Page 17 of Dirty Hearts

Ten years ago…

“Luc, look at that girl,” came a deep voice from the table to my left.

He pretended to whisper, but I think he meant for me to hear him.

I glanced over my shoulder at the two guys sitting at the table.

They’d come in an hour ago. Gino, the maître ‘d, had served them.

They’d ordered from the special list. It was the most expensive food we made at the Delizioso. Pa designed the menu for his VIP customers.

These guys both looked VIP.

They were both Hollywood gorgeous, both had the chiseled features and muscles on muscles. The kind of guys Marissa and I would call magazine guys and swoon over.

You could tell they were brothers. They looked a lot alike physically and in their mannerisms too. The one who was talking about me, however, had long hair that ran down to his back. Long black hair that made him look too pretty for a man.

Then there were his eyes. Striking. One blue, the other brown.

I’d never seen that before.

He looked at me directly, giving me a look so scandalous my whole body blushed.

“Excuse me, can we place our order?” said the woman at the table I was supposed to be tending to.

When I returned my focus to hers, she looked annoyed at me. She had really big puffy eyes that reminded me of a frog and an even puffier face that looked like it hadn’t smiled in a while. The neat up-do she’d fixed her gray hair in reminded me of my high school librarian, Mrs. Chase. That woman was strict, but even she could crack a smile every once in a while.

I blinked a few times and straightened. “I’m so sorry. What would you like?” I gave her my best smile.

She grimaced and shuffled in the chair, which creaked under her weight. “I’d love the calamari to start with and the beef lasagna from the lunch menu.”

“Sure.” I wrote her order down on my little pad. “Anything else?”

“A glass of pinot noir.”

“Got it.” I offered up another smile and moved back to the kitchen. As I took each step, eyes bore into me. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the guy looking at me.

Feeling another blush, I looked away. I’m sure Pa would have my head if he caught me flirting with his customers.

I hated waitressing. I would have much rather preferred to be in the kitchen. That was what I’d thought I’d be doing. I’d waited a long time for my parents to even allow me to work here.

Every year, they took on an apprentice, and that apprentice had to have at least completed two years study at college.

They had the same stipulation for me, didn’t matter that I was their daughter. I was in the middle of my senior year at Brown University and this was my first shot at proving myself. The idea was for me to work the daytime shift during term breaks. Right from the restaurant opened until three when the staff for the evening shift took over.

I was definitely hoping for more of a cooking work experience though. Pa, however, said waitressing came with the whole package. A chef didn’t just have to know how to cook, they had to mingle with their customers and get to know them. I kind of would rather not.

I wasn’t exactly a people person. Not by a long shot. Marissa was that for both of us. We might have come from the same egg, wore the same face, and were identical in many ways, but she was definitely the more outgoing twin.

I’d bet if she were here now, Mr. Gorgeous and his equally gorgeous brother would have been looking at her. Not me.

Me, the shy wallflower.

Marissa was in Florida with her friends. She’d be home in a few days, and I’d get the full rundown of her adventures.

“Ava, let Gino take over from you with Mrs. Archer,” Pa said the minute I stepped into the kitchen. “I want you to finish up the order for the guys on table four. Find out if they need anything else.”

I bit the inside of my lip. Table four was the holder of Mr. Gorgeous.