Well.
They ended up being rescued from the moment by Cody, which she found hilariously ironic, because a few days ago, she would never have said that he would be the friendly presencein any room. And yet. Now he seemed like a ray of golden sunshine.
More worryingly, he was that to her.
More worryingly, he lit something up inside of her, and made her feel…
Reckless, and a boss was not supposed to make you feel reckless.
No. That was bad. Very, very bad.
But there he was, tan cowboy hat on, his chiseled features making her heart kick into another gear, his very presence…
It made it difficult to breathe, but in a nice way. It was the strangest thing.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Morning,” both she and Cara said. Zane didn’t say anything.
“Grumpy ass,” Cody muttered, walking by his friend. “Is it looking good for you?” He directed the question at Cara.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “I ordered tables for the dining area, they should be here pretty soon. And then I’m going to set up a little patio area outside.”
“Sounds good,” he said.
“Yeah. I think it’s going to be amazing.” Cara exuded optimism. Sunshine. Cara exuded things that Marlowe didn’t think she could feel anymore. But she could feel other things.
Dangerous things.
Things that would lead absolutely nowhere good.
But things that she wanted to follow all the same.
“Do you have any special instructions for Zane?”
“Not really,” Cara said. “I trust him.”
“I haven’t even said three words to you,” Zane said, and she had a feeling that him chiming in was unusual.
“I just mean I trust you to build shelves. Don’t take that too far.”
He let out another short, gruff-sounding chuckle.
“Is there anything else you need in the kitchen?”
“I don’t think so.”
Cara walked through a door, and they both followed her into a spotless kitchen area with glossy chrome ovens and commercial dishwashers. “You got all of the things that I asked for, and all of the mixers, dishes, that kind of thing either came with me already, or I’m ordering new ones.”
“All right. Sounds great.”
“What’s your special going to be for your first day open?” Marlowe’s stomach growled just thinking about it.
“I think because it will be spring, lemon sweet rolls.”
Marlowe was ready to beg for those now. She couldn’t love much right now, but she loved those.
They were like a cinnamon roll – though there was no cinnamon, and instead of regular cream cheese icing, it was lemon. And there was lemon zest all in the middle, mixed with butter and sugar.
