“How hard could it be?”
I smirked.
* * *
Two hours later, Greyson was covered in flour, sweaty, and standing proudly in front of four piles of poorly diced vegetables. To his credit, he was fully committed to the role of being my assistant. When I said jump, he asked how high.
But he was a terrible cook. Watching him with a knife was like watching a caveman try to operate a fighter jet. There was nothing but full power with him. When I asked him to gently knead the dough, he punished it like it owed him money. When I told him to tell me when the souffles were soft, he spent ten minutes straight staring into the window of the oven, completely forgetting about the noodles he had boiling.
I spent the next twenty minutes giving him tasks he couldn’t screw up so I could actually finish putting together the final dishes for him to taste. “You know,” I said once it was all set out on the counter and ready. “If I was evaluating you, I would’ve given an A+ for effort and an F for execution.”
He smirked. “Was it that bad?”
“It was worse,” I laughed.
He smiled back. Our eyes locked and I chewed my lip. I broke the moment with a shrug. “Well, I need the normal grumpy Greyson back so he can taste this food and tell me if I’ve got the job.”
He hesitated, eyes still holding mine. Then he nodded. “Alright, let’s see how we did.”
Greyson worked his way down the line of dishes, listening carefully as I described each dish and then giving it a taste. He withheld any feedback as he tasted. By the time he was at the last dish, my heart was in my throat and I felt like I was about to barf from nerves. I had no idea if he was hating everything or loving it.
He finally set down his fork, folded his arms, and looked straight at me. I felt naked under his gaze.
“Damn,” he said after what felt like an eternity. “I was honestly hoping you would fuck this up, but you didn’t. I was useless in the kitchen, and you still managed to find a way to keep me useful and stop me from sabotaging your food. And all of that?” he said, pointing to the counter. “It was incredible. People would pay top dollar for that. You think you could produce that kind of food every night?”
I nodded.
“And did you come up with what the cost will be for each item and the menu price?”
I nodded again.
Greyson ran his big hand across his stubble and shook his head. “Damn it. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the job is yours.”
I forgot to be scared of him and rushed over to jump up and hug him hard. “Thank you so much. I promise I won’t disappoint you.”
He froze at first, but then put his arms around me, hugging me back. “I know you won’t,” he said quietly.
I closed my eyes as joy and excitement melted into something else. Having his strong arms around me felt so good. I didn’t want him to let me go.
“I wanted to make sure we cleared something up,” he said suddenly, almost pushing me away from himself. “That kiss. It didn’t mean anything. It was just… Attraction. I don’t want you thinking there was anything more to it.”
I opened my mouth to reply but couldn’t find the right words to express my outrage. Was he serious? I took several heartbeats to think of my response. “Don’t worry. If any part of me hoped it meant more, that part just shriveled up and died. I’ll be your employee and nothing more. And I’m taking this with me,” I said, picking up the plate of meatloaf I’d made. I was hungry and hadn’t eaten in hours. I’d been too damn nervous about this little test.
“The restaurant opens in a month,” he said, completely ignoring how much of an asshole he just was and my annoyed response. “But I want you to start coming by for half days. You’ll be laying out a business plan with me and making sure we have everything we need on opening day.”
“You got it, Boss,” I said, biting back sarcasm.
I went to my car and ate the meatloaf, trying not to let angry tears come. Why should his words sting so much? It was exactly what I was hoping for, wasn’t it? My dream job opportunity, and wasn’t it better if I didn’t have to worry about some complicated mess of feelings with my boss? Greyson just put that to bed. He made it clear there was nothing between us and there never would be. I should be happy.
I took an angry bite of meatloaf. “You taste so good,” I muttered to my food.