Page 96 of Masters of Pleasure
Avery stared at him.
He stared back at her.Felt his face heating and turning red.
Retreat!For fuck’s sake, run away!
Without another word—or inane hand gesture—Nick fled back to the kitchen, Avery’s giggling following him the whole way.Well, the tension had been broken.
Finger guns?Really?
At least neither his brother nor Olivia was anywhere nearby.He’d never live it down.
Avery
The cold air in the walk-in helped kick Avery’s brain out of whatever mud seeing Nick had stuck it in.Thank goodness.That had been… painfully awkward, but giggling about his finger guns had relieved a lot of her tension.It was hard to feel like everything was too serious when Nick was doing finger guns.
Running into him, having him touch her, had brought up her new awareness of him and the change in their relationship, and she’d basically frozen.Hadn’t known what to say.How to act.
Their relationship outside of the restaurant had changed so fundamentally, so intimately.They’d agreed they wouldn’t change things in the restaurant, but how was that possible when thingsweredifferent between them?Yeah.She hadn’t really thought this through.Kinda too late to go back, though.On her break, she’d checked her phone and seen the email from Olivia confirming she’d be Nick’s partner for his class.
Not that Avery wanted to go back.
Going forward and skipping the awkward phase to get to where they were comfortable working together again, without the tension and not knowing how to interact with each other, sounded pretty great.If only.
Picking up the big jug of mirepoix at the front of the shelf, Avery checked the expiration date—she knew she didn’t need to since Nick had just done inventory, but it was second nature—and hefted it onto her hip, holding it with one arm.On her way back to the kitchen, she was surprised when Josie stepped out in front of her.
“Hey, are you okay?”The very real concern on Josie’s face was confusing.Shouldn’t she be?
“Uh, yeah?Why?”
“You’re not in trouble with Chef?It seemed like you were in trouble last night.”Normally blonde and bubbly, Josie shifted back and forth on her feet, her brow furrowed in worry.
Blinking, Avery thought back to the night before and how much Josie would have been able to see of her and Nick in the booth—Nick coming out and kicking Domi and Rae to the bar, Nick with a file folder he didn’t open in front of Josie, Nick stalking back to the kitchen after what had probably looked like a pretty intense conversation where they talked very low… Okay, yeah, she could see how Josie had come to the conclusion something might be wrong.
“Oh, I’m good, thank you.”She smiled at the server, who looked simultaneously relieved and disappointed.Josie was a busybody, and Avery had heard some of the male servers say she had crazy eyes.She had always had the sense Josie liked her but also liked gossip, and Avery wasn’t sure which one she liked more.“Nick and I just had a few things to talk about, but I’m not in trouble with him.”
“Perfect Avery in trouble with Nick?”Chad, one of the fry cooks and possibly Avery’s least favorite member of the staff, sauntered down the hall toward them.“Doubtful.Nick would never be disappointed in Avery.”The way he said it made it sound like a bad thing.
“Nobody asked you,” Josie snapped as Chad passed them.He sneered at her while his gaze dropped to where her shirt was unbuttoned, showing a bit of cleavage.Since they were between shifts, Josie hadn’t buttoned up or put on her tie yet.
Chad was a middle-aged white guy, ambitious like everyone else in the Marquis kitchen, but he was also an ass and tended to be lazy.She often got the sense he thought he should be higher on the line because of his age and experience, even though he wasn’t as good a cook as many of the other chefs.Not to mention, the whole being an ass thing.A team player, he was not, and the way he was looking at Josie, who was in her early twenties, made Avery want to kick him in his balls.Avery scowled at him, not that he noticed.He completely ignored her as he passed, which was about par for the course.
As much as he could ignore her, he did, even when she was the one running the kitchen.He worked marginally better with Lloyd, the other sous chef, probably because Lloyd was older than him and a man.
Wrinkling her nose, Josie stared after him.“Ugh, he’s so gross.”
While she couldn’t argue, Avery hoped Chad hadn’t heard Josie’s statement.It might be true, but she didn’t want to deal with the clash of personalities, especially on the weekend when tempers would already be high because of how busy the kitchen was.Chad would never mess with the food, but that didn’t stop him from messing with the servers.
“Come on, let’s get back to work,” she said, walking down the hall and hoping Josie would follow.Thankfully, she did.
Returning to the kitchen proper, Avery lugged the jug of mirepoix to Alice, who was on sauté.
“Thanks.”Glancing up, Alice flashed her a quick grin, and Avery relaxed.If Chad was one of her least favorite staff members to work with, Alice was one of her favorites.She was also in her forties, but unlike Chad, she was meticulous and proactive about her work, which was why she was on sauté.
“You took your braids out.I like the puffs.”Avery studied the little poofy knobs decorating the top of Alice’s head in lieu of the braids.
“Yeah, my scalp needed a rest.I might do something different next time.We’ll see.”
“Can’t wait.”She always enjoyed seeing the styles Alice experimented with.
