Walk on the Wild Side Read online

  Then he shifted his focus away from her, and the switch flipped abruptly to Off.

  “We’re not hiring anyone who looks like her to work in my kitchen.”

  Mama Bennie snapped out something in Italian, which Sunny only partly caught, but the smoldering man before her curbed his tongue. His expression, however, remained heated. She didn’t think it was about hormones, though. Just as well. Sexist jerk. Probably the head chef or something. They were all temperamental. She’d figured that out at fourteen. So what if he was the embodiment of every red-blooded woman’s Italian stud fantasies?

  Just because she looked like the stereotypical blue-eyed blond WASP she was didn’t mean she couldn’t make her way here in this swarthy, testosterone-laden little world of his. She’d won over Jean Marc, who could give lessons to this guy in testosterone spewing. She’d even won over Mama Bennie. She’d win over this guy, too. After all, winning was what Chandlers did best. She wondered briefly how her grandfather would react when she told him she owed her new job to his formative training.

  So there she was, all primed and ready to do battle for blond, blue-eyed princesses everywhere, when Mama Bennie promptly took the wind out of her sails.

  “Sunny Chandler, this narrow-minded young man is my grandson Nick D’Angelo. Despite his more obvious flaws, he’s good at what he does. He’s the third-generation D’Angelo to run this whole operation.” She beamed at them both. “He’s your new boss.”

  2

  “WOULD YOU MIND waiting out in the hall?” Nick didn’t give the young woman a chance to say no. He took her arm and steered her toward the door.

  He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised when she yanked her arm free, resisting his assistance. When Mama Bennie stuck her nose in the family business, trouble always seemed to follow.

  “Thank you,” she said in that oh-so-polite tone. “But I really think, if we’re going to be working together, that we reach an understanding right off.”

  Nick scowled at Bennie’s approving smile.

  “I’ll leave you two to work out the details,” she said, slipping out before Nick could stop her. She was seventy-six and shaped like a ravioli, but she could move with amazing speed when necessary.

  Nick forced his fingers to relax on the clipboard and turned once again to face his latest entrant in the Marry Off Niccolo Sweepstakes. Mama Bennie must be getting desperate. This one wasn’t even Italian.

  “I’m sorry, but you’ve wasted your time.”

  Ms. Chandler planted her hands on her slender hips. “Do you, or do you not, wish to hire kitchen help?”

  Nick sighed heavily. “I do. But I also do the hiring. And the firing,” he added with a pointed look. “Mama Bennie means well, but I’ll be frank with you. She only gave you the job because you’re young and beautiful.”

  “Really,” she said, polished smile intact. “I promise you, I didn’t come in here expecting to get this job based on my good looks.”

  Nick folded his arms, clipboard and all. “Oh? And just what qualifications do you have? We only seat seventy-five, but we offer a full menu. I need someone with experience working a kitchen under those kinds of demands. Do you have experience with Italian cuisine? Southern? Northern?”

  His barrage of questions had been designed to make her understand in no uncertain terms exactly why he wasn’t hiring her.

  She looked deflated and defeated. He tried to ignore the twinge of guilt he felt. So what if he was a soft touch for the occasional sob story? He still wasn’t hiring her. He supposed he could let her down easy, though. He blew out a long sigh and tried on his kinder, gentler voice.

  “Listen, I have two weddings and a communion to cater in the next ten days, along with an annual street festival to prepare for. If I don’t get this order called in by three this afternoon, I’m going to have an angry mother of the bride on my hands, as well. I simply don’t have time to train anyone right now. I’m sure you’ll find something somewhere else. There are plenty of people hiring these days.”

  He thought he’d done pretty well under the circumstances, but one look at her told him she didn’t appreciate his kind and gentle routine. So much for the easy letdown.

  Somewhere between the angry mother-in-law and the no-time-to-train-you part, her chin had come up, showing off the rope of matched pearls adorning her neck, and her slender shoulders had squared beneath the designer blouse she wore. He should have gone with his original instinct and hauled her out bodily. But she was talking, and he found himself listening. Her teeth were white and straight, her lips exactly the right width and curved just so. He should have been turned completely off, as perfection rarely called to him.

  He was drawn more toward the slightly offbeat, the woman with that one crooked tooth or a smile that was a bit too wide, eyebrows a bit uneven. A woman with a bit of the Windy City or the old country in her voice. With hips a bit too wide, breasts on the luxurious side and hair…lots of hair. Thick, wavy hair made to sink his fingers into. That was the kind of woman who got his attention without even trying.

  Not this cool, blond, slim drink of imported water with a twist of lemon, please.

  And yet, he was all but hanging on her every word.

  “Actually,” she said, with just the right amount of defensive posturing, “my experience is more Continental. French cuisine. Mama Bennie agreed to give me a one-month probationary period. Surely you can give me that much of a trial. If I don’t pull my weight, you can give me the ax. Fair?”

  No, he thought, it wasn’t fair. He didn’t have time for this. And he certainly didn’t have time to figure out what it was about her that got his complete attention. He had zero time for that. Less than zero. So why in the world he opened his mouth and said, “One month. I want that in writing, so when I fire you, you won’t bring in some fancy suit and sue me,” he had no idea.

  She smiled with satisfaction, which irked him all the more. She might not have wanted to trade on her good looks, but Nick could think of no reason other than his unreliable hormones for what he’d just gone and done. She stuck out her hand, and he actually had to think about the consequences of touching her.

  He almost laughed. Damn if she hadn’t reduced him to the level of a gawky teenager, sweating out his first kiss. Only he’d never been gawky, as a teenager or any other time. He’d always been a natural with women. At twenty-eight, he could certainly handle this one.

  He took her hand and pumped it once, then let it drop. Warm. He hadn’t expected that. He’d expected cool, finely boned, impersonal. He’d gotten two out of three right, but that one wrong had been critical.

  Warm, huh? He found himself glancing into those blue eyes. Ice princess? Or blond temptress?

  He shook the thoughts from his head. She was an employee now, he reminded himself. He did have some boundaries, and that was one of them. No dating the boss.

  “So, where do I begin?” She asked expectantly.

  He cleared his throat. “There is some paperwork to fill out. Don’t you want to discuss salary?”

  It was her turn to look momentarily nonplussed. “Oh, uh, right. I suppose so, yes. I guess I assumed I’d just start out at the standard rate for new employees.” She forced a smile to cover what they both knew was a lame attempt to sound like an everyday new hire.

  Which he knew she was not.

  “So, you don’t care about the money? Why do you need this job? Really.”

  “I always care about the money,” she corrected. “It’s bred into the Chandler DNA.”

  “Chandler?” He recalled Bennie’s introduction. Sunny Chandler. Understanding dawned. “As in Chandler Enterprises?”

  “I’m related, yes. You’re not going to fire me now, are you?”

  “Why should I give this job to you instead of someone who really does need employment?”

  “There are plenty of jobs out there. No one will go jobless because you hired me. So why not? I’m available.”

  “And why is that?”
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br />   Her smile slipped a little, but she caught it on her chin, which lifted just enough to save it. “I’d rather not go into the details.”

  “You told Bennie.”

  She opened her mouth, as if to deny it, but shut it and nodded. “You can ask her if you want. I didn’t swear her to secrecy.”

  Nick swore under his breath. If Bennie considered Sunny one of her worthy causes, he’d have a hell of a time getting rid of her. “And she thinks I’m a soft touch,” he muttered.

  “I hardly think of you as a soft touch.”

  “I hired you, didn’t I?” he retorted, briefly enjoying a look of surprise, then dismay, on her face. He’d bet his last dollar she was not remotely used to being a pity case.

  “I agreed to a short trial period after which I can be fired, no questions asked. Isn’t that enough?”

  He was dying to know what was really going on here, and damned if he’d go running to Bennie to find out. One way or the other, he’d get her to spill the real reason she’d invaded his life. Right before he fired her and got back to business. “Rather argumentative for someone who wants a job here so badly.”

  He could see her grit her teeth, but she remained outwardly calm. “I’m simply being logical.”

  “Logically I should hire someone with experience.”

  “In one month, if I don’t fit the bill, you can.”

  “You’re a tough negotiator. Is that also in the Chandler DNA?”

  “You bet.” She rubbed her palms gently on her pants. Nervous? He wouldn’t have thought it of her. “Where are the papers for me to sign?”

  “Anxious?”

  She grinned at him. “I only have one month to impress the boss. I don’t plan on wasting any time.”

  Despite the chaos this escapade of hers was likely to create, his responding smile was remarkably natural and relaxed. He’d just realized she hadn’t met her co-workers yet. This might be the shortest trial period on record.

  “I’ll get to them after I finish my order. Bennie will take you to the kitchen and introduce you to the head chef. For all intents and purposes, he will be your immediate boss.” His smile spread at her look of alarm. She’d begged for this job. He wasn’t going to apologize for the working conditions. “Just consider me the CEO.”

  “The head chef…that wouldn’t be—”

  “Carlo.” He nodded. “I see you’ve already met.”

  “Not exactly.”

  Nick shouldn’t be enjoying this so much. Really. But she was so damned cool and competent. Competent—at least in her world—he had no doubt. He remembered her warm palm brushing his. The cool part was still in question.

  He reminded himself that if she walked out today, he wouldn’t go in search of the answer. She was from another world, another stratosphere, really. It wasn’t that he thought her better than himself, but there were some cultural bridges too exhausting to span just for the fun of it. He’d give this one a pass.

  “I’m not sure where Bennie is at the moment,” he said. “So why don’t I introduce you to Carlo myself.”

  “You just want to watch the fireworks,” she muttered.

  “What was that?”

  She smiled brightly at him, her eyes telling him she knew he’d heard her. “I said I can’t wait to see how all this works.” She waved a hand. “Lead on.”

  He opened the door and waved a hand of his own. “Ladies first.”

  “Don’t you mean lions?” she asked dryly.

  Nick laughed at that. “The lions generally won against the gladiators.”

  “Not the ones armed with sharp blades, they didn’t.”

  Damn if he didn’t admire her sense of humor. He didn’t give her a chance in hell of making it to the end of the day, but something had driven her to this. That softened him a bit. After all, it was only one day. “Carlo isn’t as bad as all that. His bark is worse than his bite.”

  “But he does bite,” she countered. “I thought so.” Then, with a toss of her blond lioness mane, she walked into the hall. “As long as he realizes I bite back, we’ll get along just fine.”

  Behind her, Nick’s smile faded a bit. Maybe that’s exactly what he should be afraid of.

  3

  ELEVEN HOURS LATER, Sunny collapsed into a chair outside the kitchen doors. She rested her elbows onto a table and dropped her head into her hands. “I’d rather oversee a hostile takeover than do this again.” A glass of ice water appeared in front of her. She swallowed most of it in one gulp, eyes closed in abject appreciation. She pulled off her hairnet and pushed at the straggling strands stuck to her forehead, then gazed at her savior, relieved to find it was Mama Bennie.

  Nick had hovered all night. Inevitably, she’d glance up from whatever merciless task Carlo had dictated she perform, only to find him watching her. Probably hoping she’d do something really stupid so he could fire her on the spot. But something about the way he watched her made her insides twitch. Sort of like when the skin between her shoulder blades itched and she couldn’t reach the spot to scratch it.

  “You did well in there tonight,” the older woman said with a proud nod.

  Sunny winced as she toed out of her borrowed sneakers. “I survived,” she corrected. “I think. I’m still not certain how I managed it.”

  Mama Bennie took a seat across from her and folded her arms on the table. “You managed fine.”

  Sunny didn’t want to think about the past eleven hours. Since the moment Nick had introduced her to Carlo and his staff, she felt she’d been treading water in a whirlpool. Barely.

  Mama Bennie patted her hand. “You’ll do even better tomorrow.”

  Sunny took pride in the fact that she didn’t fling herself on the floor screaming right then and there. Another night like this one and she’d crawl home over glass to her grandparents.

  Nick appeared from the back and drew out the chair at the table next to theirs. He straddled it and smiled at Sunny. The smugness in that smile made her grit her teeth, but she knew she looked like over-boiled pasta at the moment, so there was little she could say in her own defense. In his place, she’d probably be a bit smug, too.

  “Good thing we were quiet tonight,” Nick said smoothly. “Gave you a chance to break into the routine slowly.”

  Slowly! That was slowly? She downed the rest of her water.

  “She did a good job, Niccolo,” Mama Bennie said. “She’s a sharp one. She’ll learn quickly, you’ll see.” At a shout from the back, Mama Bennie excused herself and left them alone. Together.

  Sunny felt that itch again as he stared at her. She figured her night was about to get worse. How that was possible was beyond her.

  The argument with her grandfather seemed like two lifetimes ago. She’d started working this afternoon bent on proving her grandfather wrong. But after Nick’s fifth or sixth visit to the kitchen, she realized she was also doing it to prove Nick wrong. His opinion of her ability to function outside her rarefied world wasn’t much higher than Edwin’s.

  Well, her stubbornness had gotten her through one endless shift. But at that moment, she was pretty sure she’d rather eat crow in front of Nick, Edwin and the entire Chandler Enterprises board of directors than attempt to survive another shift. She opened her mouth, prepared to give him the words he wanted to hear and deal with his humiliating I told you so, but he spoke first.

  “I talked to Carlo before he left. He isn’t happy with me for hiring you at the moment.”

  She looked at him. “I did everything he asked me to do.”

  “His main concern is speed. When this place is full, we’re going to need someone who can do what is expected, do it well and not take all night to get it done.”

  A slow burn started, making her stomach jumpy and her nerves even more ragged. “I wasn’t going slow to make anyone angry. I was doing my job to the best of my abilities.”

  “Well, Carlo says he appreciates that you are a perfectionist. He understands pride in a job well done. However, washing vege
tables isn’t an art form. If you want to continue here, your speed will have to improve.”

  Sunny opened her mouth to tell him what he could do with his vegetables, clean or otherwise, but to her surprise, what came out was, “What time do I start tomorrow?”

  She took a measure of pleasure in the obvious surprise that lit his dark eyes. Good, she thought. “I didn’t graduate in the top ten in my class by giving up when the going got tough,” she said, enjoying his sudden consternation. It was likely the only reward she would get for her hard hours of labor, so she decided to enjoy it as fully as possible. “If you think that Carlo’s bullying tactics will make me run home to Granddaddy, think again.”

  Dear God, what was she saying? She was going to do this? Again?

  She looked at the frown pulling at the corners of his oh-so-incredible mouth. The same mouth that had been smiling smugly at her moments before. Yeah, she thought, that was exactly what she was doing. She made a mental note to get up in time to find some comfortable shoes, extra padded bandages for the blisters on her heels and something to securely pin up her hair.

  “Your shift starts at four,” he said tightly.

  “I’ll be here at three.” At his raised eyebrow, she added, “I will use my own time to familiarize myself better with what is expected of me.”

  “I have no time to train you. You’ll have to ask—”

  “I’ve already talked to Romano. He’s going to come in early and help me.”

  “I’ll just bet he is,” Nick muttered darkly. He shoved his chair forward and stood. “I still have paperwork to do. Use the rear employee door to come and go from now on.”

  She resisted the impulse to salute him. “Yes, sir.” He turned away, but stopped when she added, “Thank you.”

  He turned to face her. “For what?”

  “Giving me a chance,” she said sincerely. “I know you don’t understand why this is important to me, but I promise I won’t make you any sorrier than you already are for letting Mama Bennie talk you into this.”