Two Weeks of Sin

“I’m sorry, Chef Harrison,” he said, not meeting my gaze. “I’ll make a new one.”

I tossed the plate on the counter next to him. “I don’t want your apologies, I want you to do it right the first time.”

“Yes, Chef,” he mumbled. I turned to leave when he spoke again. “It’s just that we’re understaffed. I’m working two stations, Chef.”

Anger boiled up inside me and I got in his face. “Look at me. I don’t want to hear excuses. You’ve got two hands, two eyes, and you can handle two goddamn stations.”

“Boss, please. Ever since Gloria left, we’ve been short-handed.”

He was right, of course, but there was nothing I could do about it tonight. I’d already chosen a new chef to join the team, but I hadn’t shared the news with the rest of the brigade yet. I didn’t want them slacking off in the meantime.

A new chef tomorrow wouldn’t help them today.

“You’re right,” I said. “Gloria’s not here, but you are. Now, we’ve got a packed dining room out there, and none of them give a damn that we’re down a chef. They expect the same high-quality food we serve every night. So, I need you to focus and get the job done. Can you handle that?”

He nodded. “I think so.”

“You think? If you can’t do it, tell me right now. Tell me right the fuck now. I’ll take over your stations, and you can give Sergio a hand washing dishes. I’ll ask you again, can you handle it?”

The threat of busting him down to dishwasher lit a fire in Danny’s eyes. He glared at me like I’d just run over his mother. “Absolutely, Chef. I can handle it.” His voice was strong and steady, a complete reversal of the way he’d been just seconds ago.

“Don’t let me down. Period.”

He turned back to his stations with a renewed energy. The pan sizzled as he dropped a fresh steak in. Danny was back. And this was why I was so hard on my crew.

Sure, he was beyond pissed at me. He was probably cursing my name under his breath and wishing all kinds of terrible things on me, but that was good. It meant he’d work three times as hard tonight just to prove me wrong and throw it back in my face.

If I were a betting man, I’d wager he wouldn’t mess up another meal for the rest of the dinner service.

A few minutes later, Danny brought a freshly cooked steak over. He stood watching me, waiting for my assessment. I took my time looking it over, not because I wasn’t sure if it was done correctly, but because I wanted him to sweat a little.

I could tell immediately that it was cooked to perfection.. I couldn’t let him off the hook so quickly, not if I wanted the fire in him to keep burning for the rest of the dinner shift.

When I finally turned to him, his jaw was clenched so tightly the muscles in his neck stood out in thick cords.

“All night, Danny,” I said, pointing at the steak. “Like this. All night.”

He nodded curtly and hustled back to his stations.

***

I slumped into the sagging leather chair in my office at the back of the restaurant. Dinner was over, the kitchen had been cleaned, and the staff had gone home for the night.

Danny hadn’t spoken to me for the rest of the evening, but that was fine. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. He might, but I wouldn’t. I’d done what I had to do for the good of the restaurant.

Things had been going well for me. The reviews had been great and the dining room was booked solid for the next few months. That didn’t mean I could sit back and relax, it meant that I had to work even harder to maintain the restaurant’s reputation. As part of that, I had to bring on a new chef to replace the one I’d lost.

I hated to let the old one go, but the woman was delusional. There was a lot of shit I would put up with, but someone in my kitchen batting her eyes at me and whispering my name seductively during a dinner rush was fucking out as far as I was concerned.

I’d given love a try in the past, and the bitch had stabbed me in the heart and kicked me in the balls. I was done with it. Period.

Now, I would have been more than happy to bend the cute blonde over a kitchen counter and work her silly, but she didn’t want that. She wanted a relationship. That shit wasn’t happening on my watch.

I leaned forward and grabbed the new chef’s application off my desk. Amber Foster. She was the one. With the restaurant’s success, I’d gotten an avalanche of applications; more than I could properly review without pulling my eyelids out. But for some reason, Amber’s stood out among the rest.

The thought of bringing in another female had me doubting my sanity, but maybe she would be different.

“Doubtful. She’s young and probably quite confident in herself.” I brushed my fingers over my lips. “How could she not be?”