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“Here you guys go. Sorry it took so long. Honestly, I’m not really sure why we are so busy on a Friday afternoon.” Our plates were slid in front of us, and we each eyed the food like a pack of hungry wolves.
“Don’t sell yourself short, Grace. Everyone knows this is the best place to eat in three counties.”
“You hush, Brent, you’re biased. Casey, hun, do you need anything to go with your eggs? Hot sauce? Ketchup?”
“I’m good. Thank you so much.” Casey gave my mom a genuine smile that lit up her beautiful face. I was glad she wasn’t looking at me, or she would have seen the awe I felt at witnessing it. I wanted nothing more than to keep her smiling like that for the rest of our lives.
Mom reached over to a vacated table and snatched up the syrup before sliding it onto our table. “Well, I’ll leave you to enjoy your food. If you need anything, just send one of these boys for it, okay? They both know their way around well enough.” She winked as we both snorted. Of course we knew our way around. We had been coming here since we were kids, and it was the first job either one of us had.
Casey eyed her food with a hunger that I only hoped to see her eye my dick with one day soon. “Yes, ma’am. Thank you, it looks perfect.”
With a grin, Mom was back to checking on her other tables. She was always run off her feet; ever since she and my dad bought the place when I was a kid, but it was obvious that she loved everything about the diner. I knew neither one of them regretted the hard work it took to keep the place going. Brent wasn’t wrong, either. It was easily the best food in three counties, no contest.
We were quiet as we dug in. Though I enjoyed the hell out of my messy burger, I couldn’t keep my eyes off our girl. When she took a bite of her pancakes and a drip of syrup got on her chin, it took everything I had inside me to stay in my seat instead of launching myself over the table and licking that spot off her soft-looking skin.
Once we were close to finished, and had slowed down to taking leisurely bites of what was left of our food, I finally asked what both Brent and I needed to know. “So, sugar, what are your plans while you’re here?”
Brent and I both watched her carefully as she fidgeted in her seat. Finally, she cleared her throat and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I, uh, I was thinking of looking for a job. I have some money, but it won’t last long if I stay at the inn and keep eating out all the time.” She looked around at the restaurant, which had emptied of most customers after the lunch rush. “I don’t know. Do you think your mom needs help here? Even just a little bit? Maybe.”
I smiled at her when she glanced my way, judging my reaction. “I think she’s always looking for some good help around here. Those two,” I gestured with my chin at the other servers, “are the last of my cousins that are at an age to help out. They both go off to college soon. I know Mom is going to be looking for their replacements. I could put in a good word for you if you want.” My wink had a blush filling her cheeks again, and I loved that she was affected by me.
“Thanks. I think I’ll talk to her about it today.”
I could practically feel the relief coming off of Brent when she said what we had hoped to hear. As long as she stayed in town a while longer, it would give us a chance to woo her. It was going to take monumental strength to hold back our eagerness to get her locked down sooner rather than later. But we knew and had agreed after our talk last night that she needed us to be slow and steady. We couldn’t rush her, or we would be the ones to make her want to leave. I wouldn’t let that happen. I would lose my job due to holding up the bus she was on at gunpoint before I would let her leave again.
But there was another problem she had mentioned that would be easy to address.
“You know,” Brent began thoughtfully. He even had his fucking finger tapping on his bottom lip, playing it up a bit thick. I wanted to kick him for making it too obvious. “If you want to save some money on renting a room at the inn, Ethan and I have a huge house with way too many bedrooms. There are several rooms we don’t use at all. If you want, you could stay with us. You would be doing us a favor, really.”
I glared at him. Not that he could see it because the asshole was staring down at our woman, practically begging her with his eyes to say yes. What the fuck happened to being subtle, fucker? I wanted her there, too, but we probably could have used Mom’s influence to convince her.
When she glanced up at me through her lashes, I wiped the glare from my face and nodded as if the idea hadn’t occurred to me until just then. “Yeah, that’s a good idea, babe. She could have a safe place to stay with an alarm. She wouldn’t have to worry about anyone trying to break into her room.”
I held my breath as she bit the inside of her cheek, clearly being swayed by the idea of security. “Are you sure? You don’t even know me. I wouldn’t want to intrude. I’m sure I could find a cheap apartment... somewhere.”
“Of course, sugar. This town is nice, but unfortunately, just like any other town, there are bad areas. The type of apartments that are reasonably priced aren’t always going to be in the best neighborhoods.” Fuck, now I was the one laying it on too thick. We both needed to back off and let her come to us on her own. It wasn’t our intention to manipulate her, but fuck, as a cop, I knew all about what could happen to a young, beautiful woman on her own.
She nodded gratefully. “Thank you for the offer. I just need to decide what I’m going to do first. Would you mind if I said I’ll think about it?”
“Dollface, you take all the time you need. Ethan and I will have the room for you whenever you are ready.”
She relaxed back into her seat, letting the tension drain out of her. “Thanks, guys. I really mean that.”
I slid out of the booth and waited for Brent to pry himself away from where he’d been plastered to her gorgeous little body for the last half-hour. I pulled a card from my wallet and handed it to her when she scooted out and stood next to us. It was the first time either of us had a chance to stand next to her. To say the size difference didn’t make my dick hard would be a motherfucking lie. As soon as she took the card from my fingers, I made sure to pull my suit jacket in place to hide the monster that wanted to be let free.
“Give me a call at any time.” I placed my finger under her chin and lifted her eyes from where she was taking in my card. “Day or night, sugar. Any time.”
“Okay,” she whispered, and I couldn’t resist leaning down to brush a kiss on her cheek.
“Good girl,” I whispered back. And I watched the blush heat up her cheeks as Brent leaned down and did the same.
Six
CASEY
I watchedthe two guys walk out after stopping to say goodbye to Grace. I couldn’t help but notice as Ethan passed her several bills when he kissed her on the cheek. I turned to grab my backpack and shook my head, certain he had paid for my food along with theirs. They were too nice. I wasn’t sure what to make of their generosity or the offer for a room at their house.
I moved through the tables over to where Grace was rolling a bin of silverware. The smile she gave me when she looked up had a pang of longing rolling through me at the thought of my own mother. I hitched the bag further up on my shoulder.
