“For what?”
“For hitting on Jace at the bar the other week.”
Elle’s fingers tightened around the cloth in her hand. “You don’t need to—”
“I do. I should have seen what was right in front of me. You like him, and he likes you. You have this super strong connection, and I had no business going there.”
“I didn’t tell you how I felt.”
“I know. But I still should have seen it.” Molly lifted a shoulder. “You two are good together.”
“We’re just friends.”
Molly laughed. “Nope. I amnotfalling for that again. He walks you in here every morning. He goes to lunch with you every day. Then he comes in here when you finish, and you do God knows what together after work. That’s not just friendship. And don’t even get me started on the way he looks at you.”
“The way he looks at me?”
Molly gave her a knowing smirk. “Okay, my shift is finished. Do you want me to help you clean up?”
Today it was just her scheduled for cleanup while Molly finished at closing time. “No, it won’t take me long. Go home. Relax.”
Molly grabbed her bag. “Easier said than done with the customers we’ve had today.”
She wasn’t wrong. They’d had some very demanding customers in the café, mostly tourists whose coffees had been too hot or too cold or not made right. One man complained his sandwich didn’t have enough mustard and demanded a refund, but of course, he’d only told them after he’d eaten three quarters of the thing. And then there was the woman who’d wanted a whole new croissant after eating half of her first one, claiming it was too hard.
“You handled them well,” Elle said with a grin.
“But I was one step away from throwing in some curses and kicking everyone out.” She pushed the door open. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow, Molly.”
Once the counters were clean, Elle mopped the floors. She was just putting the mop away in the small storage closet when the bell on the door rang. She smiled as she stepped back into the café, expecting to see Jace.
The smile dropped. Not Jace. Not even close.
She slipped behind the counter, nerves trickling down her spine at the sight of the bald man with the snake tattoo on the side of his head.
What was he doing here? Was he here to seeher?
Discreetly, she slipped her phone from her pocket, hiding it below the counter. “Hi. We’re closed, sorry.”
He scanned her face as he moved toward her, his steps slow, almost predatory.
She tapped a few keys on her cell—only glancing down for a second to make sure she hit Jace’s number—silenced her side of the call and put it on speaker before looking up again.
He stopped opposite her. “I was in the mountains and heard people talking about the café.”
She frowned. He had a Boston accent mixed with…something else? Italian?
One side of his mouth lifted. “Any chance you could make me something? A sandwich, maybe?”
There was something about his voice that made nerves trickle into her belly. Not his words, because he wasn’t saying anything wrong or bad. He just made her feel…uneasy. Or maybe it was the way he was looking at her. So closely that she wanted to turn. Run. Get away. “I’m sorry. I’ve packed everything up.”
He pressed his hands to the counter. Hands that had more snake tattoos running down his fingers. “Come on, honey. One sandwich. It doesn’t look like there’s anyone else here for you to serve?”
Was that his not-so-subtle way of highlighting that they were alone?
She slipped her phone onto the shelf beneath the counter and inched back a step. “Everything’s been put away and cleaned. But if you come back tomorrow, I’ll make you that sandwich.”
