Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Autumn

One Week Later . . .

"If this weather doesn't make up its mind what it's going to do, I'm going to lose it," Tiffany rants, coming through the front doors and closing her umbrella. "It's colder than hell out there."

"Oooh she just said hell." Lila giggles, making us all laugh. It's a joke that started a few days ago after she first started, and she cursed by accident in front of Tiffany, who told her ladies didn't say bad words. This started Lila on the action of her calling us out whenever a bad word was said.

To say Lila fit right in working with us is an understatement. Even Chris thought so. Chris is my other full-timer, who will come in closer to lunch and stay past dinner. He's an older guy who doesn't even take shit from no one. He's funny and onery at the best of times. But he's a good cook.

Lila started working on Tuesday after I set the schedule to add her on. She's been following mostly to learn the ropes, but today, she's going to be doing more.

It's Friday, and she didn't have school. I find it weird, but her schedule is funky. Evidently, the school doesn't have students in school every other Friday, and the ones they are in school, she's out before eleven. So . . . I put her on the schedule. She works after school for three hours, part of Friday, and gets more hours on Saturday.

Lila's sweet and funny. She's good at talking with customers and even helping in the back. This works for me greatly.

"Oh, hush it," Tiffany huffs, rolling her eyes. "You've been out there. you know how cold it is."

"You know, going into spring, the weather changes constantly once you hit March. It's constantly up and down. It's also when we get flooded with the rain." I remind her. She's not originally from the area.

Neither am I, though I've lived in Virginia all my life. But I'm from the Warrenton area. It's about two or three hours, and depending on traffic, it could be longer, but that's on a bad day. I also learned the different routes to be able to get there and back without hitting the major traffic areas.

"I get it, but it's annoying." Tiffany moves through the café, rounds the counter and goes to the back to where she'll store her stuff.

Coming in early, as I have been for months on end, everything is already prepped and ready to roll. She'll just be working on getting the minimal things and making the biscuits if someone orders. Otherwise, her focus is on manning the kitchen through lunch.

"Can't help what Mother Nature decides," Athena says, shrugging and taking a sip of the coffee Lila had made.

We'd been training her on the coffee/espresso machine, and she's really good at it. Lila took to it easily, which is a blessing. Making the coffees, though not hard, can be a pain in the ass if not done properly. No one wants a horrible-tasting coffee. Even black done wrong could be gross.

"Mother Nature always goes through PMS, and it's like this time of year is her favorite time to do it," Lila adds.

"I think it depends on the region," I say, deciding to put my two cents in. "If you think about it, some states are looking at this time of year as tornado season coming up. Others are gearing up for a drought, while we deal with the up and down weather that brings out the pollen that makes our allergies go haywire."

"Ugh, don't get me started," Tiffany groans, coming back out front. "The twins are suffering from major allergy issues. Dan is complaining about his. And they all refuse to listen to me when I say take a dose of the local honey I buy. It works. I swear it does. Your body gets immune to the pollens because of it or something like that. I'm not sure. I just know it's something I've always heard. The first thing I did when we moved here was go to a local farmers market and buy honey."

"I've heard people do it. They also use cayenne as well," Athena states.

"Wouldn't that just burn your sinuses?" Lila quips.

"Don't know, but I'm not trying it either."

We all laugh as Athena shrugs, grinning.

The bell over the door rings, and my laughter ceases at the sight of the man coming inside.

"Hey, jerkface," Lila greets him, skipping around the counter, straight to him, and throwing herself in his arms to hug him.

"What's with calling me jerkface?" Striker asks, though his arms go around his sister in a tight hug.

I nearly swallow my tongue when his gaze comes up to meet mine. I quickly drop my gaze and look to Athena. "I've got to do some work in my office. You guys going to be okay out here? "

Athena slowly drags her gaze from Striker to me. "Yeah, we've got it," she says, nodding.

"Great." Without making it a big deal, I quickly get out of Dodge.

"Hold up a second." Striker's deep voice calls out, coming from behind me. Right behind me.

Oh boy.

He came around the corner and was now right there.

I twist around to face him, only to find him directly in my space. "Um, you're not supposed to be back here," I try to keep my voice calm. To keep from showing his effect on me.

"If you hadn't run off, I would have said what I had to say out there," he states. His brows creased in the middle, and he looked annoyed.

"Oh, well, I thought you'd come to see your sister, not me." God, kill me now. "I mean, she is your sister, and it would only be right if you came to see her where she works. She's doing a great job so far so you don't have to worry about her working he . . ."

"I didn't want to talk to you about my sister," he says, interrupting me, the corner of his lip twitching slightly. "Came in ‘cause I wanted to talk to you."

I blink, completely startled by his comment. "Me? Why?"

"There has to be a why?" he asks .

"Um. . . yeah," I answer. Striker's never spoken a word to me before, so I have a hard time believing he wants to speak to me about anything that doesn't have to do with his sister and her working here. And he just said he didn't want to talk to me about her. So, what else could there be?

Rather than answering, he grabs my hand and drags me farther down the hall, away from anyone who could be eavesdropping.

My heart speeds up, and I find it difficult to breathe. "What are you doing?"

Striker halts and spins me until my back is to the wall, his body coming in close to mine.

"Um . . ."

"You scared of me?" he asks, stopping me from saying anything else.

"Ugh, no," I utter and lick my bottom lip nervously. "Why would I be scared of you?"

"You won't meet my gaze for one," he points out.

I swallow, my brain cells working harder than ever to focus with him this close to me. I also force myself to look him in the eye. "I'm looking you in the eye now."

"Right." The corner of his lip quirks a bit more.

"You wanted to talk to me about something?" I try to get us back on topic.

"Yeah, first off, I wanted to thank you for givin' Lila a job. She hasn't shut up about this place since she started. Second, wanted to ask you out to dinner."

"Dinner?" There's no way Striker wants to have dinner with me. He's joking, has to be. I'm not his type.

"Yeah, dinner. I'll pick you up at your place tonight at six," he states like it were a done deal.

"I can't."

"Why not?" he asks, cocking a brow.

"Because I don't close until after seven and then don't leave here until after nine," I explain, giving him the truth.

Striker moves in closer and dips his head down, and with him being so much taller than me, I have to tilt my head back to keep eye contact. "That's not gonna work for me. You got girls here that I'm sure will close up for you and handle things. You and me, we're gonna do dinner. You don't wanna go out, I'll bring it to your place, and we'll watch a movie and eat there. You cool with going out, we'll do that. Regardless, your ass is with me this evening."

"I don't get why all of a sudden you want to have dinner with me," I blurt out.

"I'll tell you the answer to that this evening," he says, the quirk of his lips turns into an outright smile. "Now, tell me you're gonna be at your apartment at six."

"Um . . . "

"You're not. I'll come here and get your ass, and Autumn, that's something you won't want me to do."

"Why?" I ask, confusion clear in my voice.

Striker dips down farther, and our noses touch, his lips right there, so close they brush mine when he speaks. "‘Cause I'll come in and carry you out over my shoulder."

With his parting words, he jerks back altogether and leaves me standing there completely speechless at his little announcement.