Slow Burn - a Novel: The Elite (6 page)

“Wow. And you did this all by yourself?”

I worked at my lower lip with my teeth. Keeping my eyes down, I fussed with the chips in the box, and then picked two pickles from another container and slid them into a wax paper bag and tucked them carefully in the box to keep the juice from spilling. “Mostly. I cleared everything out, painted, decorated. I had some help with renovating this part and turning it into a kitchen. But other than that, yep, just me.”

“Impressive.” Nick took a step closer and I sucked in a breath. He snagged a chip from the box and popped it into his mouth, offering me a smile when my eyes flew to his.

I abandoned the box, needing to put some space between us, and went to get some napkins. “Thanks. It’s a labor of love. I wouldn’t trade this place for anything.”

I handed Nick a stack of napkins and then turned to seal the box shut. “Lunch is served.”

He took the box with another half-cocked smile. “What do I owe ya?”

“Rosen’s card is on file. I’ll charge him.”

Nick nodded. “All right. I’ll give him my share. Probably not a good move to mooch off the boss on day two.”

I laughed. “Right.” I led the way out of the kitchen, back to the front counter, and took a sweeping glance around the full dining space. Alesha was buzzing through the crowd, filling glasses, retrieving napkins, and stopping at each table to make sure they had everything they needed. I smiled, slightly in awe, as she glided through the room.

When I’d seen her flirting with Nick at the counter, I’d been tempted to ring her neck and ask if the whole “boyfriend dumped me” thing was just another one of her tricks to get her way. But as I watched her work and interact with the guests, that frustration melted away and I decided not to bug her about it.

“Well, I guess I better get back to the grind. Thanks for this,” Nick said, tearing my attention back to him. He rounded the corner and held up the box in his large hands when my eyes found his. “You have a nice afternoon, Carly.”

“Thanks. You too.” I offered him a smile before he turned and went through the front doors.

I watched him pass by, mesmerized by the half smile he wore, as he walked past the floor to ceiling windows along the side of the shop that opened to the patio. At the last second, right before he passed out of sight, he turned and flashed me another heart stopping smile before he disappeared from view.

“He’s so hot…”

I jolted at Alesha’s purring voice and jerked to face her, my cheeks turning a bright shade of pink at her having caught me staring after Nick. My tongue might as well have been hanging out of the side of my mouth.

Alesha laughed at me. “Come on. Admit it.”

“He’s not really my type,” I lied.

“Right,” Alesha laughed and set down the pitcher of iced tea on the counter. “What’s your type then? Short, fat, and bald?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. Totally hot.”

Alesha smirked at me.

She wasn’t buying it. Not for a second.

The problem was, neither was I.

* * * *

“Hey there, gorgeous!”

I smiled as Aaron sauntered through the front doors at half past three. “Hey, trouble.”

“Trouble?” He grinned. “What’d I do?”

I arched a brow at him. “Aren’t you always trouble?”

“Good point.” He laughed and came over to lean against the counter. “How’re things around here?”

He was fishing. I could sense it. But, I wasn’t about to bite at the bait he was setting out.

“Things are good. A little crazy, but that’s par for the course it seems. Alesha’s behaving herself…mostly.”

Aaron shook his head. “I didn’t even recognize her yesterday. What’s with the haircut and the fancy-ass clothes?”

“Who knows. Seventeen going on thirty-seven is apparently all the rage these days. I got curious and went over to her Facebook page and all of her friends look like that. Made up like they’re going to some high society charity ball. I don’t get it. What’s wrong with a t-shirt and a good fitting pair of jeans?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Aaron replied, a twinkle in his eye.

“You’re engaged,” I reminded him with a smirk. Aaron was always like that and Gemma knew it. We’d met several times since their engagement and I knew she wasn’t threatened in the least.

“Just messing with ya. But, you know who sure appreciates the way you look in jeans?”

My eyes went wide at his suggestion. I didn’t need him to fill in the blanks to know who he was talking about.

“What do ya think, Carly? You interested?”

I shook my head. “You’re worse than the old biddies over at Jenny’s,” I replied, referring to the only salon in town. It was a watering hole for town gossip, crockpot recipes, and the occasional diet tip.

“Well, like you said, I’m taken, so I gotta get my entertainment matching others now.”

I rolled my eyes. “Almond spice latte?”

He just grinned.

I went to the espresso machine and started pulling a shot, tapping out the count with my toes. Twenty-two seconds. Perfection. I could feel Aaron’s smile on me as I went through making the rest of his drink. When I turned to present him with the finished product, he laughed. “Just say yes or no.”

“To what?”

“To Nick.”

“Are you asking me out
for
him? God, last time I checked I was twenty-eight, not sixteen. This isn’t the Homecoming Dance for fuck’s sake.”

Aaron laughed harder but held up a hand. “All right. I’ll let him do the asking.”

“I’m calling Gemma. She needs to know that you’ve gone full blown cupid. Maybe she can get you in for an emergency CAT scan.”

“Oh she threatens that at least once a week,” Aaron retorted, still grinning at me as he tossed a twenty-dollar bill onto the counter and backed away towards the door. “Thanks for the lunches, and this,” he said, holding up his drink.”

I put the twenty into the till and shook my head at him. “Goodbye, Aaron.”

He left and I watched him go, still chuckling to himself as he went out to his Jeep. “Good Lord,” I mumbled to myself.

Small town at its finest.

Carly

“Wait, wait. The
Player
was trying to play cupid?” Holly asked in disbelief before dissolving into a fit of giggles. “Oh man, I can’t believe I’m stuck over here and missing all the fun.”

“Yeah, fun.” I rolled my eyes but smiled at her over the video chat call.

Holly leaned forward and propped her chin on the back of her hand. Her long blonde waves fell forward and she tucked them back. “I’m still getting over the shock that he’s engaged.”

I laughed and nodded. “I think everyone is.”

“To be honest, I figured you and him might hook up at some point.”

“Oh, hell no.” I shook my head. “He’s hot as sin, I’ll give you that, but he was never an option.”

“Why not?” Holly asked, cocking her head to the side.

I sighed. “Because up until he met Gemma, he wasn’t exactly the type of guy you could build something with. I had no interest in trying to tame a wild horse. Not my thing.”

“Well, is that what you even want though? To settle down?”

I shrugged. “I suppose eventually.”

Holly smiled and my heart sank. I knew where her next question was going before she even opened her mouth. I held up my hands and cut her off. “Not with Nick either, if that’s what you were about to ask.”

She clamped her mouth shut and shot me a dirty look. “Why not?”

“Because…” I searched the corners of my mind for the right words. The right explanation.

When I hesitated a beat too long, Holly pounced. “Because? Hmm, that’s very convincing.”

Brat.

“I don’t know, Holly. I’m just not ready to go there, ya know. Right now I’m cool with my singleness. Occasional drunken night of fun with an out of towner, and generally being able to do whatever the hell I want without some man breathing down my neck.”

“Sometimes it’s nice when they breathe down your neck,” Holly retorted with a wink.

I laughed. “You’re just love sick. That’s all. I don’t blame you, I blame Jack.”

Holly and I had met the summer before and had become fast friends. Even though she was now thousands of miles away, living with her boyfriend Jack “Boomer” McGuire in Germany while he finished a station at a naval base, we kept in touch and had semi-weekly video chats where we drank wine—well, I drank wine, Holly drank coffee as it was early morning her time—and caught up. She was my only real friend out of a sea of acquaintances and I was dying for her to come back to Holiday Cove again.

“I get that, Carls. I thought the same thing before I met Jack. I mean, I went three years without dating after my divorce and just when I was even
starting
to think about dipping my toe back into the pool, bam! I meet Jack and everything clicked into place.” Holly smiled dreamily, her thoughts obviously drifting through her memories of last summer. “I’m not trying to push. My friend Rachel was pushing me at the time and it didn’t do any good. I just want you to be happy and if this Nick guy is interested and you like him too—even just a little—then maybe it’s worth a shot.”

“I don’t know.” My gaze slid past the computer screen to the interior of the dark coffee shop. I’d closed down a few hours ago, and after spending a couple hours tinkering in the kitchen, had finally called it a day. I’d made myself a large salad and plopped down at one of the outdoor tables with my dinner and laptop to call Holly. “It’s not like I have a ton of free time.”

“Yeah. I know.” Holly nodded, but kept her lecture about working myself to death to herself. Mostly because I’d just turn the tables on her. She was a workaholic herself and knew she had no ground to stand on. “How are things going with your sister being there?”

I shrugged. “We’ve had our good moments and our bad ones. The first day she was total diva brat. Locked herself in her room. Wouldn’t eat or come out to talk or anything. But the next day, things got better. I guess her boyfriend broke up with her.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah. Although, from what she told me, he was in college, so I can’t say I’m too heartbroken that didn’t work out. She’s in too much of a hurry to grow up anyways.”

Holly laughed softly. “I understand that bug. That’s what makes people do crazy things like get married when they’re barely finished being a teenager.” She shook her head at herself.

That was one of the things I liked the most about Holly. She was one of the most authentic people I’d ever met and didn’t try to downplay or hide her mistakes. She owned her past and made the most of those experiences—good and bad—to move forward. I liked to think I’d done the same thing, escaped a bad situation and turned it into something better for my future.

“I think she’ll be okay. It would be nice if we could bond a little while she’s here. In some ways it feels like I don’t even know who she is.”

Holly returned her gaze to the screen and smiled. “I’m sure you’ll get closer. Three months is a good amount of time to spend together.”

I nodded. “As long as I can keep her away from Nick.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I think she has a crush on him. I don’t want her thinking he’s gonna be her rebound guy.”

“Wait, wait. How old is he?”

“I don’t know…but he said he did eight years in the Marines, been out for another one. So, what does that mean? He’d have to be close to thirty.”

Holly did the mental math and nodded, confirming my guess. “Sounds right.”

“Whatever he is, he’s way too old for her. Which, is another reason why I’m not going to go there. I’m trying to get closer to her. If I swoop in and run off with her summer crush, that’s certainly not going to win me any points.”

“But, Carly, you can’t let that stop you…”

“At least while she’s here. Okay?”

Holly grinned. “Okay.”

Before she could push me for more details about Nick, her chocolate lab puppy, Hunter—now fully grown and nearing eighty pounds—came crashing into the room, howling. Holly jumped away from the chat to deal with him and Princess, Jack’s yellow lab, as they paraded through the small apartment. I laughed at the chaotic scene and the pressure from the day melted away.

When she got the pooches wrangled, she came back to the computer, and the thread of conversation was lost. We moved on to talking about Holly’s crazy neighbors and their loud rap music that they blasted at all hours of the night, and wrapped up the call a little after that so I could finish closing the shop and get home to check on Alesha.

* * * *

A few days passed and everyone settled into a new routine. Alesha worked with me at the shop—mostly without complaint—for four hours each morning, and left at lunch to go hang out at the beach with some new friends she’d made. They were her age and while I still worried about her getting into trouble, I still had the assurance that if things went crazy, I could threaten her with the green Jell-O ultimatum.

Nick came into the shop twice a day. Once in the morning for his cup of joe, usually a huge house blend, black. And then again in the afternoon to work his way through every item on the lunch menu. In the mornings, Alesha would practically bowl me over to get to him first and be the one to make his drink. I swear, as soon as he’d walk through the doors, she’d be calculating the line in front of him and work her way to be done with whatever she was doing just as he stepped to the counter.

It would have been impressive if it wasn’t so damned annoying.

I tried to tell myself I was annoyed by it because she had no business flirting with him, but slowly I was admitting to myself that there might be a hint of jealousy underneath my sisterly protectiveness that was more to do with my motivation.

From what I could see, Nick was polite and smiled a lot, but he didn’t cross any lines with Alesha. But his niceness was all she needed to convince herself—and anyone who would listen—that he had a crush on her too.

Eventually I stopped reminding her that he was too old for her. My warnings only fell on deaf ears.

Besides, he never stayed for long in the mornings. In the afternoons, he always came in later than most of my regular lunch crowd. Which worked well for two reasons. One, Alesha was almost always gone for the rest of the day. And two, the shop was bustling and humming with guests, but they’d already been served and didn’t need much attention.