Rox kept checking in on the dining room. Mark said he was having some friends over to the bar tonight, but he hadn’t said they were going to be seriously hot. She raced around the kitchen, manning most of the stations, since Mark hadn’t been able to find many people who’d work for the wages he’d been able to offer. She was happy for any amount of pay, so it seemed to be working out for both of them. Checking on the chocolate lava cakes in the oven, pulled them out, sniffing in that wonderful chocolatey smell and plated them.

These weren’t all the recipes she loved, hell they weren’t even recipes she liked, but they were the same recipes that had been served at the bar since Mark’s dad owned it. But with the desserts, she could try her hand at things she liked. Mark’s parents had died when he was younger, so she was happy to cook things to made him feel closer to them. Plus, he’d given her this chance to run her own kitchen when she’d have been lucky to find a bar back position, so she wasn’t going to screw things up by making waves.

The faded and sauce-splattered recipe cards he’d given her on her first day were committed to memory. She’d made changes where she could, but he hadn’t paid her to be a chef, he’d paid her to cook the recipes his family had made in this place. So what if some of them tasted like plastic? She’d grin and bear it to get paid and help Mark live his dream when it came to preserving this place.

She’d bring up some menu changes to him soon, especially when he was talking about maybe revamping the whole place and going in a new direction. That news piqued her interest and she’d been working on recipes in her spare time to present to him. With business slow as always, Rox had no trouble working as cook and server, especially on a Tuesday night with no customers, except her boss and his friends.

Plus, their latest server quit on them just yesterday. Apparently, abysmal tips were not enough to keep a server on the job, even in LA, where servers were a dime a dozen. She grabbed the dessert plates off the pass and walked them out to Mark, Liam, and Lucas, balanced on her arms. She wanted to get these out fast because the quicker they finished, the quicker she could get to sleep. Getting to curl up in her nice comfy bed and maybe go over a few recipes sounded great after an entire day of being on her feet.

Normally, she would have had one of the other guys in the back take the plates out, but they were already cleaning up. Who was she to get in the way of their fun? Plus, she liked to see how people enjoyed her food. Being back in the kitchen, she didn’t get that chance often.

“Mark, you’ve got to get a new cook in this place. These dishes are so dated, I feel like I’ve been transported back to the ‘80s. What is this?” he’d said, lifting the bread on his patty melt. Rox cringed, she hated making those things, but Mark loved them. Her grip on the plates slipped a bit as her step faltered and her palms got clammy.

“Shut up, it’s good stuff!” Mark said, taking a big bite of his and talking with his mouth full. She shook her head and smiled. He was always the picture of gentlemanly manners. “This was one of my favorites my mom used to make.”

“Tastes like burnt rubber,” Liam mumbled under his breath, but she still heard it. She always heard everything he said, no matter how much she wanted to ignore him. Her stomach dropped, the urge to run back into the kitchen nearly overwhelming. But she straightened her back and pressed on.

“I think it’s pretty good,” said Lucas, Liam’s twin, taking another bite. While they both had the same strong chin, straight nose, and chocolate brown eyes, it was easy to tell them apart because Lucas was a tailored suit kind of guy, whereas Liam was more of a hoodie and leather jacket type. Being a leather jacket type herself, she would have been instantly attracted to him, if he hadn’t been shit-talking her food. It was such a shame that terrible taste in food was wasted on such a smoking hot guy. When she’d first laid eyes on him, she couldn’t keep the dopey grin off her face, but it had been permanently replaced with a scowl after his review of her food. He’d been in a few times before and the stomach flutters had always been in full force. And she kicked herself for the way her heart panged when she looked at him because she could never let herself like someone who didn’t appreciate what she did in the kitchen.

“Whatever, it’s not that great,” Liam said, a few crumbs on the sides of his mouth, sticking to his perfectly formed lips. She shook her head. Screw Liam and screw his bad taste in food! Was it the best recipe ever? No, but she did her best to make it taste as good as possible.

She slammed the plate down in front of Liam and he had the good grace to look at least a little embarrassed she may have overheard them. Yeah, she did, asshole. She gently placed the plates of chocolate molten lava cake with a lavender glaze in front of Mark and Lucas. Mark’s parents hadn’t been big on the desserts, so she loved surprising him with those. While she wasn’t a baker or pastry chef, she’d learned as much as she could, since this was the only place she could flex her creative culinary muscles.

That night had cemented her relationship with Liam. Anytime he was around her he was friendly, maybe even flirty, but he always had a remark under his breath about her food. Game over!