Kenzie pressed her curves against me in a fierce hug. If I had known I would get this kind of a welcome, I would have come looking for her earlier. I should have come looking for her. I wobbled a bit before setting my drink and sack with my order down so I could wrap my arms around her.
I wanted to place a kiss on the top of her head. It felt like the natural thing to do. Instead, I inhaled her scent. She smelled like hamburgers and French fries. But she felt amazing.
“I’m sorry about the other day. The nurse wouldn’t let me in the back. Said family only.” I wanted her to know I wasn’t some dickhead who’d abandoned her and Ruby.
“Who the hell is this guy?” the old guy who had been pestering Kenzie asked.
“He’s Tate, and he’s my hero.” Kenzie kept her arms around my ribs. I wasn’t complaining, not at all. But that hero comment, wow.
“You’re feeding my ego,” I admitted.
“I’ve never seen you around town before. How the hell are you her hero?”
I was going to say because I rescued Kenzie from him. I had watched her for a few moments, stunned into place with just how beautiful she really was. And this guy had been yapping at her heels the entire time.
I found the Burger Jeff easily enough. I had looked around for her at first, but I didn’t see her. Maybe today was her day off? When I ordered a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a drink, I decided to ask if she was in. What would it hurt?
“Yeah, she’s around somewhere. Probably cleaning the bathrooms if you don’t see her out there.”
I kept scanning the restaurant. There weren’t too many people around, and none of them were the pretty, curvaceous woman I would have rather dreamed of instead of reliving memories of war and death.
Just as I was about to give up, I heard her voice. I saw her round, delicious ass first, and that asshole pestering her.
But now I was her hero. Time to live up to her expectations.
“Tate carried Ruby to the emergency room when she fell off her skateboard,” Kenzie said.
“If you’d listened to me, she wouldn’t have that thing. It’s dangerous,” the old guy said. He was grumpy.
“Just a bit of bad luck,” I said. “Glad I could be there to help her.”
“If you let me pick her up—” Grumpy started.
“Mac, stop it,” Kenzie said to him.
“I see you have time to stop and talk to him, but you won’t give me any of your precious time,” Grumpy, Mac, complained.
Kenzie let out a heavy breath. That sigh was something special to watch. Her plentiful breasts strained the front of her work uniform. My body remembered how those breasts felt pressed against my ribs moments earlier. My work pants started to feel tight as my body responded. She had my libido on stand-by.
Kenzie grabbed her spray bottle and started to spritz down the next booth over.
“I’m working now. Better?” she said with irritation in her voice.
Mac sat in the next booth over and twisted so he could watch her.
“Do you mind if I have a minute alone?” I asked him.
“She’s working. You don’t get to be alone. Besides, I was here first.”
The way he said he was there first made me think he wasn’t referring to that afternoon at the Burger Jeff, but in her life.
Kenzie finished the booth wipe-down and moved to another one. “Sorry, Tate. I can talk as long as it doesn’t interfere with my job. You were saying the nurse wouldn’t let you back, even though you had already been there with us?”
“Yeah. She was pretty adamant. I didn’t want to cause a ruckus. Ruby was pretty mad at me. I wanted to make sure you weren’t angry too. I should have stuck around and waited.”
Kenzie put down her cloth and turned to me. “Nonsense, Tate. There was no reason for you to expect that Ruby or I wanted you to come back. I’m surprised you stuck around for as long as you did.”
“Is that when she agreed to go out with you on Valentine’s Day?” Grumpy Mac interjected into our conversation.
“That’s none of your business, Mac.” Kenzie looked at me with her eyes wide and pleading.
“Look, man, Kenzie is at work. She doesn’t need either of us hanging around here pestering her. You’re done with your food, and I’ve got mine to go. Why don’t we both leave her alone?”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Mac grumbled, but he got out of the booth he was in and crossed to the other side of the restaurant.
“I have a break. Meet me outside?” Kenzie asked.
I grabbed my food and headed out to my truck. My food was growing colder by the minute, not that I cared. I hadn’t ordered to eat. I had ordered so that I had a reason to be in the restaurant other than to find Kenzie. I leaned against the front of my truck and waited.
It wasn’t long before Kenzie ran out to meet me. She pulled a hoodie closed in front of her, protecting her against the cold.
I didn’t stop the grin that crossed my face. She was a lovely woman. And when she smiled back, I felt it in my balls.
“Thanks for that, back there.” She gestured over her shoulder. “I know a lot of people tell me Mac means well, but I just wish he would leave me alone.”
“Does he bother you a lot? Have you told your manager?” I didn’t like the thought of some guy harassing her.
She shook her head. “Will is useless. As long as Mac keeps ordering food, Will says he’s a customer. Will won’t kick anybody out.”
“Will your manager?” I asked. Grumpy was Mac, manager was Will. I wanted to get all the names straight in my head so I could remember who needed an ass kicking and who needed a stern lecture. I was good at both.
“Look, you don’t have to take me out for Valentine’s Day. I don’t do Valentine’s Day.”
“What if I want to?”
Kenzie shook her head. “I know you were doing that just to get Mac to back off.”
“Not at all. I mean, sure. He was getting on my nerves, and I’m not who he was talking to. Look, Kenzie, I would very much like to take you out for dinner sometime. Valentine’s Day might be a little too much pressure, but a date is a very good idea. Trust me, it’s a very good idea.”
She laughed. Damn, she sparkled when she laughed. She had to go out with me.
“Maybe. Give me your phone number. I’ll call you.”
“You’ll call me? How about we trade numbers, and if I want to call you I can, and will,” I said.
She shook her head. “I don’t have a phone. I mean, I do, but it’s strictly emergency use.”
“Is that why Ruby had me call the restaurant? I thought that was because you weren’t allowed to have your phone while you worked.”
“No, not that Will wouldn’t pitch a fit if he saw anyone with a phone out. But no phone.”
“Okay, fair enough. I expect you to use this,” I said as I gave her my number.
“I need to head back in,” she said. She started walking backward away from the truck.
I didn’t want her to leave, but she had a job. I respected that.
“Call me,” I said.
Mac was waiting for her, holding the door open as she ran back inside. I didn’t miss the sneer on her face when she said something to him. He stayed at the door and watched me. His expression said to me that he thought he had won. Won what? Kenzie returned to work, not to him.
I flipped him off.
That clearly pissed him off. He tossed his drink cup into the trash can with aggression as he stormed over to me. I settled back against the truck. I reached over and took a sip of my drink. This was going to be very entertaining.
Mac squared up in front of me. He was huffing and sucking wind as if the short walk over to my truck had been taxing. His face was twisted up in a snarl as he looked me up and down.
I didn’t budge. The guy was inches shorter than I was, and years older. We probably weighed the same. While he carried all of his weight in his gut, I carried mine in my shoulders and legs.
His finger poked into my chest. “You,” he snarled. “Stay away from Kenzie.”
“I could say the same to you.”
“She’s been putting me off for years. I’m not going to let you come in here and sweep her off her feet. You think you’re charming. Who the hell are you, anyway? Some tourist in town to ski for a week? Kenzie needs stability, somebody who is going to be around.”
“And you think that’s you?” I asked.
“I’ve lived in Flat Rock my entire life. How long have you been here?”
I didn’t have an answer for him. But I didn’t see how not being a local made a difference. My family had been in this town for generations, even if I hadn’t.
I finally stood up to my full height. I stepped in a bit closer, forcing Mac to look up. “I will not be taking your advice into consideration. If Kenzie tells me to back off, I will. It’s her call, not yours. However, if she tells me you are harassing her, then we’ll be having words again.”
I stepped forward again, forcing Mac to back up. And then I grabbed my food and got into my truck. Mac was still standing there glaring at me as I drove off.
