“Yeah, well, he still has some pull around here.” Mike finished his coffee and waved at the server for the bill.
“Guess it’s a good thing I’m not really from here.” Finishing the last drop of my coffee, I added, “Once camp starts, I won’t be here very often.”
“Your problem is that Derek’s influence has a long reach.”
“Is that a threat?”
Mike took the bill from the server and handed her his card. “Nope. A warning.”
“Thanks for breakfast, man. See you around.” Standing, I reached out and shook his hand.
I had no doubt the first thing the guy was going to do when he jumped in his truck was text Derek Watson with my news. Why it mattered to Watson was its own mystery. Then I grinned to myself. Pulling up the Wildcats’ schedule on my phone confirmed my memory. We were playing Black Hills State at home in a nonconference preseason matchup. With both of us being offensive players, neither Derek nor I would face each other directly, but each of us could tell our defenses how the other played.
Uh-huh. That game should be fun.
?Chapter Five
?Taryn
Only a cowardwould bail out on a friend the way I bailed out on Danny on Sunday morning. His casual “see you tomorrow” as he’d left our house after dinner and the run-in with Derek Watson on Saturday night had reminded me that I needed to grow up and leave my schoolgirl fantasies behind.
Once the dust had settled after a round of Derek’s usual nastiness—seriously, whenwouldthat guy grow up?—mine and Danny’s interactions had gone back to “normal.” Read: Danny hadn’t talked to me or treated me any differently than he treated my sister. Casual. Friendly. Though I’d caught a few strange expressions crossing his face when he looked at me over the course of the evening, nothing between us had changed from any other time we’d hung out together.
While he lit up my world every time he smiled, the feeling wasn’t mutual.
I’d repacked my overnight bag before I went to bed and powered through Mom’s to-die-for buttermilk pancakes topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream and assorted fresh berries. It truly was a shame not to savor the best breakfast in the world, but I couldn’t trust that Danny wouldn’t show up early, and I couldn’t face seeing him again so soon.
I mean, seriously, why had he grown more handsome since Christmas? His shoulders, biceps, and chest filled his T-shirt to the max. The ratty jeans he preferred showed off his powerful thighs and perfect butt. The short haircut the military demanded accentuated his square jaw with its hint of a dimple in the center of his chin. His wide-set silver-gray eyes beneath the slashes of his dark eyebrows twinkled in delight when he set his gaze on me. That should have made me feel special, like I meant something to him, but that same twinkle danced in his gaze when he set it on Tina too.
Finding out he’d be on campus with me this fall was the real blow. The thought of having to watch him run through coeds and Wildcats football groupies had come super close to ruining my favorite dinner. If he were only attending classes, I could pretty much avoid him. With the school enrolling over sixteen thousand students each semester, the campus was big enough for a person to lose herself in, especially when most of my classes were held in the humanities buildings on the east side, while most of his would be in the engineering and science buildings on the south side. But since he’d be playing for the ’Cats, chances were I’d hear about him often whether I wanted to or not.
As I tied my apron on to start my shift, another terrible thought hit me. Danny had been a coffee addict before he enlisted in the Air Force. No doubt his time in the service only intensified his addiction.Damn. I hoped no one in my family had spilled the beans on which coffee shop I worked in. Having him hanging out in the shop when he wasn’t in class or at practice—probably with a new girl each time—would suck all the fun out of my job.
Sheila, my manager, had been hounding me all of last semester about moving up to assistant manager. I’d resisted because I didn’t think the position came with much of a pay increase for the additional work. But thoughts of seeing Danny enjoying intimate coffee dates with other women made me weak.
“It’s kind of slow today—might be a good time to show you the ropes for assistant manager.” A silly waggle of her brows accompanied Sheila’s grin.
She’d used this salvo a couple of times in the past, but I hadn’t risen to the bait. Today, to my shock, I heard myself say, “Okay. Exactly what does being your assistant entail?”
Her brows shot up in surprise before a gleeful grin broke over her face. “Step back into my office young padawan, and I’ll show you.”
Just like that, I’d gone from being a regular barista to assistant manager of the Coffee Kiosk. My brain was still spinning with all the information Sheila had crammed into it in a couple of hours, but she assured me I’d catch on fast. Mainly, I’d be doing regular inventory and ordering and overseeing the crews on my shifts. Occasionally, I’d be tasked with scheduling. The dollar-and-a-half-per-hour initial pay increase kicked in the second the two of us had stepped into the office. I didn’t expect such a leap in my pay, and I hoped it’d make the additional responsibilities worth it.
My confidence in my ability to take on those extra responsibilities along with my increased senior-year class load rested on shifting ground, but Sheila assured me I could do it. Of course, she only attended school part-time, so her perspective differed from mine. Yet I was weirdly excited about the challenge. Mainly, being the assistant manager meant if Danny and his date of the day ever did show up in the Coffee Kiosk, I could duck into the back room to escape the scene, and no one would question me.
Yep. I was a coward.
After the debacle that had ended my relationship with my first ever boyfriend, I’d made up my mind to concentrate on school, earn my way into a graduate fellowship or some similar scholarship program, and forget about men. But one evening—hell, a few hours—with Danny Chambers, and all I could think about was him.
A terrible thought intruded. Maybe what happened with Aaron happened because he wasn’t Danny. Maybe my subconscious was trying to tell me I was with the wrong man.
Oh, wouldn’t that be rich? Danny had never, would never take a romantic interest in me. Clearly, when it came to dating and relationships and all the things I read about in my favorite romance novels, I was doomed, too screwed-up to experience any of it the way other people did. I should probably start practicing how to be the greatest eccentric aunt in the world, beginning now.
Following my shift, I keyed into my cute little studio apartment, tossed my keys on the table beside the door, kicked off my shoes, and headed for the fridge in search of a cheese sandwich. With my mind on comfort food and studying for my quiz, I didn’t stop to look at who was texting when my phone pinged an alert. Instead, I scrolled it open only to discover the hijacker of my thoughts wasn’t in the mood to leave me alone.
Danny: In case you were wondering, your mom’s pork chops were extra awesome tonight.
The sigh that gusted from my lips ruffled my bangs. The gouda-and-mozzarella sandwich I’d been craving for the last two hours of my shift, which I’d toasted to perfection, tasted boring and bland as phantom flavors of my mom’s pork chops swirled over my taste buds.
