Raine's phone buzzed while she was folding laundry in the small living room, the old TV playing reruns with the volume down low. She snatched it up quickly, heart skipping a beat when she saw the name:
Nick Montgomery.
She answered, trying not to sound too breathless. "Hello?"
"Raine," Nick's voice came through, smooth and professional, but there was a bite to it today. "We need to talk about the notes."
She blinked. "The notes?"
"The ones you keep leaving on the kitchen counter. Every single day. Like it's a high school lunchbox."
Raine straightened up, defensive. "Those notes are instructions. It's important Mr. Vaughn knows what's in the food, what's freshly made, what needs reheating, what I recommend for tomorrow's meal—"
"He's not reading them," Nick cut in, sighing. "He's annoyed."
"Well, maybe he'd be less annoyed if he tried saying thank you sometime."
There was a pause on the line. Raine could almost hear the exact moment Nick pinched the bridge of his nose.
"He doesn't want the notes, Raine."
"Well, I'm not going to let him eat raw lamb because he can't figure out the oven settings!" she snapped.
Another beat of silence.
Then Nick said dryly, "It's up to you, honestly. Leave the notes. Leave him a five-page essay. Leave a haiku. But don't come crying when he fires you."
Raine bit the inside of her cheek. "He's not even met me."
"Exactly," Nick replied. "And yet you're still managing to annoy him. That's a skill, you know."
She rolled her eyes. "Are you calling just to scold me, or is there something else?"
Nick chuckled, low and amused now. "No. That was it. Just your daily dose of corporate reality. Carry on, Chef."
He hung up before she could come up with a proper comeback.
Raine stared at the phone for a moment, her jaw tense, then tossed it onto the couch cushion beside her. She felt heat rising to her cheeks—not entirely from anger. There was something about Nick's voice when it went dry and teasing like that. Something that made her skin prickle.
She flopped back onto the couch and muttered, "I'm not annoying."
But the memory of Nick's smirk the last time he'd looked at her wouldn't leave her alone.