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She barely glanced at me as she replied, “It’s Tina. I’m withDelights by Bell. We’re handling the Henderson/Garcia party, and we have a problem I’m hoping your kitchen manager can help with.”
Tito swigged more water before nodding. “We can try. What’s the deal?”
“Well….” She huffed out a sigh. “The deal is that the formerMrs.Mike Henderson crashed the rehearsal dinner, claiming that she hadeveryright to be here to watch her little baby as the flower girl. And she’s making quite a disturbance.”
Judging by the edge in Tina’s voice, it was easy to assume the soon-to-be Mrs. Henderson wasn’t happy about the former being here.
“She continues to make a spectacle of herself, screaming there’s nothing for her to eat. She says she has shellfish, gluten, and egg allergies. Are we expecting her tostarve?”
Tito blinked slowly, his expressive face saying he was still processing all of this. “She crashed the party and is mad because the buffet isn’t catering to all her allergens?”
“Bingo.” “We send out cards several weeks in advance, requesting anybody with allergens to advise us of dietary restrictions or allergies. Since she wasn’t invited, she wasn’t on the list.”
“Hoo, boy.” Tito looked around. His brow furrowed as he considered the problem. “Okay, I can have somebody throw together a salad. We can add a chicken breast. That won’t take long. I’ll send a runner over to the main kitchen to get some strawberry sorbet as a dessert.”
“She shouldn’t get any,” Tina muttered.
I smiled at that and followed Tina out the swinging doors.
She barely glanced at me.
Good thing I had a healthy ego, or it might have thrown me off.
“It seems your fire got put out fairly easily,” I said, matching her long, energetic stride.
“Yes.” I thought her short, clipped response was all she had to say, but she halted and looked me square in the eye. “I hope your employee…Shaniqua? I hope she’s okay, and I’m sorry for lecturing you earlier.”
“No need.”
Those midnight eyes were fascinating.
Taking another step closer, I watched her pupils spike, then swell until only a thin rim of blue was visible. I half-expected her to back away, but she held her ground. “I’ll tell you what…have a drink with me, and we’ll call it even.”
“Excuse me?”
“You say that a lot,” I mused. Those eyes, her mouth…the entire package was fascinating. Up close, I noticed flecks of lighter blue in her eyes, a few faint freckles on the bridge of her nose. The image of me peeling away her simple black shirt to see if I could find more adorable freckles filled my mind. I was already planning a course of action, starting with a couple of drinks.
I widened my smile. “Tina, I’d like you to join me for a drink. After your party wraps up.”
“Hm.” That faint sound as she narrowed her eyes to look me over should have warned me about the forthcoming answer.
It didn’t.
Four
Tina
The guy was luscious.
Everything about him was fine, from the warm blond hair shot through with darker strands of near-brown to his chocolate-brown eyes against his tanned skin.
Arching brows several shades darker than his hair accented his beautiful eyes and his mouth…
Wow. That mouth.
It could tempt a saint to sin, and I wasn’t a saint.
After he’d introduced himself, I’d recognized him. James Maximus—the elusive handsome billionaire known as the hotel king of Texas. Owner of this ridiculously posh hotel, as well as many others. He was the local media darling, no doubt.