominic’s focus should be on his work, and the problem of his brother...

  Dom ground down on his back molars and twisted the lock in the front door, effectively keeping out any more stragglers. It was past time to get this interview process started, and that was all he should be worrying about at the moment. He’d decided long ago that his career was more important than anything else, and that determination had taken him far.

  This new responsibility his restaurant’s owner had saddled him with was going to be challenging enough. He wouldn’t allow himself to become distracted by anything—not his brother’s sudden reappearance in his life, and certainly not an inappropriate attraction to one of the chef candidates.

  He would ignore the awakening of desires he’d thought long dead, and he would treat Colby St. James exactly the same as any other talented young cook who hoped to be considered for the job of head chef at Eva’s newest restaurant. He would do this because Eva trusted Dominic to find her the perfect man to helm the new restaurant, and because his own perfectionism wouldn’t allow him to give his backing to any but the best chef candidate.

  There. Enough. Decision made.

  Secure inside the impenetrable walls of his own ambition, Dominic threw open the kitchen doors. His stare automatically took in the stages of the various daily tasks his crew undertook to get ready for lunch service. He gave an approving nod to Antonio, his sous chef. He didn’t need to double-check to be sure that his people, handpicked and personally trained by Dom, were doing things his way. The traditional way. The right way.

  Turning his attention to the five young men he was meant to be evaluating, Dominic steeled himself for another glimpse of slightly fey, striking features and a golden blond shock of hair—but Colby St. James wasn’t standing with the other chef candidates.

  Narrowing his eyes, Dominic followed the shifty glances and uncomfortable fidgets of the others in time to see Colby emerge from the walk-in cooler carrying a huge hotel pan mounded with veal bones. Slimly muscled forearms hefted the heavy, unwieldy load more easily than Dom might have expected. Wiry as he was, Colby St. James was obviously stronger than he looked.

  Another flicker of heat sparked a fuse in Dominic’s belly that seared up his chest and out of his mouth in a growl. Slender strength and blond good looks aside, St. James was obviously incapable of following directions. Extremely and emphatically not Dominic’s type.

  And yet, something about rebellious, disobedient Colby St. James had Dominic’s prick hardening in a rush that left him light-headed. It was intolerable.

  Dominic’s fabled control evaporated like steam in a hot oven. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  Chapter Two

  Colby bobbled the tray, but to his credit, he managed not to drop it, which would have set the kitchen behind on making the demi-glace. Carefully sliding the hotel pan onto the steel worktop at the saucier station, Colby grimaced in Dom’s direction. “Sorry. Just...it looked like the espagnole was already working, and I know you use demi-glace on the veal cheeks dish, so I thought you’d want to get the brown stock going as soon as possible.”

  Completely disarmed by the fact that the kid was right, damn him, Dom gestured Colby back into line with the others with a short jerk of his chin. “When I give an order, I expect it to be followed. Instantly and without question.”

  He watched with interest as the younger man bristled for a moment, then got himself under control, angular face blanked of all expression. The only thing that gave Colby away was the visible clench of a muscle at the back of his sharp jawline.

  “Yes, chef.” Colby scooted back into line with the others, eyes cast down, but there was no power on earth that could make that kid look meek.

  A sidelong flash of the young chef’s blue eyes sent a hoo
k into Dom’s loins and tugged. Hard.

  Clearly, Dom realized, there was only so far he was going to get by mentally referring to Colby as a kid.

  Get it together, Dom snarled silently. Turning on his heel, he folded his hands at the small of his back and paced the line of chef candidates as if they were a batch of raw recruits up for inspection. Which, in many ways, they were.

  “You are all here today because you impressed someone—either a boss who already works for one of Eva Jansen’s other restaurants or Ms. Jansen herself. You may be proud of yourself for getting this far. Don’t be. You may believe your past work entitles you to my good opinion. It does not. I don’t give a shit who you are or where you come from, who you trained with or who you impressed. Your only task now is to impress me.”

  He paused, his gaze touching on each candidate in turn as he assured himself that they all understood the obvious subtext: that Dominic Fevre was not an easy man to impress.

  “Here’s how it’s going to work,” Dom continued. “I will observe you on the line here in the Maison de Ville kitchen, every night for two weeks. That is how long you have to impress me, to convince me that you are the right man to helm Jansen Hospitality’s new restaurant.”

  Several of the candidates exchanged excited glances—some stared straight ahead as though tamping down terror. But Colby St. James jumped as if he’d put his hand down on a hot burner, that bowed, expressive mouth dropping open.

  “Something to say?” Dom clipped out, pausing in front of Colby and staring him down.

  The boy’s jaw snapped shut with a click, that muscle throbbing again in a way that made Dom wonder if Colby was grinding his teeth. “No, chef. Two weeks, heard.”

  “You have something more important to do?” Dom asked gently. “If so, please, feel free to leave now. And don’t come back.”

  “No, chef.” Colby didn’t drop his gaze for an instant, and Dominic felt reluctant respect burning through the haze of stifled desire.