He scratched the side of his head. “Well, yeah, but—”

“Do not but me, Flynn Cassidy. You undermined my authority in my kitchen by firing one of my staff. You let your male asshole ego take control and decided you knew what was best. I realize this is your restaurant, but we agreed this was my kitchen. And I’m pissed as hell about what you did.”

He opened his mouth to object, but then realized he’d fucked up. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I did agree to give you full control in the kitchen. If it means anything to you, my heart was in the right place. I know you have your hands full and I knew Jeff was a problem. I’m a problem solver and I thought I could fix this for you, which I now see was wrong. I apologize for stepping on your toes. And for being an asshole.”

She was standing across from him like a fierce blond warrior, her arms folded across her chest as if she was ready to do battle with him. But then her shoulders relaxed—a little.

“Okay. I appreciate the apology. But don’t ever do that again. Just because we had sex doesn’t mean you get to make all the decisions for me.”

Flynn heard someone clearing their throat behind him. He turned around to find Mia standing by the door.

“Sorry. Went looking for you and someone said they thought you and Amelia were outside. So, you two are dating, huh? Or are you just having sex?”

Well, shit.

Flynn turned back to Amelia, giving her a pained smile. “Amelia, I’d like to introduce you to my sister, Mia.”

ELEVEN

Amelia gaped at the gorgeous dark-haired young woman who was looking at her with a smile on her face.

She was still pissed off at Flynn, so her emotions were running a little hot. And now she was confused as well. She dragged her attention back to Flynn.

“Wait. What? This is your sister?”

“Yeah. I meant to tell you I was bringing her by but I didn’t have the chance.”

“Obviously. And now I need to get back to the kitchen. Oh, and hi, Mia. It’s very nice to meet you. I’m so sorry you had to witness me yelling at your brother.”

“Oh, it’s not a problem. I very much enjoyed it. Dinner was awesome, by the way.”

Her anger somewhat subsiding, she smiled at Mia. “Thank you.”

Amelia headed toward the door, with Mia following.

“You should come by the house when you get off work,” Mia said. “I’d love to spend some time getting to know you, seeing as how you’re having sex with my brother.”

“Mia, knock it off,” Flynn said.

Amelia laughed, though she was cringing inwardly. “Sorry you had to hear that part, too.”

“I’m not. This is a new side to my brother and I’m intrigued. I’ll be in town for a week and I’d love to see you. Will you be around?”

She paused just inside the door. “I suppose I will, providing your brother doesn’t fire me for calling him an asshole.”

“Not firing you.”

“Good. Now I have to go. See you later, Mia.”

Mia wiggled her fingers. “Later, Amelia.”

Amelia headed back to the kitchen, mortified about her behavior. Not toward Flynn, of course. He’d had it coming. But to do it in front of his sister?

Yikes. That had been unfortunate. But she couldn’t take it back so she’d have to figure out how to deal with it.

Later.

She washed her hands and got back to work. Fortunately, the rest of the night was as busy as the beginning had been, and for that she was grateful. Diving full speed into work was the best way to not dwell on problems. They’d already hired another prep cook to replace Jeff, and the new one was working out great, so tonight’s dinner service had flowed smoothly.

Not that she had helped much, because after her altercation with Flynn, she’d felt . . . scattered. She hadn’t seen him since he’d dropped her off at her house after she’d spent the night with him a week ago. He’d called her and texted her, but he’d had to leave town because of a road game, and they hadn’t really . . . connected. And she’d been so angry with him after he fired Jeff, which had left her feeling out of sorts in so many ways. She’d wanted to see him in person and talk to him about that.

She’d ended up watching his game on TV on Thursday night. He’d looked really good. No surprise there. But now that she’d seen him naked, there was an underlying heat to the way she viewed him and she found that kind of disconcerting.

“Amelia.”

She snapped her attention to Tony, one of the cooks. “Sorry. Yes?”

“We’re all cleared out here. Is there anything else you need us to do?”

She looked around, doing a mental check off. “No. It looks great. Thanks for another good night, everyone.”

She really had to get her head back in the game and off of Flynn. This job was her priority, and he was way too distracting.

She drove home and immediately kicked off her shoes once inside the front door. She changed into yoga pants and a long-sleeved Henley, headed right into the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of pinot grigio and poured herself a full glass.

She dug her phone out of her purse and checked her messages. There was one from Laura asking her to call. It was after eleven, so she decided to wait until tomorrow. Maybe they could have lunch since Amelia had the day off tomorrow.

The next message was from Flynn.

Text me when you get home.

She arched a brow. That was rather commanding of him, wasn’t it? Not a request or a “Hey, if you’re not busy, could you text me?” kind of thing.