Just One Taste(11)

He was starting to make her mad. Though she’d signed on as a sub, she wasn’t willing to simply keep her mouth shut. “You don’t have to be so harsh. If you don’t want me in your club, I don’t have to be there.”

“I’ve got room in my life for one stubborn bitch right now and it’s not you. I selected you because Sean thought Sanctum would be good for you. I thought it would be good for you. Kai thinks you need it to find yourself. But it doesn’t sound like you want to find yourself. It sounds like you’re trying to hide from the world. Do it on someone else’s time. I just lost my brother. He doesn’t get the chance to find himself. I’m spending my days marking grid patterns so I can pay a group to search the fucking ocean for his body. You don’t want to allow a damn decent man to train with you, fine.” He stood and sighed. “Damn it. Now you’re really crying.”

“I tend to do that when people are mean to me.” She wished she could be cool and calm like other people, but her natural reaction was to tear up. It was something her ex-husband had complained about. Why do you have to be so emotional, Deena? Can’t you ever be logical?

It was why she never let herself cry anymore. Last night had done a number on her. Being spanked by Eric seemed to have opened something up inside her that would better be left locked away.

Taggart moved across the room toward her, that bleak visage lightening marginally. He stood in front of her, big hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Deena. I’m under a lot of pressure and you’re not a fair target. Give it a chance with Eric. No one else in the group was right for you. He’ll be patient and understanding.”

“And what if I give in?”

“I’m going to say something to you that I say to everyone who has this problem. Don’t sleep with him. It’s very simple. Go into this experience with an open mind and locked knees. You should be fine. Though you should know a good Dom can get through those locked knees. And please forgive me for being unkind. I am many things, but I hope I’m not that. Losing my brother has been hard on my sense of humor.”

She sniffled and wiped her tears. She’d never had a brother. She was an only child and now it seemed she was intent on isolating herself further. The idea that she was being hard on the people around her might not be so wrong. Walls could protect but they could also keep out good things. “I’m sorry I’m being so inflexible. And I put a slice of lemon cheesecake in your box, but I think you should eat the salad because I’ve met your wife and she scares me more than you do.”

Taggart laughed and she was happy she could put a smile on the man’s face. He walked back to his desk and sat down again. “I will eat my jerk chicken salad and then share my cheesecake with a couple of babes. I mean that literally. My twins are madly in love with solid food. I can’t tell you what that does to a diaper.”

She didn’t want to know. She couldn’t handle a pet much less a kid.

Maybe she could handle Eric. It would all come down to communication. “Thanks, Sir.”

“And Deena,” Taggart called out as she began to leave. “Remember when I told you I tell everyone not to sleep with their partners? No one ever listens.”

She intended to be the first.





CHAPTER FOUR



Eric stopped what he was doing and stared at Javier. “You can’t be serious. She wouldn’t do that.”

Javier was busy chopping peppers, his hands moving at lightning speed. “I’m telling you what I heard. Big Tag told his wife, who mentioned it to Grace, who called Chef, and I overheard that conversation.”

His best friend did have some issues. “You eavesdropped on our boss?”

Javier never missed a beat. “I eavesdrop on everyone. It’s a hobby. How do you expect to run your own place if you don’t listen in on your employees? You have to stay on top of that shit. Like I happen to know that two of the busboys are having an affair, and it’s not who you would think.”

He hadn’t thought any of them would have an affair. “With each other?” That wasn’t the point and he wasn’t going to get into the soap opera that played out in every restaurant he’d ever worked in. He was concerned with his own little drama. “She tried to dump me as her training Dom?”

It made him feel like he’d gotten kicked in the stomach. He knew she’d been in a bit of shock after the kiss they’d shared. When he’d helped her pack up her car, she’d been quiet and unable to meet his eyes¸ but he’d expected her to bounce back the way she always did. He’d explained that he would pick her up after he got off work and she’d nodded and taken off. She wasn’t working the dinner shift so he would have to wait until later to see her.

To ask her how she could possibly have tried to dump him after that kiss.

“She apparently tried to get them to assign her to someone else and Big Tag said no, so the man has your back,” Javi said.

Why was he pushing this so hard? The woman didn’t want him. He should accept that and move on.

There were other fish in the sea. Lots of them. Hell, he could likely even date someone here if he amped up the charm.

He turned back to his ovens, checking the timer for the hundredth time. “I’ll talk to him myself. If she wants another Dom, she can have one.”

He’d been looking forward to tonight. They were supposed to sit together and go over the standard contract before writing in their own clauses. They were supposed to start to talk about what they both needed. He’d been looking forward to that. He’d talked to her many times over the past year. He knew a lot about her. He knew her parents had split up when she was young and she hadn’t seen her father much after that. She’d been raised by a hard-working single mother who she loved dearly and talked to at least twice a week. She wanted a dog, but her apartment didn’t allow pets. He’d studied her, but they’d never talked about sex. It hadn’t been appropriate. The conversation tonight would be all about sex.

Would have been.

“You’re giving up pretty easily,” Macon said.

Eric hadn’t heard the big pastry chef come in. He turned and noticed Macon was accompanied by the new guy. Chef had recently brought in a sommelier. Sebastian Lowe was a tall, elegant man who seemed to think a three-piece suit was proper attire for a kitchen. He looked somewhat out of place amongst the crew of Top. Chef tended to hire ex-military men and Sebastian didn’t fit the bill, but according to his resume he was one of four master sommeliers in the entire state of Texas. He’d only been working for a few weeks, but he was quiet and efficient, never spending too much time with anyone on the staff with the exception of Macon.

“Do you have my plates ready?” Sebastian asked in his slow, Southern accent.

Sebastian was given a tasting plate of every item on the menu for the night and he paired the wines from there. He insisted on tasting even dishes he’d had before because according to him tiny variations in a recipe made a difference to his perfect palate.

“I set them out on the prep table for you,” Eric explained. After Sebastian had nodded and moved to the plates, Eric turned back to Macon. It looked like Javi wasn’t the only one who listened in. “What am I supposed to do? I can’t force her to be my partner.”

“Big Tag already did that for you,” Javi pointed out.

Macon leaned over and picked up one of the perfectly sliced green pepper strips, popping it into his mouth and munching before continuing. “Those have an excellent flavor. And Javi’s right. The hard work’s been done. Now you have to prove yourself.”

“And if she walks out?” He wasn’t sure that he could be the reason she was forced to walk away. He’d seen how excited she’d been the night before. She wanted to try this. She just didn’t want to try it with him.

“She won’t,” Macon assured him. “Look, don’t tell Ally I told you this, but Deena came by after she dropped off lunch at McKay-Taggart. She told Ally that Big Tag is an asshole—stop the presses—but that he made sense and she kind of ended up liking him, so she’s going to give it a shot tonight. You have your six weeks with her.”

They were a big old group of gossips and thank god for that. Still, after that kiss they’d shared, he’d been absolutely sure she would give them a shot. Instead, she’d gone straight to the big boss and asked for a change. “I don’t know. I might be opening myself up for a whole lot of heartache.”

“She’s not an easy nut to crack,” Macon replied. “She’s been through a lot.”

Javi looked up. “Yeah, what’s up with that girl? She’s so nice to everyone, but then she seems to push people away when they try to get close.”

“You tried to get close?” He could hear the hardness of his own voice. Yes, he got jealous. He was only human and Deena was a beautiful woman. Javi was six foot, well-muscled, and all Latin lover. More than one woman had found herself locked in a closet with Javi before she truly knew what she was doing.

Javi rolled his dark eyes. “Don’t get your back up. I asked her some personal stuff one night. About her ex. She got cold really fast.”