Free Heat: A Bad Boy Chef Romance by Lila Moore Page A

left, I caught sight of Roche. She was pretending not to watch, but I could tell she’d seen everything from Gwen hugging me to kissing me. She looked pissed.

Beatrix
     
     
     
     
     
    “Good job, Bea,” Tyson said.
    “What?”
    I’d been distracted by the lovefest taking place in Moreau’s office. Gwen was hanging all over him. Moreau was so shameless. How could he look me straight in the eye and lie about being in a relationship with her?
    “I said, good job.”
    “Oh, thanks. Tyson, would you like to-”
    I was going to ask him to have a drink with me. I needed to drink away the day’s stress. I wondered if it was possible to get so drunk that you could completely forget about someone’s existence. I’d like to erase Moreau from my life.
    Suddenly Moreau screamed my name across the kitchen. “In my office! Now!” he ordered.
    I ran over to see what was wrong. He slammed the door shut behind me. His sleeves were rolled up to the elbow, showing off his muscular forearms. I cleared my throat.
    “Yes, chef?”
    He looked at me searchingly. I wasn’t sure what to make of his expression.
    “What were you doing out there?” he said.
    “Cleaning up and preparing for dinner service. Why? Did I do something wrong?”
    “No,” he said, sounding pissed off. “You did everything fine.”
    Was he being sarcastic? If I’d screwed up, I was oblivious to my mistake. I worked hard to make sure everything was perfect today.
    “Are you going out with him?” Moreau blurted out.
    “Excuse me?”
    “Tyson. You two have been flirting all day.”
    “Is that a problem for you if I do?”
    “Yes.”
    “Why? Just because we slept together once doesn’t mean you have some say in my life now. Besides, you have a girlfriend. You should be worried about her finding out you cheated on her.”
    Moreau ran his hands through his hair so hard I thought he was going to rip it out by the roots. “She’s not my girlfriend. How many times do I have to say it?”
    “I know you were with her last night.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “I called you,” I admitted, feeling a bit embarrassed.
    “Why did you call me?”
    “That doesn’t matter. What matters is that she answered. It was clear the two of you were in bed together.”
    “Wait, what? What the hell are you talking about?”
    “When she answered the phone she was…” I didn’t know how to describe it without sounding weird. “She sounded breathless and there was this tone to her voice… it was clear I’d interrupted the two of you while you were… you know.”
    “You think I spent last night fucking Gwen?”
    “She answered your phone.”
    “Last night after you dumped me, I headed to the bar. Gwen showed up and gave me a hard time. I was pretty drunk. I yelled at her then stormed out. I left my phone behind. Gwen picked it up. She just returned it to me now. She may have been fucking someone, but it wasn’t me.”
    I studied him closely. The story didn’t sound like a lie.
    “I don’t know why she answered my phone. Unless…” he started.
    “What?”
    “She’s jealous of you. She probably saw your name on the Caller ID and decided to answer just to fuck with you.”
    “Gwen’s jealous of me? Why?”
    “She knows I like you.” Moreau rolled his eyes like it pained him to admit this.
    “You like me?” I teased.
    “Yes. I thought that was clear when I asked you out multiple times.” I laughed. “It’s not funny.”
    “You never get rejected by women, do you?”
    “No.” He took a step towards me. “I’d like to take you out tonight. We could get a drink, then go back to your place.”
    “And then?”
    He smiled. “Say yes and you’ll find out.”
    “Gwen won’t be mad?”
    “I don’t care about Gwen.”
    A loud crash from the kitchen ruined the moment. A fire had broken out in the grill station. The chefs were desperately trying to put it out. Moreau’s jaw tensed. I could see the call to action in him. He needed to