“Are you following me?”
Pulling my head back, I gave her a fake as hell stunned look. “That would be hard to do considering I was here first.”
She flashed me a drop-me-to-my-knees smile.
“We’re here for research,” I said.
She lifted her brows and turned to Gus. “Research, huh?”
Gus slowly nodded his head. “Marketing. Pots and pans. Women.”
Turning to look at Gus, I mumbled, “Women?”
Kilyn tried to hide her chuckle, but she failed.
“I see. Well, it looks like you need some help with that sauce.”
“Yes. God, yes. What holiday are we making this for?” Gus asked.
Rolling my eyes, I looked away. Kilyn laughed and I was stunned by how it affected me. It rolled over my body like a warm blanket. I found myself wanting to hear her laugh again.
“Hollandaise sauce—not holiday,” she said with a grin.
“Oh. Well, hell, I feel stupid.”
“Nonsense. Let’s grab a double boiler and get this moving along.”
For the next two hours, Kilyn showed us how to make a kick-ass sauce, eggs benedict, which I instantly loved, and finished it all off with showing me how to make the perfect light and fluffy crepe. Gus had long given up and moved over to the table next to us and sat on his ass and flirted non-stop with the two women. Every now and then, I would hear him ask about why they liked a certain pot or pan. At least the bastard was working.
I took the crepe out of the pan and set it on a serving plate. Kilyn jumped and clapped her hands. “That’s perfect! Now take a quarter cup of the strawberries and one third cup of cream cheese and fill the crepes. You’ll roll it up and top with a small dollop of the cream cheese filling and a few sliced berries.” I did everything as she said it, dropping a few fresh strawberries on the top of our beautiful creation to finish it off.
“And voilà! Your strawberry and cream cheese crepe.”
Cutting into the crepe, I brought it to my mouth while Kilyn watched intently. Her eyes turned dark as they roamed across my body. I was almost positive I saw something in them that resembled lust. When she focused back on my lips, she licked her own.
“Holy shit. This is amazing!”
Kilyn chuckled and began cleaning up. “I’m glad you liked it. I hope you learned something about cooking this morning.”
“I learned having a beautiful woman by my side to cook with is a benefit.”
She smiled bigger. “Well, having a cute guy next to me isn’t so bad either.”
“Gorgeous. Last night you said I was gorgeous.”
Scrunching her nose up in the most adorable way, I couldn’t help but take in every single thing about her. Her brown hair was pulled up into a ponytail with a few curls hanging down. She didn’t have a stitch of makeup on and sure as hell didn’t need any. Her green eyes looked tired, but her skin seemed to glow.
“Oh, that’s right. How could I forget?” she replied sarcastically.
With a shrug, I helped her carry the dishes over to the restaurant’s massive sink where two young guys were working. “How did you like the class? Claire is my best friend and teaches it.”
“I really enjoyed it.”
Kilyn motioned with her head over to Gus. “It looks like your friend did as well.”
Sighing, I apologized for him. “I’m really sorry about him. If he thinks he even has a chance, he’ll pounce.”
Waving my comment off with her hand, she headed back to our station. It was about then Gus turned and jumped up.
He pushed me out of the way as he stuck his hand out to shake Kilyn’s hand. “I’m not really sure how you know my good friend Thano here, but I’m Gus. We neglected to introduce ourselves before we got lost in the world of cooking.”
Oh brother.
Kilyn shook Gus’s hand and said, “Pleasure.” She motioned over to me and said, “We met last night at a bar.”
Gus snapped his eyes over to mine and then back to Kilyn.
Tilting her head and giving me the sexiest look I’d ever seen, she practically purred, “Thano? What an unusual name.”
I couldn’t believe we had stood next to each other for two hours and never introduced ourselves.
Gus waved me off. “Yeah, yeah, it’s Greek. So, what do you say I take you to breakfast? We can ditch Thano and get to know each other better.”
Kilyn pulled her eyes from mine as she took Gus in. “Um . . . we just ate breakfast.”
Gus pinched his eyebrows together. “Well, how about coffee?”
Was this asshole really moving in on my turf?
My turf? What in the hell makes me think Kilyn is my turf?
Kilyn gave a polite smile and replied, “Thanks, but I have a meeting in a few minutes. It was great seeing you again, Thano. Have a great day, guys.”