Free Making You Mine by Elizabeth Reyes

decide if he was going to go forward with this or go a different route. In Valerie’s delicate state, he wouldn’t be able to count on Alex for much, soon. He was looking at taking the restaurant on full time at least until Valerie had the babies. There was no way he could commit to anything that would take him away from the restaurant until after the babies were born. Even then, he couldn’t imagine Alex wanting to leave Valerie and his babies too soon.
    Then there was the matter of getting more qualified help as soon as possible. He’d want to be there if Angel was going to do any hiring. That guy was worse than Alex when it came to being soft. It amazed Sal how two hard asses like his brothers could be so soft when it came to their families and employees.
    Most annoyingly on his mind? Grace. He still didn’t get it. He was a grown ass man with too many plans to be thinking about this. How was it that this little twenty-one year old culinary student trying to prove herself to him was beginning to get under his skin?
 
 
 
 
 
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER 6
     
     
    Every day Grace went into the restaurant, she prepared herself for the unease she felt being around Sal. She wondered how long it would be, before she was comfortable around him. She’d been off Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday had been fairly painless. Sal had spent a lot of time out of the restaurant. He’d had a meeting and Thursday he spent at Angel’s restaurant on the Marina interviewing potential hires.
    Friday she came in and again, was overcome with the same disappointment of not seeing him. Something she refused to admit to anyone, not her sister, not even Joey or Taylor. She felt like a silly schoolgirl waiting for the cute guy to show up to class. This was her boss for heaven’s sake. A boss that hadn’t even wanted to hire her. A man she’d labeled a jerk.
    They’d since hired another bartender and a new cook. She watched the cook, who was not yet head chef, as he prepared his dishes. He didn’t seem very confident, at times it even seemed that his nerves got the best of him and he’d begin to panic. Really? She’d been passed up for this?
    Grace was busy making three margaritas when she glanced up and nearly spilled what she was pouring. Sal walked in wearing a black on black business suit—everything black including his tie. He looked amazing—more than amazing. Jesus, she felt like those shallow girls in her pastry class. She didn’t even realize she was gawking until Melanie nudged her. “Take a number,” she giggled, handing her a towel to clean what she’d splattered.
    Feeling her face flush she took the towel and tried sounding genuinely confused. “What do you mean?”
    “Are you kidding me? Sal gets that same reaction from all women. Isn’t he mesmerizing though? If I wasn’t already engaged, I swear I’d be all over that.”
    Grace chewed on the inside of her cheek. Something about that second statement made her feel so ridiculously insignificant. She didn’t want to get lumped in as one his groupies. So he was good looking. Big deal. She’d been around plenty of good looking guys. This was the man she worked for. It was completely inappropriate to be gaping at him that way, not to mention embarrassing as hell.
    Trying not to show her agitation about having been so obvious, she wiped her hands on a wet towel. “I don’t look at him like that.”
    “Oh really? Could’ve fooled me.”
    Grace felt her face flush again but refused to concede. “He just looks different today. That’s all.”
    “He must have a date or something.”
    A sudden heat now accompanied Grace’s flushed face. She placed the margaritas on the tray Julie had left on the counter. “Damn,” Julie said, as she walked up to take the tray. She was staring in Sal’s direction. Grace busied herself with the next order of drinks. “I wonder who the lucky girl is tonight.” Julie stood there for a moment blatantly staring his way. “Oh, here