Tether
Author
Corinthe Davies
Reads
16.0K
Chapters
34
Maggie returns home expecting comfort, closure, and maybe a clean slate. Instead, she finds Elias, calm, magnetic, and impossible to ignore. Their connection hums with tension, built on long-buried desire and rules that beg to be broken. Elias doesn’t chase, he invites, offering Maggie a choice that feels reckless and thrilling all at once. What starts as temptation quickly becomes something deeper, darker, and strangely tender. Maggie balances independence with longing, while Elias draws her closer with quiet confidence and unspoken promises. In this charged reunion, control and surrender dance together, and Maggie must decide how far she’s willing to go.
Chapter 1: A Roman God I Knew
MAGGIE
A photograph of two middle-aged men shaking hands sat on the desk before me. They were grinning at the camera, and I stared at them from where I sat.
For the past few minutes, there had been nothing else to do. Phil, the general manager of Galvano’s, was interviewing me for a part-time bartending position.
Galvano’s was a relatively new, swanky Italian restaurant that was on the fast track for a Michelin star. The interview had been put on hold when he answered a phone call, and I was left to nervously fiddle with the cuff of my black button-up blouse.
When Phil returned to his office, he looked stressed. His black and silver thinning hair up top was glistening with sweat, and his already wrinkled forehead was deeply creased.
He did a double take, and for a second I couldn’t tell if he had forgotten I was there—or if he was surprised I hadn’t left.
“Unfortunately,” he began, and my heart sank, “I need to cut our interview short. There’s an issue with our produce supplier I have to deal with.”
I rose to my feet and pulled my purse over my shoulder. My gaze fixed on the ground as I tried to hide my disappointment.
“I understand. Thank you, anyway.”
“Can you be here this evening to shadow Michelle? She comes in at four p.m. She could show you the recipes and acclimate you to the bar area.”
My eyes snapped up. “What? You’re hiring me?”
“Yeah, let’s see if you’re a good fit with the team. So…tonight?”
I nodded emphatically, unable to hide an excited, relieved grin.
Thus far, my return to Tucson had been one long string of setbacks and mishaps. My car broke down somewhere between Seattle and Arizona, and my debit card was declined when I tried to pay for the repairs.
Calling my parents for money was an especially humbling experience, considering I was already on my way to move back in with them. It made me wonder if I was doing the wrong thing, leaving my life behind and returning to the desert city.
It was a welcome reprieve from all the rain, at least. And now? Only a few days later, I had a job again. Things were starting to look up.
Phil’s office sat at the top of a stairwell behind the restaurant’s kitchen, and I practically floated down the steps. From the base of the stairs, I glimpsed a large figure looming at the back door of the restaurant, facing an alley.
He was watching people unload crates of produce with his hands on his hips. From behind, I let myself stare—he had to be at least six feet, nothing but muscle and discipline.
The gray shirt he wore did nothing to hide it, and dark blue jeans sculpted his thighs like they had been made just for him. As if he knew he was being watched, the man slowly turned.
His eyes locked on me—dark green, unmistakably familiar. A faint brown scruff shadowed his jaw, and his cropped golden hair was longer on top, artfully swept to the side. It was like looking at a Roman god.
I almost jumped out of my skin. A Roman god I knew.
“Elias?”
His stern gaze slightly softened at the sound of his name.
“Hey, Margaret.”
Margaret? My face wanted to scrunch up. Not even my old bosses or teachers had ever called me that. It felt so…formal and distant. Besides, he had always called me Maggie when we were younger.
“Long time no see,” I laughed, feeling incredulous and confused as I looked him over in wonder.
Then again, things changed. People changed. We weren’t young kids anymore. He was thirty-three; I was twenty-nine. And the last time I saw him, he wasn’t quite so…fleshed out.
But even then, he had been my first crush, my first obsession. My first heartbreak.
“Um, what are you…” I vaguely gestured around the kitchen.
“I’m the head chef here,” he explained in a monotone. “I heard from Toby that you were coming back.”
Alarmed, I held up a palm. “Are you saying my brother asked you to hire me?”
Elias glanced away and shrugged. “Toby knew we needed a part-time bartender. And he knew you had experience. I told him to tell you to apply. That’s all.”
I squinted at him with suspicion, but Elias never caved or flinched under the pressure of my gaze.
“I’m sure Phil will at least give you a chance,” he added.
My shoulders slumped. “Oh…yeah, he’s letting me shadow Michelle tonight at the bar.”
“Congratulations, then.”
Despite the kind words, he didn’t actually sound surprised or happy for me. Which made me wonder if Elias had only made the suggestion to Toby out of obligation to his best friend. Maybe he didn’t actually want me in his restaurant.
And I couldn’t blame him for that.
“Thanks,” I replied. I should have left it at that. But my stupid heart pounded in my ears, still eager for the chance to talk. “Um, so, after you went to that culinary school in Paris…you came back here. To Tucson.”
Elias’s demeanor darkened, and the back of my neck turned sweaty. “What’s wrong with Tucson?”
“Nothing! Just saying, it’s not Paris.” I laughed.
He glanced over his shoulder out the back alley of the restaurant. “That’s a good thing,” he said. “Paris is overfilled and overdone with restaurants.”
I wouldn’t know. I had never gone farther than Seattle. “Anyway, um, it was good to see you again.” Without thinking, I stuck my hand out.
Elias glanced down at my outstretched palm. When he didn’t bother to shake it, my face reddened, and I slowly let it drop to my side.
“Sorry. I just wanted to say thanks, is all. If you had to stick your neck out for me.”
“I didn’t do anything like that. Stop apologizing.”
“Sor—” I caught myself and cleared my throat. It was a habit at this point. “Yeah. Okay.”
“I’ll be busy in the kitchen tonight, but good luck at the bar, Margaret.”
My full name again. I frowned. He was keeping this professional. That was fine.
I could keep out of his way and still do my job. I was desperate for cash, and I didn’t see anywhere else rolling out the welcome wagon for me. All I would have to do was keep to my side of the restaurant, and Elias could stay on his side.
Easy. Right?
***
“So you’ve moved back in with your parents, huh?” Michelle asked. “That’s rough.”
Almost thirty, living with my parents, single, broke, and without a career? Yeah…it wasn’t great.
We were both standing behind the bar, which was crafted from gorgeous, dark varnished wood. I could almost see my reflection in it.
Everything about Galvano’s felt expensive—from the countertops and warm pendant lighting to the endless rows of crystal bottles displayed like artwork behind us. It was a far cry from the dingy, loud sports bar where I worked through college.
“It’s not so bad,” I replied. “My brother lives across the street with his wife, and they let me hang out when I need a breather. They have a four-year-old, Kennedy. He’s a little psycho, but oh my God, he’s really cute. I’ll have to show you a picture of him later.”
I winced at myself. “Crap, sorry, I’m oversharing.”
Michelle waved a hand with amusement. “Girl, talk as much as you want. The other bartender you’re gonna meet next week, Martin? He’s old, cranky, and boring as shit. Besides…”
Eyes bright, she leaned forward. “I heard through the grapevine that you know Elias.”
My shoulders lifted. “Um, we grew up together. I haven’t spoken to him in a long while.”
“He’s pretty closed off,” she replied in agreement.
I understood her meaning. I gave Michelle a quick once-over: tall, slim, effortlessly pretty, with dark red curls and flawless makeup. A tiny silver nose piercing.
I glanced down at myself, hating my impulse to compare. I was shorter, curvier, but plain. I didn’t have nose piercings or tattoos like she and Elias did.
My brown hair had never been dyed a cool color. My nicest work shirt, the one I was wearing, had a faint mustard stain on the sleeve I had never been able to get out. Needless to say, Michelle was in a far different league than me.
“Was he like that when he was younger?” she asked.
I forced myself out of my thoughts and nodded at her question. “He’s been best friends with my brother since they were in kindergarten. And as far as I remember, he’s always been kind of…intense and serious.”
For good reason, his home life had been a complete wreck. I wasn’t about to share that with Michelle; it wasn’t my business to tell.
“Oh. Well, that makes sense, then,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
Michelle tucked some hair behind her ear as she filled a glass halfway with ice and then club soda. “He’s got this…thing in that kitchen. It all has to be perfect. Everything is pristine, organized, labeled.”
“I mean, shouldn’t a kitchen be clean?” I asked with a weak chuckle, wondering why I was rushing to his defense.
“I guess so. He intimidates a lot of the people in there. They always complain and say he’s mean or too controlling, or whatever.”
“Elias isn’t mean,” I said quickly, fully aware he was the reason I had even gotten an interview. “He’s just…particular.”
Michelle had stopped paying attention, distracted by something over my shoulder. So I followed the line of her gaze, seeing the head chef himself working diligently through the kitchen window. His long fingers bent at a slight angle against the knife blade while he chopped onions.
With the white chef’s sleeves rolled up, the corded muscle of Elias’s forearms flexed as he worked fluidly. Fascinated, I watched his precision and focus, the impossibly fast movements of his hands.
Goddamn.
I only thought it, but Michelle actually said it aloud. We were clearly on the same wavelength.
“I would be willing to forgive a lot for a guy like that,” she laughed. “I mean, I don’t wanna get treated like shit, but…he’s really talented with those fingers.” She elbowed me. “Know what I mean?”