The Heartwood Inn by Elana Johnson

Author:Elana Johnson [Johnson, Elana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AEJ Creative Works

“So it’s just nine days of work,” she said the next morning, all business, right down to the pair of sexy glasses she’d perched on the end of her nose as she reviewed the paperwork with him. “You start on Sunday, and you’ll work with Steven and Gwen in the kitchen to go over the five menu items we’ve settled on. The competition begins late Monday afternoon, and then you’re on through the following Sunday night.” She slid the packet toward him, and he barely glanced at it.

“You’re sexy when you’re talking business,” he said.

“Stop it,” she said with a smile. A flush worked its way up her neck and settled in her cheeks. “I put an extra day on there so you’ll get paid to debrief with Steven, Gwen and me. Okay?”

“How much are you paying me?”

“Twenty an hour.”

“How many hours am I working?” He picked up the packet, his eyes sliding over the black and white of it.

“Ten hours per day, two of them at an overtime rate of time-and-a-half.” She handed him a pen. “Sign it, Chet, and you’ll be a member of The Heartwood Inn family.”

He kept his attention on the paperwork so she wouldn’t see how much that actually pleased him. “How did your meeting with Alissa go this morning?”

“Just fine. She’s definitely the nosiest of my sisters.” Olympia giggled, and Chet handed everything back to her, the deed done.

“Did you tell her about us?”

“Nope,” she said. “I mean, I said you’d be working with us. I didn’t detail anything else.”

He nodded, glad she wasn’t the type to kiss and then gossip about it with her sisters. “Maybe you can knock off early tonight, too,” he said. “Let’s go to dinner or something—outside the inn.”

“I have Friday Night Wine until seven,” she said. “It’s a private event our guests pay for, and I have a brand-new connoisseur, so I said I’d be there to support her.”

“After that then,” he said, pressing her and he knew it.

She grinned at him and leaned forward in the booth. He kissed her quickly, and she said, “Come down to my office about seven, and we’ll see where I am, okay?”

“Okay,” he said, leaning back in the booth.

“What are you going to do today?”

“I don’t know,” he said, though he’d had some ideas a few days ago. “Maybe I’ll just hang around here.”

“There are tennis lessons I know aren’t full,” she said. “We rent racquets.”

Chet nodded. “Maybe I’ll do that.” But he didn’t want to. He put a smile on his face anyway, and watched Olympia slide out of the booth and head toward the door that led back into the kitchens.

He stayed at the table, though his food was long gone. Eli hated talking on the phone if he didn’t have to, so Chet texted his brother. Just a quick, Hey, how are you?

He did the same to Lynn, and his phone rang with his sister’s name appearing on the screen a moment later. “Chet,” she said, her Southern drawl twice as pronounced as his.

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