Page 13 of Don't Remind Me
“Almost done, Chef.”
I had a good crew here even though our kitchen culture was much looser than most of the places I’d worked when I was coming up. That had been intentional on my part, wanting to let my staff still feel like people when they walked through these doors instead of cogs in a machine to be ground down. But there had to be a balance to it, and my guys knew that when service began and tickets rolled in, their only focus was the food.
Aubrey eyed me as the other two set to work, her own cutting board covered with perfectly julienned bell peppers. “Really, though, you good?”
“Huh? Yeah, of course. Just want to make sure this menu is right.”
It wasn’t about the menu. The menu rocked.
Call me conceited, but the one thing I’d ever been able to feel fully confident in was my ability to cook good food, and I believed in the food I’d planned out for this event. The problem was the woman who’d be tasting it today.
“She’s pretty,” Aubrey said.
“Who?”
She tilted her head to the side likeoh, please.
I gave my sauce in the pan a swirl. “What does that matter?”
She shrugged. “Just an observation. One that perhaps you’ve made too. That’s all.” She had a sly smile on her face as if she’d figured out some grand secret. Sometimes I wished I hadn’t hired such an observant sous chef.
“You can go ahead and shut this line of thinking down right now,” I said. “It’s not happening. She’s a client.” And was probably still in love with my brother.
“Well, she’s here, so whatever the deal is, it’s time to make it happen.”
My gaze swung through the door to the dining room as Dani walked past the host stand. She wore another loose blazer, this time with a dress under it that stopped above her knees, showing off the long lines of her legs. Her hair was pulled up, a few loose strands falling around her neck to frame her soft face, her full lips pursed like she was ready for battle, and her eyes—they were anything but soft.
The terrified creature from the day we’d first met was nowhere in sight, and a powerhouse stood in its place.
My pulse quickened as I watched her take the seat at the end of the bar. Nerves tightened my stomach, bracing me, though for what, I couldn’t say. Just that whatever it was, I wasn’t sure I’d survive it.
Chapter Five
Dani
When I walkedinto Ardena this time, I didn’t wait for an invite. I marched straight to the bar and took a seat. I was here to sample some dishes, give my feedback so the menus could be finalized, and get out. If Jase wasn’t the one who served me, all the better.
Just his name had my stomach churning with a nauseating mix of embarrassment and frustration, and only partly because of what had happened last week.
So he was weirded out that I’d dated his brother. Or maybe just that I’d brought it up nine years later in the most awkward way possible. My honesty wasn’t something I was going to let myself be ashamed of. Neither was my history with Alec.
Yes, the dreams were annoying as hell, and super fucking inconvenient when they dredged up feelings I would rather remained in the past.
But I wasn’t delusional. I didn’t think Alec and I were soulmates. I didn’t believe for a second that if his marriage suddenly ended with no baby in the picture (which, to be clear, I wasnothoping for), and he magically appeared in front of me that we would be each other’s happily ever after.
I didn’tknowAlec anymore. People changed a lot in nine years—I had. And there was no reason to believe the person I was now would in any way be right for the person Alec had become or vice versa.
Dream Alec was a fantasy to me, the personification of my unmet hopes and desires, which was where the real problem came in…because apparently, now so was Jase.
A very physical, sweaty, toe-curling fantasy that had you waking up rubbing your legs together, breath short, just like I had this morning, pulse pounding in places that made you wish you’d stayed asleep even thirty seconds longer to draw it out. I shifted in my seat, neck heating as the images replayed in my mind.
A throat cleared.
I snapped out of my haze, breaths a little shallow, to find Jase standing in all his tall, rugged glory, holding a plate of something that smelled unbelievablygood, his white chef coat tight across his chest, sleeves rolled up to reveal his toned forearms. I couldn’t even blame my brain for dreaming of him last night. A hot guy who cooked? That was the fantasy of every straight girl I knew.
If only that made it easier to look him in the eye.
Thankfully, he seemed to be avoiding my gaze, which gave the warmth in my face and the heat between my legs time to cool while he set the plate in front of me and placed a roll of silverware beside it.
