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She pushed back in her chair.
Grimm was on his feet in a second, holding her chair as she rose.
When she stood, she leaned close to him and whispered, “I’m perfectly capable of getting out of my seat by myself.”
“I can’t risk it,” he said with his hands resting on the back of Dezi’s chair.
“Risk what?” Molly asked.
Grimm chuckled. “I don’t want to risk my family finding out I’ve been rude to the women I work with.”
“It’s not rude to let a woman rise from a table without jumping up to help, nor is it rude to let a woman open her own door,” Molly said.
Dezi’s brow dipped. “I open doors for men, as well.” Grimm gave half a smile. “I don’t discriminate.”
He grinned and pulled Dezi’s hand through the crook of his arm. “She also taught me that the way to a woman’s heart is through the dishes.”
Molly cocked an eyebrow. “Are you after my chef’s heart?”
Butterflies fluttered in Dezi’s belly.
Grimm shook his head. “No. Not at all. I’m not in the market for a heart or anything else. I just want to do my part and help out while adhering to my mother’s training where women are concerned.”
Molly’s gaze dropped to where Grimm had hooked Dezi’s hand through the crook of his arm.
Grimm frowned as if he hadn’t realized he’d been the one to place it there. He quickly disengaged and stepped back. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to take advantage of you.”
Heat filled Dezi’s cheeks. “No worries,” she said and ducked beneath his arm, heading for the kitchen, her safe place where she could pull herself together. Alone.
She pushed through the swinging door and kept going until she reached the sink. There, she took a breath and let it out slowly.
She hadn’t realized it until she was alone that standing so close to Grimm made her forget to breathe.
All through the meal, he’d sat beside her. Each time his thigh had touched hers, her breath had caught, and her pulse jumped. Now that she was away from him, she filled her lungs and willed her heart to quit racing.
The swinging door opened as someone backed through it carrying a load of dishes.
Once again, her heart raced. She recognized the sandy-blond hair and broad shoulders of the man who had her tied in knots. Unintentionally, she was sure, especially after he’d been adamant about not wanting to steal her heart.
He grinned as he carried the dishes toward her. “I’ve got KP duty if you want to call it a night.”
She shook her head, her tongue too tied to answer. Instead, she took the dishes from him and placed them in the sink.
“I’ll wash if you’ll dry,” he offered.
Finally, she was able to push air from her lungs past her vocal cords. “I’ll wash. You don’t have to stay. I’m pretty efficient, and I know you’ve been working hard. You must be exhausted. I don’t mind. It’s no problem. I don’t need help.” She went from tongue-tied to unending gibberish. Her cheeks heated as she plugged the sink, poured way too much dish soap into the large commercial sink and filled it with water.
“I’ll be back with more dishes. And, if you insist on washing, I’ll dry.” Thankfully, he was gone before she could respond.
For a few short moments, Dezi was alone in the kitchen. She tried to gather her scattered wits. How had she allowed the man to fluster her? She didn’t know him. He was just a man. A man with sandy-blond hair and ice-blue eyes. And shoulders that filled the doorway when he entered again.
He carried more dishes to the sink. Only, this time, he set them on the counter beside the sink, reached out to shut off the water and chuckled. “Are you going for a bubble bath, or do you always have this many suds when you wash dishes?”
Dezi had been so intently watching Grimm walk across the kitchen that she’d forgotten the water was still running. She turned to discover a mountain of bubbles rising above the edge of the sink. “Oh, dear.” Her cheeks burned as she dove her hands into the water, fished out the plug and let the water and suds drain to a reasonable level.
Beside her, Grimm chuckled. “Here, let me.” He stuck his hands into the sink full of suds, took the plug from her fingers and pushed it back into the drain before all the water disappeared. “I’ve been known to wash a dish or two.”
Dezi pulled her hands out of the water with suds up past her elbows and blinked. Why was her brain malfunctioning?
