The sad part was that I felt almost nothing when we split. I wasn’t angry or hurt, I was…relieved. I’d almost made a stupid choice that could have ruined everything. I wanted to be with someone who made my blood boil and my heart burst. I wanted…
Her.
I came to an abrupt halt the moment I stepped into my office, stunned by the woman sitting in front of my desk.
“Sienna, this is Owen, the owner of Saphyre,” James introduced me as he rounded my large, oak desk to take a seat. She wasn’t exactly small, more like dainty, with a delicate bone structure. Her chocolate hair looked like a waterfall of silk, hanging midway down her back. Her profile showed long eyelashes, a cute upturned nose, and full, plump lips. Then she turned her head and I was again struck, frozen in place as her dark brown eyes met mine. A shock zinged through my body, waking up certain parts of me that had been hibernating as of late. My heart felt like it was on the verge of exploding right out of my chest. And one word pinged around in my head like a pinball. Mine.
“Let’s get started,” James stated, picking up a piece of paper from the desk and perusing it. I sprang into action, walking over to him and snatching it from his hand.
“I’ll take it from here, James. Why don’t you go check on today’s menu with Andy?” My eyes never left Sienna’s as I spoke, I couldn’t seem to look away.
“You’re going to interview her?” James sputtered. I could understand his confusion. I usually hated hiring front of the house staff and left it up to James. There wasn’t time to explain it to him. I needed to be alone with this woman. My woman.
“Yes,” I growled. “Now, get out.” I grabbed his elbow and lifted him from my grey, leather, swivel chair and shoved him towards the door. I waited until I heard the click of the it shutting before dropping into my seat and giving Sienna my most scorching, panty-melting smile.
2
Sienna
Whoa.
Yup. I almost said that aloud, and I couldn’t even blame myself if I’d actually done it. The guy standing in front of me was more than hot enough to warrant such a reaction, even during an interview. The dark jeans and midnight blue Henley he was wearing did all sorts of good things for his long and lean body. Prompting all kinds of really good things in my nether regions. His sandy blond hair looked like it was a month or two overdue for a cut, but the length worked for him. It was tousled as though he’d been running his fingers through it—which only made me want to do the same. And his sparkling green eyes... sigh.
As impossible as it seemed, Owen Walker was even more attractive in person than he was on television. I never watched cooking shows, except for his. I was hopeless in the kitchen, but it wasn’t like I watched him for the food. Although it looked amazing, too, which was a big part of why I’d chosen to apply for the waitressing job at Saphyre. The delicious food brought in a lot of customers, and they were willing to pay a lot to eat there.
From what I’d heard, those customers also tipped well. Very well. Better than Parisi’s, where I’d been working for the last year while I attended Georgia State University. Doing a double major in Biology and Chemistry, while still graduating in four years, meant I was stretching myself thin. I’d been making ends meet, but that was about it. This job would mean I’d be able to work a few less hours and even have some extra spending money. Only I hadn’t expected to meet the famous chef who owned Saphyre, let alone to find myself staring at him after he’d kicked the manager I’d been expecting to interview with out of his office. And if I managed to land the job, I never imagined he’d aim a sexy grin at me the way he was. But there he was; standing in front of me with a glint in his eyes and his lips tilted up, flashing me his pearly whites. It was enough to melt my panties right off my body.
Then his gaze dropped down to a stack of papers on the desk, and he lifted the top one to read it. I had already been nervous since it wasn’t just a stretch for me to move from a family-owned Italian joint to a restaurant with Saphyre’s reputation. It was more like a leap of faith. With how nice James had seemed, I thought I might have an outside chance of convincing him to give me a shot. But with Owen doing the interview and my sex drive deciding this was the perfect time for it to suddenly roar to life? I didn’t see it happening.
“I like the look of your resume, Sienna.”
Then again, maybe I was wrong.
His gaze lifted from the paper and paused for several seconds on my cleavage before moving up to my face.
And maybe about more than just my odds of landing the job. I wasn’t sure what to think about that, but my body seemed to be in favor of it considering the state of my underwear.