After a week of doing little but maintenance, Lukas actually felt like he was finding a rhythm. Fixing windows, scrubbing off graffiti, realigning doors and even cleaning bathrooms provided a certain satisfaction. At least he didn’t have to talk to anyone other than Jed.

Lukas arrived at the kitchen, ready to tackle another set of handyman duties but Jed stopped him in tracks right after he’d finished cleaning the washrooms.

“I’m afraid they have you on dishes for the rest of the morning. We’ll see about the afternoon.”

“Dishes,” Lukas said numbly, sure he hadn’t heard right.

“That’s right. You know, washing, drying. That kind of thing.”

Lukas managed to smother a groan at the last second. What he really wanted to do was drive his fist through the wall. If there wasn’t anything worth fixing he was sure he could create a few jobs. “Dishes,” he echoed. “Seriously?”

Jed offered up a gnarled, gap toothed smile. “Oh it’s not so bad. I’ve done them myself when the kitchen is short on volunteers. Cassie is home today. All twisted up she is. Worse than me even and she’s just past fifty she is.”

Lukas could only nod. It wasn’t like he could just pack up and jump ship. Not with only a week under his belt. God, it was going to take three months working every single day to put his community service hours behind him.

“I’ll catch up with you later,” Jed promised. “Maybe this afternoon, I can invent a job. What do you say to that, eh?” He waggled his white eyebrows and Lukas couldn’t help but grin.

Jed ambled off down the hall, on his way to exactly what, Lukas wasn’t sure. He paused just long enough to curse himself once more before he stalked into the kitchen.

He didn’t ask anyone for tips or pointers. That would have been completely humiliating. The overflowing stainless steel three compartment sink with mounds of dishes was easy to spot. Fuck me. It’s an utter disaster.

If there was one thing Lukas refused to do, that was don a white apron like the rest of the staff and slam on a hairnet. He was fine in his usual black t-shirt and faded jeans.

Crates of dirty glasses had been stacked alongside the sink. The first thing he needed to do was move them in order to be able to use the sink. Underneath the crates were dirty plates. Half of them didn’t even have the leftover food scraped off.

Who the hell was in charge of dishes? Surely this couldn’t be the usual fare.

Then it hit him. Someone had deliberately left the sink like this. He’d been put on dishes for a reason. It seemed like a pretty damn spiteful one at that. Who the hell had a problem with him here? He was sure most people didn’t even know who he was. He couldn’t have offended anyone. He hadn’t said more than two words to anyone except Jed.

Lukas ground his teeth in utter frustration. He went to move the crate of dirty glasses out of the way again so he could stack plates on the edge of the sink to finally clear a working space. He couldn’t even say how it happened. He just knew one second the tray of glasses was in his hand, the next his leg caught on the leg of the three compartment sink. He overbalanced trying to right himself and nearly went down. He needed to put both hands out to catch himself which meant letting go of the tray. It went crashing to the floor. The sound of breaking glass was unmistakable.

All around the kitchen, apron clad volunteers stopped what they were doing to stare at the giant mess.

“Fuck!” Lukas ran a hand through his short blonde hair.

“Please no swearing in here.” A beautiful dark-haired woman with a voice like honey and eyes as green as Jade walked calmly into the kitchen. She looked like an angel, floating right over to Lukas. Those incredible green eyes surveyed the mess. She wasn’t a small woman but she wasn’t tall either. She was mid height with a slender build, but her gently flowing curves would tempt even a saint. Her long dark hair flowed over her shoulders and cascaded down her back in a thick, shiny mass. Her lips were incredibly full and pink. High cheekbones, a dainty nose and jawline lent her flawless face an almost otherworldly air, as though she had just stepped out of some mystical realm.

Two pink spots bloomed on her creamy skin right above her prominent cheekbones when she realized Lukas was studying her. She might have been a full foot shorter than him and slight, but the woman apparently had the courage of a lioness. Her hands planted on her slight hips.

“No swearing,” she snapped again. “It’s our policy.” Her eyes snapped back to the broken glass.

Lukas took that second to study her. She wore tight fitting skinny jeans that cupped a nicely rounded ass and gently curved hips. Her dark blue blouse was airy and slightly sheer. He could just make out the gorgeous swell of her breasts peeking out from the top of the black camisole she wore underneath. She’d paired the outfit, oddly enough, with a pair of high top canvas runners that looked more suited to skateboarding than anything. Strangely enough it seemed to compliment her outfit, not clash with it.

“You could stop staring at me and clean up this mess,” the woman said firmly. Lukas’ eyes snapped away from her shapely legs and back to her face. This time he was sure the colour on her cheeks was there from annoyance, possibly even anger. Good lord, she was beautiful, even fighting down rage.

“I’ll get a broom and clean it up,” Lukas ground out. “Right after you tell the idiot who piled everything into all the sinks and didn’t scrape any of the dishes, that there is a proper procedure for a dish pit. I have no idea what it is, I’ll freely admit that, but I’m sure as hell that this isn’t it.” His eyes scanned the kitchen. The two older women cooking whatever it was they were planning on serving for lunch, narrowed their eyes. One younger woman, probably in her early twenties, glanced away quickly. The kitchen was empty save for those three and the woman before him.

“That would be me,” she finally shoot out. “I’m the idiot who stacked all the dishes in the sink. We were terribly short of people to help clean up breakfast. I thought that even a child could deal with it but I must have been wrong.” She raised a brow in challenge.

Lukas had the strangest sensation he was being mocked. This woman clearly had a bone to pick with him but he’d never seen her in his life. He pegged her to be in her late twenties, maybe even early thirties. Certainly she was beautiful enough to have captivated his attention and he was damn sure he would have remembered her face had he ever seen her before.

“Obviously you were wrong. What you did was dangerous and is only going to create more work. You could have at least scraped the dishes into the trash before piling them up. Or did you have something to do that was more important?”

One of the elderly cooks actually giggled. Lukas’ hackles rose at the sound. What the hell did anyone find so funny about this?

The woman slowly crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh I had something to see to alright. Running this place for starters. Keeping the doors open. Balancing books, doing orders, keeping track of everyone’s hours, scheduling… should I go on?”

Oh no. Lukas realized far too late that this woman, this fiery goddess of a woman, was as good as his boss. For the next few months, she owned his ass. She could make his stay at the kitchen as damn unpleasant as she wanted to. It was already pretty clear from the way she looked at him like he was a roach she would love to squash, that she already longed to do just that. She didn’t need any more provocation.

Lukas didn’t kiss anyone’s ass. He never had and he never would, but this woman was the one who needed to sign off on his hours. The thought of having spent nine days at the stupid kitchen for nothing rankled him. He couldn’t afford to screw this up. Worse, if she chose, she could probably make trouble for him. Trouble in the form of jail time.

“Alright. I’ll get a broom and sweep it up. I’m sorry that I swore, alright?”

Jade green eyes assessed him for a long moment before the woman nodded. It was like she read his mind. “Come to my office at the end of the day. I have to sign off on your hours from your first week.”

He had the strangest impulse to touch her. To take her hand and caress it and see if that creamy skin was really as soft and tender as it looked. Her hair fell over her brow in such a way that he would love to brush it back, love to feel the heat of her searing his fingers. His gaze fell to her lips. Most of all he would enjoy tasting her mouth. He bet she was one hell of a wildcat in bed.

Lukas shook his head quickly and stuck out his hand. “I’m Lukas. Lukas Millar.” It was a stupid thing to do. His hand was left hanging in midair.

The woman took a step back like she found him repulsive. Her upper lip curled into what could almost be termed a sneer. “I know who you are,” she said. “Believe me, I know.” She turned on her heel and stalked out of the kitchen as quickly as she’d arrived.

Lukas swallowed hard, pushing down his temper and the utter humiliation he felt. Why would anyone volunteer at this godforsaken place? He stalked off to the janitorial closet to get a broom and dustpan to take care of the broken glass mess.

Just as he was rounding the corner to the kitchen he heard the voices of the two old biddies working in the kitchen nattering away.

“Our Star sure showed him. Some big hot shot lawyer he is. Never lost a case in eight years? Ha! I’d like to see him face Star in court. That winning streak would certainly be at an end.”

A cackle of laughter followed up that statement. Lukas ground his teeth so hard it was a miracle they didn’t turn into dust.

The sooner he got the hell out of this place the better. One thing was for certain, he was either going to give up drinking or his driver’s license for good. There was no way he could endure another sentence like this again.