Page 37 of A Sudden Romance

“We’ll email him the details.” Grey handed Iris his phone.

A tick twitched in Sabastian’s jaw. He was asking for her number. Rats!

“We have one more chef to visit. If you qualify, you’ll compete in ‘The Winter Showdown.’ You win that...”

Fox continued telling him the reward for the winner, information Sabastian already knew.

“Thank you.” He shook Fox’s hand again. As soon as Fox left, so would Grey.

Fox saw himself out of the door. Whew! Sabastian said goodbye to Grey.

“You’re talented.” Grey extended a hand to shake Sabastian’s, and Iris started walking back to the main room before Grey called after her. “You didn’t say goodbye?”

“I thought I did.” She shrugged.

Deciding not to look at her, Sabastian made his way back to the kitchen. He took off his chef’s coat and tucked it in the lower cupboard where he kept the trash can. He’d take the coat whenever he left for his house. While he had dishes to load, he pulled out the drawer and pretended to organize the serving spoons.

Besides the music softly playing, he didn’t need to have dishes clattering while he wanted to hear if he had a chance with Iris.

“Any chance we can meet for coffee tomorrow or Friday?”

“A coffee. Hmm.” Iris’s lighthearted voice twisted Sabastian’s chest. “Why would you like to have coffee with me?”

“For the same reason I gave you my business card. I thought you’d call me, but you had your chef call me instead.”

“You’re looking for talented chefs. I’m not a chef if I’ve forgotten to mention it.”

Huh. Iris didn’t seem to have had his number stored in her phone—well, until today.

Instead of responding to her comment, Grey spoke in a grave voice. “When I saw you again in Daytona last summer, I asked Nate for your number, but he threatened never to talk to me again if I even mentioned your name in our conversation.”

“And yet, here you are, asking me out?”

“It’s just a coffee. Although I wouldn’t mind if we had dinner too.”

Ugh. Sabastian gritted his teeth.

“Friday’s fine as long as we meet before noon.”

Startled by her response, Sabastian closed the drawer and smashed his fingers. Ouch. He groaned in silence, wincing and shaking his injured left hand. That’s what he got for eavesdropping.

If Iris was going on a date on Friday, then she couldn’t come to Leo’s house like she’d suggested. Sabastian usually cooked for Leo’s parties alone. Okay, Paulina and Martina helped sometimes, even if he could manage by himself. He’d manage again this year.

Bending over, he pressed his battered fingers between his knees, but the chinos didn’t have soft material to soothe his wound.

“Are you okay?”

At her voice, he turned and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I’m fine.” He could deal with physical pain. Not having her when he thought she was almost his? That was a pain he wasn’t sure he could deal with. Almost worse than a knife slicing through his chest.

His gaze snapped to hers as she leaned back against the island. The side buckle on the navy sweater she’d worn with red denims fit her snug, showing off her trim waist and slim curves.

She tinkered with her diamond studs, a nervous habit, as her teeth bit into her lower lip. Those full lips demanded his attention if she’d ever let him.

“The food was great.” She braced her elbows on the counter, the pendant lights casting a haloed glow over her dark head.

“Glad you liked it.”

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