Eggplant Highlights and Mustard Yellow Jeans

Chapter 1 “Guess who just walked in?” No! Seth’s breath hitched as Karlee burst into the storeroom, her eyes twinkling as she spilled the news. “Today? He never comes on a Tuesday,” Seth hissed, smoothing down his unruly hair with his hand. “Oh, please…you look great. Just get out there and help him,” she ordered, a smile playing at her lips. “I can’t. The purple is too bright. I can’t go out there looking like Barney,” he insisted. Why was this happening today? “I just had to get the highlights yesterday,” he groaned, momentarily dropping his head into his hands. “My hair hasn’t had time to…adjust.” Karlee rolled her eyes and put her hand on her hip. “Quit being so dramatic, Seth. He’s been coming here for months. He’s seen your hair transform from green to electric blue to that unfortunate pink debacle that we shall never speak of again.” She chuckled as he blanched. “Purple shouldn’t surprise him.” “Don’t remind me,” Seth warned as he moved to stand in front of the oval mirror hanging on the wall next to the door. He eyed his reflection and tried again to smooth down his thick raven hair. Maybe the purple wasn’t so bad. This time he’d gone for an edgier cut and liked it. Short and close to the scalp on the sides and back, but leaving the top long enough to fall forward, fanning the purple highlights as they fell across his forehead. Karlee cleared her throat. “Okay, this is ridiculous. As your friend, I’m telling you to quit worrying and get out there. As your boss, I’m telling you to get the f**k out there and help, Barney!” Seth snorted and flipped her off as he pushed through the door, entering the store. Her laughter followed him, and if he’d had time, he would have gone back to flip her off again. His eyes swept the small shop and landed on the man of his dreams. s**t, he was wearing that sexy black leather jacket that made him look even hotter than he already was. His honey brown hair was tousled and he was wearing at least a couple days’ worth of stubble. Seth’s heart pounded hard and he felt the pulse all the way to his toes. He shook himself and inhaled deeply, trying to steady himself before he fixed a smile on his face and strode over to help. “Hi,” Seth said, his voice entirely too loud for the otherwise-empty store. “Today’s not Thursday,” he blurted, heat filling his cheeks instantly. Way to go, i***t! The gorgeous man checking out the new pasta maker they’d just had shipped in turned to gaze at him, his eyebrows raised. “You’re right,” he conceded, his sky blue eyes sparkling as he took in Seth’s new look. Seth wanted to glance away—hide his humiliation—but he didn’t have enough willpower. Whenever he was in this guy’s presence, it was as if he forgot how to breathe. Seth knew practically nothing about him—not even his name—other than he liked to purchase high-end and unique kitchen tools, and always paid in cash. “I heard this had arrived and I had to see it for myself,” he said, sweeping his gaze back to the pasta maker. “It is definitely a thing of beauty,” he added, his hand caressing it in a way that made Seth suddenly wish he was an appliance. Seth quickly moved into sales mode. Karlee would never forgive him if he lost a sale because of his hormones. “I agree with you on that. This is made of chrome-plated steel and includes a lot of extras.” He stepped closer to the pasta maker, pointing at an attachment. “Even comes with a ravioli tray with a depth made for anything.” “I’ve been reading up on it and was hoping it would be available in America soon.” He side-eyed Seth as he shot him a sly smile. “When I saw it had arrived at your store, I nearly passed out I was so excited.” Seth felt himself blush as thoughts of seeing him excited for a variety of other reasons ran through his head. “Are you interested? In the…pasta maker…I mean.” Crap. Why do I always get tongue-tied around this guy? “Yes, I definitely want this,” he said, grinning at Seth. “I feel like a kid at Christmas.” Seth beamed back. “That’s great. I’ll go pull one from the back room and meet you at the register.” He waved toward the checkout counter. The guy nodded and Seth hurried toward the storeroom, heaving a sigh as soon as he was safe behind the door. “Well?” Karlee asked. “He’s buying the new pasta maker.” “Seriously? Oh, wow!” She bounced on the balls of her feet and quietly squealed. Seth laughed. For someone only four feet, eleven inches, Karlee could raise the rafters if she wanted. Quiet was not usually her thing. Hell, even her hair was loud—a red that would rival anyone’s. She had the personality to pull it off, though. But with her delicate features, dimples, porcelain skin, and a smattering of freckles across her upturned nose, it was easy to get the wrong impression. Most people thought she was demure and sweet—until she spoke and shattered that image all to hell. He grabbed one of the new pasta makers from a middle shelf and shifted it so he could carry it with his arms underneath. These things were heavier than he remembered from unloading them in the storeroom. “You going to grow some balls and ask him out?” Seth would have flipped her off again if his hands hadn’t been full, but he settled with shooting her a patented look-of-death that only made her cackle. It was a good thing they’d been friends since childhood and he loved her fiercely or he would have been pissed. He turned and pushed open the swinging door with his hip, then stuck his tongue out at her. Karlee just laughed louder. “Mature.” Seth rolled his eyes and concentrated on carrying the heavy pasta maker, but by the time he got to the counter, his arms felt like jelly and he knew he was close to dropping it. “Here, let me help,” the sexy man offered, coming around the counter and lifting it from Seth’s arms as if it were made of feathers. Seth stared at the muscles that flexed through the leather jacket and licked his lips. He watched as the guy settled the box onto the counter and walked back around to face him. When Seth raised his eyes to look into his face, his breath caught. Those blue eyes were looking back at him, expectantly. Fuck. What am I doing again? Oh, yeah. My job. “Um, cash again?” The guy leaned across the counter. “No, Seth, I think I’m going to put this on my Visa today.” Seth’s heart slammed against his ribs at the mention of his name coming from those gorgeous lips. “How-how did you…know my name?” A slow grin spread across the man’s face as he reached across the counter and tapped Seth’s name tag with his index finger. Seth felt his face heat and tried to cover his embarrassment with a cough. “Seth. Seth Robinson, actually.” The guy only chuckled and leaned even closer. “This is new,” he whispered, bringing up his fingers and toying with Seth’s bangs for a second. Seth’s eyes widened. “Um, yeah. Yesterday.” He shivered at the soft touch. “Purple,” he added needlessly. Dream-guy shook his head. “Eggplant,” he countered, letting the strands fall through his fingers before dropping his hand. Seth furrowed his brow. “Eggplant?” He nodded. “I’m a chef. My life is food so I tend to look at colors from a food point of view. So to me, those look like eggplant highlights,” he explained, his eyes on Seth’s. Seth c****d his head and looked him up and down as he thought about that. “So your jeans would be called ‘mustard yellow’?” Dream-guy pulled away from the counter, looked down, and laughed. “Exactly!” His eyes danced as he pulled his wallet from his back pocket and slipped out a credit card, passing it to Seth. “Interesting that you noticed my jeans rather than my blue shirt.” He winked. Seth felt the heat in his cheeks again. Blueberry. Well, he wanted to say that, but he was too excited to look at the card and learn the guy’s name. Chris Berger. Dream-guy is Chris Berger. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from shouting as he rang up the sale and handed back the credit card. “Thank you for shopping at Karlee’s Kitchen Essentials, Chris.” Chris picked up the box and took the receipt. “Thanks. See you Thursday,” he said with another wink. Seth tried not to gawk as he watched Chris walk out of the shop and into the sunshine, but damn, those mustard yellow jeans wrapped around an ass that Seth wanted to bite. Chris turned to flash him a knowing grin, clearly aware that Seth had been ogling his ass. Seth’s entire body flushed. But he kept his eyes on Chris until he couldn’t see him anymore. Karlee finally popped out of the back room and scanned the store. “He’s gone?” Seth nodded. “And I know his name,” he told her in a rush. “Chris Berger. Isn’t that a perfect name?” She rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Oh, God, am I going to get any work out of you today?”