Chapter 2 #2
“Yeah, that’s no problem,” Jessie answered as she wrote down three all-American meals on the ticket. “You all want coffee with that?”
“Yeah, sweetheart. Can I get mine with a little sugar?” The guy sitting next to Dakota reached out, his hand sliding along her hip before she could step away.
Jessie smiled, her hand removing the man’s hand before she turned towards the kitchen.
“I’ll have your orders out for you in just one minute. ”
Fucking creep.
She shivered as she walked the order back to the kitchen. Growing up in Silver Springs, and having her mom as her boss since she was a teen, meant she didn’t have to put up with men being too handsy with her all that often. But when she did, her skin crawled.
“You okay?” Adrienne, her friend who had been serving alongside her at the diner since they were in high school, asked as she pulled her order off the line. “You’re staring into space and I just saw your favorite regulars sit at table seven. You want me to take their order?”
“Shit. I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today! I’ll be right out and I’ll take care of them.”
“How about I take table twelve?” She looked over her shoulder and then faced Jessie again, her eyes going wide. “I’m not sure who the hell that is with Dakota, but the man in the leather jacket and all those tattoos. Damn. I could really use a win, Jess.”
Jessie laughed. “If you’re in here when their order comes up, feel free to bring it to them. Just be careful, the leather jacket guy just tried to feel me up.”
Adrienne’s ears turned bright red, but she just shrugged and laughed before heading out of the kitchen.
“Here, kid. You look like you could use some of this.” Duke, who had been cooking alongside her mom since the diner opened, handed her a mug. Jessie took it, smiling as she realized it was her mom’s chicken soup.
“Thanks. I think this might be the only thing keeping me up off the floor.”
“You and half the town.”
Jessie took another sip, letting the hot, lightly spiced liquid warm her from the inside out.
That was exactly what she needed. She wouldn’t let the flu take her out.
Not when her mom was counting on her to make sure things were covered with service at the diner, and she had those business night classes she was taking towards her degree.
Lach needed her at his mechanic shop, and her dad still needed her to help out at the ranch, even with her brother Beau stepping up so much over the last year.
She wasn’t about to let a little illness stop her from being there for her family. They were counting on her.
Jess squared her shoulders and smiled as she grabbed the coffee pot off the warming plate. Her smile almost faltered when Dakota’s guests came back into view, but she forced herself to remain polite.
“Here,” Jessie took the first coffee cup off the table. “Let me get these coffees poured for you. It should only be a few more minutes before your meals are out. Is there anything else I can get you in the meantime?”
Leather jacket guy moved his hand from the table down to his lap. Jessie pretended not to see the way he adjusted himself as she reached to pour coffee into Dakota’s cup.
“You know, I’d still really like that sugar.”
Before Jessie could step back, the man’s hand was on the back of her leg, pulling her off balance towards him. She bumped against the table, the soft space where her belly met her hip taking the brunt of the force.
“You need to take your hand off of her. Right. Now.”
The voice from behind washed over her, and she knew she was safe.
Hawk.
If only he could make the dizziness from her cold go away.
“Ah, Dak, you said she wasn’t seeing anyone.”
“I’m not,” Jessie replied, her own voice sounding a million miles away. God, she absolutely hated when people talked for her. “But that doesn’t give you a right to put your hands on me. A second time. I’m going to have to insist that you leave the diner now.”
“Jessie, that’s really not necessary.” Dakota crossed his arms. His friendship with her brother—hell, him feeling like an older brother to her—wouldn’t get her to budge.
“No, Dakota.” Her stomach lurched. “Out. By the time I’m back.”
Jessie bolted from the table, the room going sideways as she tried to make her way through the kitchen to the back alleyway.
“Oh girl.” Adrienne grabbed her arm the second she stepped into the kitchen. “You need to tell Dolly you’re going home. You look terrible.”
“I’m fine. I just need…” Her eyes looked over Adrienne’s shoulder towards the door that led out to the alley. If she could just get some cold air, she might finally feel better.
The smell of bacon suddenly had her stomach lurching once more.
Slapping her hand over her mouth, Jessie moved through the kitchen and out the back door, where the cold January air immediately gave her relief.
Too bad her head was the only thing to get the memo.
Rushing to the small trash can Duke put his cigarettes butts in, Jessie’s stomach cramped until there was absolutely nothing left to bring up.
She wiped her mouth, holding her breath until she got the trash can lid back on— because heaven forbid the smell of cigarettes brought another attack from her stomach— before closing her eyes and taking a step back so her body hit the diner’s wall. It was all she could do to keep herself upright.
Damn, it was probably the same thing Dawn came down with. She needed to stop serving food. The back door creaked open and Jessie groaned, not ready to face whoever was stepping out.
“Jess? You good?” Hawk’s concern warmed the air around her.
“Of course.”
“Did that guy—”
She shook her head. “I appreciate you stepping in, but I had him handled. And there was no way Dakota would have let him go any further.”
Hawk’s eyes dropped to where her hand was rubbing into the sore spot on her hip. “Didn’t see anyone else stepping in for you.”
“I’m good at taking care of myself.”
Words that he was clearly going to ignore as his hand reached out to brush against her forehead. Nope. She would not allow that sweet gesture to be her undoing.
“You feeling okay? Fuck, you look just like Gunner did this morning.”
“I’m fine.” She batted his hand away. “You might want to stay away, though. I think I’m catching whatever Dawn has. Had to send her home from her shift today.”
“I wondered why I didn’t see her. Table seven is normally hers, right? I saw Adrienne running around, but figure Dolly must have had you pick up Dawn’s tables.”
Jessie huffed. “Are you flirting with her now?”
“What?” His eyes went wide and she felt like a boot had landed in her stomach.
Hawk Morgan was the single most drop-dead, dreamy, handsome man she’d ever seen and she was acting like a petulant child instead of just admitting that she had the world’s biggest crush on him.
Why couldn’t she just tell him that the night they spent together played over and over in her mind?
That she wanted a do-over because knowing the last time they’d ever be together ended with a horrifically not-sexy chat about birth control and the most insanely awkward ride back to the ranch—after her brother picked her up at the diner—she’d ever experienced before in her life?
She’d just slept with the man of her dreams, and she didn’t want that to be the last memory they shared! And that’s where the jealousy came from. Because the thought of Hawk with anyone else made her want to throw up all over again.
“You know what tables she serves.” God, that sounded pathetic.
Hawk chuckled. “I only know that because I’ve committed to memory all of your tables.”
Oh. She felt her cheeks flood with heat. “Sorry. I… I don’t know why I said that.”
“Yeah, you do, Pretty Girl. I’ve been trying, you know that, right? Since that night. But you’re always pushing me away. If you want me to stop trying to get you to talk to me, you just have to say so. I don’t… I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“No. I don’t want you to stop. I’m being weird. And I don’t know why. I think I was hoping that the night we spent together would work out differently, and you’d want something more.”
“I do want something more.” Hawk leaned in, Jessie’s back pressed up against the wall.
“You probably shouldn’t kiss me.”
“Why not?”
“I just threw up in that trash can.” Jessie shrugged her shoulders, waiting for Hawk to laugh, but his face fell.
“You’re sick. Jesus. You should be home resting. Come on.” His hand slid down her arm and rested at her elbow, the touch sending a shiver through her body. “I’ll drive you home.”
“No,” she protested. “I have to finish my shift.”
“You’re sick.”
“Yes. You’ve already mentioned that, and I know I definitely feel it. But I need to push through.”
His eyes narrowed. “Would Dolly say that if I went in there and told her what you just said to me?”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
His mouth quirked up in the corner and she knew she was screwed.
“Hawk, I can’t go home. We’re already short staffed and my mom is counting on me today. Please… just don’t say anything to her.”
“Jess.”
She needed to think of something, quickly. “I’ll go to the clinic,” she blurted. “On my break. And if Jake says I need to go home, I will.”
He studied her face for a minute. Then he nodded. “How long until your break?”
“An hour… maybe two.”
“Do you want me to come back? I can drive you over?”
“I have my car.”
“That rust bucket isn’t safe to be driving.”
“Don’t you dare talk about Joey like that. She’s been so good to me.”
“And Lachlan should bring it into his shop and chop it into parts for the scrapyard.”
She’d had her car for almost a decade, and before that, it was her older brother Beau’s.
But Joey still had some good years left in her, and Jess really couldn’t take the hit to her savings to replace her preferred mode of transportation.
Living at home with her parents was bad enough at twenty-five…
she couldn’t imagine how terrible it would be if she had to start bumming rides off of them too.
“Jess?”
“Yeah. Yup. Sorry.” She forced herself to look away from the gorgeous man standing in front of her. “I’ve got to get back inside.”
“The clinic. Will you send me a message after you go?”
She pushed off the wall and headed back to the door, her hand resting on the handle before she looked over her shoulder. “You got it, Chief.”
And with a wink for good measure, Jess left Hawk standing alone in the alley.