Chapter Two
Chase
"Charlie!"
A woman's voice called out across the café, and Charlie smiled at the interruption with a hint of relief. She stood, shoving back her chair, and launched herself at the tall, rangy woman with long cinnamon hair and warm brown eyes who approached our table with a wide, engaging grin.
The woman pulled Charlie into her arms and squeezed her tight. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in weeks. Aunt Amelia and Sophie are in every other day, but you? You've been a ghost. Not even for a hot chocolate."
Charlie returned the enthusiastic hug and stepped back, winding her arm around the woman's waist and turning her to face me.
“Chase, this is Annabelle Woods of Annabelle’s Café. Annabelle, this is Chase Westbrook. He's Violet's brother."
I appreciated that she didn't try to add the rest of the family connection to the introduction. I stood and held out my hand, surprised by the firm grip of her long fingers.
"You’ve got a great place here," I said.
It was. With exposed brick walls, overstuffed velvet couches, and plenty of seating, the café was welcoming and fun.
Charlie pulled out the third seat at our table and gestured to it. "Can you sit with us for a few minutes? It's not too busy right now.”
Annabelle looked around the café, then made a gesture at the barista behind the counter before she said, "Sure, I can take a few minutes. Have you two had lunch?"
Charlie shook her head. "I haven't, did you eat, Chase?"
"Not yet," I said, my stomach making itself heard with a rumble. "Do you do lunch?"
"We don't have a big menu, but we do have sandwiches and chips."
"Can you eat with us?" Charlie asked.
Annabelle looked to the back of the café, her eyes fixed on the narrow hallway that I guessed led to the restrooms and her office. After thinking for a few seconds, she shrugged a shoulder. "I have to eat sometime. Sure."
"Good, then you can save me from getting yelled at by Chase," Charlie said with a wink in my direction.
See what I mean? Charlie was great, but she could be trouble.
Annabelle narrowed her brown eyes on me and raised an eyebrow. "Why would you be yelling at Charlie?"
She seemed ready to jump in and defend her friend. I could appreciate that, but not as much as I appreciated the way it felt to have those warm eyes fixed on mine.
I waited until she took a seat before I answered, using the time to take a good, long look at Annabelle Woods.
Long, straight, shining cinnamon-colored hair. Brown eyes surrounded by thick, dark lashes. A tall, lean frame. Not much in the way of curves, but she had a tight, heart-shaped ass and pert, teacup breasts.
I didn't imagine every woman I met naked, but with this one, it didn't take long for my brain to slide right between the sheets.
I hadn't been dating much lately. Too much shit going down in my personal life to add a woman into the mix. But Annabelle… There was something interesting about Annabelle.
It wasn’t her ass or her breasts that drew me in. It was that smile, wide and bright. At least until she’d thought I was giving Charlie a hard time. For now, the smile had faded, but it would be back. I’d make sure of it.
If her smile was that good, I needed to hear her laugh.
I settled into my chair and stretched out, crossing my legs at the ankle and my arms over my chest. Giving Charlie an exaggerated and knowing glance, I said, "Charlie and I are meeting so she can explain to me why my house is going to be four to six weeks behind schedule when my condo closes well before that. "
Charlie pretended to study the papers on her clipboard again, and Annabelle nodded knowingly. "Oh, one of those meetings. Well, I can understand wanting to yell. Carry on."
At Charlie's outraged, "Annabelle!" I laughed.
Annabelle joined in and I discovered I'd been right. Her laugh was as appealing as her smile, bright and loud and clear as a bell. Now that I’d heard it once, I had to hear it again.
Annabelle got up to grab two menus, and we ordered sandwiches with chips. She disappeared through the door behind the counter and came back a few minutes later with a tray of food, including two brownies and a slice of cake.
Deftly, she set the tray on the table and served, leaving for a moment to return the tray to the kitchen. Eyeing the brownie and piece of cake, I asked, "Do you make all the food in-house?"
Annabelle munched on a chip and swallowed before she said, "Most of it. I try to keep it simple. Oatmeal, muffins, and biscuit sandwiches for breakfast. Sandwiches and soup for lunch. Occasionally a salad if I'm feeling crazy. I don't like cooking so much as baking. I love baking."
"She gets up at four in the morning to come in and start baking for the day," Charlie said, shaking her head. "Four AM. I like brownies, but not that much."
"It's worth it for my brownies," Annabelle said, a smile curling her lips.
Setting down my sandwich, I broke off a chunk of the brownie and popped it in my mouth. Rich dark chocolate exploded across my tongue, a hint of bitter to offset the sweet, and underneath something I couldn't quite identify. Chewing slowly, I tried to tease out the flavor. Espresso? And… Cinnamon?
"Good, right?" Annabelle asked, taking a generous bite of her sandwich. It was two-thirty in the afternoon, she'd been up since four, and was only now eating lunch. I didn't have to guess how she carried that lean frame.
She fairly bristled with energy. I imagined any stray calorie that got close enough to Annabelle Woods was sucked up and put to use in an instant.
"Amazing," I agreed. "I can't miss the chocolate, but is there espresso? And cinnamon?"
She swallowed before she answered, with an amused shake of her head, "Espresso, yes. But not cinnamon. Nutmeg."
"Wait till you taste the cake," Charlie said through her own mouthful of sandwich. She’d teased Annabelle about getting up early, but I knew Charlie didn't exactly sleep in. I'd caught her on site more than once before seven AM when I'd stopped by for a quick look on the way to work.
With a glance at the slice of cake, thick with frosting, I said truthfully, "I can't wait."
We ate in silence for a few minutes, all of us too hungry to bother with conversation.
Just as Charlie was setting down her sandwich, her phone beeped.
She glanced at her screen, eyebrows knitting together as she swiped open the message and read.
A moment later her phone came to life, ringing, then beeping, then ringing again.
Under her breath, she muttered, "Oh, shit," before answering with a brusque, "Yeah? Don't tell me what I don't want to hear." A long pause during which I could see the muscles in Charlie's cheek tightening as she ground her teeth together.
Abruptly she stood, murmured, "Be right back," and walked out the front door. Annabelle and I watched her through the plate glass windows as she paced on the sidewalk, eyes spitting blue fire.
"She’s something, isn’t she?" Annabelle said, watching Charlie with an affectionate smile.
"She is. How long have you known the family?" I asked.
From the way they talked about her, I already knew they considered Annabelle an honorary Winters. I'd never been into the café before, but the rest of them were regulars. Even Violet was here a few times a week, addicted to Annabelle’s mochas since Charlie had first dragged her in.
"Since preschool. Annalise and I were in the same preschool class. We bonded over being the two Annas. We were tight right up until she left—" Annabelle looked away, picking up her sandwich and taking a bite, clearly uncomfortable.
I didn't have to ask why. Annalise Winters had been driven from home by a stalker. The creepy, psychotic stalker who had finally died in a fire after trying to kill her only a few months before. The creepy psychotic stalker who happened to be my biological father.
I knew what Annalise had been through, knew what he'd intended for her, and the thought of sharing blood with a man like that turned my stomach.
I didn't want to talk about it any more than Annabelle, so I settled for, "Everyone's relieved that she doesn't have to worry anymore. Are you two still friends?"
That smile again. Fuck, that smile. Wide and bright, brimming with life. When Annabelle smiled, she sparkled with it. I knew before she spoke that the answer was yes.
"It's been so good to have her home. Good knowing that she's happy, and safe, and back with Riley. I always loved them together. And it’s nice to have my friend back. She's changed a lot, we all have, but in her heart, she’s still Lise and she always will be."
"So you pretty much grew up with them then?" I asked.
"Pretty much." Annabelle looked at me out of the corner of her eye, maybe sensing my discomfort.
She started to speak, then stopped as Charlie approached the table, flopped into her seat and reached under the table for her bag, dragging it into her lap and shoving her clipboard, phone, and tablet inside.
"Sorry to bail on you guys, but we’re having an inspection crisis with the new property Lucas and I bought. "
"Bad?" I asked, curious. I didn't know that much about rehabbing houses, but I'd been around Charlie and Lucas, pitched in often enough, that I’d picked up a little here and there.
"I don't know," Charlie said with an edge of sarcasm, "how bad is it when your inspector missed the termite infestation in all of the floor joists?"
Shaking her head, she muttered under her breath something about kicking someone's ass.
"Pretty bad then," I agreed.
"You want me to wrap up your sandwich?" Annabelle asked, already getting up.
She went to the counter, said something to the barista, and came back with a cardboard food container.
Charlie set the remains of her sandwich inside before breaking off half of the brownie and dropping that in as well. "I'm going to need the chocolate."
Annabelle opened the takeout container and put the rest of the brownie inside. "Take it all. I'll get another one."
"You’re the best." Charlie leaned over and hooked an arm around Annabelle's neck, smacking a kiss on her cheek. "I'll be back soon, I promise. Things have been crazy lately, but we need to get together."
To me, she said, "I’ll nail down a definite timeline. And I'll call Aiden and Mrs. W and let them know you and Vivi are moving in." Just the thought of it had me gritting my teeth and Charlie shook her head. "It's going to be fine, I promise."
With that, she was gone, leaving me alone with Annabelle.