Yikes.
Grace’s brother, I reminded myself. I’d had a pathetic crush on the man when I was a teenager, but I had far more sense now.
Besides, I doubted Grayden would stick around that long, regardless of what he’d said the other night about staying in Hart County.
Around mid-morning, I took a ten-minute break and retreated to the kitchen, where I downed a mocha and ate half a bran muffin while I scrolled my phone. No urgent messages waited from Ollie’s school, thank goodness. Like the time he’d played chicken on the monkey bars and the other child wound up with two broken arms.
Rina’s head popped in. “Piper, you need to get out front.”
“What’s wrong?” We didn’t usually get slammed at 11:30 on a Monday. “Did you spill another twenty-pound bag of coffee beans?”
“No. It’s way more exciting than that. Two words.Double. Espresso.”
“What?” I shook my head, as if that would help me understand what in the world she was talking about. “Aren’t you supposed to be on the register?”
“Yeah, I was. That’s my point. You need to get out there. This isbig.”
I let her push me along through the kitchen toward the front. She stopped me before we reached the counter and peeked comically from behind a partial wall at the tables.
“See? It’shim. The guy everyone’s talking about. He’shere.”
My gaze first went to the register, confirming there weren’t any annoyed customers waiting with no one to help them.
Only then did I let my eyes wander in the direction Rina was pointing. The far table in the corner by the bookshelves.
Grayden was here.
I ignored the tiny increase in my heart rate. “So?” I asked. “He’s allowed to drink coffee.”
“Double espresso, Piper,” she stage-whispered. “Who orders just espresso in Silver Ridge? This isn’t Italy. But he was so cool and confident about it, I was all,Bellissimo, Signore, like I’d been transported to Roma.”
I was doing my best not to roll my eyes. “Plenty of people order plain espresso.” Okay, not a lot, but it happened. Sometimes.
Rina kept up her stream of consciousness. “And he smells like…I don’t even know, something a really hot anti-hero smells like. Broken promises and virgin tears.”
I snorted. “He’s not an anti-hero. He’s just a guy. And he smells more like…” I cut myself off, realizing I shouldnotfinish that sentence.
For the record, he smelled like black pepper, cedar, and pure man. And his eyes were dark brown with subtle hints of amber and gold.
“Piper.” Rina leveled a glare at me. “For heaven’s sake, look at the guy.”
Nope. Didn’t need to do that. “I just did.”
“No, you glanced.” She nudged my chin. “Take a nice, long look.”
Ugh, did I have to? I’d seen more than enough of Grayden the other night.
Trust me, I’d looked my fill.
But reluctantly, I went ahead and focused on the secluded corner table again. Grayden sat with his head bowed as he read a battered paperback. He wore a black button-down with the sleeves rolled up his forearms to show off his tats. His unruly hair hung into his face, and as I watched, he pushed back the strands with a large hand.
A shiver passed through me, and a sigh whispered through my lips. No denying the man was fine as hell.
His head tilted, giving us a better view of the blackroses inked on the side of his neck. His beard was a bit more trimmed than the other night. But today, he wore a pair of thick black-framed glasses.
That was just unfair.
“Didn’t know about the glasses,” I muttered weakly.
