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“You always say that,” Aaron replied, still grinning.
Carly eyed him. “That’s because it’s usually true.”
I laughed. Carly was like a sister to each of us and although she was barely over five feet tall, she more than made up for it with sheer sass. “How’s business?” I asked as I glanced up at the chalkboard menu. Carly was always coming up with new drink combinations. She was half barista, half mixologist. Or, at least, that was what it felt like. Every few weeks she’d change the menu and highlight her favorite new creations. On top of that, she constantly tinkered with the recipes for her melt-in-your-mouth pastries and always had something new to share.
Carly gave a slight shrug. “We’re chugging along.”
She was modest. It was a well-known fact that every morning, right at opening, she’d have a line that poured out the front door. And lunch hour was another blitz.
I reached into my back pocket for my wallet and stepped up to the register. “I think I’ll try a cinnamon scone and a large house roast, black.”
Carly sprang into action. As she put together my order, Aaron rattled off his own.
Minutes later, we had our coffee cups and pastries in hand and were heading for a corner table. The dining area wasn’t too full. The morning rush had likely just dissipated. Aaron dropped into one of the two chairs and I took the other. The warm scone fell apart in my fingers. I popped a large bite into my mouth and tried not to groan out loud.
Aaron smirked at me. “The woman is a damned genius. It’s a wonder Nick doesn’t weigh six-hundred pounds.”
I laughed and nodded in agreement. “So, tell me about this plane.”
Aaron launched into his explanation, verbally weighing out the pros and cons of the potential addition. It was apparently in rough condition and would need a shit ton of man-hours to get it together but it was a hell of a price and would be a hell of a find at the end of the day.
As we started winding down, having mutually decided it was worth the trouble, Aaron paused. His eyes darted over my shoulder and his face fell. I craned around to see what had him frozen—figuring it was some ex-lover back in town as that was a fairly common occurrence for the once upon a time Holiday Cove Casanova—but instead found a tall man in a pretty nice suit. “Who is—” I didn’t finish my question as the answer hit me mid-sentence.
Noah Scoville.
“That’s him?” I said, turning back around to face Aaron.
He nodded and gave the guy a surly once over. “Yep. He’s trouble.”
I drew in a quick breath. I wasn’t going to let paranoia get me riled up. Who cares if he was tall and good-looking? Holly could have any man on the planet and she’d picked me. I had nothing to be worried about.
“Player,” I hissed. “Chill out.”
It was too late. Aaron was already in protective-brother mode and he wasn’t about to back down. He leaned back in his chair and kicked one heel to the opposite knee. I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, we get it; you’re Mr. Cool. I don’t even know why you’re so upset right now. Who cares if he likes to fuck around? Need I remind you that was your MO for…oh I don’t know…a good decade?”
“It’s not that,” he insisted with a shake of his head. “It’s all this shit with those properties.”
“What about them? You of all people should be happy that something is finally going to happen. And it’s not O’Keefe’s gaudy high rise.”
Aaron’s jaw tensed. “I don’t trust guys like him. Never did. But especially not now.”
I sighed. “All right, well, right now, you look a little unhinged. Can you at least stop snarling in his general direction?”
Aaron flashed one more dark look and then turned his attention back to me. “I know Holly wants this job, but I gotta say, I kinda hope she finds something else. She doesn’t need to be working for someone like that.”
“Let’s just drop it, okay?”
Aaron nodded and took a sip of his coffee. Carly had given us to-go cups so we got up from our table and stacked the two small dessert plates together. Aaron dropped a five-dollar bill on the table and we headed out.
As we snaked through the tables, Aaron veered right and before I could grab his arm, he wandered over to the table Noah was standing beside. He was consulting his phone while he waited on his order and didn’t realize Aaron was approaching him until he was standing right beside him. He gave him a friendly smile. “Hey, Aaron. How are you?”
I’d forgotten Aaron had mentioned they’d already met. I moved to stand beside Aaron. Mostly to hold him back in case he started swinging. Aaron was like a brother to me, but he could be a real prick when someone rubbed him the wrong way.
