ChaptetEleven
371 Words
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Dixon Hotel, Los Angeles
Emily’s POV
I turned, and froze.
The sound of his voice hit me first. Deep. Calm. Familiar. Too familiar.
Then my eyes found him.
And just like that, the air left my lungs.
It was him.
The man from that night.
For a moment, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.
But there he was, standing by the kitchen door in a dark suit, his presence commanding the entire room. The same sharp eyes. The same face I’d tried to forget all weekend.
My stomach twisted.
He was supposed to be a memory, a mistake I could lock away and never see again.
Not my boss.
Not here.
The hotel manager beside him said something about a “routine check,” but I barely heard it. My heartbeat drowned everything out.
Then the manager gestured toward me.
“Sir, that’s the new Head Pastry Chef, Miss Brown.”
For a second, he didn’t move. He just looked at me.
Like he was trying to place where he’d seen me before.
My throat went dry.
I quickly looked down, pretending to focus on the tray of desserts in front of me, but my hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
“Good,” he finally said. His voice was even, unreadable. “Carry on.”
And just like that, he turned and walked out.
But even after he left, I could still feel him. The scent of his cologne. The weight of his eyes. The pull I thought I’d left behind that night.
I tried to focus on the work in front of me, on the frosting, the orders, the chatter of the other chefs, but my mind was already spiraling.
How could this happen?
Out of all the hotels in New York… why this one?
And worse, what if he remembered?
I closed my eyes for a second, breathing out slowly, trying to calm the storm in my chest.
Because the truth was, I still remembered everything.
The way he touched me.
The way I left before sunrise, thinking I’d never see him again.
Now, he was here.
My boss.
And if he ever found out what that night really meant for me…
Everything would change.
- Writer
