Rebecca looked unmoved. “Uh-huh. Which doesn’t explain why that woman was talking to you like you were her own personal stripper. What kind of private chef-ing is this?”
He sighed and stabbed a bite of cucumber with more force than necessary. “My friend, Suzie, who is both brilliant and ridiculous, has a new business and asked me to fill in for someone who was sick. They work bachelorette parties and such. It’s called Shirtless Chefs.”
“Shirtless Chefs?”
“Yes.”
“Shirtless. Chefs.” Rebecca bit her lips together, her eyes sparking with trapped laughter.
He waved his fork around. “Go ahead. Do what you need to do. I don’t want you to pull a muscle from all that restraint.”
A snort escaped her, and then a laugh followed it. “I’m sorry.” She dabbed her mouth with a napkin, not doing a good job of covering her obvious amusement. “But that’s real? Women hire you to cook without your shirt on?”
“It’d be a really shitty business name otherwise.”
She grinned. “And you cooked for that woman while half-naked?”
He shrugged. “It was a burn hazard and a little cold, but it paid well.”
Her laughter was light and melodic. Delighted even.
He wanted to rewind time.
“I hope it pays well. Based on how that woman was looking at you, I’d say it’s a very high-risk work environment. You could’ve been mauled,” she said with faux seriousness. “How much do you charge?”
He groaned and looked to the darkening sky. “Enough. Why?”
“Because maybe I’m in the market for cooking lessons after all.”
He waved a hand in a bring-it-on motion. “Go ahead. Get it all out there.”
“I mean, I’d certainly pay more attention if a hot shirtless guy was giving me the lesson. But no banana-hammock bathing suit. There are some things I don’t want to see while I’m eating. Things could fall out.”
He looked at her and cocked a brow, her words taking some of the sting out of the embarrassment running through him. “Oh, so you think I’m a hot guy, huh?”
“I didn’t say you. I’m sure there’s a whole menu of guys I could choose from.” She set her chin in her hand and gave him a cheeky smile. “I would need to peruse. Weigh the options. Gauge my mood. Do I want dark and broody guy? Or surfer guy? Or—”
He tossed a cucumber chunk at her.
She dodged it, eyes bright. “So you’re being serious. This is an actual thing.”
“It is a thing. Though I hope to God there is no menu of men. But the last time I saw that woman, she was wearing a hat shaped like a penis, and I was teaching her and her friends how to make big, meaty balls.”
“Big, meaty…” A full laugh burst out of Rebecca, one that seemed to echo around the park and warm him from the inside out.
He couldn’t help it. He laughed with her.
She dabbed at her teary eyes with a napkin once she got her composure again. “Oh my God. That sounds both hilarious and painful. And like something Kincaid would be all over. She may get engaged just to have a party like that.”
“And you?”
“Me, what?”
“You said you’d hire a shirtless chef.”
She shook her head and lifted a hand. “I was kidding. I would never.”
“No?”