Page 49 of One Sweet Match Up

And, yes, logically their working together made sense. He should be able to help her bring in customers with hot food made by an award-winning chef.

She chuckled out loud. Probably every single woman in a hundred-mile radius would be stopping by for one of Donovan’s grilled cheese sandwiches and the chance to catch his eye. Hot food from a hot chef was exactly what she needed to lure customers in here.

But to do that, Donovan needed to behere. It would be hard to bring in customers with an infamous chef who had no desire to be in the kitchen.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Donovan crossing the street in the shop’s direction, his short black parka zipped to his chin. She scurried across the shop and rounded the counter, smoothing her hair before grabbing a dish rag.

“Hey,” he said, entering the shop.

She ran the cloth across the counter, pretending to scrub dry yogurt crud that didn’t exist. “Oh, hey,” she said nonchalantly.

Donovan unzipped his jacket, looking around. “Quiet afternoon.”

“Yeah.” She set down the rag, biting back the urge to say,Maybe if you lived up to your end of the deal, we’d be serving a shop full of customers.Or something more colorful. She wasn’t normally a swearer, but his casual afternoon arrival for the third day straight was really testing her.

“It’ll pick up.” He grinned and slid off his jacket, laying it over an empty chair. She couldn’t help but notice he was wearing the same outfit as the night of the blizzard. Her fingers tingled at the memory of grabbing hold of the dark sweater before she smashed her lips into his.

Flushed, she rubbed her neck. “Did you have a good day?” she asked.

“I did.”

Good for you.Good thing she wasn’t paying him hourly or a set salary. She’d have to fire him. She snorted at that thought.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. Just thinking about irony.”

“Irony,” he repeated.

She placed her hands on her hips. It was time to be direct. “You know, I thought our deal included you actually cooking in my kitchen, but you’ve yet to step foot in there.”

He shot her the sexiest smirk. “It is ironic, isn’t it?”

“Yep,” she managed to push out, her legs wobbling a little behind the counter.

Without warning, he moved his sweater up over his head. His white underneath shirt rode up, flashing a hint of his toned stomach.

Heat traveled through her.Holy tight abs!“What are you doing?”

“Getting ready to cook. You’re right. It’s high time I step into the kitchen. I don’t want my sweater sleeves to catch fire.” He moved past her, setting the sweater on the counter, his scent tickling her nose. “I could use some help, if you have some time.”

Zoe stood frozen on the outside, heat scorching her insides. She took a deep breath to cool herself down.

Nowhe wants to cook. “I just need to finish wiping down the counter and count the cash in the register,” she said.

“Great. I’ll see you in the kitchen.”

Zoe busied herself for a few minutes, stalling to collect her thoughts before joining him. What was the point in cooking tonight? Maybe he wanted to get a head start and freeze some things.

Reaching for her purse, she pulled out a tube of cherry lip gloss and applied it to her lips and finally headed into the kitchen, her breath hitching at the sight of Donovan buzzing around. Sure, he’d made her three meals now, but this was different. He was in her shop. In her kitchen. Doing something to help her and her business.

Her partner had finally shown up.

And in a white T-shirt and jeans was sexy as all hell. “What are you making?” she asked, leaning against the sink.

Donovan spun around, a can of chicken stock in hand. “My famous sweet cream soup.”

She knew that soup. A week before she started working at the Rocky Top, she’d had lunch there with her friend, Allison, and ordered that very soup. It was that day she’d also filled out an application to work in his kitchen.

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