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I swallowed back my anger at Kane’s pleading tone, protection was what he and my brother had built careers on. As much as I hated to admit Gray was right, and I really, really hated it, they did know more about this than me. I didn’t want to put anyone in danger because of my pride and they would never risk our business if it wasn’t necessary. “Okay, tell me the plan,” I crossed my arms and dropped back against the booth.
Gray’s eyes narrowed as they ping-ponged between us. He clearly knew something was up at my easy surrender but decided to stick to the conversation at hand, thank God. “Kane’s going to be stationed here, from time to time one of us may take over but he’s available and has volunteered. More than likely no one will question why he’s here but if anyone gets nosey, we have a cover story that he’s upgrading the computer system.”
“I’ll be here every morning before you open, stay until closing,” Kane took over. “No one enters this building before I can check it out or locks up without me.”
“So, what do I tell the employees?” I knew I was giving in, but honestly, it was a solid plan and I wouldn’t mind getting to see Kane during my workday. Maybe they should have started with that.
“Gray will be having this same conversation with your parents. Jim’s going to need to know the truth as well, he already knows something’s up.” We looked over to see the man in question staring at us from the kitchen with his arms crossed and a serious expression on his face.
“As for everyone else, we stick to the cover story. You do most of the opening and closing and are therefore the most vulnerable. You’re my main concern here, babe…ugh, Winnie,” Kane coughed, trying to cover up his almost use of my favorite word.
“When does this start?” I rose to my feet as more customers came in.
“Now,” they both replied at the same time, surprising me.
“Now?” I repeated, shocked.
“Now, Fred. Get ready to see a whole lot more of me,” Kane was back to smirking and my panties grew damp because I knew very well what all of him looked like already. Maybe having a bodyguard around wasn’t the worst thing that could happen.
* * *
HavingKane in my diner all day was awful. I had to force my eyes away from the back booth where he was sitting over and over again. The heated looks he kept sending my way and his overall sexiness made working near impossible.
I had mixed up three orders, broken two mugs and to top it off, I had forgotten to pick up more crayons and had to give the Flannery’s twins some pens with their kids’ menus. Which didn’t go over too well with their parents considering they had chosen to use them on their arms instead of the dancing pancakes on the paper.
When there was a break in customers, I marched right up to him and planted my hands on my hips. His eyes took in the movement and a slow smile spread on his face. I shifted, trying to stifle the ache in my core that smile created. “Don’t you look at me like that. I can’t work like this!” I whisper yelled as I threw my arms up in the air.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, baby.”
“You know exactly what you have been doing, mister. Sitting back here all sexy and distracting,” I pointed my finger at him accusingly.
“If anyone’s distracting, baby, it’s you in those shorts shaking that cute ass all over this place. I’ve been so fucking hard I thought I was going to knock over this table with my dick.”
My face heated and my panties grew damp. It had only been a few days since we had been together but I craved his tongue, his hands, his cock. “Kane,” I breathed out his name, letting him know how much I needed him. He started to rise from his seat, determination on his face, when the bell on the door caught our attention. A group of teenagers walked in chatting.
“Sit anywhere you guys want, I’ll be with you in a minute,” I called to them. Looking back at Kane, I saw he was seated again and looked perfectly calm. Like he hadn’t almost taken me into the supply room and ravished me like I was hoping he would.
“Your place later, baby. I can’t stay away from you anymore.” I nodded my head before turning to gather some menus. Fanning my flushed cheeks, I got back to work, excited at the thought of being back in Kane’s arms tonight.
22
Kane
“It’s time for you to leave.”
“Um, what?” The teenage boy stared at me confused and intimidated.
“You paid your bill, diner’s closed, go home,” I put on my meanest face and planted my feet with my arms crossed over my chest, hoping to scare the boy and his date out of there. It wasn’t a lie, the diner’s official closing time had passed thirty minutes ago. Winnie had sent Jim home and had made herself busy with her closing procedures while these two kids sat here with the same plate of fries that they hadn’t touched in an hour.
They scooted out of the booth and practically ran out the door. After I made sure they got into their car all right and had driven off, I locked the doors and flipped the neon ‘open’ sign off. I turned to find Winnie, once again with those fists planted on her hips, glaring at me.
“You can’t run off my customers, Kane. You promised that your presence here wasn’t going to cause issues.”
“What I promised to do, baby, was protect you and anyone else in this building, and me kicking those kids out was doing that. It’s late, after closing time, the perfect setting for the perps. If they were to have walked through those doors, would you want those two kids here, knowing how dangerous they can be?”
Her arms dropped to her sides as a look of horror crossed her face. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad, baby,” I pulled Winnie into me, wanting to comfort her because I knew my words wouldn’t. “These are the things I’m here to look out for and you have to trust that it isn’t me trying to screw with you or your business.”
“Okay,” came muffled from where Winnie’s face was planted in my shirt. She gazed up at me, “I trust you, Kane.” Love for this woman spread through me at her statement and I held her a little tighter. There was no better feeling in the world than knowing I had her trust.
