Seducing the Playboy (A Hot Nights Series Book) (Entangled Brazen) by Amanda Usen Read Free Book Online

anticipating.”
    What did she mean by that? He’d been working his ass off right beside her since he was five, trying to take some weight off her shoulders. He’d accomplished every task she’d put before him and met every goal she’d ever set. Behave? She might guard her privacy and avoid the press like the plague, but she’d often said his notoriety brought customers into the restaurant. Men wanted to be him, and women wanted to see him. Hell, free publicity for Gallagher Holdings was the reason he partied so hard in the first place.
    “I have more news,” she continued before he could protest. “Alex Banks is running the event at the Castle in Las Vegas. When she came on board, she made changes, and we weren’t told. You’re doing the dessert course.”
    “Are you kidding me? You know I can’t bake worth a crap. The menu has been set for six months and the dinner is next week. I’m doing the appetizer.” He and Alex had a history, one she wasn’t willing to let go. He bet she’d deliberately stuck him with dessert, remembering it was his weakest skill in the kitchen.
    “Not anymore. Wires must have gotten crossed somewhere. The dessert course is the only one left, and Jefferson Morgan will be there. Come up with something spectacular.” Her tone of voice told him arguing wasn’t going to change a damn thing. He was doing dessert. Deal with it.
    He took a deep breath. “Fine. Dessert. It will be spectacular,” he promised, not wanting his mother to think he couldn’t handle it even though he’d rather give her the damned money himself than make dessert for two hundred people. But she was dead set on finding an outside investor for Oasis. God forbid she make anything easy. He turned his head and felt something snap. Tingling pain shot from the center of his shoulder blade to the base of his skull. “Gotta go, Mom.” Because my head is going to explode.
    “One last thing—how’s it going at the Beach House?” Naturally, she’d want to know if he had trimmed the food costs and if they had any customers yet.
    He fought to keep resentment out of his voice. “I’ve got a plan for a new menu that will make us the biggest thing on the beach. It’s all under control. Anything else?”
    “I guess that’s it.”
    “Great.” He hung up before she could change her mind or tell him to behave again.
    Maybe Jenna could help plan the Vegas dessert before she goes home. The thought came out of nowhere, and he gave it a full thirty seconds of thought before he rejected it. Nope. No can do. What had he been thinking last night? He’d been thinking he wanted to touch her breasts. He’d been thinking he wanted to slide his fingers into her panties. He’d been thinking he wanted to spread her legs, and he still couldn’t believe he’d found the strength to stop. Even if he did need a pastry chef more than he needed his next breath, Jenna Cooper was not an option. She was too much temptation.
    And he wasn’t good enough for her. She was the type who needed romance and flowers. He was more the one-night stand, forget to call type. It wouldn’t work.
    Unless…
    He hired her, thereby making her off-limits. Roman’s father had owned the first restaurant where his mother had worked, and he’d fired her when she told him she was pregnant. She’d gotten her revenge—buying his restaurant when it was in foreclosure five years later—but the lesson had been instilled in Roman from birth. Don’t sleep where you eat. Roman didn’t have many rules, but that one was set in stone. Since everyone knew his policy, he’d have a half dozen watchdogs at the Beach House.
    And if that didn’t stop him, the thought of Cole kicking his ass across the Pacific would.
    He’d be an idiot not to hire her, especially since he’d already promised to help her with Cooper’s. Her desserts were the real deal, and she was fast. She hadn’t made the few individual items he’d been expecting for the tasting yesterday.