31
‘Morning, Chef,’ Shane said cheerfully as Aidan walked into the kitchen the next morning.
‘Morning,’ Aidan croaked.
‘How’s the head this morning?’
Aidan scowled at him. ‘Banging.’ He closed his eyes and sighed. Why had he thought it was a good idea to drink so much on a Monday night? He was thirty-four years old, for goodness’ sake. He should know better by now. When was he going to learn? ‘And what right have you got to look so bright and bushy-tailed?’
‘The advantage of youth.’ Shane grinned.
‘Ugh. Make me a coffee, would you?’
‘Yes, Chef.’
‘And keep them coming, please.’
‘Well, at least you’ve nothing else to regret,’ Shane said, folding his arms and leaning against the counter when he’d made Aidan a triple espresso.
Aidan sipped the coffee and winced. It was strong and bitter and he spluttered a cough. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, you were all over Lou last night.’
‘Oh God,’ Aidan groaned. ‘Was I?’
‘You don’t remember?’
‘Not really. Vaguely.’ He had hazy flashbacks to moments, but mainly from earlier in the evening. He remembered how gorgeous she’d looked, though. ‘How bad was I?’
Shane shrugged. ‘On a scale of one to ten for appropriate boss behaviour towards an employee, I’d say you went up to eleven.’
‘Oh, Christ. But we didn’t… nothing actually happened, right?’ Surely he’d remember if he’d kissed her. And she definitely hadn’t come home with him.
‘No, you just flirted your arse off with her. And you were a bit touchy-feely when you were dancing with her, and in the cab.’
‘So no actual lines were crossed.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t say that,’ Shane said, his lips twitching. He was enjoying this way too much for Aidan’s liking. ‘You did invite her back to your place. You were coming on pretty strong.’
Aidan groaned, putting a hand to his forehead. ‘I guess she was pretty drunk as well, though,’ he said hopefully. With any luck she’d have forgotten the details too.
Shane shrugged. ‘Not as drunk as you were. But you can ask her yourself,’ he said softly as they heard the outer door opening.
Lou breezed into the kitchen moments later, shrugging into her chef’s jacket.
‘Morning, Lou,’ Shane said. ‘Head okay this morning?’
‘It wasn’t great when I first woke up, but it’s fine now. You?’ She smiled at them both.
‘Mine’s fine, but Aidan’s the worse for wear.’
‘Great party, though,’ she said cheerfully, buttoning her jacket.
‘Yeah.’
‘I don’t remember much about it,’ Aidan said.
‘Really?’ Lou gave him a hard look, her demeanour completely changing from when she’d been talking to Shane.
‘Just bits. I drank way too much. Anyway, enough chit-chat.’ He clapped his hands together in a businesslike way. ‘Lou, can you get on with prepping prawns for the ravioli.’
‘Yes, Chef,’ she said stiffly, sounding like she was gritting her teeth.
She was like that all morning, businesslike and polite but cold and offhand with him, while she had smiles and friendly words for everyone else. He’d clearly pissed her off with his antics last night and she had the hump with him for coming on to her. Which was understandable. It was out of order. A few glasses of champagne and he’d turned into one of those creepy bosses who perved on the staff.
He felt like he was walking on eggshells with her all morning. She didn’t even thaw when he told her she’d done a great job, lavishing praise on the lobster sauce she’d made for the turbot. When he’d told her it was perfect, she’d just snapped ‘I know’, angrily, and thrown a teaspoon into the sink with such force that it bounced straight back out again. He didn’t even have the nerve to admonish her when she used a real swear word after burning her hand on a pot.
He couldn’t work like this. The whole team was on edge and he felt Shane, Ian and Ingrid eyeing him cautiously whenever he spoke to Lou, obviously sensing something was off and anticipating fireworks. He was going to have to say something – apologise for his behaviour and clear the air between them, so they could all get back to normal.
