Page 133 of A Chef's Kiss for Christmas

Warren rubbed the back of his neck. “I lied on my CV.”

“What?” Lewis asked, squeezing his eyes closed in confusion.

“When I applied for my job, I lied on the application.”

Lewis stared at him. “That’s what you want to talk about?”

“Yes.”

“Now?After four years working for me?” He snorted in amusement and leaned back in the chair. “At this point, Iassumed we were never going to have this conversation, but if you feel the need, go ahead.”

Warren let his words sink in. “You already knew?”

“Of course I knew.”

Stunned, Warren struggled to find words. “I asked you if you’d checked my references…”

“Yeah. If I recall correctly, I told you your cooking spoke for itself. I never said I hadn’t checked your references.”

Warren’s eyes widened. “So you did check them?”

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Lewis cocked his head. “I wouldn’t employ you without speaking to your previous employers.”

“Oh my god,” Warren said, dragging his hands through his hair.

“Your former employers spoke highly of you. I was only surprised to learn that you weren’t the head chef at your last place. Or anything close.”

Warren winced. “What did he say?”

“That you were hardworking and ambitious. His main issue with you was that you were too ambitious. He said you wanted to run the place.”

“Why the heck did you hire me?”

“I liked you. Your food was far better than anyone else I’d interviewed, and I thought being overly ambitious probably wasn’t a bad quality.”

“But you knew I’d lied…”

“I thought being under-qualified would mean you’d work extra hard to impress me. Honestly, I thought you’d confess eventually, but you were great at your job and the restaurant was getting rave reviews, so I didn’t think it was a big deal. After a while, it felt irrelevant.”

Warren rested his elbows on the table and hung his head. “It never felt irrelevant to me.”

“Why did you suddenly feel the need to tell me?”

Warren huffed out a humourless laugh. “Because I’m in love with your sister. I had to tellherthe truth, which meant I had to tell you. Also, I think I just got sick of feeling like I was living a lie.”

“That seems a little dramatic. At the end of the day, you’re great at your job.”

“I always felt as though I was faking it and was waiting for the day I got found out.”

“I feel the same about the hotel,” Lewis said. “I had big aspirations to manage a hotel one day, but owning the place still feels surreal.”

“You actually have qualifications in the hotel business, though.”

“Yeah. But the hotel fell into my lap.” He shrugged. “As far as imposters go, I think we’re both doing a great job of fooling everyone. Maybe we know what we’re doing after all.”

“Maybe,” Warren conceded.

Lewis’s mouth twitched at the corners. “Did you just say you’re in love with my sister?”