Here Comes Trouble (5 page)

He pulled off his sunglasses and hooked them in the pocket of his white T-shirt. How could a plain, cotton shirt threaten to make her babble like a two-year-old?

“It’s such a beautiful day out. Why are you spending your day off indoors?”

She eyed the envelope in his hands. “I was actually just getting ready to leave.”

One corner of his mouth twitched. “Liar.”

How does he know? Maybe he pays more attention to me than I thought.
Her only response was a closed-lipped smile.

He thrust the plain envelope at her. “Here.” The sexy hint of a grin disappeared, leaving his ruggedly handsome face impassive.

Lacy didn’t accept. Chase hadn’t made a habit of giving her presents, except her nicknames. She wasn’t any more excited to accept the envelope than she had his cutesy monikers.

“It’s not a rattlesnake, Lace,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “Just take it.”

Only mild curiosity compelled her to take the envelope from his big, tanned hands. Feeling Chase’s eyes on her, Lacy slid the flap open and pulled out a check. A check made out to her for twenty-thousand dollars.

Holy hell
. She’d always prided herself on being a quick thinker on her feet. This time her brain failed to offer her any kind of intelligent response. Her heart did a little jig up to her throat. She had to pull a deep breath into her lungs to keep from hyperventilating. The little check fluttered as her hand shook from disbelief and shock. Unable to look Chase in the eye, she managed to shove the check back in the envelope. “No way.”
 
She held it out to him, but he didn’t take it back.

Independence had always been her first defense in her screwy world. From an early age, she’d learned to take care of herself. Accepting help from a man who’d gone from being her nemesis to the object of her fantasies put her into an uncomfortable position. While his generous offer would solve her problems, it took away something she’d always worked so hard to keep. Not even when forced would she allow Chase to be that person. He already had a power over her she hadn’t been willing to admit.

“What’re your other options?” In her foggy brain, his voice came from far away even though he stood entirely too close.

The scratched wood floor, as well as her bare feet, remained the focus of her attention. “I don’t know, but I told you I’ll figure it out.” She shoved the envelope harder, crumpling it against his chest, which felt like tempered steel. “Please just take this back.”

“Why? Afraid you’ll owe me something?”

Chase probably meant his words to be a joke, but they hit way too close to home. She didn’t want to owe him, or anyone, anything.

His warm hand wrapped around hers, the one holding his gift, and pulled it away from his chest. The other hand tipped her chin up. “Lacy, this is not open for debate. You need it and I want you to have it.” His intense blue gaze stared into hers. “Just take the check and say ‘thank you, Chase.’”

Her hand remained in his firm grip, and she couldn’t force her eyes away from his. “I don’t want this,” she whispered.

The same disarming half-smile returned. “I know.”

“Where did you even get this much money?”

His broad shoulders lifted in a shrug. “I’ve invested well.” They stared at each other for a few seconds, then he placed one palm behind his ear as if listening for something. “I’m waiting…”

She smiled despite herself. Chase did have a magical ability to coax a grin out of her. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, breathe a sigh of relief and do what you need to do with it.” He rocked forward on the balls of his feet. “So, what’re you working on right now anyway?”

Lacy folded the check in half and stuck in her back pocket. “I was sorting through Ray’s stuff, but that got old really fast.”

“And now?”

Why was he so curious about her schedule? Lacy didn’t tell many people about her love for drawing, and Chase was definitely one of those people who didn’t know. Telling him would bring him too much into her private life. Best to keep him at an arm’s length.

She attempted nonchalance by shrugging her shoulders. “Right now, nothing.”

The man in front of her, so big he practically consumed all the space around her, nodded his head. He looked at her in that way of his; like he saw down into her soul. How did he do that? How could one man make her so unsure if she wanted him or hated him?

“I gotta run,” he said abruptly as he stepped around her and slid his sunglasses back on.

He’d made it halfway out the door when she stopped him. “Wait a minute.” For Pete’s sake, the man had just given her twenty-thousand dollars of his own money. Shouldn’t she at least offer him something? Out of a nervous habit, Lacy licked her lips. “Would you like some coffee or maybe a soda?”

Coffee or soda? Is that the best you can do?

Thankfully his piercing blue eyes were hidden by his dark sunglasses. Somehow she’d made him smile; a slow I’m-going-to-give-you-the-best-orgasm-of-your-life smile. Lacy almost whimpered.

“Be careful, Miss Taylor. You might actually start to like me.”

The door shut with a soft click behind him, but Lacy could have sworn she heard him laugh.

****

Dennis had yet to show his face in Lacy’s neck of the woods. He was probably skulking in the shadows somewhere, waiting for the opportune time to hit her up for money. Even if she did have money to spare, she’d rather burn it than see it in Dennis’ hands.

She picked up the last of the dirty plates from the empty table, only to knock one of the glasses on the plush carpet. Some of the leftover liquid splashed on her beat up boots. Wonderful. Thinking about Dennis made her spill ice-tea on her one and only pair of work shoes.

Why the man continued to annoy her thoughts with his presence, she’d yet to figure out. He certainly wasn’t worth the pains that flared up in her chest. Years of having him appear when she least expected had her on edge. He knew she still lived in Ray’s house. Would anything stop him from showing up on her doorstep? Or forcing his way in? Dennis had never been physical with her, even when drunk. Thankfully she still had the detective’s card in case he came sniffing around.

The armful of dishes she’d gathered from the empty table barely made it, without tipping over, to the kitchen where she dumped them in one of the bins to be washed. Usually the busboy did all the clearing. Tonight was an especially busy night so to speed things along, Lacy did the clearing for him.

“Andrew,” she called to the lanky sixteen-year-old boy. “Tables six and seven need to be cleared.”

The boy, who already had a bin-full of dirty dishes he’d dumped in the sink, grabbed the rag out of his waistband and ran it in the water.

“I think the entire town of Trouble is dining out tonight.” Sarah, a recent high school graduate, grumbled as she waited for some entrees.

Henry, who double-checked every single dish before exiting the kitchen, busily wiped the edges of the white plates for any stray sauces. Once satisfied the plates shone to perfection, he placed them in front of Sarah.

She looked at the three plates and pulled her thin, dark brows together. “I’m missing a
Wellington
, Chef.”

Henry straightened and turned. “Larry, how much longer on that Wellington?”

The noise of the kitchen made it hard for anyone to have a normal conversation and Henry had to shout to be heard. Add the heat that made Lacy’s hair stick to her neck, and the kitchen was a pretty miserable place to be.

Larry, who frantically shifted pots around on the nine-burner stove, glanced at the head chef. “I need two minutes on that
Wellington
, Chef.”

Henry jabbed a finger at Larry. “Make it one.”

“Yes, Chef.”

No one dared talk back to Henry. Everyone knew how deceiving his calm demeanor could be. When he gave an order, his cooks were expected to listen.

Henry turned around and inspected more dishes. “They’re going to have to wait one more minute.” One of the rules of McDermott’s was all the patrons got their dishes at the same time.

A heavy sigh radiated from Sarah. Lacy had just about turned around to the kitchen door when Sarah said, “Have you seen Chase tonight?”

Lacy glanced at the younger girl. She was a cute girl, in a preppy, cheerleader sort of way. Her shiny, dark hair, pulled back in a high ponytail, always swung side to side when she walked. “No, why?”

She shook her head. “Boy, is he in a bad mood. About an hour ago, I asked him if we had anymore Pinot Grigio. He practically bit my head off.”

It wasn’t like Chase to snap at his waitresses. “What did he say?”

Sarah turned and glanced at Larry’s progress, impatient for her Beef Wellington. “One of my customers ordered a bottle of it. But when I went to get it from the wine cooler, there wasn’t any left. So I asked Chase if he knew what had happened to it. He just shook his head and said I needed to tell the customers to order something else. He’s had this thunderous look on his face ever since.”

Lacy wasn’t sure what to say to that. Maybe Chase hadn’t realized they had just run out of the Pinot. Stuff like that rarely happened, though. She’d only caught glimpses of him tonight, and she hadn’t been looking at his face. Fortunately for her, none of her customers had wanted any Pinot Grigio. Lacy and Chase normally didn’t engage in deep conversations during work, anyway. Most of the time they were snarky remarks from him and a retort from her.
 
They had a complex relationship Lacy had yet to figure out.

“Anyway,” Sarah continued as the Beef Wellington was finally placed in front of Henry to inspect. “For some reason Mr. M. is hanging around. I think that’s part of the reason Chase is on edge. Just a word of caution, though.” Sarah placed the dishes on her tray. “If you want a stress-free evening, steer clear of Chase.” She turned on her heel and sashayed out of the kitchen, her ponytail swinging.

Heck, Lacy didn’t need a nineteen-year-old cheerleader to tell her that. Unfortunately, she couldn’t manage to stay away from him.

She headed back out to the dining room to check on her diners and noticed her two cleared tables now had people at them. The two-topper had an elderly couple who’d placed their menus down and sipped from their water glasses. Lacy took that as a sign they wanted to order. After taking care of both tables, she fed the orders into the machine, surreptitiously peering about for Chase. He wasn’t on the floor, and after Sarah’s warning Lacy’s suspicions were piqued. During business hours, he was almost always on the floor.

The dining room buzzed with energy with the clinking of glasses and murmur of soft voices. McDermott’s was always full, keeping Lacy on her toes and making the evening fly by. She enjoyed what she did, even if the pay wasn’t that great. With a glance around, she noticed a man at table three drumming his fingers on the white tablecloth. The people had yet to receive the Veal Osso Buco Ravioli appetizer they’d ordered. Not wanting an irate diner on her hands, Lacy went to the kitchen to harass the cooks.

“Henry, I need the veal ravioli for table three. They’re getting antsy.”

The head chef didn’t even glance up from inspecting the dishes. “It’s coming, it’s coming.” He turned his head and shouted to be heard over the noise of the kitchen. “Suzanne, I need a time for that Osso Buco app.”

“Uh, Chef.” Suzanne, the cook assigned to the appetizer station, approached Henry with a nervous ringing of her hands. Suzanne had always been a twitchy cook. “I was just in the fridge to get the spinach to sauté it and I noticed there isn’t any.”

Henry jerked around to face Suzanne, who stood like a woman waiting for her execution. “How the hell can we be out of spinach?” He glanced at his sports watch. “It’s only seven-fifteen.”

Suzanne sputtered and looked around. “I-I don’t know. The dish is ready, I just need the spinach.”

“Ah, shit!” Henry, in a rare show of outrage, slammed a dish on the counter, breaking it in three sections.

Lacy backed up a step, more to avoid shards of glass than Henry’s temper.

“Just plate the damn dish and bring it here,” he barked out and Suzanne rushed away to her station. Henry turned his irate glare on Lacy. “You’re just going to have to apologize and tell them there’s no spinach. How the hell are we out of spinach?” he asked fiercely again.

Poor Henry. Lacy didn’t have an answer for him. It wasn’t her job to check the supplies. Being the General Manager, Chase was in charge of that. She only had to deliver the food that was ordered. Was Chase slacking on his duties? Was that why his father hung around? No, that couldn’t be the reason. Chase might have been a lot of things, but a slacker he was not. No one at the restaurant worked harder than Chase. McDermott’s didn’t often run out of food in the middle of a dinner service, but it wasn’t completely unheard of. Maybe they were just having a bad run tonight.

Even though she told herself that, something nagged at the back of her mind. Could they have a dishonest employee on their hands? She did a quick inventory of all the staff yet, couldn’t come up with anyone who would steal from the restaurant. But appearances could be deceiving. Just because someone didn’t seem dishonest didn’t mean they weren’t.