It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

a beeline for me, sidestepping around a waiter who is walking back into the
kitchen with an empty tray.
“Hey. Everything okay?”
“It’s fine. Allysa decided to keep Emmy for the night, so I thought I’d stop
by.”
Atlas smiles hopefully. “Is she keeping her for the whole night?” There’s a
flicker of flirtation in his eyes.
I nod.
“Hot behind!” someone yells from behind me. Hot behind? My eyes
widen just as Atlas pulls us out of the way of a waiter carrying a tray of food.
“Kitchen slang,” he says. “Means you’re in the way of hot food.”
“Oh.”
Atlas laughs, and then looks over his shoulder at all the plates he’s falling
behind on. “Give me about twenty minutes to get us caught up?”
“Of course. I didn’t come here to ask you to leave early. I thought I could
watch you work for a while; it’s kind of fun.”
Atlas points to a metal counter. “Sit there. It’s the best view, and you
won’t get knocked over. Gets pretty busy back here. Be done soon.” He lifts
my chin and bends to kiss me, then he backs away and returns to what he was
doing before I walked in.
I take a seat on the counter and pull up my legs, crossing them so that I’m
completely out of the way. I notice a few of the employees stealing glances at
me, which makes me somewhat uncomfortable. Out of all the people back
here right now, I’ve only met Darin, so I have no idea who any of them are. I
do wonder what they’re thinking of the random girl Atlas just kissed who is
now watching them work.
I don’t know if Atlas normally brings women around, but I get the feeling
he doesn’t. Everyone is looking at me like this is an anomaly.
Darin comes over to greet me as soon as he gets a chance. He gives me a
quick hug and says, “Good to see you again, Lily. You still hustling
unassuming poker players?”
I laugh. “Not for a while now. Do you guys still have your poker nights?”
He shakes his head. “Nah, we’re too busy now that Atlas has both
restaurants. It was difficult finding a night we could all meet up.”
“That’s a shame. Are you working here now?”
“Not officially. Atlas wanted to see how I work with the menu here; he’s
thinking of promoting me to head chef.” He leans in and smiles. “He said he