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Plugging in the machine and pouring coffee granules into the top, I turn back to find Tim still standing in place, his eyes on Aubree and his back muscles all sorts of fired up and sexy. And Aubree, who stands an easy foot, perhaps a foot and a half, shorter than him, looks up and swallows a big ol’ lump of desire.
“Tim!”
“Yeah?” He turns around so fast, his elbow almost clips my colleague’s chin. “What?”
“Could you just do my groceries? Please.”
“No!” Twisting back to Aubree, the half-naked mountain man reaches past her so his chest damn near scrapes along the tip of her nose, and he yanks the door shut. He flips the locks and makes certain no one else can come in, then he steps away like my second is invisible to him.
She continues to stare, to gawk, to wringmyshirt in her hands, but he crosses the bar and flops onto the stool opposite me. “What do I have to do to make this stop?” His green eyes search my face. “What, Mayet? How do I get off this ride and finally enjoy a full night’s rest again?”
“You could give me a key to your bar.” I hit the button to start the pot. “Or you could do my groceries, fill the machine, set the timer, and have fresh coffee starting in my kitchen every single morning before I wake up.”
“I can set you up once.” He presses his hands together in prayer. “I’ll do that shit today, get you organized. Then you’ll leave me alone?”
My smile falters when I process the fact he’s pleading. He’s actually begging for freedom. And maybe my crankiness is as entertaining to Aubree as Tim’s is to me. Maybe Aubree gets off on triggering me the way I kinda enjoy triggering Tim.
“I don’t want to leave you alone,” I finally admit. “I like visiting with you.”
“So visit me at an appropriate hour,” he implores. “You coming in here at this time every morning is like me banging on your door at two in the morning.”
“I was actually awake at two this morning.”
“Not the fucking point,” he snarls. Reaching up, he threads his fingers into his hair and pushes the sexy mess out of his eyes. “I’ll do your groceries today. I’ll cook dinner for you every single night. I’ll buy vegetables to serve up with your burger so you don’t die too soon from cholesterol. But I’m begging you to stop visiting me this early in the morning. I can’t survive on this kinda broken sleep.” He rests his elbows on the bar and presses his hands together in prayer.
“If you were a guy, I’d have already scrambled your fucking brains against a brick wall. And I mean that with all sincerity.” He teases a playful grin. “But since you’re not, and you’re kinda adorable, and we had that engagement once, I’m asking you really nicely… fuck off. Pretend I’m a sparkly vampire; that means you arenotallowed to see me during the daylight.”
“You take all the fun out of waking a guy up.” The moment the coffee pot is full, I bend again to find two new coffee mugs that match the one I already didn’t return. Setting them on the bar, I grab the pot and start pouring. “I’ll bring these and the one from yesterday back tonight. I swear.”
“Okay.” Exhausted, Tim rests his face on the countertop. “Goodnight.”
“You should go to your booth and rest before you fall off that stool.”
“Yup.” His voice is muffled from the way his cheek is smooshed flat. “Stop talking now.”
“Aubree.” Grinning, I glance over Tim’s hulking body and find her staring. “Maybe you could help our friend over to his booth? He needs to lie flat before he tips sideways and slams himself to the sticky floor.”
“Er… okay.” Hesitantly, my usually brave second steps forward. “Tim. I can help you—”
“I got it.” He brushes her hand away before she truly gets to touch, stumbling off the stool on his own, and because his eyes are almost entirely closed, he doesn’t see the way Aubree’s expression falls. The way his dismissal hurts her, and the way she’s left bereft and standing in place as he staggers away and flops into his booth. “Night, Minka.”
Frowning, I look to Aubree instead of the man four feet too long to be comfortable sleeping in a booth. “Goodnight, Tim. I’ll swing by for dinner.”
“Yep.” He throws a hand up so I see his thumb above the booth back, then he drops it again and turns into a ball as tight as he can manage on the uncomfortable bench seat.
“Come on.” I snag both mugs of coffee and move around to the other side of the bar. Offering the second cup to Aubree, I shuffle her toward the door and out into the cold without another word.
Wind bites the tip of my nose and whips my hair back, but my hands stay warm, wrapped around the mug, and my soul wakes up, finally, as the aroma of cheap coffee granules dissolved by not quite boiling water twists and turns its way into my vital organs.
“Don’t let his crankiness upset you.” I pull the door shut and don’t stop until the locks snick once more, then I put my head down and start toward the George Stanley. “He’s a grump in the mornings.”
“He’s a grump almost always,” she counters easily. “Kinda like you. Could be why he’s known me for years and doesn’t take a single second look, but you waltz into town for three days, and he’s doing your groceries and making you coffee.”
She pauses and glances across at me. “You have the grumpiness in common. Maybe he’s attracted to that type.”
“Well, if he is, then I’m telling you now, you guys will never truly be happy together. You’ll want to change your personality to please him, and changing your personality to become crankier like me…” I shake my head. “That would be a tragedy. Never change who you are for a man.”
“How very empowering of you.” Sipping her coffee, she takes a beanie from her coat pocket and pulls it, one-handed, over her head. “So, you and Detective Malone, huh?”
