Page 97 of Bad Boy Next Door
Twenty-Eight
Jade
Ilay half on top of Nick, our legs entwined, my head on his shoulder.
“So, how was your first Friday night at the restaurant?” His fingers made little circles on my lower back. “I forgot to ask.”
I laughed. “Yeah, we didn’t do much talking when you got home from work.” My hand slid down to rest a few inches from where his dick was taking some well-deserved rest.
It twitched, and my insides contracted.
The second he’d walked into my apartment, he’d taken me hard and fast against the door, then again, tenderly but even more passionately, after we’d eaten.
“I miss us working at the same place,” I told him, “but if that’s the way you greet me every night, it might make up for it.” I stifled a yawn.
Our work schedules no longer synced up, but they weren’t that far off. I went to work around noon and got off between ten and midnight. That left about three hours to wait for Nick to come home from the club.
“And?” he asked. “Is the job as great as you hoped?”
“Definitely.” I snuggled against him. “They have me doing prep work. I think I scrubbed and trimmed a thousand baby carrots and beets, washed and patted dry even more tiny lettuce and arugula leaves, picking out all but the most perfect ones. Other than that, I mostly watch the sous chefs and line cooks, trying to learn, and staying alert so I can fetch things if someone shouts. Once service starts, I mostly keep out of the way, but the food in this place is amazing. Wow. Like art.”
“Tastes good too, I bet.” He cupped my ass, and I sighed in response.
“According to the food critics, it does.”
“You don’t like it?
“Haven’t tried it.”
“I thought you got to eat at work?”
“Not the dishes prepared for the front. One of the sous chefs does staff meals and it’s simpler food—a fish stew tonight—amazing, but nothing like what they serve to the customers.”
“Are the people nice?” His hand drifted to the small of my back.
“Sure. No chitchat, though, once service starts.” And no one talked to me during prep, either. It was clear that the other prep cooks resented my presence. Seems like everyone knew that strings had been pulled for me. “It’s weird to get a job I didn’t earn.”
His hand stilled. “You don’t like it?”
“No. It’s great. Really.” I stroked his chest. “And thanks again for finding out where my job was supposed to be.” I laughed. “I can’t believe the Nick I was looking for was a woman. Anyway, it’s an amazing opportunity—exactly what I wanted.”
“That’s great, baby.” He kissed my head.
“I’d like to meet this Nicola woman, thank her in person.”
Nick’s body tightened beneath me. “Not a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t trust her.”
I sensed he was done with that topic. For tonight, anyway. So was I, since I had to be at work in seven hours.
My job fell pretty far onto the too-good-to-be true side, and it sucked that my coworkers knew it, but I’d win everyone over with hard work.
* * *
Nick
