On the Steamy Side - Louisa Edwards [23]
Peachy.
And not only that, but he was a jerk! The things he’d said about her food made Lilah’s fists clench even now, minutes later. And she wasn’t the type to hold a grudge.
Oh, mercy, what if he told everyone about last night? Her cheeks burned at the thought of it. Or what if he wanted a repeat performance, and threatened to fire her if she didn’t comply?
Lilah paused. She couldn’t quite believe he was so bad, but then, what did she really know? Yankees were capable of anything, as her Uncle Roy liked to say.
And everything had been going so well up until now! Lilah loved New York, from Grant’s tiny, cramped studio to the crowded 1 train she rode to get from his place in Chelsea to the restaurant on the Upper West Side, to the amazing liberation of following her heart (and her body) and having (supposedly) anonymous sex last night.
Getting dumped by her boyfriend just might be one of the best things that ever happened to her. It had prompted her to move to New York, which was a good choice, she remembered thinking this morning as the subway swayed around a curve and a businessman jostled her arm, spilling coffee on her hand. New York was exactly what she needed. Everything was going to work out perfectly. Lilah Jane Tunkle’s life had finally begun! She was a sophisticated woman now, hip with the times and comfortable with her own sexuality!
And then Devon Sparks had to go and ruin it all by turning up at Market and being a big horse’s ass. And by looking unconscionably attractive while doing it.
Lilah sighed, loud and gusty, as she clattered down the kitchen stairs toward the narrow hallway that led to the prep kitchen, storage pantries, staff locker room, and the chef’s office. She went over the layout of the restaurant once again in her head, determined not to get lost.
Of course, it still took her several false starts and one detour into a dark, dank room where curing meats wrapped in linen hung from the rafters before she found the office.
Where her oldest friend in the world, Grant Holloway, was sitting at an ancient green metal desk, banging his head with a hollow sound of despair.
“Why me, God?” he moaned. “Have I displeased You in some way? Mercy, please, I beg you.”
Lilah rolled her eyes. “Drama queen! Up and at ’em. Tell Lolly what’s the problem.”
Grant raised moist cornflower blue eyes to hers, his mussed blond hair making him look like a cherub recently awakened from his afternoon nap on a passing cloud.
“Lolly! Where on earth have you been?” He rushed to her and threw his arms around her, cracking her ribs with the force of his hug. “I couldn’t find you anywhere last night, and then I had to hear it from Chris . . . from the bartender, that you’d left with Devon Sparks! I didn’t believe him at first, but when you weren’t anywhere in the bar and you didn’t come home . . .”
Lilah drank in the familiar cool-water smell of her best friend.
“The bartender had it right,” she said, affecting as much airy unconcern as she could.
“No,” Grant said, pulling back and searching her face as if for signs of demon possession.
“Oh, yes.” Lilah waggled her brows to make her point clear. “I got me some sugar last night.”
He went a little green. “Sweet fancy Moses on buttered toast. You had sex with Devon Sparks.”
“Why so dismayed?” Lilah wanted to know. “You’ve been after me to find someone new since I turned up on your doorstep with a suitcase and a broken heart.”
“Your heart wasn’t broken, just a little bruised. And I wanted you to find someone wonderful.” Grant scowled.
Lilah started to feel a little protective of Devon, all of a sudden. It was okay for her to find him annoying and arrogant, but for some reason, she didn’t like hearing Grant badmouth him.
“Are we talking about the same person?” she asked. “Tall, dark, and hot like burning?”
“That’s him,” Grant agreed, lip poking out like