When his eyes moved over her, she felt her skin prickle with sexual awareness. She may have been on the run for years, but that didn’t mean she was dead. But one thing in her life was certain—all of her relationships, friendship or sexual, had been casual and short lived.
Here was a man she could sink her teeth into, at least for a while. She stood as if a statue, watching the man approach the counter and look up at the menu that hung overhead.
“Good,” Jess said with a sigh as she handed her son back to Jacob. “Everyone’s finally here.” She leaned over and gave her son and husband a kiss. “We’ll see you later.”
Tara frowned at Jess’s words. What did she mean everyone was finally here? How had she and Xtina known she was coming into town?
Could all the articles she’d read be true? Or was this all some sort of joke Jess was playing on her? Besides, there was still a possibility that Jess had mistaken her for someone else.
Jacob glanced quickly at the man who had just walked into the place and was looking at the menu with a slight frown. “You sure about this?” Jacob asked Jess.
“Always,” Jess said and then waved her husband off. “Go on. You don’t want to be late dropping Reed off at Xtina and Mike’s.”
Jacob shifted his son, grabbed the coffee mug, and took a quick sip. “Good coffee,” Jacob said, motioning with his cup. “Jess was right, once again.” With this, he walked out of the building, holding his son.
“You’ll want to start a café latte,” Jess said quietly before turning around to greet the newcomer. “Morning,” Jess said as Tara started making the drink. “Welcome to Hidden Creek. How about a scone and a latte?”
Glancing over her shoulder, she watched surprise flash in the man’s sexy amber eyes.
“That… sounds perfect,” he answered. Even his voice was sexy as hell.
She finished making the drink and walked over to set it down next to the scone Jess had plated. This time, when her eyes locked with the man’s, she knew she’d seen him before, but wasn’t sure when and where.
“Do I know you?” she asked suddenly.
The man seemed surprised and then embarrassed. “I… think we ran into each other in the gas station just outside of Atlanta,” he replied.
She thought back and then realized he’d been standing in the line for the checkout, directly in front of her.
“Right.” She nodded. “Coke and Funyuns.”
He chuckled. “Travel food.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m hoping this is much better.” He motioned to the coffee and the scone. She nodded slightly and turned but stopped when he said, “That’s a long trip to come to work.”
She glanced over at Jess, who smiled.
“I… just started working here,” she admitted.
“Oh, well,” the man said, seeming slightly stumped, “so you live in town then?”
She felt her entire body heat. She hadn’t been expecting questions like this yet. She’d hoped to just get a job, then determine a place to park her van at night.
“I… do for now.” She turned away to clean the counter once more.
“How about you?” Jess asked the man. “Are you just passing through?”
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the man turn his attention to Jess again.
“I haven’t decided yet,” he said as he paid.
“Well, if you need a place to stay, there’s a great hotel that just opened up down the way,” Jess said easily.
“Yeah, thanks,” he said smoothly. “I’ll have to check it out.”
The man walked over and sat in the booth.
“Are you always this nice to strangers?” Tara asked.
Jess laughed. “To me, there are no strangers.” Then she turned on her. “So we’re having this thing tonight, and I think you should be there.”
Tara’s first inclination was to quickly make up some excuse why of she wouldn’t go. After all, she was still having a difficult time believing all of this wasn’t some sort of mistake. Then Jess reached over and touched her arm.
“Xtina really wants to meet you. But she’s just given birth to her daughter, Harper, and is still pretty much housebound. Come, she…” She shook her head quickly. “We’ve all been expecting you.”
“What does that even mean?” Tara asked.
Jess smiled. “Guess you’ll have to find out tonight. Will you come?”
Tara had to admit, she’d worried about how she was going to meet Xtina before coming into town. She never would have believed she’d get so lucky so quickly after arriving in town. Besides, she was not only curious, she was downright desperate for answers. If this was her chance to get them, she wasn’t going to pass it up.
“What time and where?” she asked.
Chapter 2
Why had he allowed his stomach to lead him into the coffee shop? He should have crossed the street and sat in the diner, watching the place instead of following his mark into the coffee shop.
No, he’d had to follow the smell of fresh ground coffee and the pretty blonde inside half an hour after she’d come in to see what was taking her so long.
Seeing her behind the counter had been a slight shock. He had expected to see her sitting at a table, drinking a cup of coffee, not working. But that wasn’t the only reason for his surprise. For once, she looked happy.
Her eyes were filled with joy instead of caution, as they’d been since he’d first tracked her down.
In the past month, he’d only gotten this close to her when he’d bumped into her at the gas station a few hours earlier. He’d turned around to pay for his items and she’d been there. But by the time he’d filled up his truck with gas, her van was nowhere in sight, and he’d hoped she’d continued in the same direction so he could catch up with her.
He’d been so close to her many times before, but each time he’d found out that she’d just left town or had just quit one of her temporary jobs.
He honestly hadn’t thought that she would remember him. It wasn’t as if they’d talked to one another at the gas station.
After he’d finished his scone and his coffee, the woman who’d been talking to the cop when he’d walked in came over to his table.
“So, have you decided yet?” she asked him.
“Decided?”
“If you’re going to stay in town or not.”
“Oh.” He glanced towards Tara, who was busy filling orders behind the counter. Her back was to him, that long blonde hair of hers in a single braid that lay over her shoulder.
He wondered if she was going to stick around the small town for more than a day. It wasn’t often that she did, but when she found a job, she usually hung out longer. From the looks of it, she was going to stick around for at least one night, so he made a quick decision.
“I’m staying, at least for tonight,” he replied.
The woman’s smile brightened. “Good. I’m Jess by the way.” She slid into the booth across from him smoothly. “You are?”
He glanced towards Tara and then back at Jess. “Colt,” he answered.