Page 5 of Fractured Rhythm

There was nothing wrong with him. He had an infectious smile, light brown hair, with a touch of curl, and warm brown eyes. And he took care of his body. Holly had called me an idiot on more than one occasion for passing up on what Griff was clearly offering, so I had finally agreed to dinner.

And I’d had a great time. The conversation had been easy, he’d listened to my stories, and he hadn’t pressed me to talk about the band. It was refreshing after years of only being known as the little sister of Jamie Steel, the late drummer of Steelwolf.

“Robin said to head back,” Griff said, cutting through my destructive thoughts.

“What? Oh, of course,” I said. Robin was our receptionist. “So, what’s up?”

“Just seeing if you wanted to grab lunch today.”

“Sure,” I said before I could let my traitorous thoughts derail me.

His smile widened, crinkling the corners of her eyes. “Great. Have you been to Rosario’s up the street? They just opened. Fantastic sandwiches,” he rattled off.

“I’ve been wanting to try that place. Twelve thirty work?” I asked.

“Perfect. I’ll let you get back to work. Meet you down in the lobby at twelve thirty,” he said.

“Yep.” I gave him a bright smile. “See you then.”

He turned and headed out of the office while I turned back to my computer. We had a few shoots lined up this afternoon, and I promised to get a few recipes back to Isabel before lunch, so I pushed aside thoughts of Griff, Bash, and everyone else and got to work.

Three hours later,I tucked into my roasted red pepper and marinated beef panini.

“Holy crap, this is amazing,” I said after the first bite. “Isabel recommended this sandwich. It’s her favorite.” And it didn’t disappoint. The spices burst on my tongue, the buttery bread the perfect contrast to the heat of the thinly sliced steak.

“I’m glad we have a new place around here. I swear, it’s been the same few sandwich shops for years. Hopefully, this one will stay,” he said, taking a sip of water. “So how’d the rest of your morning go? You seemed distracted.”

“Oh, it was fine. Narrowed down some video options for next week,” I said, brushing it off with a shake of my head.

I didn’t want to think about what had been really distracting me for the last three days, but I struggled to push Bash from my mind. He’d looked sad—broken—up on that stage, and my traitorous heart ached for him.

“Anything good?” Griff asked.

I laughed. “It’s always good. That’s why we’re Scrumptious,” I said, my voice rising at the end. It was a tagline the higher-ups were trying, and it gave the rest of us a good chuckle.

“I swear you have the coolest job. I get sucked into the videos all the time, but I never have the sound on,” he said.

“Yeah, some of the music is weird, but it beats having to talk through the recipes,” I said. Some of our videos had talking, but most of them had music so bad it lent to watching the clips without sound. “Roberta, the division head, says the videos are geared toward silent viewing so people can watch them at work. Reading out a recipe would give someone away as not actually working.”

“Huh. Never thought of it that way, but that makes sense. Now I’m going to wonder how many people are watching your videos when they’re supposed to be working,” he said with a laugh.

We both reached for the water pitcher, and my fingers grazed his.

And… nothing.

I wanted to feel something. There was a little tingle of awareness, but no real spark.

Not like with Bash.

God damn. Knock that shit off already, I scolded.

Bash wasn’t an option. He hadn’t been an option since I was eighteen. Seven years. I’d had seven years to get my act together. And one fucking glimpse…

“I wish I spent my day making fun videos about food. Then eating all that food. You know, for taste testing purposes. Wouldn’t want to post a bad recipe.”

“It’s a pretty cool job. I was lucky to get in as an intern and work my way up. There aren’t a ton of jobs like it,” I said. I was damn lucky that Roberta had given me a chance after my internship ended because, after culinary school, working insane hours at a restaurant hadn’t appealed to me like it did most of my fellow graduates.

“It’s so rare to know exactly what you want to do when you graduate and find that perfect job so you can build the career you want. That’s admirable and lucky.”

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