“Here, this is for you.”
I smiled and accepted the little gift bag he was holding. “Aw, you got me something? That’s sweet of you.”
I was confused when he shook his head again.
“I was walking by, and someone asked me to hand this to you,” he answered.
My heart stopped in my chest, because while I knew I was liked well enough in town, it wasn’t like I was stringing along a crowd of secret admirers in my wake. And the people who had shown an interest in me backed off when they realized I only had eyes on a certain diner owner.
The tumbling feeling in my stomach told me the gift bag could only be from one person. My hands were clammy as I opened it to find exactly what I’d expected.
Another note.
Chapter Five
HECTOR
The scar at my temple throbbed. An itch that told me something was off.
I looked around the kitchen and saw nothing out of place. Nothing in the air smelled rotten either, so it couldn’t have been a gas leak or me leaving a carton of milk out again.
Everything was good, or at least it should have been. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that something had happened. Instincts told me to look out through the service window, and my internal alarm immediately went up.
Atlas was by the front door with the kid, Arnold. There was nothing strange about that. They were friends—Atlas was friends with practically everyone in town—but it was the tense brow that furrowed as he looked at whatever he was holding that alerted me.
Pain hit the back of my hand, and I didn’t need tolook to know I’d have another oil splatter there. I ignored it. I wanted to rush to the front and fix whatever problem Atlas had, but I couldn’t keep the orders waiting any longer.
It took everything in me to stay and finish the final order before putting it up at the pass-through so Becca could deliver it. She placed a new ticket on the holder, but it could wait a few minutes.
I was out the swinging doors before I could really think, which led me to almost running Atlas down.
Reaching out, I steadied him on his feet. He was breathless when he looked up at me, and I didn’t miss the way he pressed against me until our lower bodies were practically flush against each other.
His body was all hard ridges against mine. It was so different from how it felt when I used to hold Angelina—back when things were still okay between us—but I didn’t hate having Atlas in my arms like this. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to want to hold a man, but Atlas made the want hard to ignore.
“You okay?” I asked.
He let out a happy sigh and placed his hands flat against my chest. “I am now.”
I didn’t want to admit how much I loved knowing he felt calm in my arms. It was the reason I never turned him down when he asked for a hug. Seeing him sigh and let go of all his worries while I held him had slowly become one of my favorite things.
Atlas’ calm didn’t last long this time, though. Heshook his head, and the frown was back on his face. “I actually was coming to ask if I could take a short break to take care of something.”
My scar itched again and warned me that there definitely was something wrong.
“Of course, you can. Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine,” he replied, and I knew he was lying.
I grabbed his shoulders. My fingers gripped them tightly, wishing I could just shake all the secrets out of him. It was my failing that he couldn’t trust me with his worries.
“You know…” I hesitated, but this felt too important not to say out loud. “You know you can tell me anything, right? I want to share your burdens with you.”
His expression softened. The tension in his brow disappeared until he was smiling at me again.
“I know, and I’m sure you’d be the first one to run to fix this problem?—”
“I would. I’d do whatever it took?—”
