Page 48 of Red Hot Roaster

Since then, I hadn’t had the bandwidth to compare options and make a decision. More to the point, I hadn’t wanted to fork out the money, given all my other struggles to keep the café going.

So that little project had been put on the back burner.

Or so I’d thought, until today, when I came in lugging café supplies to find Mateo standing with the rep from one of the companies. The guy had a clipboard with an order form and was making notes like mad. They both turned when I fast-walked over, big smiles on their faces. Jen sawmyface and jumped up from one of the tables to join us.

Before I could say anything, she headed me off with, “Rose, I’m so glad you’re here. We Protect You has offered you a huge discount for installing security systems in both the Chocolate Lab and your home—it’s their two-for-one, end-of-the-year special. And a discounted monthly monitoring fee is part of the package deal!”

Mateo put in, “I know you’ll like this too—I threw in coffee service at our special friends-and-family rate for their call center. Right, Bert?”

Jen hurtled right on. “They even have an opening in their schedule in a week and can install everything in one day. Right, Bert?”

Mateo didn’t lose a beat. “We’ve worked up the specs for here, and Jen is meeting Bert at your place this afternoon for the same thing. We wanted to save you the time and trouble.”

Jen wound up the pitch. “They’ve promised to have a contract ready for your review in a couple of days. Right, Bert?”

Of course, Bert, being no dummy, was nodding like a bobblehead doll. He also knew when to make an exit and quickly said his goodbyes.

I soon realized we were going to have this “discussion” in front of several attentive parties with their ears pricked up—and those were just our regular customers, let alone their doggos. Feeling all those ears and eyes on us, we headed back to the meeting room for some privacy. To give them credit, the pair had their arguments ready.

Mateo went first. “Rose, you know it’s wise to protect all this café and roastery equipment from vandalism. And now you’re going to have this huge coffee bean inventory on hand with the contract for the grocery stores. It makes good business sense.”

He added, looking all hurt with those puppy-dog eyes, “I thought you gave me the responsibility to make these decisions when you made me café manager.”

Jen stuck her oar in. “Girl, I get worried about you living alone in that big ole house. Burglaries and home invasions always ramp up this time of year.”

Then they hit me with the double—actually this time, triple—whammy.

Jen took the lead again by saying firmly, “Finn is expecting you to have the alarms in place by the time he comes home for Thanksgiving. Your mom and dad would always put your safety first over finances. And you can’t count on Rafe living nearby after he leaves in December. Let us help you get this done!”

I opened my stubborn mouth to argue and…shut it. It seemed that the stress of the last several months was messing with my brain. I clearly,clearlyremember Mom getting on my case about trying to do everything myself.

Needing help is not a weakness, sweetie. Giving people a chance to help is a sure sign of strength. Just say “thank you.”

For Jen and Mateo, even though they’d ganged up on me, I added huge hugs to my thank yous. Afterward, I crossed the hall to the roastery to confront their accomplice.

I leaned against the locked roastery door, arms crossed, waiting for Rafe to finish the loud roasting cycle. His back was to me, and he had no idea I was there. After he dumped the hot coffee beans into the cooling tray, he started to turn around—and that’s when I caught him by surprise.

But Rafe being Rafe, he didn’t jump or jerk or portray shock like any other normal human being.Huh. Probably all that army training.Instead, he stopped, raised an eyebrow and got a big grin on his too-tough-but-handsome face.

Until I said, “You know, there’s usually a punishment for theft.”

His grin dropped like a lead balloon, his entire face pulled into a frown, and I swore he turned white under all that stubble.

Did he think I was serious? Did he feel guilty? Did he think I was mad at him? Whatever was going on, I needed to set him straight.

In my haste to get to him, I stumbled. Luckily, he unfroze in time and caught me in his arms. I looked up into his stricken face and gently pressed my hands to his cheeks.

“It’s okay, Rafe. Really it is. I’m not upset at you for stealing my dad’s bat from underneath the bed.” I’d started babbling and couldn’t stop. “I forgot I put it back there. You’ve moved in, at least for now, and I won’t need it. At least for now.”

Rafe narrowed his eyes at that, and I went to town. “No, no, what I mean is that I won’t need the bat at all, thanks to the new alarm systems. And I know you had a hand in working with Jen and Mateo to get that all going. And to strong-arm, er, negotiate such a good price. I’m grateful, and…and…”

Rafe pushed his fingers against my lips and said, “Rose. Stop talking.”

I did, but only for a moment. I had a diabolical idea. “My idea of punishment is actually something pretty sweet.”

He leaned down to kiss me hard before saying, “Go on, talk.”

I had to laugh, like he was going to ever stop me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his head back down to me.

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