Chef's Delight (Stories of Serendipity) Read Free

sorry.  Just between us, I would forgive him.”  She dropped off the drinks and left.
    Summer’s eyes popped out of her head while she craned her neck around to see who had bought the beer.  “Sorry for what?  Jessie, what happened?”
    “Nothing.  Do your shot.”
    “Seriously.  Nobody ever buys us drinks.  Who is he?”
    “No one.  Drink your shot.”
    They both drank their shots and sipped on the beers.  Summer looked at Jessica with one eye open.  “I won’t ask anymore, but if it is that really hot guy over in the corner, I’m with the waitress.  Forgive him and get in those pants!”
    Jessica looked at the guy in the corner, and sure enough, he was pretty hot.  She couldn’t be sure it was the same guy that had approached her in the dark, but she thought it might be.  It was dark, and she hadn’t been able to see any of his features.  The bar wasn’t much brighter, but she could see a tall man with sandy blonde, tousled hair, a shock of which was hanging over his forehead.  His physique was exquisite.  Her eyes swept from his face down his chest, which was hiding under a short-sleeved linen shirt that exposed ropy forearms decorated with tattoos of a tribal nature.  His jeans looked comfortably worn, and he was wearing Dock Martins on his feet.  She hadn’t seen Dock Martins in a while.  He wore them well.  And his intense stare made her body shimmer with awareness. Any other night, she would jump him, but Chad had completely put her off taking anybody home tonight.
    She tipped the beer to him in a thank you gesture.  He tipped his back at her, and smiled a crooked smile.  Jessica flushed and looked down.
    The DJ started playing another awful, top-forty song, and Summer grabbed Jessica’s wrist and dragged her onto the crowded dance floor.  They danced to the next four songs before they took a break.  Jessica went to the bar to get the next round of drinks, deciding this would be their last round.  If she had much more, she wouldn’t be able to get home, much less drop off Summer.  She managed to avoid the hot guy while she was ordering, but unfortunately, Asshole was right there next to her as soon as she got the bartender’s attention.
    “You look really good tonight, Jessie.”  Jessica did what she could to ignore him.  She was just starting to have fun tonight, and didn’t want him to kill her buzz.
    “Jessie.  Look at me.”  He grabbed her arm, and tried to turn her around to face him.
    Jessica yanked her arm out of his grasp, hitting a solid wall of muscle behind her.  “I’m sorry,” she tossed over her shoulder absently at whomever she had just hit.  “ Chad, touch me again, and I’ll slap you with a restraining order so fast you’ll get whiplash.”  She still wasn't sure if she could.  Admittedly, she was talking out of her ass, hoping he would just leave her alone.
    “Touchy.  I just want to talk to you.”  He was drunk.  He staggered back, caught himself, and grabbed the bar to stay upright.  “You wouldn’t get a restraining order against me.  Not after what all we’ve been through.”  He slurred at her.
    “After all we’ve been through, you would be lucky if a restraining order is all you’d have to deal with from me.  Please leave me alone, Chad.”  Jessica grabbed hers and Summer’s beers and turned to leave, running smack into a solid wall of muscle.  The muscle grasped her arms to keep her from falling. Chad grabbed her elbow and spun her around with so much force, she dropped one of the beers in her hand. 
    “Don’t you EVER turn your back on me.”  He spoke with a quiet fury, which reinforced the rage under the surface.
    Before she could react, a mass of white linen was between her and Chad, and all she could hear was a quiet murmur.  Then she heard Chad’s voice.
    “Look, motherfucker!  I don’t know who in the Hell you think you are, but I’m a cop, and you can’t talk to me that way.  Asshole!”
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