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distracted her, and she wasn’t watching her knife blade. She knocked her hand against one of the steel racks on her left and dropped her knife. She pulled her finger to her eye after emitting a small yelp of pain.
    How stupid. Such an amateur, she thought to herself. A rookie mistake. She probably looked like a fool, but instead of irritation, Joseph came around to her side of the counter and grabbed her hand from her. His nearness made her heart race. She inhaled his scent. It enveloped her like a glove and she tried to pull her hand out of his grasp. It was too much. It made that bolt of electricity she had felt go haywire. “I’m fine. Really. Just a nick,” she stated looking down at the small cut. It was bleeding slightly, but it was just a small nick. She would bandage it, and wear gloves to keep the bandage in place.
    But Joseph would not let go of her hand. She felt the heat of his body flush against her side, and the heat emanating off of him had a bead of sweat trickle down between her breasts. She felt herself getting wet. It had her reeling with a wave of dizziness that shocked her. She leaned towards him without meaning too. It was a pull she tried to fight.
    “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, voice full of concern, feeling her body sway next to his. He hoped she wouldn’t faint at the sight of her own blood, though he liked the thought of holding her if she collapsed more than he wanted to admit. “Not afraid of a little blood are you?” he tried to tease her.
    The teasing didn’t have the desired effect. In fact, it seemed to make her angry.
    “No,” she snapped, yanking her hand out of his reach. “Please. I can take care of this. And I need to get to work. We have a pace we need to keep here.” She hadn’t wanted to snap, but several more of the kitchen staff were now watching with more than mild curiosity. Some seemed quite amused at her expense. Ugh, this would be fodder for the rumor mills for days, if not weeks, if she didn’t put an end to this soon.
    Sensing her mood had shifted once more, he decided to retreat for now. But he wasn’t surrendering. He wasn’t done with Miss Diamante. Not by a long shot. Though he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with her. “Okay, if you’re sure.” He attempted to make it teasing, to lighten the mood. He had been so very affected by her proximity. “I’ll leave you be. For now.” He couldn’t help adding that last part. Her brown eyes snapped to his, widening once more at his choice of words. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips. And he couldn’t stop himself if he tried. “I meant that. For now.” He cocked his head to the side and gave her his most wicked grin. “I’d like to take you out for a drink,” he offered stepping back to watch her reaction to this offer. To watch her body language.
    Woah , this man, didn’t let up . He was full of surprises tonight. She stumbled for the words. “I, um,” she turned on a faucet to stall, and let her knuckle where she had nicked it be soothed by the water and to clean out the cut. Had he just asked her out? “I’m pretty, um,” she’d been about to say busy, but he interrupted her.
    “Yes, yes you are. That’s why I asked you out.” He was grinning like a school boy. Really putting on the charm, and she found herself smiling back. It was infectious.
    She felt the blush rise in her cheeks. Oh God, the two girls cleaning counters across from her were giving her thumbs up signs and winking. She wanted to crawl under her butcher block. “Um, well yeah. Um, that might be nice. But I’m pretty busy too.” She managed to squeak out the words trying to push back her initial reaction to jump at the opportunity. It had been forever since she had gone out with a guy even if it was just for drinks. Over two years, in fact.
    “Okay, well I’ll call you then,” he gave her one more winning smile and nodded over at the binder she had indicated earlier. And with a little wave, he