Besides, he had Mia to keep him company for now.

   They finished their meal and opted for dessert, even though Mia protested she was already too full to eat anything else. She had sorbet and he had cheesecake. By the time they finished dessert it was a lot less crowded in there.

   “Excuse me for a minute. I need to dash into the kitchen to talk to Amelia.”

   “Sure. Oh, and have her come out here,” Mia said. “I want to praise her cooking.”

   “I’ll see if she has a few minutes to spare.”

   He headed over to the kitchen. Everyone was busy, so he stepped inside to see Amelia reviewing orders. He moved up behind her.

   “Hey.”

   She spun to face him. And there was no smile on her face. “I need to talk to you.”

   Uh-oh. Something was up. “Okay. Sure.”

   “Stefanie, take over. I’ll be right back.”

   “Okay, Amelia.”

   Amelia stepped out of the kitchen and Flynn followed. He expected her to talk to him there in the hall, but he was surprised when she made a right turn out the side door.

   Ah, okay. Maybe she wanted a kiss. Now, that, he was on board for.

   She pulled him down the sidewalk, midway between the door and the back patio. He leaned in close but she put her hand to his chest.

   “What the hell gives you the right to fire one of my cooks?”

   He blinked. This was not romantic, and definitely not a kiss. “Huh?”

   “You fired Jeff. My prep cook. The one I told you about the other night. The next day, you went and fired him.”

   “Oh. Right. I figured I’d deal with that so you didn’t have to.”

   “And I told you I’d deal with it. So what did you do? You dealt with it without discussing it with me first.”

   “Amelia—”

   She cut him off before he could say anything else. “Before you hired me I made it very clear that the kitchen staff would be mine to hire, supervise and fire. You and Ken both agreed.”

   He scratched the side of his head. “Well, yeah, but—”

   “Do not but me, Flynn Cassidy. You undermined my authority in my kitchen by firing one of my staff. You let your male asshole ego take control and decided you knew what was best. I realize this is your restaurant, but we agreed this was my kitchen. And I’m pissed as hell about what you did.”

   He opened his mouth to object, but then realized he’d fucked up. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I did agree to give you full control in the kitchen. If it means anything to you, my heart was in the right place. I know you have your hands full and I knew Jeff was a problem. I’m a problem solver and I thought I could fix this for you, which I now see was wrong. I apologize for stepping on your toes. And for being an asshole.”

   She was standing across from him like a fierce blond warrior, her arms folded across her chest as if she was ready to do battle with him. But then her shoulders relaxed—a little.

   “Okay. I appreciate the apology. But don’t ever do that again. Just because we had sex doesn’t mean you get to make all the decisions for me.”

   Flynn heard someone clearing their throat behind him. He turned around to find Mia standing by the door.

   “Sorry. Went looking for you and someone said they thought you and Amelia were outside. So, you two are dating, huh? Or are you just having sex?”

   Well, shit.

   Flynn turned back to Amelia, giving her a pained smile. “Amelia, I’d like to introduce you to my sister, Mia.”

 

 

ELEVEN

 

   Amelia gaped at the gorgeous dark-haired young woman who was looking at her with a smile on her face.

   She was still pissed off at Flynn, so her emotions were running a little hot. And now she was confused as well. She dragged her attention back to Flynn.

   “Wait. What? This is your sister?”

   “Yeah. I meant to tell you I was bringing her by but I didn’t have the chance.”

   “Obviously. And now I need to get back to the kitchen. Oh, and hi, Mia. It’s very nice to meet you. I’m so sorry you had to witness me yelling at your brother.”

   “Oh, it’s not a problem. I very much enjoyed it. Dinner was awesome, by the way.”

   Her anger somewhat subsiding, she smiled at Mia. “Thank you.”

   Amelia headed toward the door, with Mia following.

   “You should come by the house when you get off work,” Mia said. “I’d love to spend some time getting to know you, seeing as how you’re having sex with my brother.”

   “Mia, knock it off,” Flynn said.

   Amelia laughed, though she was cringing inwardly. “Sorry you had to hear that part, too.”

   “I’m not. This is a new side to my brother and I’m intrigued. I’ll be in town for a week and I’d love to see you. Will you be around?”

   She paused just inside the door. “I suppose I will, providing your brother doesn’t fire me for calling him an asshole.”

   “Not firing you.”

   “Good. Now I have to go. See you later, Mia.”

   Mia wiggled her fingers. “Later, Amelia.”

   Amelia headed back to the kitchen, mortified about her behavior. Not toward Flynn, of course. He’d had it coming. But to do it in front of his sister?

   Yikes. That had been unfortunate. But she couldn’t take it back so she’d have to figure out how to deal with it.

   Later.

   She washed her hands and got back to work. Fortunately, the rest of the night was as busy as the beginning had been, and for that she was grateful. Diving full speed into work was the best way to not dwell on problems. They’d already hired another prep cook to replace Jeff, and the new one was working out great, so tonight’s dinner service had flowed smoothly.

   Not that she had helped much, because after her altercation with Flynn, she’d felt . . . scattered. She hadn’t seen him since he’d dropped her off at her house after she’d spent the night with him a week ago. He’d called her and texted her, but he’d had to leave town because of a road game, and they hadn’t really . . . connected. And she’d been so angry with him after he fired Jeff, which had left her feeling out of sorts in so many ways. She’d wanted to see him in person and talk to him about that.

   She’d ended up watching his game on TV on Thursday night. He’d looked really good. No surprise there. But now that she’d seen him naked, there was an underlying heat to the way she viewed him and she found that kind of disconcerting.