Page 50 of The Cask

“Omari, Kim likes you as more than friend, more than boss,” I explained to him slowly, watching his facial expression as the news was delivered. “She has feelings for you.”

He put his sub down and shook his head. “Kim?”

“Yes. Kim.” I took a bite of my sub and when those flavors hit my tongue, I closed my eyes. After I swallowed, I continued. “That’s the reason she doesn’t like me. That’s the reason she tried to get me to stop talking to you. That’s the reason why she’s been talking shit about me. And that’s probably the reason why she’s been headhunting my waitstaff.”

His jaw clenched. “She did what?”

“She apparently came to The Cask and offered one of my waitresses an opportunity with Luxe.”

He put the sub down. “What?”

I told him everything that Diana had told me the other night and I watched his face flash with confusion and anger. “How could she do that? We don’t operate like that.”

“Because she doesn’t like this”—I gestured between the two of us— “and she’s being petty.”

“I’ve never known her to act like this. Not in ten years.”

“Has she ever been friendly with any of the women you were seeing?”

His face pulled tight as he thought about the question. “No, but she can be a little standoffish. She’s focused on working and that can come off as a bit… abrasive at times.”

“Or maybe she just doesn’t like the fact that you are dating. Have you ever thought about dating her?”

“No,” he answered unquestionably.

“Why not?”

“I don’t look at her in that way. She’s not my type. I’m not interested. I’ve always just thought of her as a friend,” he explained. “She’s my best friend’s sister. She and I are more like family than anything.”

I smirked. “You two aren’t blood related. She has a crush on you, and she doesn’t look at you as family. So at the end of the day, if she was casing my bar to steal ideas and waitstaff for yours or if she never told you that I knew the man who does the surprise inspections, all of the particulars don’t matter. It boils down to the fact that she doesn’t like me because she has feelings for you. And those feelings are causing her to make some emotional decisions.” I lifted my hands. “That’s the last time I’ll bring it up.”

“Wow,” he exhaled, sitting back in his chair. “That was not what I thought you were going to say.”

“What did you think I was going to say?”

Realizing he’d said what he said out loud, he shook his head and started eating. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s obviously something because you aren’t even giving yourself a chance to breathe between bites.” I pursed my lips. “What did you think she was yelling about?”

He swallowed the food that was in his mouth and gave me a contrite look. “She was pretty pissed about the conference call we had yesterday. There were a few things we were going to shore up before the meeting. And I was admittedly distracted so we didn’t review and even though everything went well, she was pissed.”

“Hmm.” I nodded, taking a bite of my food.

“Yeah. And she heard us… well, she heard you when you came.”

I chewed my food, trying to think of a way to respond that was going to get the biggest reaction. “Was she listening outside the door like a creeper?”

His eyes widened. “No!” He shook his head. “No, she wouldn’t do that.”

My eyes widened slightly, and I looked at my food. “Okay…”

We were both quiet for a moment.

Sowing in the seeds of doubt were crucial ingredients.

“Can we talk about something else?” His voice was deep and contemplative. I knew he was stewing over the new information he’d just received.

“Yeah, of course,” I responded.

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