Personal Chef

Chapter 9

Paige was wrong.

Months passed and it was clear that Shawn had no feelings for me. I was definitely looking for signs since she'd planted the seed in my head. Any signs. Flirting, touching, anything. There was nothing.

I made a point to tell Paige just how wrong she was when we were having coffee one chilly March morning. We'd gotten to be friends, which was lovely for me.

"How are things with your pop star boss?" she asked, sipping her caramel mocha.

"Same as always. I cook; he eats."

"How's that sexual tension between the two of you?"

I rolled my eyes dramatically. "Nonexistent."

"It was there that night we hung out at his condo," she pointed out.

"Maybe. But he was drinking. He wasn't himself."

"Or he was his true self," she countered.

"Paige, you've got it all wrong. Shawn and I have a good working relationship and at most we're friends."

As much as I didn't want things to cross into friendship territory, they sort of had, but there wasn't even a hint of anything more. Becoming friends was pretty much unavoidable considering how much time we spent together. We also saw each other socially occasionally since I was still dating Ben. When we spent time together outside of my work hours, I got to know Shawn as a person, and not as my boss. This led to a more relaxed professional relationship.

Ben and I were still strictly in "dating" territory. Once or twice a week we saw each other and got along great. At the end of each date we'd kiss or make-out. We hadn't gone any further, though. This was more him than me, which confused me a bit. I sensed that he wanted to take things to the next level, but something was holding him back. That was fine with me, given my dating and sexual inexperience. He knew my history, and perhaps he was being extremely considerate because of it.

Shawn traveled to Los Angeles every three weeks or so to see Kat, so that was still going strong. She had not returned to Toronto.

Until now.

The bitch was back in town.

She was only in town on a short visit for a modeling function which they'd attended together the night before. I'd seen pictures of the gorgeous couple all over the internet. There honestly weren't two prettier people out there.

"Chelsea! How good to see you again!" she said when she happened upon me in the kitchen.

Her voice was dripping with so much fake friendliness that I almost burst out laughing.

"Nice to see you, too," I said, which was also fake, but I didn't oversell it like she had.

I prepared a healthy lunch of grilled salmon over a mixed greens salad. I knew Kat would find fault in it, but I didn't care. I hurried out as soon as I'd served them, not wanting to listen to her pick at Shawn like she was prone to do.

When I returned several hours later to start dinner, Shawn was sitting on the couch alone, a drink in his hand. I could tell right away that something was off.

This kind of situation was where I didn't like the blurred professional lines. If we had a purely business relationship, I could have started cooking and avoided him, other than saying hello. But no. We were now friends and I felt like I had to reach out to him.

"You okay?" I asked as I walked into the living room.

He looked up at me with a look of surprise, like he hadn't even heard me come in.