“Are you looking for a second job?” Patrick asked, his lips quirking. Although the rest of Luke’s crew didn’t know exactly what was going on with the upstairs of the building, Luke had been curious enough (or maybe just controlling enough) to want to know and had agreed to sign a non-disclosure just so he could. They hadn’t had much interaction with him, but based on the little bit of conversation both Patrick and Michael generally liked the guy, especially since he hadn’t freaked out when he’d been clued into their plans for upstairs.

He’d seemed more intrigued than anything.

“Not for me, but my brother Nick is a Sous Chef at Eva’s,” Luke said, heading over to the booth. Michael raised his eyebrows. Eva’s was one of the top restaurants in the city; some of his theater friends still served there.

Patrick immediately scooted over to make room for him, which would put Patrick between Luke and Michael and keep Luke from looking down on them as he talked. Michael scrubbed his hand over his mouth to hide his amusement at Patrick’s subtle power manipulations, but he knew the other man saw it anyway. Fortunately, Luke either didn’t notice or didn’t mind, he slid right into the booth in the space Patrick had opened up for him.

“So he’s looking to be an Executive Chef?” Patrick prompted, folding his hands in front of him and zeroing in on Luke.

The other man nodded. “He’s been at Eva’s for about ten years now, been the sous chef for two of those. While he loves working there, he really wants to be able to make his own stuff. The Exec there lets him do some dishes, but my brother’s ambitious. He’s also picky about where he goes; I think a new place he could shape from the ground up would appeal to him in a way other offers haven’t.” A proud smile flashed across his face. “And I have no doubt he’d be happy to sign a non-disclosure. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up wanting to be a member.”

Michael and Patrick exchanged a look, and Patrick gave Michael a nod, giving him both his approval and final decision.

“Ask if he’s interested and tell him about the non-disclosure,” Michael said. “If he is, we can set up a tasting and go from there. No promises obviously, but if he’s working at Eva’s, I’m sure his food will be great. Hopefully our personalities will get along.”

“And he’ll have to get along with Olivia,” Patrick murmured.

Yeah... Michael had a lot of experience working in the restaurant industry from when he was younger. Executive Chefs could be very abrasive. Something Olivia would definitely not tolerate, although hopefully as long as they didn’t step on each other’s toes...