Free Skinny Bitch in Love by Kim Barnouin Page A

peephole to get a look.
    She was stunning, of course. Very tall. Long blond hair and huge boobs.
    And in seconds, she was in his arms. I couldn’t tell if they were kissing, but he was holding her. Very close.
    Dick. He was just all over me!
    You’re here to cook for a job, I reminded myself. Do not walk out. Do not tell him he sucks. Just do what you’re here for. Make your four hundred bucks. More money will come for the recipes themselves.
    Just grab the portobello mushrooms and pull off the fucking stems.
    The door opened, and in walked Zach and this woman who I still thought of as Baby .
    “See,” he said to her, his arm extended toward me. “Chef jacket. The smell of an amazing meal cooking. This is Clementine, and she is here making some vegan options for The Silver Steer.”
    Baby glanced at me, her big blue eyes on my jacket. “I’ll wait for you upstairs,” she said to Zach. “In your bedroom,” she added, eyes, suddenly cold, back on me.
    Before he could say anything, she was marching up the stairs.
    “Sorry about the interruption,” he said. He looked as though he was going to say something else, then slightly shook his head. “I’ll leave you to the burger. Call up when it’s ready for the tasting.”
    He started for the stairs.
    My blood started to boil. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Youjust kissed me,” I whispered—unnecessarily generous. “And now you’re dismissing me to go fuck your girlfriend while I audition my cooking for you?” I threw the knife I’d been using to slice avocado in the sink. “Have a nice life.”
    I grabbed my bag and stalked toward the door.
    “Clementine, wait.”
    “For what?” I pulled open the door.
    “At least let me pay you,” he called.
    Bastard.

Chapter 6
    “Call Alexander right now and ask him out,” Sara ordered the next morning when I dragged myself into the kitchen, the smell of pancakes in the air.
    When I got home last night, furious, she’d called Ty, who’d come over with potato-leek soup; more insanely good cupcakes, which I stuffed my face with; and my favorite wine, which I drank too much of. We watched the Food Network for hours, and by the time Ty left and Sara turned out the lights, I felt slightly better. Zach was a jerk, but was that ever really in question? And, as always, my friends had my back.
    Sara flipped a buckwheat pancake at the stove. “You guys will go on some perfect vegany date and you’ll be madly in love with each other and you’ll be like, ‘Zach who?’ ”
    Except that Alexander, with his fresh-scrubbed cuteness,couldn’t compare to the utter hotness of Zach Jeffries. Still, I did like Alexander. He was my kind. And obviously too shy to ask me out. I would put him out of his misery.
    “But wouldn’t that be using him to get over someone else?” I asked. “I ran into him the other day when I was having lunch with my sister. He’s too nice to use.”
    She added the pancake to the stack of four already on a plate. “Who says you’re using him? Alexander could be the perfect guy for you. How are you supposed to know either way if you don’t give him a chance?”
    “You spun that well,” I said, going into my bedroom for my phone. I found his card in my wallet. Alexander Orr. Sous chef, Fresh. Good thing he’d scrawled his cell number on the back, because there was no way I’d call Fresh.
    “And hurry up because breakfast is ready. Spiced buckwheat banana pancakes from your recipe,” she called from the kitchen. “Please tell me I can use maple syrup.”
    “Yup. The real stuff is in the fridge. But not too much,” I added, heading into the living room and peering out at the dead cow head sign for fortification. I dialed.
    “Clementine,” Alexander said, sounding truly happy to hear from me. “I’d love to see you. I’m attending a special concert at two. Want to join me?”
    A concert at two in the afternoon? Maybe some outdoor lunchtime thing.
    “Sounds great,” I told