Making You Mine (11 page)
Authors: Elizabeth Reyes
“Good morning, Grace,” Sal said.
His stoic expression said it all. He didn’t share the same enthusiasm as his siblings about testing her cooking skills. He looked at Alex. “You’ll have to tell me about it. I’ll be leaving in a little while.”
“What? You’re not gonna stick around and see what she can do?”
Sal’s eyes met hers for a lingering moment. Then he added to her disappointment, “Nah, I’m meeting someone in a couple hours. I’ll get a chance to another time.”
With that, he turned around to face the computer.
“You’ll have to put your hair up though, Grace,” Sofia said, as she pulled her own hair up.
“Oh, I was going to. I just wore it down so it could dry on my way here.” Grace started digging in her bag for the band she used to pull her hair up in a ponytail. She gulped trying not to think about Sal’s aloof demeanor.
Her throat actually constricted, making her swallow hard. How could a few cold words from him actually make her feel like choking up? It was
so
stupid.
She
was so stupid. All night and all morning, it’s all she had thought about—what
he
would think of her cooking.
She’d been a ball of nerves the whole bus ride there. Then hearing Alex’s words stirred things up in her stomach even more but seeing Sal had done it. All day yesterday, she’d longed to see him, even if it was for just a moment. Now here he was and as usual, his indifference for her was palpable. Even as anal as they’d made him sound about the cooks, he wasn’t the least bit interested in seeing how she fared in his precious kitchen.
Of course not, why would he? God, she felt ridiculous. This restaurant, as important as it was to him, wasn’t his life. He had a life outside of this place and apparently, whoever he was meeting today took precedence.
Alex stepped out of the office to take a call from his wife. Sofia finished with her hair and apron before Grace. “I’ll go check what orders, if any, are in the kitchen. But it’s rare that anyone orders off the menu during brunch, especially because all the breakfast stuff is already out there.”
Grace nodded, hurrying to get her hair done. She didn’t want to be left alone too long with Sal. As soon as Sofia walked out the door, Sal turned to Grace almost as if he’d been waiting for Sofia to leave the room. “So which one is your boyfriend? Or are they both?”
His question came out of nowhere. She stopped what she was doing. “What?”
“The guys that pick you up after work.” He stared at her, the apathy now replaced with significant interest. He shrugged. “Just curious. Sofie mentioned your boyfriend seemed real excited last night when he picked you up. Does he know about the other guy?”
His tone was anything but
just curious
. It was almost accusatory. Wow, he wasn’t kidding when he’d said first impressions went a long way. He still had her pegged as a liar. “They’re both just friends of mine. Neither is a boyfriend.”
She saw the insolence in his smile. “So do your
friends
know about each other?”
Was he for real? Alex walked in just in time to hear her response. “As a matter of fact they do. We hang out together all the time.” She wasn’t about to get into Joey and Taylor’s relationship with him. It was none of his business. How dare he pass judgment on her with all the women he had hanging all over him?
She finished with her hair and reached for her apron.
“Sounds interesting.” He turned around to face the computer again. “You’ll need a jacket if you’re going to be in the kitchen.”
He almost sounded mad. Having his reservations about her as an employee because of the lie on her résumé was one thing. She’d give him that, even if she’d already apologized for it. But getting haughty over something he found questionable about her personal life was crossing the line. He had no right, no matter how anal he was about his employees’ integrity.
She took a deep breath, glancing at Alex and held in what she really wanted to say. “Where do I get a jacket?”
“In the stock room. Sofia can show you.”
She finished with her apron and shoved her bag in the cabinet.
“Showtime,” Alex said.
As excited as she’d been when she got there, she couldn’t even muster a smile before walking past Alex out the door. If Sal had made up his mind about her already, then there was no need to even try to impress him. Apparently, the jerk had her all figured out.
~*~
Wait for it…Wait for it…
“What the hell was that about, Sal?”
And there it was. “What do you mean?”
Alex closed the door. “You know what I’m talking about. You pissed her off. What did you say to her?”
Sal turned around. Just a few weeks into it and Alex was already turning into the protective big brother. This was so like him. Sal shrugged. “Two different guys picked her up last week. I just asked her about them. She didn’t seem mad to me.”
“Are you kidding me? She looked ready to spit nails. What did you ask her?” Alex crossed his arms and stared at him.
Sal couldn’t help frowning. Truth was she
had
been a little too defensive. “All I asked, is if they knew about each other.”
“What?” Alex looked even more disgusted. “Since when do you get all involved?”
“I don’t. I was just curious.”
“Bullshit, that’s straight out nosey. No wonder she was so pissed.”
“So I’ll apologize.” It wouldn’t be the first time. “I didn’t think she’d be so bothered by it.”
“What’s going on Sal? What is it with you and this girl? You still ticked off that I hired her even after you said she’d
struck out
?”
Sal stood up. He was done having this conversation. “Nope, I just asked her something that apparently rubbed her the wrong way. I’ll go apologize, then I’m out of here.”
He walked to the door aware that Alex was still staring at him. He opened the door and glanced back at him. Alex continued to stare at him but the scowl softened. Then suddenly he smirked. “You’re into her.”
“What?” Sal did his best to appear incredulous.
“You’re into Grace.”
Sal shoved the door closed. “No, I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are.” Alex laughed. “Why else would you ask her about the guys picking her up? You jealous, Sal?”
“I’m not
you
, you idiot.”
Alex laughed even more now. “Oh this is great. Sal’s got the hots for the new hire.”
“Will you shut up?” Sal peeked through the door to make sure no one was within hearing range. “She’s attractive. I’ll give her that. But you know I can’t get involved with anyone that works here.”
“Why not? Sarah worked here before she and Angel got married.”
“That’s different.” He couldn’t believe he was even discussing this. “They were already involved when she came to work here.”
“Man, you must really be into her to ask her something so ballsy. So what did she say? Is she really seeing two guys?”
“No!” Sal was letting Alex get the best for him. He needed to regain his composure here. “She said they’re just friends.”
Alex laughed again. “I see. So that’s when you asked her if they knew about each other. Good one. I would’ve asked the same thing.”
Sal wasn’t sure if his brother and him sharing the same mentality when it came to reacting to women was a good thing. It was never in his nature to just react. That was Alex and Angel—not him. But the question had just slipped out before he even knew it. Just like his comment about Alex being married, her first day on the job. Now he was going to have to apologize
again
.
“I was out of line, Alex.”
“Not really, Sofie said the guy picked her up and spun her around last night.”
Sal worked his jaw. As much as that annoyed him, it still came down to one thing. “Friend or not, it’s none of my business.”
“Technically, I’m the boss here, Sal. I think she’s pretty damn adorable. You wanna make it your business? Have at it. I don’t have a problem with it.”
Sal opened the door. That was impossible. There was no way it would work. Not only did she have guy
friends
who were a little too friendly for his liking, he’d managed to come across as a total asshole more than once now.
“Hey,” Alex added.
Sal turned around.
“Just don’t mess with her, man.
That
I’ll have a problem with. I like her. She’s a sweet girl and a damn good bartender. I don’t want you giving her any reason to leave.”
He almost walked out without responding then stopped and turned around. “Not a word about this to anyone, you hear me?”
Alex smirked.
“I’m serious, ass.”
Alex nodded in agreement but not before getting in a few more laughs.
Grace was already busy in the kitchen when he got there, and she looked as comfortable as she did behind the bar. “You got breakfast orders?”
Grace shook her head without even looking up. Obviously, she was still mad. One of the other cooks addressed him. “She’s helping out with the brunch, Chief.”
Sal nodded, watching her for a moment. She
was
a natural. Julian, the other cook he’d hired, was still fumbling around after more than a week of being here. Grace had been in the kitchen less than a half hour and she seemed in complete control.
He walked toward her until he was just a few feet away. She still didn’t look at him. “I wanna apologize,” he said softly. “…again, I was out of line. What you do outside of the restaurant is your business. I have no place questioning you about it.”
Finally, she looked at him. “Why
did
you?”
He was hoping she wouldn’t ask that. “I dunno—curious, they both seemed a little too friendly to be just friends.”
“They’re gay.”
His expression must’ve been as blank as it felt, because she laughed. “They’re each other’s boyfriend and my best friends.”
“Oh.” Was all he could think of to say, but he couldn’t help smiling—this changed everything. “So you accept my apology?”
She smiled, nodding. “Yeah, I guess.”
The whole time he’d been standing there she hadn’t stopped what she was doing. She whisked eggs without even looking at them and the cheese filled green chilies she’d dipped in them was something she had put together effortlessly.
“That looks good.”
“They are.” She smiled, smug.
His phone buzzed and he pulled out and read a text from Jason.
On my way. See you there
.
Damn. He didn’t want to leave now.
“I gotta go. But maybe Wednesday, we can get you in here again and I can watch you work your magic.”
He watched as her smile slowly evaporated and she glanced at his phone. “Sounds good. Have fun.”
He hated to leave but he did. Now he was going to have to go almost three days before seeing her again.
Stupid plan
.
~*~
By the end of her shift, Gracie had impressed not only Alex and Sofia but some of the other cooks. She even made a dish that wasn’t on the menu—one of her grandmother’s specialty—a green chili chicken enchilada casserole. They had a whole list of enchiladas on the menu, all of which she could whip up with her eyes closed, but this was something her grandmother had come up with that could be made in huge quantities in half the time it took to roll up equal amounts of enchiladas. The casseroles were big sellers in her grandmother’s restaurant. People bought them for parties back in Juarez.
Sofia walked into the kitchen as Grace finished clearing her area up. “You’re a hit.”
Grace smiled. Alex had already left, but he’d said the same thing before he walked out. As good as it felt, she couldn’t shake the disappointment of not having been able to show Sal what she could do.
“What’s this?” Sofia pointed at the casserole on the counter.
“Enchilada casserole.”
“It looks good. Who’s it for?”
Grace lifted a shoulder. “Alex said he’d have a houseful tonight. My grandmother used to make these for parties. I thought maybe you’d want to take it with you.”
Sofia’s eyes widened. “Yeah, that’d be great. Sal will be there. He can get a sampling of your cooking.”
Those were her thoughts exactly but now it made her nervous. Oscar was in the back room when she walked in to get her stuff. “You’re off, too?”
“Yeah, they switched me last minute to open instead of close.”
Grace didn’t miss the way his eyes wandered. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen him looking at her that way. It was so barefaced it was almost rude.
“Your ride here yet?”
She grabbed her bag out of the cabinet. “Nope, I’m taking the bus today.”
“The bus? Where to?”
“Chula Vista.”
Oscar’s mouth fell open. “You take the bus all the way to Chula Vista?”
“Yep.” She nodded as she walked past him.
Sofia walked in just as she got to the office door.
