Steamed (Steamed #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

me
beautiful. It made me feel sexy.
    “A whiskey girl, I'm impressed. I didn't take you for a hard
liquor girl.”
    “Well maybe that's because you don't know anything about me.
I am partial to wine, but this is not the place for wine.” I winked at him.
    “No it is not.” He said looking at me intensely. He only
broke his gaze so that he could order us the drinks.
    I watched as he talked to the bartender. They high-fived and
Link put in our drink order. The bartender was quick and efficient, which I
liked to see in the food industry. The business was only as good as the people
that helped make it run properly. If your staff was useless you were doomed.
    He handed me my drink and I took a sip. “Delicious, thank
you.”
    “Anytime.” He smiled. It looked like he had a standard rye
and ginger, which I knew a lot of guys tended to drink. It was a no-nonsense
kind of drink.
    “So tell me something Gemma...”
    “Yes?” I asked curious. I took another sip of my drink,
enjoying it immensely. There was just something rough about whiskey that made
you feel like you were a complete badass for drinking it, especially if you
were a woman. There weren't too many female whiskey drinkers out there.
    “What kind of lawyer are you really?”
    I almost spit out my drink when he asked. Oh god, what was I
going to say? I didn't know anything about being a lawyer. I didn't even know
what cool lawyers did…probably corporate work but then why would I have
anything to do with someone in the restaurant business? Ugh! I could just about
kill Jared for getting me into that mess.
    I blanched. “Well actually, it's sort of -”
    “Gemma?” He said while chuckling.
    “Uh...yes?”
    “I know you're not a lawyer. I also know that you are
Jared's sister.”
    “Oh thank god,” I breathed out with relief. I wasn't
disappointed at all that the flimsy charade of mine was over. It had been a
rather pathetic attempt to say the least.
    He chuckled, “Excuse me?” He was surprised that I hadn't
even tried to fight it.
    “I was getting a little tired of that ruse.”
    “Is that right?”
    “Yup. But how did you know? I thought I had pulled off a
rather convincing lawyer impression.”
    He smiled, “Oh I don't deny that at all. You really gave it
to me there.”
    I grinned; I liked that he was playing with me. “So how did
you know then?”
    “Well I think your brother forgets that I used to work for
him and that he has a gorgeous sister that not one of his staff could ignore
even if they wanted to.”
    It was my turn to say, “Excuse me?”
    “I saw you coming and going many times when I worked there
as a chef. We all knew you were his sister and you're pretty hard to forget.”
    I blushed deeply. “I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't
notice you. I could have sworn I knew all his staff.” How did I not notice
Link, especially if he had obviously seen me at some point?
    He laughed, “No one ever notices the kitchen staff, so don't
feel bad.”
    I shrugged sheepishly. But it was time to get straightforward
with Link. “So now that you know my real identity, do you want to explain to me
why you would steal Jared's recipe and then sell it to a food manufacturer?
It's pretty low.” I took a sip of my whiskey and waited to hear his side of the
story.
    His brow furrowed, “What are you talking about?”
    “Jared told me that when you left you took one of his secret
recipes and then sold it. He said that’s where you got the money for your new
restaurant.”
    “You have to be joking.”
    “No, I'm not. I'm willing to hear your side of the story
though.”
    “My side? I didn't steal anything Gemma, I can promise you
that. Your brother is lying to you. That was my secret recipe. And yes I did
use it a few times while I worked for him but it was not his recipe, he didn't
own it. So when I left I was taking my own recipe, not his. I wasn't about to
leave it there for someone else to use. He just didn't like the fact that I
owned