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Hell, he worked or was out late each night. He rarely woke up until eleven. He further surprised himself by saying, “Then I’ll pick you two up tomorrow morning at eight.”
Her damn lips pulled into a smile he felt right down to his cock. “That would be wonderful. I’d love to see the diner where my mom worked. Maybe you know where it is? It’s Obie’s Bar and Grill on East Bessemer.”
Pikeville was a small town. He knew every business there was and he’d never heard of Obie’s. “It’s on Bessemer?”
“Yes, that’s what mom said. I doubt any of the same people work there, but I’d still like to see it.”
He scratched his head. He doubted anyone worked there at all, but until he was sure, he’d keep his thoughts to himself he didn’t want to disappoint her.
And why in the hell do I care?
Evidently, he cared a lot, because the next morning he cleaned out his truck and even wiped the seats down before pulling into her driveway and getting out to walk to her door. He’d even put on a clean pair of jeans and a new dark gray long-sleeved Henley, leaving his cut at home. So what if he’d trimmed his beard. It was getting very woolly looking. The same with his hair. He didn’t like it when it got under his collar so he’d trimmed it while he had the clippers out.
He growled at those weak-ass excuses. Thank fuck his brothers couldn’t see him acting like a teen on his first date. This wasn’t a fucking date. He’d never been on one of those and definitely had no plans to ever be stupid enough to take a woman out.
Then what’s today?
That irritating voice in the back of his head should shut the fuck up. It was a mistake. That’s what it was. A damn fool mistake.
To prove it wasn’t a date, he marched back to his truck, slammed the door, and blew the horn. See, no date. He lost some of his steam when she came out all fresh-faced and smiling. She had on a pair of black jeans and a zipped-up pink puffer coat with a knit cap containing all her gorgeous black hair. It seemed like a sin to cover such gorgeousness. She even had black gloves on her hands.
She practically ran to the truck and it was all he could do to not get out and open the door for her. He gripped the wheel when she slid into the black leather seat and brought all her sunshine and enticing scent with her. The inside of his truck seemed brighter with her sitting shotgun. Fuck!
“Good morning.” She turned her smile toward him and his breath hitched. “I’ve been so excited about today I had trouble sleeping last night.”
Angry at his reaction, he snapped, “Where’s your cousin? Is she coming? I don’t have all day to wait on her to get ready.”
Some of her brightness dimmed in confusion at his rudeness. “She’s not coming. She said she still has a headache and wants to get some extra rest before we go into work today.”
“And you don’t believe her?”
She shook her head with a grin on her beautiful face. “No, I don’t. I think she wants to give us time alone.”
“Why the hell would she want to do that?” he barked.
She shrugged and looked away out the window, but not before he noticed a pink stain rising on her face. Interesting. He’d love to know the real reason her cousin stayed home.
“Buckle up,” he growled and she startled at his gruff tone, reached for the belt buckle, and snapped it into place.
She kept up a constant chatter as he navigated through traffic. Of course calling the few vehicles he met traffic was a stretch. He did notice in his rearview mirror a dark sedan that made the same turns he did.
On its own, that wasn’t concerning. To get anywhere in town you mostly had to follow the same few main streets. Dismissing the car, he pulled onto Bessemer where she said Obie’s was located.
“This is the street!” she exclaimed and jumped in her seat. “Mom said to look for a big parking lot between a garage and a florist. The diner is in the middle.”
He drove down the entire road and never saw any of what she’d described.
“Do you think it was on the other side and we just missed it?” she asked hopefully.
He didn’t miss anything. He didn’t remember Obie’s, a garage, or a florist on Bessemer. He turned around and pulled into the only parking lot on the road. He hated to be the one to tell her, but she wasn’t picking up the obvious. “I don’t know for sure, but it looks like your mom’s diner has been torn down and replaced with a strip mall.”
Her head turned sharply to stare at him. “A strip mall?”
“Yeah, it happens in the name of progress. The owner of the mall probably offered the diner a huge sum of money to sell and then a strip mall was built in its place. Bessemer is one of the high traffic roads in town. The location is ideal for a strip mall.”
Her eyes widened and she asked, “There’s a mall of stores for stripping?”
Dozer stared, not understanding, and then he did and chuckled. Another tick in the she-doesn’t-belong column. “Nobody takes their clothes off here. A strip mall is a strip of various stores, usually under one roof.”
