Wyatt, Knox, Hunter, and Elias grab menus on the way in. They don’t need me to seat them and are happy to wait for me to work my way over to them instead of hollering or waving to get my attention, like my other customers do.
Between breakfast and lunch, I stand with Lina behind the counter near the kitchen hatch, where Nico and Winston, the part-time cook, are in the kitchen. I try not to stare at table five, but it’s a battle I lose on a daily basis.
Never has one table contained so many hot men.
Lina, happily married with a six-year-old son, said she has regretted serving the family tables since the construction started down the street. It’s become a running joke that if she had known they’d be coming into town, she’d have told Franklin no when he asked her to marry him. I’ve seen her with Frank, and those two love each other to death.
“Okay,” I tease, and head for her section. “You get their table, and I’ll do your section.”
With a laugh, she snags my arm and hauls me right back. “Yeah, right. They’d be inyoursection the verysecondthey realized I was working yours.”
Her touch, I can handle. As long as it doesn’t come too fast, and I have time to prepare for it. Derek has knocked me down too many times that I wonder if I’ll ever stop instinctively flinching when a man reaches out toward me.
“They’re just being nice.” My eyes find them again. “That’s all.”
They’ve all introduced themselves to me, kept their distance, and been sweeter than I thought four construction workers could be. I’m used to catcalls, whistles, and uncomfortably long stares. Hunter, Wyatt, Elias, and Knox are so different. Maybe it’s their age? They’re all in their early thirties, so I guess they've aged out of any wild behavior.
I keep wanting to ask Hunter Bailey, the blond former surfer from California, how he wound up in construction, but I’m not sure if he would see my questions as flirting, and I’m not ready for a relationship. I’m not sure if I ever will be.
Hunter ties his long, dirty blond hair back in a careless, messy bun. He smells of sea spray and coconut, and his dark blue eyes are always laughing when they meet mine. He’s like one of those guys in a perfume ad. Ridiculously hot in an I-got-up-looking-like-this way. A guy like that could have any woman he wanted. The interest I sometimes catch stirring in his gaze when he looks at me must be in my head.
“BLT!” Winston slides a plate across the hatch with a thick BLT, a generous serving of fries, and a small container of thick-cut pickles across to Lina.
Lina grins at him. “Thanks, Winston.” She snags the extra sauces the customer requested and adds them to her tray along with the BLT, then turns to me as Winston disappears back into the kitchen after a quick glance at a ticket to prepare the next order. “They’re not nice.Nicewould be saying the occasional hi or whatever. Those alphas are ready to throttle anyone who dares hurt you.”
“No, they aren’t.”
“Knox.”
That’s all she needs to say. She was here when a guy tried to grab me, and Knox threatened to throw him out of the window headfirst if he didn’t leave.
News must have spread across town, though no one has asked me why Knox would threaten to commit violence to protect me.
I never saw that guy again. Not even once.
Checking I have my notebook and pen in my big apron pocket, I give each of my seven tables a quick glance as I weave past them on my way to table five. Everyone’s drinks are topped off, their mugs steaming with fresh coffee, and no one looks unhappy with their meals as they clear their plates.
“Hey there, darlin’,” Wyatt says with a small smile. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
I feel my cheeks heat as I return his smile with a shy, “Hi. Sorry I kept you waiting. Lina was trying to get me to switch sections.”
Elias Gallo, the amber-eyed alpha with shaggy dark-blond hair, sits upright in the booth and frowns as he scans the diner. “Did the guy who tried to grab you come back?”
Elias went from reclining to scanning the room, as if waiting for me to point the guy out to him, and he’s not the only one probing the diner. They all are.
Wow, Lina was right. This isnotnice. It’s downright protective.
Elias caught me staring at him from the counter once. When a man looks as sexy as this one does and smells of molasses and dark chocolate, any girl would stare. His lips had quirked in a smile, and I’d nearly run into a wall trying to look busy. The next time I glanced over at table five, he looked pleased.
“No.” I pull my notebook from my pocket, though I never need it, especially when I’m dealing with this particular table offour. “She was just saying that I always have the table with the—”hottest guys in the diner.
Thankfully, my mouth snapped shut before those dangerous words slipped out. Unfortunately, two seconds too late because now I’ve made said hot alphas extremely curious from their lengthy stares.
“The table with the…” Hunter prompts, dark blue eyes sparkling with laughter as if he knows exactly what I nearly spilled and would love to hear me say it.
I shift from foot to foot, my face hot.
Knox gives me a thoughtful look and nudges Hunter. “How about we decide if Maisie wants to tell us?”
