Chapter Thirteen
“So, you aren’t able to start until the middle of September?” Toni asked the woman sitting on the opposite side of her desk. Jazmine Walker was her name. She came with restaurant management experience, a sunny personality, and claimed to fall in love with Toni’s diner on the spot.
“That’s right. I’m locked into something until just after Labor Day. Then I’ll be moving here from Arizona.”
Toni’s heart sank. She needed someone to begin August twentieth. School resumed the Tuesday after Labor Day and she planned to return to Chicago before the end of August so she had time to get back into guidance counselor mode. That meant her replacement would have to be trained starting around mid-August.
Not possible for Jazmine, who happened to be the best of the six people she’d interviewed that week. Still no manager and no buyer for the diner. Her commercial realtor had brought a developer by who was interested in the diner, only to inform Toni he planned to gut the building and turn it into a Starbucks.
Over Toni’s dead body.
She realized she may have been having some inflated separation anxiety when it came to the restaurant. It shouldn’t matter what the new owners planned to do. Once Toni left, she wouldn’t be coming back. There wouldn’t be anything left for her in Townsend. But with each passing day, she admittedly grew a little more attached to the diner, her staff, the mountains, and the townspeople.
But not to a sexy biker. No, she refused to allow herself to grow attached to him.
With a heavy sigh, she closed the notebook she’d written the answers to her questions in. “I’ll be honest with you, Jazmine.” She propped her elbows on the desk and rested her chin on her folded hands. “I want you to manage the diner. I think you’d be absolutely perfect for the position. But I need someone to start earlier, and I’m not sure how permanent the position even is, since I’m selling it.”
Jazmine wrung her hands in her lap and nodded. “The second part is fine. I’m kind of going into nomad mode and just plan to stay as long as I’m needed. But unfortunately, my start date is not flexible, so while I’m sad to lose the opportunity, I completely understand if you have to pass me by.”
Maybe Shell would be willing to run things for a few weeks. Just until Jazmine could get there. Shell didn’t want the job for the long term—Toni had actually offered it to her before interviewing anyone—but maybe she’d be willing for a short time.
“I’d like to think about it for a bit, see if I can figure a few things out. Would that work for you?”
Jazmine’s face lit up. She was a few years older than Toni, closing in on thirty, and had dark brown hair in the cutest pixie cut. “That would definitely work for me.” She rose and extended her hand. “Thank you so much for your time, Toni. I look forward to hearing from you.”
Toni shook her hand and started to stand.
“Don’t get up. I can show myself out.”
“Sounds good. Have a safe trip back to Arizona.”
After the door to her office closed behind Jazmine, Toni slouched in her chair and sighed. The diner would be closing in the next hour, and it would be safe for her to leave the office she’d admittedly been hiding in for the past three days.
Hiding like the chicken shit she was.
Hiding because Zach had eaten at the diner each of those days.
And Toni was avoiding him with a capital A. Still a mess of mixed emotions, embarrassment, desire, anger, shame, she’d done everything in her power to escape a run in with Zach. Peeking out her windows before she left the house to make sure he wasn’t outside. Skipping her nightly sunset. Cowering in her office from the moment he entered the diner until she was sure the coast was clear.
What the hell was wrong with her?
She wasn’t a coward.
She was a grown woman. A business owner and home owner. A responsible and respected member of the community. Why the hell was she hiding? Because she regretted one kiss? Because it brought her back to a time she’d rather never think about again?
Pathetic.
Her past was just that, her past. It was a part of her and, somehow, she had to be able to think about it without freaking out again.
Disgusted with her spinelessness, Toni stomped to the door of her office. After a fortifying breath and a quick mental pep talk, she emerged and headed behind the counter.
Much of the crowd had cleared, leaving behind three booths full of muscled bikers. Shell stood behind the counter restocking juice glasses while sneaking longing looks at Copper. Toni joined her and picked up a rag, wiping down the spot in front of her.
A few minutes passed in silence before Shell turned to her. “And here we are pretending to work while stealing glances at men we shouldn’t want or can’t have. Not very feminist of us.”
“Tell me about it.” Toni harrumphed. “At least you haven’t been hiding in your office like a child for days.”
“I noticed your face hasn’t been around much.”
“Yeah. To be honest, I’m surprised he’s left me alone this long. I figured he’d have found me and chewed me out by now. I think I really pissed him off.”
Shell’s gaze shifted from Copper to Zach and back again. “I don’t think he’s mad. Maybe at himself. He’s asked me how you were doing a few times. Seemed genuinely concerned. Not angry.”
Mad at himself.
Probably not as mad as she was at herself. Despite her reaction at the party, she wasn’t really upset with him at all. All of the anger was directed at herself. For being too weak to stick to her guns. For allowing herself to fall under the spell of another sexy man.
“Don’t look now, but I think we’ve been spotted.” Shell jerked her chin in the direction of Zach’s table. “I’ll give you two a minute.” She squeezed Toni’s hand. “Talk to him. He’s not a bad guy.”
“Hey,” Zach said, coming to a stop on the other side of the counter.
“Hi.” Suddenly, she felt beyond foolish for the way she’d been dodging him. “I’m sorry.”
He frowned. “Thought I was the one who fucked up here.”
“No.” Toni shook her head. “Well maybe a little. But it’s more my own stuff.”
He looked good in low slung jeans, a muscle shirt, and his club leathers. Arm porn was a real thing and Zach had it going on in spades. Also, chest porn and ab porn. Even hair porn.
“I’ve got something for you. Maybe once you see it we can go back to the way things were. Where I shamelessly flirt with you and try to entice you into my bed and you shut me down on all fronts.”
Toni chuckled. What a waste of three days. Had she not been such a coward, they could have moved past the screw-up and continued their friendship. A friendship she’d really missed. “Guess that depends what it is.”
“Here.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and unlocked the screen. “Scroll forward.” After he handed over the phone he rested his forearms on the counter and watched her.
On the screen was a gorgeous sunset. Streaks of color surrounding a giant orange orb sinking behind a row of trees.
Trees she recognized.
Trees that were in the direct line of sight of her porch.
She scrolled to the next picture only to find another beautiful sunset. Then another. “What is this?” she asked, her voice hoarse.
“You missed three sunsets because of me.” He shrugged and gave her a smile that was almost bashful. “I know how much you like them, so I made sure to come home and capture them each evening.”
Her throat thickened and tears sprang to her eyes. Why? Why did the one man she had to resist happen to be the sweetest outlaw to ever live? “Thank you,” she croaked.
“It was nothing.” He winked. “I do it for all the ladies.”
With a chuckle she handed him back his phone. It wasn’t nothing. It was a whole lot to her.
“I’m hoping you’ll be out there to see it in person tonight.”
“I think I will.”
“Good.” He rapped his scarred knuckles on the countertop. “Maybe I’ll see you there.” He leaned forward and dropped his voice to a whisper. “And while I still fully plan to show you everything you were missing with the suit, I promise I will not touch you again until you beg me to.”
Oh God. That meant he’d be working on making her beg.
Devious man.
“Zach.” The horror in Jigsaw’s tone had Zach’s brow furrowing before he turned toward the booth where his club brothers were finishing their meals.
“What’s wrong?”
Jigsaw didn’t answer. Just motioned for Zach to join them. Worry was clear across his features. Zach turned back to her and nodded before speed walking to the booth. After thirty seconds of murmured conversation, Zach’s face morphed into one of devastation while Copper’s hardened to stone cold fury.
Three booths worth of bikers flew out the door and mounted their bikes. The roar of ten bikes firing up simultaneously was deafening. Worry coursed through her and she wanted to smack herself. She was already in too deep if she was worrying about the man. What the hell was she thinking, befriending an outlaw?
Shell rushed out of the kitchen. “What’s going on?” she asked, wide-eyed.
Toni shook her head. “I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s good.”
With a muttered curse, Shell gripped her hand and squeezed tight. Something was very wrong. She could feel it in her gut. Toni clutched Shell’s hand like a lifeline as the two women watched a trail of bikes tear out of the parking lot, each fretting over a man they shouldn’t want or couldn’t have.