He stared at her for a moment, then shook himself.
“That’s okay,” he said with a surprising lack of anger, considering. “You just startled me.” He walked toward the pass-through. Then—belatedly remembering he could—he veered aside to open the kitchen door for her. “Please come in and have a look.”
His politeness knocked her off balance more than his curse.
“Thank you,” she said. “I know I shouldn’t have showed up like this.”
He’d invited her to have a look, but didn’t seem inclined to give her one. He stood in front of her, too tall to see around, hands shoved in his pants pockets. When you were a big-deal boss, she guessed you could dress as you pleased. Today he wore a pale green polo shirt that stretched over broad shoulders. His jeans appeared to be faded in all the right places. Rather than check them out and confirm, she kept her eyes on his face. His dark brows screwed together as he gazed down at her. He seemed so boyish any second Rebecca expected him to start rocking on his heels.
“What—” He cleared his throat. “What did you want to say to me?”
His strange reception had made her forget her prepared speech. She retrieved it with an effort. “I thought it might help your decision to know why I left my last position.”
“Not a mystery,” he said. “Latest owner brought in a new executive chef and demoted you. You were perfectly right to quit. I’m sure you can cook rings around that yahoo.”
“I don’t know about perfectly right,” she admitted wryly. “I could have waited to leave until I had another job.”
Hayworth smiled, his eyes warm with understanding—unnervingly warm, actually. He seemed weirdly happy that she was here. Rebecca tried to ignore how that unsettled her. Nothing she’d read about Trey Hayworth suggested he was this eccentric. But that didn’t really matter. Plenty of good bosses were quirky. With her responsibilities, she couldn’t afford to be picky.
“What do I need to do to get this job with you?”
“Ah,” he hemmed, rubbing his lower lip again. “I want to hire you . . .”
“But?”
He looked at her, seemingly unable to answer.
“You could try me out,” she offered. “Let me work for a month for free.”
“That wouldn’t be fair.”
“Then what would be?” she asked, her determination unshaken. “Because my gut tells me this combination of The Bad Boys Lounge and me would work out.”
His grin burst out like sunshine, momentarily dazzling her. His dimples were as deep as she’d expected. “Really?” he said, like she’d given him a gift.
“Really. I have no trouble imagining me and your restaurant being a big success.”
“Me too.” He put his hands on her shoulders, their size and warmth unavoidably perking up her hormones. “I can picture you here. I can picture us having fun.”
Okay, that was a strange response. Her mind said um, but her temporarily fractious libido urged her not to protest. His lovely hands chafed her shoulders, comforting little rubs like he thought she was cold. Though she shivered at his touch on her linen jacket, she was anything but chilly. Tingles pulsed between her legs, fire spreading through her clit and beyond. Her nipples tightened with a vengeance, practically punching against her bra. Hayworth’s gaze dropped to the sharpened peaks like they were magnetized.
When he licked his lips, her shiver grew bigger.
“Rebecca,” he said, his tone as serious as the grave, his eyes rising with difficulty to lock on hers. “Believe me when I say I know I’m being inappropriate.”
Her mouth fell open as he leaned down. Suddenly, her hands were on his front, not pushing him away but curling into his polo shirt. Boy, if this was how she reacted to a bit of attention, she needed to date more. She was tugging him toward her, and his arms slid warm and strong around her. His chest was broad and steely. As his head came closer, she rose on tiptoe.
He licked a swipe up her parted lips, his tongue as soft as a rose petal. Rebecca’s breath shuddered out of her.
“God,” he whispered and sealed their mouths together.
He tasted like sun-warmed cherries.
Rebecca wished he’d kiss her forever.
“Mm,” he hummed like he had over her food yesterday. “Mm, Rebecca.”
“Mr. Hayworth—“
She lost her breath as he hiked her butt onto the worktop. The seat brought their heights closer. He angled his head and kissed her a second time, his tongue sliding sleekly into her waiting mouth. She didn’t stop him any more than she had before, her fingers tightening helplessly on his shirt. His kiss was yummy—sliding in, drawing out, sucking gently at her tongue to coax it into playing. It seemed like ages since any man had held her, and he was a fine one. She moaned at the heat he stirred inside her, cream filling her sex so swiftly it spilled out. She squirmed on the stainless steel even as his mouth pulled free.