Page 138 of Only Mine
Rome likes to think, since he helps out by providing local produce on his farm, that he’s an honorary sous chef.
“Of course I used the right fucking yeast.” I press my palms into the counter, willing the dough to rise by intimidation alone.
Rome grins. “Chill, Chef. It’s just bread.”
“It’s not just bread,” I snap, but then I see the glint in his eye. He’s baiting me on purpose, trying to get a rise out of me since the dough can’t manage it.
He waits for the next blowup, but when it doesn’t come, he frowns. “Where’s the hurricane?”
“What?”
“The hurricane. You know, the thing where you go berserk over a garnish being one-sixteenth of an inch too wide and then the whole staff cowers for the rest of the night.”
“It’s five in the morning,” I say, aware of how tired I sound.
“You look like shit.”
“Thanks.”
“All right, well, the good news is I have all morning to pick apart your mood.”
Rome bites into an apple with vigor, juice splattering the stainless. I glare at him. The prep cook, a string bean named Lyle, keeps shooting nervous glances between us like he expects a knife fight.
I want to tell him he’s not wrong.
Rome finishes his apple, tossing the core in the trash. “You know what I heard? That video of yours hit ten million views before she deleted it.”
I go still. “Wrenley deleted it?”
“Yesterday afternoon. Poof. Gone. Like it never existed.”
There’s a small, tectonic movement inside my chest. I haven’t looked at the video since finding it. Watching the comments multiply within five minutes was enough.
“I didn’t know,” I answer Rome.
“Interesting.” Rome leans against the counter, crossing his arms. “So you’re telling me she took down a viral video with millions of views that was probably worth serious money in sponsorships ... and you didn’t even notice?”
I scrape the failed dough into the trash. “I’ve been busy.”
“Too busy to notice the woman who’s got you baking bread at dawn like some Victorian widower?”
“Fuck off, Rome.”
“That’s more like it.” He grins, unperturbed. “Brother, if you don’t fix this, I will.”
“What the fuck are you on about now?”
“That girl deserves someone who knows her worth.”
I turn to him. Slowly. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me. I have a thing for complicated women who’ve been hurt by stupid men.”
I’m around the prep table before I can think, getting in his face. Rome doesn’t back down. He never does.
“She’s not some conquest for you to add to your collection,” I growl.
“No,” Rome says, voice dropping to match mine. “But she’s also not some girl you get to know and then abandon when things get complicated, either.”
