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It didn’t really qualify as a job. I was working for free, just hoping a position would open up soon. The woman who ran the bakery didn’t even know I’d been there this morning, manning the counter until my best friend could get there. I was keeping a lot of secrets while chasing my dreams of someday running a cupcake bakery. But it would all be worth it in the end.
Wes lowered his voice and asked, “Did he take a bite of the muffin?”
I squeezed my eyes shut. He’d taken a bite of the muffin, alright. A big bite.
I opened them again, reminding myself these two guys would have no clue that their prank led to sex on Grayson’s dining room table. They didn’t have to know that either, unless he’d told them about it.
“It went fine.” I nodded. “I dropped off the muffins and left. I didn’t see him actually bite into one.”
“Crap,” the other guy said. I remembered his name was Noah. “Thanks so much for doing that for us.”
“I’ll send the money as soon as we sit down,” Wes said.
I’d given them my information to pay me electronically once the errand was done. I’d just assumed they come back into the bakery and ask Hannah for my contact information.
“Which one’s your section?” Noah asked. “A few of the other guys from our crew will be joining us.”
A few of the other guys from their crew? Did that include Grayson? My heart immediately kicked into double time at the thought of seeing him again. I’d made a colossal fool out of myself, but he was all I’d thought about since leaving his house.
“That’s my table.” I pointed to a ten-seater near the bar. “I’ll be with you in just a second.”
I checked on one of my other tables, mostly to get my bearings. Waiting on Grayson’s coworkers was almost as unnerving as seeing him again. What if they told him I was a little shaky? Would he think that sex with him had turned me into some obsessed stalker type?
I got delayed by another table who had a question, and by the time I made it to over to Wes and Noah, another guy had joined them. I didn’t recognize this one, and Noah had a big smile on his face as he stared down at his phone.
“Looks like it’ll be all seven of us,” he said. “So let’s start with a round of beers for the three who are here.”
All I heard was “seven of us.” According to Tinley’s sister, there were seven on the crew that she served at the food truck every weekday. One was Tucker, who she’d just started dating. They already acted like they were madly in love. I didn’t get how it could happen that quickly until I met Grayson.
“What’s going on over there?” Bo asked as I stepped up to the bar to input the beers into the point-of-sale.
I looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“Those loggers. What are they doing here?”
“They’re here for dinner, I guess.”
Bo laughed. “I guess you’re new here. They don’t ever eat in the dining room. Those guys head straight back to the pool table and we haul beers back and forth to them. Appetizers, if we’re lucky.”
He was still eyeing me suspiciously, but I kept my gaze focused on the screen. There was no way he could piece together that I was aiming for a job at the bakery. That would have nothing to do with these guys showing up here all of a sudden. But I still felt paranoid about it.
The group had grown to six by the time I returned with three beers. Only one logger missing. I tried not to stare at the door. There was something about the way the guys were watching me, though—almost as though they were amused. Did they know something happened? Maybe Grayson had mentioned it. No, he didn’t seem the type to kiss and tell.
I was standing at the bar, waiting for beers for the last three guys, when something shifted behind me. I knew before I turned exactly what I’d find. The energy in the room just seemed to change somehow.
Grayson had entered the building.
4
GRAYSON
Iwas not in the mood to hang out, but that was exactly what the guys wanted to do Saturday night. As I pulled into the Scoreboard Bar and Grill parking lot, I groaned. The lot was packed with cars, and I was not in the mood for a crowd.
“Grayson!” the guys yelled out as soon as I stepped through the door.
They were seated at a table near the bar, and I headed in that direction. I was settling in for a night of brooding in front of the TV when my next-door neighbor, Noah, texted me to get my butt down here. Judging by the empty beer mugs littering the table, they’d already gotten a big head start on me.
As usual, I nodded and headed over to the bar to place my order. I’d barely started in that direction, though, when I spotted her. There was no mistaking that long, thick head of red hair.
