Then again, this was irritating the hell out of me, so sex probably would be better.
Bad libido. Stop.
Owen sighed. “Don’t listen to him, he forgot to put his dick away. We’re here on business. Nothing else.”
“Something we agree on.” I gave them a thin smile. “This is absolutely nothing, because you’re leaving.”
“Five minutes.” Kingston’s tone and posture changed like a switch had been flipped. His playfulness disappeared behind an intimidating mask of seriousness.
This was why I hadn’t recognized their voices last night. Kingston was always the one to call me, to negotiate, and this voice was different than the flirty, carefree one he’d approached me with in the bookstore.
I could reinforce a third time that they needed to leave. But if I heard them out, and their offer sucked as much as I expected it to, I’d have blocked off more of their avenues for arguing. I hated knowing they could control the conversation this way, but I was going to close every loophole they could find, until they heard me. “Five minutes. I won’t start a timer, but make it fast, and make it good.”
I shouldn’t have phrased it that way. We always take our time, and it’s always good. I swore I could hear Kingston’s voice in my head.
His lips twitched, and I pursed my lips, daring him to take the accidental innuendo outlet.
Owen elbowed him, and his serious mask was back in place.
“May we do this in your office?” Owen asked.
No, because my body was still reacting to them. It didn’t matter that it shouldn’t be. We’d stay in a public place, where it was easier to remind myself that everything about them right now was pissing me off.
Even admit the memories of how nice last night was. How they’d looked at me. How sincere and complimentary they were... “Out here is fine. Did you know who I was yesterday?”
“No,” Kingston said quickly. “The only Jaelyn we know is the curvy avatar.”
Call me Lyn. I swallowed the offer. Only my friends called me Lyn.
He was talking about the woman in my shop’s logo. The cute one with the generous hips and breasts, and a waist I’d never have. She looked like me as much as she looked like any voluptuous brunette. I went out of my way to keep my own face off social media—I hated pictures of myself. I didn’t even let Sadie post me on her different pages.
But Owen and Kingston were the same. I’d dug into them a lot in the past year. They identified their company with names and a logo. I’d never been able to find a single picture of either of them. I’d assumed they were rich old assholes who didn’t understand social media.
Turns out they were rich younger assholes, who probably understood more than they let people know.
“What’s this proposal and why is it so much better than the previous ones?” I asked.
Owen pulled an index card from his jacket pocket. “Ten percent over the previous amount.” He needed notes to tell him that?
“Wow. That’s so much better.” I let the sarcasm spill into my retort. “Answer’s still no. Wow, that didn’t even take one minute. Have a nice da—”
“There’s more,” Kingston said smoothly. “And fuck, you make it hard. To behave.”
I was getting real sick of them talking over me, especially since that pause in his phrasing was intentional. I was as mad at the part of me loving the flirting as I was at them. It would be so easy to slide into a playful comeback. A lot more difficult to forget who they were, in order to do so. “You were saying?”
Kingston’s smirk was back. Sexy, arrogant jerk. “Most of the cafes we bring on are happy to take our money and step aside. We made a mistake assuming that was what you’d want to do as well.”
Thank you, Captain Obvious. I swallowed my retort. The sooner they finished their spiel, the sooner I could get rid of them.
“You built the place, you love the place, I get that.” Kingston sounded sincere. He was good at faking it, apparently. “I understand that more than you might believe.”
“That’s not a high bar.” I couldn’t help myself.
The corners of Owen’s mouth twitched. “You keep the property. The new amount is only for the business. We’ll rent the shop space from you, ask you to keep running the place, and double your salary. The only thing that really changes is we acquire your business’s debt, you’ll have access to our suppliers, and we’ll put our sign in the window next to yours. This remains Loading Java, it simply comes a subsidiary of Kingu Kafes.”
It was an implausibly sweet deal. On the surface. It was tempting to say I’m in. It would solve the letter from last night. It would solve a lot of things. It was also too good to be true. I had questions—the same ones they’d never answered in the past. For instance, how were they going to afford to be so generous, when I could barely keep the place operating the black?
“For that kind of money, you could set up your own shop. Why are you so focused on mine?”
“You have a customer base, a solid brand, and reliable product,” Kingston said. “Competing with you thins the local market as well as our chances of succeeding.”
That made sense. “And your solution is give me a lot of money, and beyond that, everything is business as usual.” It wasn’t quite that cut-and dried though.
Kingston nodded.
Owen looked more hesitant.
“Until you decide you don’t like how I do things, and you override me by either firing me or buying me out.” With as starkly as we clashed now, I didn’t suspect that would take long.
Owen furrowed his brow. “We don’t plan on—”
“My answer is still no.” It felt good to be the one talking over him. “I run my café the way I do, because I like having this control. This is my business. My investment. My passion. Thank you for your time. See your way ou—”
The loud blare of the fire alarm cut me off, shrieking so sharply it threatened to pierce my eardrums.
Chapter Four
Smoke. Now that I wasn’t distracted, the heavy smell hit me hard. I rushed to the kitchen. My only priority was finding the source and shutting it down.
Violet was already at the oven, muttering and pulling out smoldering trays of cupcakes. The panic in her expression grew when she saw me. “I’m so sorry. I had a customer, they kept me longer than I realized. I’m so sorry.” Red splotched her cheeks and deep creases marred her forehead.
She was typically too detailed and aware to let things like this happen. The freaking out she was doing right now was rare.
“It happens. It’s okay.” I was stressed too, but I didn’t blame her. “I need you to shut off the fire alarm. Call the fire department and let them know there’s nothing wrong. Clear people out of the shop and open all the doors.” As I talked, I ticked off the list in my mind. Lists made me calmer. “Anyone currently here gets a $5 gift card for their next visit. Put a sign on the counter that gives everyone 5% off pastries for the rest of the day, as an apology for the smoke smell. Do you have all that?”
Violet nodded.
I knew she would. She was my store manager for a reason. “You all right?” I softened my tone. “This isn’t a big deal. No one got hurt. Everything will be all right.”