“When you don’t stop by for a short time, I do worry. My imagination runs wild and I think of horrible men wanting to exact revenge on you.”
“My job wasn’t quite that adventurous.”
“Still, you’ve been shot on the job.”
He had and he’d told her in detail.
“You didn’t answer my question.” He reached out, taking hold of her hand, feeling the slight shake, and he hoped he didn’t make her nervous. “Would you miss me?”
“Macie, order up,” Carl shouted from the back.
She licked her lips and glanced down at their joined hands.
What was going on in her mind?
He noticed her sudden indrawn breath, and he was drawn to it. He didn’t want to let her go.
Macie pulled away, and he watched her go to the window and pick up his food.
“Coffee, miss,” someone from the crowd said.
She grabbed the coffee pot, rounded the counter, and stopped beside him. “Yes, I miss you always.”
Macie stepped away before he could stop her and knew she had just sealed her fate.
****
What had she done?
Her shift was nearly at an end, and Macie hadn’t been able to stop once and talk to Wilson, to let him know she didn’t mean anything by it. That was a big fat lie, and she couldn’t stand lying to him.
Telling Wilson the truth, though, was out of the question. He didn’t need to know that every single day he arrived at the diner, he made her heart flutter. Nor how disappointed she was when he didn’t arrive. She kept an eye out for him every single day.
“Good work tonight, Macie,” Carl said. “Don’t stress about all that work. You’ll get to it.”
She forced a smile to her lips, but it wasn’t even close to what she was feeling. Schoolwork had always been hard. Teachers never had the patience for her, and she knew they thought she was stupid because she struggled to learn. Even now, she was taking forever to do simple math, but nothing made any sense to her.
“Thanks, Carl. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She gave him a wave and stepped out of the diner, into the freezing world. Her apartment was a twenty-minute walk away, and the snow was so thick.
She pulled her jacket tight around herself. It was a bargain at a thrift shop, which was the only place she could afford. City life hadn’t been kind to her, but she was making the most of it, determined to see only the positive in everything. There was no point in dwelling on all the crap she couldn’t change.
Snuggling into her jacket, she took a couple of steps only to come to a stop when she saw Wilson leaning against his car at the side of the road.
“Have you broken down?” she asked, moving toward him.
“No.”
Her heart fluttered. He had such a deep voice, hard and guttural. She loved to hear him talk.
Stepping even closer to him, she glanced at his car. The engine was running while he stood out in the cold. “I want to ask you something, Macie, and you have to be honest with me,” he said.
“Ask away.”
Did this man not know how mesmerizing he was? She could listen to him all day long.
He moved off his car and closed the distance between them. Macie didn’t know if it was possible, but she felt his heat surround her. Tilting her head back, she stared into his blue eyes. She felt safe and warm this close to him. Normally, there was a counter between them, but this felt good.
Macie had never felt this way with anyone before in her life. She’d never had sex with a man, or even wanted to.
As she licked her lips, her mouth felt dry, and heat flooded between her thighs.
Wilson cupped her cheek, his thumb running across her bottom lip. “Do you want me?” he asked.
Macie didn’t know what to do. “I don’t understand.”
“Yes, you do. You know I’ve been coming to the diner to see you, Macie. I don’t give a flying fuck about the food or anything about that place. The only person I want is you. Only you. Will you be mine?”
No one had ever approached her like this. Her heart raced.
Was this … a proposition?
“Yes, I will.” She didn’t know if she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life. Macie was many things, but she wasn’t a fool. After years of watching men come and go out of her mother’s life, she came to learn at an early age that they were good with words. Spewing whatever crap they could to get a woman into bed.
Before she worked at the diner, she did have a temp job at a bar, and she got to witness guys firsthand, and she didn’t like what she saw, which was why she never gave in.
There was something different about Wilson. She had no idea what it was.