Page 1 of Dodge

CHAPTER1

I didn’t wantto move. My head pounded, and my mouth tasted like garbage disposal fodder. Shards of bright light pierced my brain when I tried to open my eyes, so I squeezed them shut with a gurgled groan and burrowed into the pillow.

Then shock number one zapped through my brain.

An arm lay around my waist, holding me against a body. A warm body. A male body. Anakedmale body. This was odd, as Chase didn’t cuddle. Ever.

The totally unfamiliar sensation was enough to make me come awake with a mental jerk. I forced my eyes open and painfully squinted around the strange room.

Hotel. Luxury from the looks of the furniture. My hotel? I’d never been in the rooms, only the kitchens where I worked as a sous chef.

The man behind me grunted and stretched. Yep, he was definitely naked, as the morning wood at my back showed. My eyes zeroed in on the little happy pile of clothes neatly laid over one of the big, soft easy chairs. My clothes.Shit.

Second shock: I was naked too.

Where the fuck am I, and what the hell have I done?

The man pushed the ratted tangle my hair had become off my neck and growled in a just-woke-up voice, “Mornin’, sweetness. I ’spect your head isn’t feelin’ all that great right now.”

My heart rate turned the speed up to puree. I didn’t move, but I grunted an affirmation.

“Stay here. There are some complimentary painkillers in the bathroom. I’ll get ’em for you.”

He kissed me lightly, and the bed shifted as he left it. I rolled over and got a full view of his beefy ass as he sauntered across the room. Damn, that is fine!He had a back tattoo of what looked like a dragon in full flight. Gold and green with wings spread over a twisting path of flames.Game of Thronesfan? He would have made a nice Khal Drogo, except his hair was short and blond.

What am I doing?

I lifted the thick comforter and glanced down at my body, confirming my naked state and getting my third shock: my pussy was shaved. There was no doubt I’d been intimate with this strange man; the damning evidence sat before my eyes. Blood rushed through my head as vessels burst while I dug through my vague memories of the night before.

“Went down on you twice, but we didn’t have sex, if that’s what you’re wonderin’.”

I whipped the comforter down and clutched it to my breasts. “I just… I….”

Whatthe hell are you supposed to say in these situations? It’s not like I’ve had a lot of experience waking up in a hotel room with a stranger. Like never. Fuck!

He stood by the bed, a packet of caplets in one extended palm and a glass of water in the other. I couldn’t help but look at the thick outline under the towel he wrapped around his waist.Damn, that is a serious promise under there!He clearly told the truth, because if that monster had been inside me last night, I’d still be feeling it.Why didn’t he put on his pants or something?

As if he heard my thoughts, he reached for his jeans and slipped them on. “You passed out cold after coming the second time. I think you needed the release pretty bad.”

Sitting up, I tore open the tiny envelope and swallowed the pills, trying not to choke as I handed the water back to him. “Thank you… um… I’m not sure… ah… I don’t remember very much.” Shock number four: I was tongue-tied. Me. The woman who prided herself on going toe-to-toe with anyone and everyone.

He took the glass from me and put it on the nightstand. “What do you remember?”

“I had an epic fight and breakup with my boyfriend in the kitchen.”

Huh, that was the understatement of the year.The truth was, we’d been fighting for months, ever since the Omni Resort Hotel hired him to be the head chef and I ended up being the sous chef. Both of us interviewed for the head job, but he landed it and became my boss.

This did not help our relationship, as I wasn’t the type to play second fiddle. Especially to someone I knew for certain I could out-cook on a bad day.

My scrambling thoughts ordered themselves in somewhat of a timeline fashion. “Last night’s service was a disaster. Gordon Ramsay would have had a field day. The walk-in stays a disorganized mess, and it was totally off count. A lot of food gets wasted or goes bad. I told Chase the oysters and mussels didn’t smell right, but he insisted he was going to serve them anyway. I told him he shouldn’t, and he started yelling at me, throwing his authority around. I yelled back, and he told me to get out of his kitchen.”

The man’s blue eyes grew contemplative. “I heard some people got sick in the dining room, puking their guts out. One guy had to be taken to the hospital.”

Part of me felt vindicated that I was right. The other part worried about those people. Bad shellfish was some of the worst food poisoning out there.

He sat on the bed next to me, and my belly sizzled. He said we didn’t have sex, yet I was intrigued by the thought. One large hand came up and ran through his hair. “You remember anything else?”

I stared at the perfect waves that settled around his face. Jeez, he looked like a cover model for one of those romance novels my friend Anita read all the time. I ignored his hotness and scrunched my face at my fuzzy recollections. “I came to the bar and told Macie what happened. He gave me a couple of shots on the house. I’m not sure after that.” My face flushed. “I don’t drink much, and I was on the clock, so I hadn’t eaten anything substantial. I guess the liquor went to my head.”

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