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I turned my head swiftly to look at the old man next to me. “You know about me? I didn’t think the news of my firm travelled this far.”
Tommy reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a rolled up magazine. He slaps it on the counter between us so the glossy business magazine with my picture on the cover is face up. “Ryder Wolfe, you think your family’s old friend don’t check up on you from time to time? Think your momma doesn’t call and share all the news she can to my Betty? You’re out of contact with your old high school friends, but not us old-timers. We stick together.”
Speaking of high school friends. Kandy’s the only one of them I’ve seen around.
“Seems like a lot of people have moved away.”
Tommy nods. “Yeah, yeah. Small towns aren’t for everyone. You gotta love the people around you and their quirks to make it work.”
I smile.
“I hear ya, Tommy. I hear ya.”
“Not sure if you know about what happened to Kandy’s parents?”
I nod. “She told me about the accident and then her dad passing.”
“Well, not sure if she mentioned it or not, but when her dad left us I kinda stepped in.” He rubbed the back of his neck, obviously ill at ease.
Kandy hadn’t mentioned it, but it isn’t too tough to see Tommy taking care of the girl he knew since birth. “She needed someone and you were there. That’s not easy.”
He shrugs. “Something like that. I’ve tried to step in and help her like I’d have wanted him to do if he were in my shoes. But no one can replace a girl’s daddy.” He picks up the magazine and slaps it back down on the counter as he all but squirms on his stool. “Well, hell. What I’m trying to say here is…what are your intentions toward Kandy? You two haven’t exactly made a secret of the fact you’ve been going at it like bunnies since you got here.”
I stare at the gruff man who is the closest thing Kandy has to a father and feel a bit of discomfort creep in. I’ve never blushed before in my life but Tommy has me thinking I’m about to have my first time.
Years in the military and a few more building my company from the ground up didn't afford me a lot of time to stop and think about others’ feelings. But damn, sitting here now, I feel like a teenager facing the father of my prom date.
Only in this case, my prom date’s dad is well aware that I’ve been spending every spare minute screwing his pretty, innocent daughter.
Before I can formulate an answer, the diner door slams open so hard it bangs off the back wall. A tall man sporting a blond buzz cut and wearing camo cargos and an olive drab t-shirt stomps into the diner. All the pretty candles Kandy lit in the remaining pumpkins blow out, and it pisses me off to see her hard work unappreciated.
Bloodshot blue eye meets mine. The guy looks like he went on a binger and forgot to clean up before stepping into public.
I don't care if this is the last place to get food on the way to somewhere else, he could keep moving. I slide to my feet, glancing at Tommy.
Gone was his concerned father's expression. In its place is one I am beginning to become familiarized with again.
It’s the one he wears when he stumbles across a juicy piece of gossip. He leans back on his stool, elbows resting behind him on the counter. He looks like he is resisting the urge to rub his palms together.
What the hell?
“Buzz. What brings you here?” Tommy askes.
Buzz? Ah. I see.
At the name of Kandy’s erstwhile fiancé, the hair on my neck stands on end and I stretch my hands at my sides, itching to knock the guy flat on his ass.
“Where is she? Kandy?” Buzz yells toward the order window, completely ignoring my presence.
Pretty sure he won’t be ignoring me for long. I’ve been waiting to get my hands on this guy since about five minutes after I got here. I can feel a grin tugging at my lips at the prime opportunity dropped in my lap.
Before I have a chance to say a word or really even make a good fist, the diner door slams open again.
This time Kandy storms in, her hair flying wildly around her shoulders. My grin widens a little when I realize she is wearing the gray Henley shirt from yesterday. The sleeves are rolled up about a hundred times and the hem hangs almost to her knees over a pair of black leggings. Her violet eyes flash with fiery anger as she takes in the scene going down in the middle of her diner.
This is about to get good. Those eyes land on me, and the full force of their fire make my dick hard enough to pound cement.
Damn, I love watching my girl get riled.
