Page 61 of The Chef's Kiss
“Let’s never do this free-for-all hiring marathon again. I’m exhausted, and I feel like I didn’t get a single thing done today.” I stood with a groan. Why was sitting at a table all day harder than cooking?
“Awe, come on!” She hopped up beside me like she’d just started working ten minutes ago. Not fair she could do that when I felt like crawling home for a shower and a nap—and I wasn’t even the one growing a tiny human. She grabbed my hands and pulled me toward the empty bar. “We hired a whole new staff today. Isn’t that exciting?”
She moved behind the bar to pour herself a glass of sparkling water, retrieving a beer for me from the cooler. Her excitement was infectious, but I still had reservations about the people we hired.
“It is exciting,” she rambled, popping the top off my beer and sliding it toward me across the granite countertop.
“Tell me, how many of those people did you actually know, and how many did you just meet on the street before you came in today?”
“I resent that.” She huffed, but the laughter in her green eyes said I was at least half-right.
“I think you could charm the mayor into applying for a job he doesn’t even need.”
“It’s time for a toast.” She held up her glass of sparkling water. “To Jorgina and Hudson’s Bistro … that still needs a better name than the Orchard Hill Bistro. Is Lena still dead set on that?”
“I’m pretty sure my name would come first in that equation. And Selena wants Orchard Hill in the name. And since she’s the financial backer, she gets what she wants.” I smiled like an idiot and lifted my beer bottle for a toast.
“How about to progress then?”
“To progress.” I tapped my bottle against her glass and leaned against the counter across from her.
“It’s really taking shape, isn’t it?” Her smile left me searching for something to say, but words escaped me. “It’s just like I always imagined it would be.”
“What is?”
“Having a job. Helping run a business that isn’t my father’s winery.”
“And you’re … enjoying it, I take it?”
Jorgina turned into a ballerina whirl, giggling. “It’s wonderful.” She stumbled, and I lunged around the counter to grab her before she fell.
Her eyes drifted to mine and held. Long lashes fluttered against her cheeks with every blink. It wasn’t the first time she’d captured me in that stare, but this time was different.
This time, I couldn’t seem to tear myself away.
I wasn’t sure if it was the relief at having a full staff, the infectious joy rolling off Jorgina in waves, or something I failed to acknowledge entirely, but my grip on her arms tightened.
A sharp intake of breath parted her lips and my gaze traced the soft bowing of her mouth, the way she sucked in her bottom lip between her teeth. And I saw it, the same confusion I felt reflected back at me.
I may not have known what this moment or any of the others we’d had meant. Jorgina was still a mystery to me. But the one thing I was absolutely sure of was how much I wanted to kiss her.
But I couldn’t. It wasn’t the smart thing to do, the wise thing. But I’d never claimed any sort of intelligence.
When her mouth brushed mine, I didn’t pull back. She released her bottom lip, and I replaced her teeth with my own as I responded to her kiss. Warning bells alerted me to the mutual idiocy of our actions, and for a moment, I ignored them. For a moment, all I saw was her.
My hand drifted along the curve of her neck, tracing her heated skin. I’d wanted to touch her wild curls since the day she demanded a job, wanted to wrap them around my fingers, to pull her head back and bury my lips in the hollow of her throat.
But she didn’t give me the chance.
Jorgina yanked back with a strangled cry that made her sound like a wounded animal. Wild eyes met mine, and she touched her lips. After a moment of stunned silence, she whirled on her heel, picking up speed as she ran for the front door. Away from the restaurant. Away from me.
I scrubbed my hand over my face, chastising myself. Jorgina Ashford was not a woman I had any business kissing, and it couldn’t happen again.
21
JORGINA
“What an idiot.” I dragged a sweaty hand through my hair, searching my surroundings. I was lost. Sort of. I turned around, looking for street signs I recognized.
