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Janey was anything but calm. She could feel her nipples beading, her pussy heating. Hell, she could feel her womb shaking in anticipation at the sight of the lust flickering in his gaze and his tight, forbidding expression. If she looked, lowered her gaze to his jeans, she knew what she would see. If she gave him the slightest go-ahead, he’d be buried inside her.
So thick, so hard. He would push between her thighs, stretch her, burn her with pleasure.
“Look at your face,” he said, his voice rougher now. “I can see the need in your eyes, baby. You want me, again. Pumping inside you, filling you with my cum. It was hot, wasn’t it, Janey? So hot it’s addictive. ”
Oh yes, she did want him. The want was like a fever inside her.
“It was hot,” she whispered back, moving to set yet another unfinished cup of coffee on the counter.
“You want me, Janey. ”
She turned her back to him, gripping the counter with desperate fingers as she closed her eyes and fought the need. No, she didn’t want him; she loved him. She loved him with a strength she hadn’t believed in herself. That was, she’d loved him until this morning. Until he had offered her marriage, without the love.
“Want isn’t enough. ” She shook her head, feeling him behind her, feeling his breath at her neck.
“Do you love me , Janey?”
She blinked against the tears that would have fallen. She wasn’t going to cry for him.
Turning back to him, she lifted her gaze to his, forcing the emotion back, forcing the pain back. It didn’t matter what she felt, she told herself. It never had. All the wanting in the world wouldn’t change that.
“You don’t believe in love, Alex. So it doesn’t matter one way or the other, does it?”
THIRTEEN
Mackay’s Café was packed. With the addition of new chefs, a decent kitchen staff, and serious managing, the restaurant was attaining a reputation not just for the fact that it was run by the traitor’s daughter, but for its food, its service, and the fact that Janey allowed herself to be on display.
She had watched Dayle Mackay’s haphazard management of the restaurant for years. It was no more than a front then, a way to launder the money the militia filtered through its ranks. Now it was kicking some serious ass.
At eight that evening they had a full house, tables filled no sooner than they were emptied and cleaned, and a small waiting list on the off chance of a cancellation.
Janey was kept on her feet, moving through the restaurant, seating customers, fielding questions and comments. And compliments.
She was seating a table of six when she knew the night was going to go to hell.
It began with Natches and Alex walking up to the hostess station and standing, rather patiently. Natches wasn’t always patient. He was wearing his motorcycle chaps and a leather jacket, his hair was windblown, his face roughened from the cold. Alex was dressed in jeans and the long-sleeved gray striped shirt he had worn that morning, boots, and a hip-length leather jacket that absolutely did not do a damned thing to hide from Natches that hickey on his neck.
“I hope you enjoy your meal. ” She smiled to the occupants of the table as they sat down and accepted
their menus. “Your server will be right with you. ”
She turned, caught the eye of the waitress for that section, and motioned her over to the table before moving to the reception area.
Natches had that look in his eyes that warned everyone around him not to push him. Alex’s expression was pretty much as it had been when she left him that morning. Stony. Cool. He wasn’t pleased with her and that was just too bad.
“I don’t have any tables free, Natches,” she told her brother. “You and Alex will have to eat in the kitchen if you’re hungry. ”
“I own the place. Surely I can have a table,” he drawled, drawing the attention of everyone close enough to hear them.
Hoyt spoke up behind her. “Ms. Mackay, we have a cancellation on table fourteen in twenty-five minutes. ”
“And we have a waiting list. ” She turned to her manager with a bright smile. “Perhaps you should call the Daltons and let them know we have a table if they can be here in time. ”
Hoyt stared back at her helplessly before glancing to Natches and Alex. The younger man hero-worshipped both Natches and Alex. Turning them down would break his heart.
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. They can wait for the table in the office. ” She turned back to Natches. “You can wait in the office. ”
“You can come with us. ”
