Page 115 of Burn for You

His eyes snap to mine. “Are you asking me something about myself?”

“Don’t make me regret it.”

He snorts. “I don’t know, I need to find somewhere to put down roots. Somewhere I can build up my skills before I get to the stage where I could open my own place.”

“You’re young, you’ve got plenty of time.”

“Yeah,” he sighs. “I just want to find the right place.”

Gianna is back, picking up a plate and eavesdropping as per usual. She catches my eye and raises her eyebrows at me, tipping her head in Nico’s direction before she slips back out into the fold.

I know exactly what she’s thinking, because I've been thinking about it for a few weeks now. “You could stay here.”

The sound of a spoon clattering to the ground catches my attention. I look up to see Nico staring at me in shock, his wooden spoon on the floor along with a spattering of sauce.

“Well, not if you keep doing stuff like that.”

“Merda,” he swears, reaching down to pick up the spoon. “Are you like…kidding?”

“Do I look like I am?”

“Well, no, but you were joking around with Gianna earlier,and I can’t quite catch your mood. You’re somewhere between your grumpy self and this new chill, happy version of you, so I don’t really?—”

“For the love of god,” Gianna appears again. “Shut up.”

His mouth snaps shut, cutting off his rambling.

“I’m serious, Nico,” I assure him.

“You,” he points to me, “want me,” he points to himself, “to work here?” He gestures to the kitchen.

I scruff up his hair with my hand. “Such a smart boy.”

He swerves away from my touch. “Yeah, okay, not the hair.”

Gianna giggles again. “You’ll be good for him, keep him young.” She winks.

“Don’t you have plates to serve?” I ask. She grins at me before doing exactly that.

I draw my attention back to the meat that I’m searing in the pan in front of me. A small smile crawls onto my face. This is what it feels like, this is how I’m supposed to feel in the kitchen. I don’t know that there was one specific thing that made this feeling come back, I think it was a combination of things. But all of those things seem to somehow revolve around a certain blonde. Even the way that Nico and I had our one on one wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t renovated the place, and that was May’s idea.

“Rafael.”

“Yes, Nico?”

“Someone’s here to see you.”

I look up and my eyes immediately catch on my favorite pair of green eyes. May’s face lights up when she sees me and god, does that do things to me. She’s wearing a simple short black dress, paired with chunky heels, and to top it off, she’s wearing that damn red lipstick. She looks gorgeous in the dim lighting of Olive&Vine.

Nico peers over at me. “Are you blushing?”

“Shut up.” I throw my apron off. “Time for you to proveyourself.” I nod to the half-finished meal I’ve left in his hands and escape the heat of the kitchen.

I walk around the corner and into the restaurant. Gianna smirks as she passes me. “She’s at her table.”

I try to hide the grin that wants to explode on my face as I walk through the restaurant, right to the front where she’s sitting in a booth reserved for her.

“How did you know I was coming tonight?”

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