Triple Diamonds (Mystic Nights #2)(10)
Jewel’s heart hammered in her chest. She hadn’t been expecting that at all. She remembered that night, and how guarded he had been. She had to admit it had looked bad, but she had explained her actions and he had seemed to accept them. It was something she had been doing since she started working here. Louis had asked her to take over the chore because of her proximity to the food bank. “Um, yeah. The inventory is kept in a white binder. It is hanging over there by the telephone.” He glanced towards the binder, hanging exactly where she said it would be. He’d known that, but had wanted to gauge her reaction. Other than a slight flaring of her nostrils, she had answered smoothly and without delay. He gave her a quick nod, and began to turn. But her voice stopped him. “Louis is very careful to not over order. But sometimes we do. We don’t always know how many of the customers will be eating in, or where exactly in the casino they will choose to eat.”
He gave her a stunning megawatt smile that she was sure had charmed many panties off of many women. She felt slightly dizzy and knew if she spent any time with him alone, she would be stripping hers off in less than ten seconds. God, he was just too handsome for words. But she wouldn’t be doing it for her own kitchen. She just wanted to. Period. The man was as hot as they came.
Joseph saw the girl gaze at him with interest though she tried to mask it. He saw the signs. Her eyes sliding quickly down his body. Her nostrils flared. But he also noticed how quick she had come to the defense of her boss. She was loyal. He liked that. “Of course. That’s understandable. I’m sure it’s hard to predict how much you’ll need. But with the recent thefts, and overages, and merchandise loss we have had, we are just cracking down a bit, and making sure everything matches up before we begin signing the new purchase orders.”
He watched her reaction. He saw her swallow. Hard. “Oh, I didn’t know there was a problem.” She knew it was dumb before she said it, because it happened all the time. People took a bit home, not realizing each and every little theft added up. But she hadn’t realized it was such a huge problem was what she meant to say.
His smile evaporated with her words. “Theft is always a problem in a place this size.” Jewel felt uncomfortable under his inspection, she couldn’t explain it. This man ran hot one minute and cold the next. He unnerved her. There was just no other way to describe it. Her attraction to the man, and the dreams she had of him recently, were one of the reasons. And then there was the fact that she felt a slight twinge of guilt too. She sometimes took a few vegetables out of each crate to bring home before dropping them off the rest at the pantry. She vowed to herself to not do that again. She herself was a client at the food pantry, but she would now wait to take the items from them from now on.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she mumbled lamely as she pushed the pile of beans out of her way and began to finely chop the onions also sitting on her work station. Her discomfort distracted her, and she wasn’t watching her knife blade. She knocked her hand against one of the steel racks on her left and dropped her knife. She pulled her finger to her eye after emitting a small yelp of pain.
How stupid. Such an amateur, she thought to herself. A rookie mistake. She probably looked like a fool, but instead of irritation, Joseph came around to her side of the counter and grabbed her hand from her. His nearness made her heart race. She inhaled his scent. It enveloped her like a glove and she tried to pull her hand out of his grasp. It was too much. It made that bolt of electricity she had felt go haywire. “I’m fine. Really. Just a nick,” she stated looking down at the small cut. It was bleeding slightly, but it was just a small nick. She would bandage it, and wear gloves to keep the bandage in place.
But Joseph would not let go of her hand. She felt the heat of his body flush against her side, and the heat emanating off of him had a bead of sweat trickle down between her breasts. She felt herself getting wet. It had her reeling with a wave of dizziness that shocked her. She leaned towards him without meaning too. It was a pull she tried to fight.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, voice full of concern, feeling her body sway next to his. He hoped she wouldn’t faint at the sight of her own blood, though he liked the thought of holding her if she collapsed more than he wanted to admit. “Not afraid of a little blood are you?” he tried to tease her.
The teasing didn’t have the desired effect. In fact, it seemed to make her angry.
“No,” she snapped, yanking her hand out of his reach. “Please. I can take care of this. And I need to get to work. We have a pace we need to keep here.” She hadn’t wanted to snap, but several more of the kitchen staff were now watching with more than mild curiosity. Some seemed quite amused at her expense. Ugh, this would be fodder for the rumor mills for days, if not weeks, if she didn’t put an end to this soon.
Sensing her mood had shifted once more, he decided to retreat for now. But he wasn’t surrendering. He wasn’t done with Miss Diamante. Not by a long shot. Though he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with her. “Okay, if you’re sure.” He attempted to make it teasing, to lighten the mood. He had been so very affected by her proximity. “I’ll leave you be. For now.” He couldn’t help adding that last part. Her brown eyes snapped to his, widening once more at his choice of words. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips. And he couldn’t stop himself if he tried. “I meant that. For now.” He cocked his head to the side and gave her his most wicked grin. “I’d like to take you out for a drink,” he offered stepping back to watch her reaction to this offer. To watch her body language.