Grayden tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear. My breath caught, my gaze lingering on his. Suddenly, I didn’t want to leave. My hands wanted to grab hold of him and never let go.
But that thought alone was scary enough to have me running for the door.
EIGHTEEN
Piper
“Hey Piper?Isn’t that your phone ringing?”
I blinked, pulled from wherever my mind had wandered. “What?”
Dillon gestured toward my apron pocket, where my phone was indeed vibrating. “The buzzing sound. Pretty sure that’s a phone call.”
“Oh. Yes.” I fumbled for it, pulling it out just in time to see Teller’s name on the screen before I missed the call entirely. Whoops.
I sighed and set the phone down on the counter.
“You okay? You’ve been super distracted today.”
“Yeah, sorry. A lot on my mind.”
Ever since that awful confrontation with Danny a couple of days ago, I’d been on edge. Unsure if Danny was still in town or if he might show up again. I’d gone from begging my ex to come to Silver Ridge to being afraid to see him.
But Danny’s asshole tendencies, or his bizarre interest in my mom’s old stuff, was hardly the only thing taking up space in my brain.
Such as the incredible, epic kiss that I couldn’t stop replaying.
“A lot on your mind. Hmm.” Dillon’s expression wascarefully neutral. “Anything to do with Grayden O’Neal? Heard he’s renting your mom’s old place.”
How rude of Dillon to be one hundred percent correct.
I’ll be thinking of that kiss for a very long time.
I shook my head to chase away the memory. If only that would work. “Grayden is a friend. If you’ve heard any rumors about him, you shouldn’t be so quick to believe them.”
“But you also shouldn’t be too quick to trust,” Dillon mumbled.
“And that’s my call to make, not yours.”
He looked chastened. “Didn’t mean any offense, boss.”
“I know you meant well.” I regretted how irritable I’d sounded. “If you want, you can head home a little early.” As my head baker, Dillon was always here before the crack of dawn. He only had another half hour on his shift anyway.
“You sure?”
I gestured around the nearly empty coffee shop. The only non-employee here was Ollie, because his after-school activity had been canceled.
Ollie was over in the corner by the bookshelves, building a complicated, precarious tower out of used paperbacks. Also, pouting about not being allowed to skateboard on the busy Main Street sidewalk.
“This place is dead right now anyway,” I said. “Rina and I have got this.”
Dillon studied me for another moment, then nodded and grabbed his jacket from the back.
After he left, Rina came over from where she’d been sweeping up crumbs near the window seats. “So what’s the real story?”
“The real story?”
“About you being so distracted you keep staring off into space? Is your mind still stuck on the handsome bad boy with the naughty glasses?”
