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“What can I get you?” She asked, not bothering to look at the table.
Gage started, “Can we get three sampler platters to start.”
She jotted that down then her eyes lifted. “Can I get…” Her eyes grew wide when she saw the face that went with the voice. She stood a little taller, pushing her chest out. Her voice dropped to almost a purr when she asked, “Is there something else you’d like?”
Witnessing the change in the waitress, Tilly almost choked on her drink. Her eyes watering when she turned them on the waitress who was actually flipping her hair behind her shoulder. She followed her stare to Gage. She understood the appeal.
“Is everyone good?” Gage asked, his eyes roaming the table. When they landed on Tilly, he saw the laughter she was holding back. He wanted to wink, but like the other things he kept finding himself wanting to do, he held it back. When everyone muttered yes, he looked back at the waitress. “No, sweetheart, we’re good.”
The waitress leaned forward, pushing her breasts together, when she added, “I’m Daisy. You need anything, you give a holler.”
Tilly watched the scene, had seen it before with him. She lowered her eyes to her glass. She’d thought it then, thought it again now. What was it aboutherthat caught his attention? She’d seen pictures of his wife. She was a beauty. He could have that, younger, stunning, a better personality. So why her, a woman carrying more weight than she should and creeping up on forty? She wasn’t undermining herself; she knew her strengths and her flaws, but a man who drew the attention like Gage could be more discriminating. She glanced up at him, finding his eyes on her. She didn’t need to know why. For the next two days, he was hers.
Just from the short time he’d spent with Tilly, she was easy to read. Through the muffled voices, he could clearly see the whys floating up from her mind. Heather was used to the attention he got from other women, even his own daughter teased him about it. What Tilly didn’t understand was that he never entertained the idea of taking any of the women up on their silent offers. That she was different. That their connection went deeper than the surface.
He locked eyes with her, trying to convey that message to her, and when his lips tipped up into a small smile, he hoped she felt the comfort he was trying to provide.
“So,” He started, moving his attention to Kenny. “What did you wanna talk about?”
Kenny’s eyes roamed over the others at the table, pausing on Gage’s workers, and said, “Maybe we should talk alone.”
Gage looked at his men—Dom, his ride or die, Arty, a trustworthy hard worker, and Kyle, a kid who busted his ass. “Nah, here is good,” Gage told him, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms in challenge.
Kenny took a deep breath and uttered, “Okay.” He placed his elbows on the table and played with the wilting label on his bottle of beer. “Tillian is a diamond in the rough and—”
Unconsciously, Gage responded, “I have no doubt.” He moved his eyes to her, taking in the slight flush of pink on her cheeks.
His gaze drifted to his side when Dom muttered quietly, “Watch yourself.”
His and Dom’s eyes met briefly, Gage gave a quick nod. “Go on,” Gage told Kenny.
Kenny fidgeted, his focus darting around the table before he managed to focus back on Gage. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple, his voice a little unsteady. “It’d be a detriment to her career to limit her talent to only West Chester.”
Gage’s eyes jerked to Tilly to see the look of shock on her face, that was followed quickly with a darkening on her cheeks when she realized where Kenny was going with this. Gage was right there with her. Kenny didn’t need to say any more. Gage knew what he was asking. Fuck.
Kenny went on when Gage finally looked back to him. “I’ve been doing some thinking and,” Kenny paused, leveling his eyes on Gage and asked, “Thought maybe we could team up, expand both of our businesses...there are a lot of counties between our two towns.”
Gage lifted his hand, halting Kenny. He lifted his beer, too, draining the contents. The last sip going down wrong, he started to cough. Dom patted Gage on the back and asked, “So, you want Shady Meadows and Sutherlands to team up?”
Kenny looked to the table, nervously biting at his lip before answering Dom on a strangled breath, “Yeah,” He started, his eyes bouncing between Gage, who had recovered from his coughing fit, to Dom as he pleaded his case. “I know Shady Meadows is nowhere near as huge as Sutherlands, but I think if we teamed up, had Tillian as our designer, we could make an empire.”
Gage’s eyes quickly moved to Tilly. She was draining her drink and lifting her hand to get the waitress’ attention. She looked terrified and turned on.
Fuck. Kenny wanted them all to work together. Jesus. Gage ran a hand through his hair and he blew out a breath.
“I know Shady Meadows is probably the last landscaping company you want to tea—” Kenny stopped when this time Dom lifted his hand.
Gage rubbed the back of his neck. Kenny thought Gage’s reaction had to do with Shady Meadows small client base, when, in reality, it had to do with that fact that he was fucking his designer. Not just fucking, but having a straight-out affair with her. Now, Kenny was asking them to work with her, bringing her into his life even more. Jesus. Gage abruptly stood, the sound of wood scraping across the floor. “I…” He held up a hand, stumbling over his words. “I… I’ll be back.” Gage walked from the table, running his hands through his hair as he went.
“Shit, I knew he wouldn’t agree with my plan,” Kenny mumbled.
Dom stood and tried to put Kenny at ease. “I don’t think it’s that. He hasn’t been feeling that great, it’s probably just,” His eyes drifted to Tilly, where he narrowed them. “That.” Then he left the table in search of Gage.
Tilly didn’t follow, even though she really wanted to. Instead, she took another long drink. She couldn’t look at Kenny, even feeling grateful for his confidence in her work. She knew what the others didn’t, was afraid he’d see it in her eyes, but she couldn’t help but wonder if Gage’s strong reaction was because a weekend together was one thing, what Kenny was proposing was something else entirely. Something Gage didn’t want.
Arty opened his menu, feeling the tension heavy in the air, he asked, “What’s good here?”
Kenny gave him a small smile and told him his favorites he had eaten in the years of coming to the convention. It wasn’t long before Dom showed up at the table. His eyes to Kenny. “Gage said he’d finish talking with you tomorrow.” Then he moved his eyes to Tilly and finished. “He went back to his room, has a bad headache.” He took his hard look from her and rolled his eyes as he took a seat.
