Guilt fills me. I should be working. Frank and Peggy are working the tables around us, and they’re having to cover for me. It doesn’t sit well with me.
I take a bite of my food, but I don’t taste it.
“What’s wrong?” Cole asks.
I gesture around us. “I’m supposed to be working.”
Instead of being frustrated with me, he smiles softly. “Eat. I’ll help them out.”
Stunned, I watch Cole stand up, grab an apron off the hook by the counter, and then start bussing a table.
Eleanor slides back to sit in front of me. She points to my plate. “Eat.”
She watches Cole walk around the restaurant, talking to people, and she has a smile plastered to her face.
She nods toward him. “Looking at him now, no one would guess that he’s some ruthless billionaire.” She meets my gaze. “You are going to hear a lot of things about our family, and I’m not going to sit here and tell you that they are untrue. A lot of them are very real. But I am going to ask you to get to know him. He’s hard because he has to be, but there’s a side of him that no one sees except for the people he cares about.”
I’m about to remind her again that we just met earlier today, but instead, I nod. We talk for a few minutes, and I eat as much as I can before the guilt just overwhelms me. “Thank you for sitting with me, Eleanor, but I really should get back to work.”
She nods. “Yeah, I should go.”
She stands up, and Cole comes toward us. They hug, and then Eleanor surprises me by hugging me too. She grabs both my hands. “I look forward to us getting to know each other, Luna.”
I nod and watch her and her driver walk out the door.
Cole stands next to me, watching me. “You okay?”
I nod. What am I supposed to say? I’m nowhere near okay. All of this is happening too fast, and none of it makes sense. But instead of saying any of that, I cross my arms. “I need to get to work before I get fired.”
I raise my hand to stop him when Cole opens his mouth. “And before you say I won’t get fired, I still need to work. I have bills to pay.”
He sighs in defeat. “Can we talk when you get off work?”
“Yeah, sure.”
I walk away and go back to serving. Cole busses a few more tables, and when he’s caught up, he sits back down at his booth. He pushes his uneaten food away, and I feel bad that he didn’t get to eat when it was warm.
I fully expect him to leave and meet up with me later, but he stays in the booth for the rest of my shift, watching me. By the end of the night, I’m completely on edge and aware of every step I take. I’m torn between asking him to leave and asking him to take me right here, right now.
CHAPTER 5
COLE
“Can we talk?”
I look at Frank, Luna’s boss, in surprise. He’s made a point to avoid me, so I’m surprised that he’s now asking to talk to me.
I gesture to the seat across from me.
Luna watches us curiously, but I focus on the man sitting in front of me.
He’s nervous, but he looks me in the eye.
“What are your intentions with Luna?”
Of all the things I thought he’d say, that was not on the list. “Excuse me?”
He shifts in his seat. “Luna is a good girl, and?—”
