Page 19 of Burning Rivalry

He did, the jerk. And rather than put the blame where it belonged, he heaped it on me. Because that was how he functioned. He never stopped to think. He just blamed the first person he found.

He sort of reminded me of my ex that way, which was not a compliment. Nowhere close.

My stomach was in knots by the time I parked, and we got out of the car. Sebastian’s black Lamborghini was in its customary spot. Would it have been too much to ask him not to be here for a few minutes while I gave her a tour?

Here goes nothing.

I led her through the heavy door, waving at a few line cooks as we walked past the time clock and toward Sebastian’s office. The door was closed, granting me a measure of comfort. I could hope he’d be too busy to emerge from his tiny cave. “Everyone?” I called out. “This is my friend, Hadley. She’s visiting from New York.”

The chorus of greetings from the crew warmed my heart. It wasn’t all misery and antagonism around here. That warm, wonderful feeling lasted all of three seconds before Sebastian’s office door swung open so he could step out.

Dammit. Why did he have to stop my heart like he did, a day after he’d shouted me down like I was an unruly child? Looking ridiculously hot in a tailored white shirt, the top two buttons open to reveal a glimpse of a tanned throat and chest. His dark hair was slightly disheveled as if he’d been running his fingers through it while reviewing reports or whatever it was he did with the door closed. Hunger unfurled in me, leaving me longing to brush a strand of hair away from his forehead. Just a single touch.

Hadley basically choked on her tongue as he approached, all smiles and handshakes. “Hadley, is it?” he asked, avoiding looking my way in favor of gazing down at her like she was the only other person in the world. “I’m Sebastian Kennedy. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” she replied in a voice magically deeper than the one she’d used all morning, and over the past ten years we’d known each other. “I’m so glad to have the chance to look at a real, thriving kitchen like this one.”

“I’d be happy to show you around,” he offered before finally acknowledging me. “If Claudia doesn’t mind. I wouldn’t want to take away the opportunity.” Your move, he added silently, gray eyes narrowing—eyes I had to remind myself not to stare into for too long.

“By all means,” I replied, wearing a parody of a smile. If he thought I wasn’t following along, he had another thing coming. I wasn’t about to leave my best friend in his clutches.

Even if she looked slightly disappointed as she walked beside him, oohing and aahing over such stunning discoveries as a food fryer, a row of ovens, a rack of pots and pans.

“This is really impressive.” Hadley’s hazel eyes shone as she gazed around the place. I couldn’t help but feel proud, even if I didn’t own it and had nothing to do with putting the whole thing together. I still worked here. I was making my mark slowly but surely, with or without Sebastian’s help.

“We do what we can,” he assured her with a twinkle in his eyes, wearing a smile that made me want to gag. Who did he think he was fooling? What, did he honestly believe I hadn’t told her anything about him? She already knew about his volatile attitude, his quick temper, his inflexibility. Or did he think a charming smile and a few cute words erased all that?

The answer was simple. That was exactly what he believed, probably because he never had a reason not to. A couple of guys like him were on the show, thinking their faces and personalities could get them through when talent and perseverance couldn’t. Sure, I knew more about him than I used to, and I understood him better, but that didn’t excuse his jackass ways or how he’d embarrassed me so much yesterday.

There I was, swallowing all of that back, pushing it deep down inside me for the sake of playing nice in front of my friend.

“How come you’re not wearing one of these white jackets?” Hadley asked, nodding toward Lucas and the line cooks he oversaw.

“I stepped down as head chef years ago,” Sebastian explained while she gazed up at him like his words contained the wisdom of the world.

Glancing my way, Lucas grinned, and I returned it without thinking first. He was a nice guy, and I could tell he liked me, but there was no spark. At least, not on my end. He wouldn’t force me to make things uncomfortable by asking him to lay off a little, would he? Nobody wanted to have the ‘let’s just be friends’ talk, especially when they had to deliver it to a coworker. It wasn’t like I could avoid him.

“Boss?” Lucas raised a hand to get Sebastian’s attention. He murmured a brief apology before peeling away from us to answer a question.

As soon as he did, Hadley grabbed my arm, her nails sinking in until I hissed. “Sorry,” she whispered, a little breathless. “He is fucking gorgeous! I mean, wow.” She fanned herself discreetly, her head swinging from side to side as she looked around. “Is there an ice machine in here? I need to cool down.”

Oh, no. Not this too. It wasn’t enough I had to deal with his ego and habit of throwing blame all over the place? I had to stomach my best friend crushing on him? Flirting was one thing, but actively swooning?

“Girl, he’s not worth it,” I warned in a whisper, giving her a hard, serious look while she continued to overreact. “The man is a walking bundle of personality defects.”

“But I can fix him,” she joked. The problem was, I didn’t think she was completely kidding.

“Whatever happened to the sensible girl who saw through Brandon and knew what a prick he was even when I didn’t?” I whispered.

“She’s horny,” Hadley whispered back. “And she’s only in town for a few more days. What’s the harm in having a little fun?”

She had me there. I couldn’t protest much harder without making myself look like a real idiot—a jealous one too. Pretty soon, she would start asking exactly what my reason was for being so deeply against her pursuing him, and unless I wanted to make up a story about him having a fetish for murdering women he slept with, there wasn’t really a decent excuse I could offer.

Hell, I didn’t even know why the idea disgusted me like it did. Not only that, but it made bitterness spread through me like rot, withering my love for her and replacing it with resentment. That was new. Never once in all the years we’d been friends, starting our first week in college when we were assigned roommates in the dorms, had I ever experienced a flash of bitterness over anything Hadley did. We were like sisters, the sort of relationship I’d never had before we met. She had never been anything but supportive, almost blindly so at times. The kind of best friend any girl would be lucky to have.

Listening to her giggle mindlessly over every little thing that came out of Sebastian’s mouth once he continued the makeshift tour took me one step after another down a path I never wanted to travel. He wasn’t worth this. So why did I find it so hard to keep from frowning and rolling my eyes, even coming close to scoffing once or twice when she made a big deal of complimenting simple things like the size of our pantry and the way it was organized? She was really stretching for praise.

I didn’t realize until I was already halfway out of the pantry that Hadley and Sebastian had stayed behind. It was only when I heard her clear her throat that I paused, staring straight ahead while listening to what was happening behind me. “You know…” she ventured in a soft voice I’d heard many times while operating as her wingwoman, “… there are so many other things I would love to know about this business. Claudia has taught me so much about baking, but I didn’t realize there was so much more to it until today.”