“You’re welcome,” I said, though it came out rougher than I meant.
She looked up then, and I swear the whole room tilted.
And just like that, Haven Springs got complicated.
Chapter Nine
Alan
Jessica retreated to the kitchen—and yes, I watched her ass the entire time, although I tried to be somewhat discreet about it. I spun around to look at Lainey and Jade.
Before I could even ask about the new hire, Lainey shot out, “Don’t even think about it, Romeo. She is way too fragile for someone like you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean—someone like me? I’m not a player. I know how to treat a woman. As a matter of fact, I think I would be considered a good fucking guy. Some might even call me a catch.”
“And for most women, I’d probably agree. But not for her.”
“Why not? Does she have a boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t underst—”
“She has a five-week-old daughter,” Jade interjected.
“So?”
Lainey answered. “And they’re living with her deeply religious parents. A thirty-something-year-old guy sniffing around would cause her nothing but problems.”
I opened my mouth to argue, so she added, “At home. She doesn’t need that. Hell, Alan, she’s almost twenty-three and had to get permission to take this job. You’d eat her up and spit her out.”
I’d like to eat her up, but there was no way I’d be spitting her out.
Still, I held my hands up. “Okay, okay. Point taken. I won’t ask Jessica out.”
Yet.
A thought popped into my head. “What if she asks me out?”
Lainey snorted. “That’s not going to happen.”
I glossed over how offended her confidence made me feel and reiterated, “Okay, but what if it does?”
“Then by all means, take her out on a nice date and show her a good time.”
I smiled at the idea, which both women must have taken as salacious, because Lainey frowned, and Jade snarled, “Nottoogood of a time.”
I smirked when I replied, “There’s no such thing.”
Chapter Ten
Jessica
I popped another batch of cinnamon rolls in the oven and began to pace the kitchen floor.
I cannot believe I dumped cinnamon rolls down the shirt of a customer!
Not to mention, a gorgeous one at that.
