Free Bad Boys of Red Hook [2] You're the One by Robin Kaye Page B

probably wasn’t used to the way things were done at the Crow’s Nest. Pop thought of everyone involved as family, and Logan had fallen back into the fold over the last month. Going to one of the crew’s apartments wasn’t unusual. Hell, he’d already made friends with most of the staff. It was pretty obvious that Skye had never worked in a family-run restaurant. It had taken him a while to cool down enough to look at the situation from her point of view. She hadn’t been rude—just cautious. She was alone in an unfamiliar city—maybe for the first time—and was in a new apartment with a strange man who was twice her size. That would make any woman a little nervous.
    That morning he’d been determined to respect her boundaries, and was relieved when at the meeting with the kitchen staff she was relaxed, in charge, and friendly. Within a few minutes, she’d put everyone at ease. She talked about her style of cooking and her expectations. She seemed tough but fair, and spent more time smiling than not. He’d been impressed.
    Pepperoni met him at the door with the remnants of a light pink lacy bra in her mouth. Logan bent to pet the little scrap of a dog and swiped the bra. “What have you gotten into?” The apartment was strewn with shoes and clothing. He doubted Skye left the mess. “Why didn’t she put you in your crate, you little monster?” He tossedone of Pepperoni’s bones into the crate and locked the puppy in as soon as her butt crossed the threshold. “There you go.”
    He picked up a shoe the dog had gnawed the heel off. “Damn, Skye’s not going to be happy with you when she finds this.” He turned the slingback over and blew out a breath when he saw they were Manolo Blahniks. He didn’t know much about women’s shoes, but these were the kind of shoes Payton wore, and she didn’t wear anything on her feet that cost less than a grand. What was a woman making forty-five thousand a year doing wearing that kind of footwear? He looked at the puppy, then stared at the shoe. “You’ll be lucky if Skye doesn’t turn you into next week’s special. It’s a good thing she’s already taken her knives to work.”
    He picked up Skye’s slightly wet, mostly gnawed, and barely there unmentionables and placed them on the bed, noting that her taste in lingerie was as expensive as her shoes. Shit, she’d been there less than twenty-four hours and the room already smelled like her—he’d recognize whatever her scent was anywhere. It wasn’t something out of a bottle. It was a little sweet, a little earthy, and a whole lot sexy with a hint of puppy.
    He backed out of her bedroom and grabbed the tiramisu, wondering how he was going to break the news of the mess to Skye. Maybe he’d tell her after a full bottle of wine and the port.

C HAPTER 6
    Skye ran through the dining room on her way to the kitchen after her lunch break. She had taken her first paycheck from the Crow’s Nest out for a spin and had found great buys at the local thrift store. Unfortunately, the only place she’d been able to afford to shop wasn’t her usual haunt—Nordstrom. Heck, she didn’t even know if they had Nordies in New York, but then she’d never found a pair of Jones New York slacks for a dollar before either.
    She held her bags in front of her and wove her way through the tables, smiling at some of the customers she recognized.
    Her first week and a half at her new job had been a success. She and her kitchen staff were getting into the swing of working together. Harrison had finally realized his X-ray vision was on the fritz and stopped staring at her boobs, and Randy and Travis stopped fighting over the waitress they both wanted to date. Of course, all it took to keep Randy and Travis from a fight in the back alley was a look from Logan. She’d been about to jump into the fray when he appeared out of nowhere and, with one well-placed sexy-as-sinraised eyebrow, had the boys cowering.
    Think of the devil. Logan