The customer’s always right and this is a small town. Suck it up. No need to insult anyone or burn a bridge. In her opinion, he looked more like a total goober rather than anyone important she needed care about, but perhaps he was the local nutritionist. In this case it was better to be safe now than sorry later. Hadn’t she learned that important lesson with Seth and Garrett the night before?
Jessica inched away from him leaning far to her opposite side as she continued to eat her meal in silence. She gleefully finished the last few bites of her roll, and also finished her mashed potatoes, scooping and licking from the spoon every last drop of gravy as if in silent rebellion to her fellow diner’s taunt.
She ignored the man, instead thinking about what she had left on her daily to-do list. Her favorite item was the coming dinner date.
Shifting gears to the potential relationship brewing and the naughty idea of double penetration sex now likely in her future, she promptly swiveled on her stool, turning her back on the idiot seated beside her.
Jessica tried to be adult about her feelings regarding Seth and Garrett. She genuinely wanted to pursue these men. Earlier, her greatest fear after he’d pretended not to know her in front of Gray was that, after last night, she was never going to get to be with either of them ever again.
But Gray had left the room, and Seth had looked at her with such poignant longing, she knew he hadn’t expected her to be a one night stand. She certainly didn’t want whatever was growing between them to end.
Maybe it wasn’t smart to lust after her boss, or rather her boss’s boss, but he had promised he wouldn’t be around day to day. Maybe it would work out fine. Hopefully, Seth being her boss’s boss wasn’t a bad sign she should be paying attention to.
“Pass the salt, would you, sweet cakes?” asked the buffoon from earlier. She would have ignored the request and pretended not to hear him, but he put his hand on her shoulder and leaned in very close once more. His breath—the stench of which could peel wallpaper from a flat surface without a scraper—assailed her nostrils with pungent clarity, making her clench her teeth together.
“Don’t touch me,” she hissed. Jerking her shoulder away from his hand, Jessica prepared to do battle, burned bridge or not.
“Why so touchy, sweet cakes?” He smirked.
“Maybe because you’re crowding her. Why don’t you back away and sit in your own seat.” The voice to behind her was as familiar as it was welcome. Garrett!
“Who the fuck are you?” the stranger asked with a sneer.
“Interested bystander. Not that it’s any of your business. So back off.”
“I have as much right to be here as she does.” The hulking man sneered at them both and turned back to his food.
Garrett pointedly ignored the ass wipe and turned to her. “Want to move to a booth?”
Jessica shook her head. “No. I’m finished eating. Are you hungry? Do you want something?”
He grinned. In a low tone he said, “Oh, I want something all right.” Leaning closer, he whispered in her ear, “But I’m only hungry for you.”
Jessica was hungry for him, too. Even after all the satisfaction from the night before, and her sore muscles to prove it, she wasn’t about to turn down any offers of a sexual nature.
“I’m very happy to see you here today. I was afraid you’d skipped town.”
“Yeah. Sorry. I forgot to leave a note. I truly meant to.”
He smiled. “So, where did you go?”
“Job interview.”
He grinned like it was the best news he’d ever heard. “Oh yeah? How’d it go?”
“I got the job. So…it went pretty well.” She was about to mention that Seth was her new boss, but he put his arm partly around her shoulder
“Excellent. I think that calls for a celebration.” His smile increased tenfold. He leaned even closer, whispering, “Congratulations.” Before she could tell him she’d celebrated with the diner’s comfort food special, his firm amazing body pressed between her open legs. He embraced her, pulling her tighter into his body.
In yet another move she didn’t see coming, Garrett took her face gently in his palms, and pressed a kiss to her mouth like she was the long lost love of his life. He did this right in front of the entire diner crowd.