Page 11 of Sinfully Shameless Chef

“It's a good thing you did; otherwise, I probably never would've met you catering the party at the Met, and we wouldn't find ourselves here on the brink of opening this restaurant together.” He cuts his steak and shoves a piece into his mouth. His eyes widen slightly. “The steak is incredible, by the way. What all did you put on it?”

I wink at him. “If I told you, I'd have to kill you.”

“Hey!” His brow furrows. “I’m your business partner.”

“That may be true, but anything that happens in the kitchen is my business, not yours.”

He holds up his hands. “Fair enough. But you want my help with the interior?”

“Now that I think about it, maybe I should have my sister come help me pick out plates and napkins and all that little shit. A woman’s touch.”

Grant takes another bite, chews slowly, then swallows. “That’s a good idea. And I'm glad you're going to have a woman's touch with this.” He glances around my tiny apartment. “No offense, dude, but your decorating taste sucks.”

I chuckle at his very apt observation. “I'm not here very much. I've always been at whatever restaurant I was working at. So, it's not like I really need to decorate.”

“When you first mentioned wanting my help, I was actually going to recommend you talk to Sylvie.”

I jerk back from the counter. “Oh, hell no. I know better than that.”

His eyebrows fly up. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Your wife has quite the reputation.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” He holds up a hand. “You better back that bus up, buddy.”

“One of my uh…friends…worked with the designers who redecorated your place a while back.”

He shakes his head. “Oh, hell. So, you heard all about that, huh?”

“I sure did. And let me tell you, the last thing I want when I'm trying to get it in with a hot redhead is to hear her bitching about my business partner’s wife and what a bitch she is.”

His jaw drops. “She called her a bitch?”

I snort and chuckle. “She called her a lot worse than that.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah, she was displeased, and that made for a less than enjoyable booty call for me.”

Grant winces and takes a drink of his wine. “Sorry my wife cock-blocked you, dude.”

“Me, too.”

“That's one thing I have to say about Sylvie, though. There's no reining her in when she knows what she wants, and I wouldn't even try. It's one of the reasons I love her.”

“Yeah, plus, she's hot as hell.”

“Hey!” He points his steak knife at me. “You better watch what you say about my wife while I’m holding a knife.”

I hold up my hands and back away playfully. “Just making an observation, man. Would you prefer I called her ugly?”

He scowls at me, takes another bite of the steak, and chews with exaggerated violence. “Hell no, but I think it's best to move on to focusing on a different woman, if you catch my drift.”

“It's okay. I have a plan forming already.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah, what's that?”

I flash him a grin and pour myself a glass of wine. “You just wait and see.”

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