Page 37 of A Chef's Kiss for Christmas

It was a shame he’d left before the dancing. Although her notion of him sweeping her around the dance floor was probably too wild of a fantasy, anyway. She couldn’t imagine he’d have indulged her in any slow dances, no matter how much he’d thrown himself into the role of devoted boyfriend.

He’d just reached the doorway when the waitress he’d been talking to caught up with him and grabbed at his elbow. Confusion wrinkled his brow as he turned to her, but was quickly replaced by a warm smile.

They exchanged a few words before he followed her to a nearby table. Hastily, she wrote on a notepad and tore the paper off for him. As he slipped it into his pocket, Anna’s stomach knotted tightly. Her breath caught in her throat as Warren squeezed the waitress’s arm.

As she watched him head for the door again, she registered the silence from her friends. Presumably it would be too much to hope that they hadn’t witnessed that.

Slowly, she turned back to them. All eyes were on her as she forced a smile.

“What just happe–” Dev was cut off by Frannie, who elbowed his ribs.

“Are you okay?” she asked, tilting her head.

They’d all seen, then.

“I’m fine!” Anna said, her voice overly bright. “Did you say you were going to dance?”

“We should all dance,” Kylie said, springing from her chair. “Come on?”

“I’m just going to finish my drink.” Anna pulled her glass towards her. “I’ll catch you up in a minute.” Her friends all had those pitying looks she’d been desperate to avoid. “Go on,” she said, making a shooing motion. “Liven up the party.”

Kylie gave her shoulder a squeeze, then took Dev’s arm and pulled him towards the dance floor. The rest of them followed, leaving Anna to stare at her wineglass and remind herself that Warren wasn’t really her boyfriend and she shouldn’t be upset by his interaction with the waitress.

Admittedly, it was slightly humiliating that her friends had seen it, but that was her own fault for lying to them about her relationship status.

“Come and dance,” a soft voice said, snapping her from her trance. Hayden stood with his hand out and a wealth of sympathy in his eyes.

“I’m not really in the mood.”

“That’s exactly why you should dance.” He took her hand, and she let him pull her onto the dance floor, where an increasing number of couples danced to the slow music.

It didn’t even occur to her to protest when Hayden slipped an arm around her and pulled her close. He held her other hand in his, and they swayed gently.

“Are you all right?” he asked after a moment.

“Yes.” She tried to sound perky but failed. Stupidly, she’d gotcaught up in Warren’s flirting and had blurred the line between what was real and what was pretend.

“Just because he took her number doesn’t mean he’s going to call her,” Hayden said quietly.

Anna’s eyebrows shot up. She’d assumed they’d just ignore that little incident.

“Maybe he was just being polite,” Hayden suggested.

“By taking the waitress’s number?”

He shrugged. “He might not have wanted to hurt her feelings, so just took the number. It doesn’t mean he’s intending to use it.”

“Do you think so?” Anna asked, stupidly hoping that was true.

Hayden didn’t reply, but pulled her closer, resting his cheek against her temple.

“Is it serious between the two of you?”

She gave a small shake of her head. “I don’t think so. It’s still new.”

“I’m sorry, anyway.”

She pulled back to look him in the eye. “It’s not a big deal, so you can stop looking at me like that.”