“What was that?”
She smiled brightly at him, her eyes telling him she knew he’d heard her. “I said I can’t wait to see how all this works.” She waved a hand. “Lead on.”
He opened the door and waved a hand of his own. “Ladies first.”
“Don’t you mean lions?” she asked dryly.
Nick laughed at that. “The lions generally won against the gladiators.”
“Not the ones armed with sharp blades, they didn’t.”
Damn if he didn’t admire her sense of humor. He didn’t give her a chance in hell of making it to the end of the day, but something had driven her to this. That softened him a bit. After all, it was only one day. “Carlo isn’t as bad as all that. His bark is worse than his bite.”
“But he does bite,” she countered. “I thought so.” Then, with a toss of her blond lioness mane, she walked into the hall. “As long as he realizes I bite back, we’ll get along just fine.”
Behind her, Nick’s smile faded a bit. Maybe that’s exactly what he should be afraid of.
3
ELEVEN HOURS LATER, Sunny collapsed into a chair outside the kitchen doors. She rested her elbows onto a table and dropped her head into her hands. “I’d rather oversee a hostile takeover than do this again.” A glass of ice water appeared in front of her. She swallowed most of it in one gulp, eyes closed in abject appreciation. She pulled off her hairnet and pushed at the straggling strands stuck to her forehead, then gazed at her savior, relieved to find it was Mama Bennie.
Nick had hovered all night. Inevitably, she’d glance up from whatever merciless task Carlo had dictated she perform, only to find him watching her. Probably hoping she’d do something really stupid so he could fire her on the spot. But something about the way he watched her made her insides twitch. Sort of like when the skin between her shoulder blades itched and she couldn’t reach the spot to scratch it.
“You did well in there tonight,” the older woman said with a proud nod.
Sunny winced as she toed out of her borrowed sneakers. “I survived,” she corrected. “I think. I’m still not certain how I managed it.”
Mama Bennie took a seat across from her and folded her arms on the table. “You managed fine.”
Sunny didn’t want to think about the past eleven hours. Since the moment Nick had introduced her to Carlo and his staff, she felt she’d been treading water in a whirlpool. Barely.
Mama Bennie patted her hand. “You’ll do even better tomorrow.”
Sunny took pride in the fact that she didn’t fling herself on the floor screaming right then and there. Another night like this one and she’d crawl home over glass to her grandparents.
Nick appeared from the back and drew out the chair at the table next to theirs. He straddled it and smiled at Sunny. The smugness in that smile made her grit her teeth, but she knew she looked like over-boiled pasta at the moment, so there was little she could say in her own defense. In his place, she’d probably be a bit smug, too.
“Good thing we were quiet tonight,” Nick said smoothly. “Gave you a chance to break into the routine slowly.”
Slowly! That was slowly? She downed the rest of her water.
“She did a good job, Niccolo,” Mama Bennie said. “She’s a sharp one. She’ll learn quickly, you’ll see.” At a shout from the back, Mama Bennie excused herself and left them alone. Together.
Sunny felt that itch again as he stared at her. She figured her night was about to get worse. How that was possible was beyond her.
The argument with her grandfather seemed like two lifetimes ago. She’d started working this afternoon bent on proving her grandfather wrong. But after Nick’s fifth or sixth visit to the kitchen, she realized she was also doing it to prove Nick wrong. His opinion of her ability to function outside her rarefied world wasn’t much higher than Edwin’s.
Well, her stubbornness had gotten her through one endless shift. But at that moment, she was pretty sure she’d rather eat crow in front of Nick, Edwin and the entire Chandler Enterprises board of directors than attempt to survive another shift. She opened her mouth, prepared to give him the words he wanted to hear and deal with his humiliating I told you so, but he spoke first.
“I talked to Carlo before he left. He isn’t happy with me for hiring you at the moment.”
She looked at him. “I did everything he asked me to do.”
“His main concern is speed. When this place is full, we’re going to need someone who can do what is expected, do it well and not take all night to get it done.”
A slow burn started, making her stomach jumpy and her nerves even more ragged. “I wasn’t going slow to make anyone angry. I was doing my job to the best of my abilities.”
“Well, Carlo says he appreciates that you are a perfectionist. He understands pride in a job well done. However, washing vegetables isn’t an art form. If you want to continue here, your speed will have to improve.”
Sunny opened her mouth to tell him what he could do with his vegetables, clean or otherwise, but to her surprise, what came out was, “What time do I start tomorrow?”
She took a measure of pleasure in the obvious surprise that lit his dark eyes. Good, she thought. “I didn’t graduate in the top ten in my class by giving up when the going got tough,” she said, enjoying his sudden consternation. It was likely the only reward she would get for her hard hours of labor, so she decided to enjoy it as fully as possible. “If you think that Carlo’s bullying tactics will make me run home to Granddaddy, think again.”
Dear God, what was she saying? She was going to do this? Again?
She looked at the frown pulling at the corners of his oh-so-incredible mouth. The same mouth that had been smiling smugly at her moments before. Yeah, she thought, that was exactly what she was doing. She made a mental note to get up in time to find some comfortable shoes, extra padded bandages for the blisters on her heels and something to securely pin up her hair.
“Your shift starts at four,” he said tightly.
“I’ll be here at three.” At his raised eyebrow, she added, “I will use my own time to familiarize myself better with what is expected of me.”
“I have no time to train you. You’ll have to ask—”
“I’ve already talked to Romano. He’s going to come in early and help me.”
“I’ll just bet he is,” Nick muttered darkly. He shoved his chair forward and stood. “I still have paperwork to do. Use the rear employee door to come and go from now on.”
She resisted the impulse to salute him. “Yes, sir.” He turned away, but stopped when she added, “Thank you.”
He turned to face her. “For what?”
“Giving me a chance,” she said sincerely. “I know you don’t understand why this is important to me, but I promise I won’t make you any sorrier than you already are for letting Mama Bennie talk you into this.”
His stiff posture relaxed a fraction. “It won’t be the last time I do something foolish because she wants me to.”
“I’ll make Mama Bennie proud.” And you, she thought, then rapidly backtracked. What he thought of her wasn’t important. “You’re lucky to have a grandmother who loves you so much.”
He looked at her. “You say that as if you don’t have the same. Your grandmother would be…” He paused, then said, “Frances. Frances Chandler.” He laughed. “Don’t look so startled. I may not have the fancy degree, but