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“Are you daydreamin’ over there? Where is my coffee, woman? And none of that decaf crap neither.” Well, it was an honor most days.
“Harold, we do this every morning,” I sighed as I dropped my head forward. “You know how coffee makers work. Youknowthat if you come in the second I unlock those doors you’re going to have to wait for it to brew. You also know that if you call me ‘woman’ that I’ll take extra time getting you your precious coffee. Finally, you know that I have no problem calling Rhonda and informing her that her husband is at my diner drinking regular coffee. So, knowing all of that, would you like to rethink your question?” I turned to him with a hand on my hip and a brittle smile on my face.
Harold cleared his throat and shifted on his bar stool before asking through gritted teeth, “Can I have some coffee, please?”
“Please what?” I couldn’t resist torturing him just a little bit more.
“Can I have some coffee, please, Winnie?” he grumbled.
“Now, see! Was that so difficult to do? I’ll go get it right now,” I spun on my heel and walked back to the machines, laughing to myself. When I first started waiting tables my Momma told me, “Be nice to the customers but don’t take any shit,” and I followed that advice in every aspect of my life. When you are only 5’2”, people tend to think you are a pushover but anyone who knew a James woman knew better.
As much as I loved the diner, I hadn’t planned to still be serving coffee and pancakes at twenty-five. I had left home at eighteen to go to college just like my friends. I had been in school for two years and still didn’t have a career path in mind, when the James family was changed forever.
Gray had been on deployment when he called us freaking out, telling us that a woman he had a fling with on leave had written him a letter saying she was pregnant and the baby was his. The letter went on to say that she couldn’t handle raising the baby on her own and wanted Gray to take her. Since he was overseas, my parents went about finding the little girl and bringing her home.
My niece, Daisy, was now five years old and she was happy and loved. She had the same blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair that Gray and I shared. People often thought I was Daisy’s mother when we were together which always made Daisy giggle.
Gray had left the Marines to come home and start Falls Security while being a single father. Although I thought he was doing an amazing job raising Daisy on his own, he still needed the support of his family. I chose to leave college and move back to Little Falls to help with Daisy and the diner. I never looked back and never regretted my decision, this was where I was meant to be.
The chimes of the diner door opening made me look over my shoulder. I felt my cheeks lift with a real smile as I watched my brother and the Falls Security team file in, making their way to their usual table in the back. After delivering grumpy Harold’s coffee—regular, not decaf, because I loved the old coot—I walked with the pot back to the team.
“Dude, I’m telling you it was a dinosaur. That thing was going to rip my face off any second,” Monroe “Roe” Ross said loudly.
At first glance you wouldn’t think that Roe fit in with this crowd of badasses, with his messy curly brown hair, trademark glasses and two-day beard, but the cute nerd ended there. Roe had colorful tattoos on every piece of exposed skin. I assumed they went under his tight white t-shirt and jeans, too, but had never seen for myself. As hot as he was, he was like a second brother to me. Roe was tall, at least 6’2” like my brother and packed with muscle just like the rest of Falls Security. Even though he could be intimidating when he wanted, his easy smile and ridiculous jokes always made me roll my eyes.
“A dinosaur? Really, Roe? You’ve been spending too much time with Daisy if you’re making up stories now.” Gray smiled up at me as I poured him a cup of coffee. If he wasn’t five years older than me and a foot taller, people would have thought we were twins. The days of sibling fighting were mostly in the past and we had a great relationship where we could talk about almost anything. I still had no desire to hear about his love life and I got the impression he felt the same about mine, or lack thereof.
“It was a possum, pretty boy. We all saw it before Gage came and scared it away for you. Thanks, Winnie,” Sam gave me a small smile.
Samantha Hebert was the lone female in the Falls Security group. We both had blue eyes but she was taller than me by a good six or seven inches and had long, sleek blonde hair that was always pulled back into a severe braid. Black t-shirts, tight cargo pants and combat boots were her usual wardrobe. In my head I called her “Badass Barbie” but I would never risk my neck by saying it to Sam’s face.
There was only one person on the Falls Security team that I didn’t know well and that was Gage. I had no idea what his first name was and I certainly wasn’t going to openly ask him. He was a big man at 6’4” with long black hair that I had only seen secured in a small bun and gold, slightly upturned eyes. They were beautiful, unlike anything I had ever seen before. Like Roe, he was covered in tattoos, but where Roe’s were colorful, Gage’s were dark and menacing. I could count on one hand the number of times he had spoken to me, and it was usually only one or two words in his quiet voice. He rarely looked anyone in the face and I was one hundred percent okay with that.
All of the Falls Security members were former Marines who served with Gray and I knew he trusted each of them with his life. I didn’t know much about what they did during that time and honestly didn’t want to, but based on the set of skills they each possessed it must have been pretty intense. It still made me sick to my stomach thinking of my big brother being in danger overseas. I didn’t like the thought of any of them being in danger if I was honest, the whole team had come to mean a lot to me.
“Sam, Sam, Sam,” Roe shook his head disbelievingly. “Don’t you know possums are predators? He was just waiting for me to drop my guard so he could attack!”
“First of all,” Sam began, holding up her index finger, “possums are more opportunistic than predatory and secondly, that possum was a female. Didn’t you see the babies she was carrying on her back?”
“I wasn’t staying around to look!” Roe shouted, throwing his arms into the air. “I’m not the idiot in the horror movie that goes to investigate further only to end up killed off in the first ten minutes,” he said, making me laugh.
“Is this the possum story again?” a deep voice spoke from behind me, sending a shiver up my spine. Kane, the same boy, now man, who lived next door and joined the Marines with my brother when they both turned eighteen. He and Gray had started Falls Security together.
“Hey, Fred,” Kane smirked at me the same way he had all those years ago as he sat down with the rest of his team. I always wondered how the tiny chair held his massive bulk without bending or breaking.
He was gorgeous with his black hair shaved on the sides and longer on top. What would he do if I sat right in his lap and ran my fingers through it as I stared into those dark eyes?Probably drop me ass first on the blue and white checkered floor. Kane Rodriguez had never even hinted at seeing me as anything other than his best friend’s little sister. He called me “Fred” for Heaven’s sake and that wasn’t exactly a term of endearment.
Kane was wearing all black like most of the team. I had asked Gray once if he got a discount for all the black shirts they wore and he just looked at me like I was insane. The black shirts could stay as far as I was concerned because it accentuated every muscle in Kane’s broad chest as he leaned back in the chair and crossed his strong arms.
“What else can I get for you guys other than coffee this morning?” I shook myself out of my daydreams of Kane’s muscles and pulled the notepad out of my apron. I wrote down their orders before turning my attention back to Kane. “The usual?” I asked, smiling.
“Am I that predictable, Fred?” He laughed as he scratched his beard with those big, sexy hands.
“What would you call ordering fruit and granola to go with that disgusting green protein shake you bring in here every day?” I quirked my brow at him.
“Okay, I get it, I am boring,” he held his hands up. “But how else do you expect me to stay in shape in my old age?” His hands dropped and he patted his abs. His perfect, perfect abs. Kane Rodriguez looked just as in shape as when he was an active Marine. At thirty, he was hardly old but his teasing was a harsh reminder that he would never consider me as more than his best friend’s little sister.
I smiled at the table and left to put in their orders. No, Kane Rodriguez wasn’t for me and maybe someday when he did find a woman he wanted to keep, I would be able to move on as well.
