Page 18 of Talon
He felt her gaze on him, but she didn’t say anything.Talon glanced over and found her watching him, a look on her face he thought was confusion but wasn’t sure.
“What?”he asked, looking back to the road.He was waiting for traffic to clear so he could make a left into the parking lot of her work.
“I don’t know.I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone quite like you.”
“I hope that’s a compliment and not some kind of weird insult.”An opening came in the traffic.He took the turn and wasn’t able to watch her reaction.
“It is.”She fell quiet again as he maneuvered through the parking lot and stopped in a space near the store entrance.
“You go in here or near the back?”He was pretty sure he was in the right spot, since she’d been parked out front the day he met her.
“Here is good.As for the other thing.”She looked away, her gaze seeming to focus on the building next to the store where she worked.“I guess I’m just not used to a guy who is willing to do things like cook for someone else.Especially if they don’t need to.”
Talon opened his mouth to say something, but his eye caught the time on the screen on the dash.9:52.He closed his mouth and took a deep breath.
“There’s a lot to unpack there and I don’t want you to be late.We can talk about it more later.In the meantime, dinner?”
She stared at him, her expression blank as if she had no idea what he meant.
“Do you want anything in particular or have anything that you won’t eat?”
She shook her head.“No to both.If you cook it, I’ll eat it.”She held out the key she’d pulled off her ring a few minutes before.He took it and shoved it in his pocket.
“Good to know.Have a good day.Keep your phone on you and call me if you need anything.”
“Yes, sir.”She shot him a grin as she grabbed her bag.
“Sassy.I like it.Come here a second.”
She turned and looked at him.“What?”
“I just want a kiss before you go.”
Madison leaned over the console and dropped a quick, chaste kiss on his lips then opened the passenger door and climbed down from the truck.He watched as she went inside, making sure no one stopped her.Then he looked around, trying to see if there was anyone else around, watching, but he didn’t see anyone.
Talon sat there a few minutes more, watching and waiting to see if anything happened.After a bit, he pulled up the nearest grocery store on his phone and pulled out of the parking lot.He didn’t know what he would make, not yet, but he was sure he could figure something out.
14
Madisoncheckedherwatchfor what seemed like the hundredth time since the beginning of her shift.The day had seemed to crawl by, even though they were a little busier than usual.Now though, it was almost six.Almost time for her to clock out and go home.Close enough that Talon was probably in the parking lot, waiting for her.Or he was, if he was as early as he’d said he would be.She’d been assigned to a register in the electronics department today, so she couldn’t even look out the big glass windows and see.That was okay.She would be off soon enough and then she’d know for sure.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket, but she didn’t pull it out and check what the notification was because she wasn’t supposed to have it.She thought Tim, her boss, would have allowed her to have it with her, as long as she wasn’t wasting time on it, if she had explained everything to him.But he hadn’t been here when she’d arrived, so she’d just put it on silent and kept it in her pocket.
She did glance at her watch when it vibrated a notification.Since she had it set so that only certain alerts came through, she knew it was one of those.After a moment, the text message popped up on the tiny screen.
**Talon: Here
Tension she wasn’t aware she’d been holding in her shoulders seemed to drain out of her as she read the simple message.It didn’t matter if Billy was outside waiting for her, Talon was there and wouldn’t let the older man take or hurt her.
Finishing up with the customer in front of her, she smiled.“Have a great rest of your day, Mrs.Hennigan.”She handed the older woman her bag then turned back to her register and hit the buttons to make it total her drawer before hitting the button to open the drawer so she could lift out the cash tray.Brayden stood beside her, his own tray in hand, as he waited to take over as soon as she signed out.
“It’s all yours,” Madison said as she closed the drawer and hit the buttons to log out of the register.She and Brayden switched places, and she stood there while he logged in and put his cash drawer away, then she carried hers through the door into the back of the store to the small room where she’d count it out and make sure it was right before turning it in.
After turning in her drawer and clocking out, she pulled out her phone and sent Talon a quick message letting him know she was on her way as she made her way to the front of the store.She reached the front door and shoved her phone into her pocket.Looking around, she scanned the lot, checking for Billy’s truck or anything that looked even a little off, before pushing the door open and stepping outside.
As she stepped out into the parking lot, she continued to scan the lot, looking for where Talon was parked, but she didn’t spot him.Granted, the lot was much fuller than it had been when she’d arrived.On top of that, the white ranch pickup he was driving wasn’t an uncommon vehicle, which only made it harder to spot in a nearly full parking lot.
The sound of an engine moving closer drew her attention.She looked in the direction of the sound and found Talon approaching.He pulled up and stopped next to the curb in front of her.She waited until she heard the thump of the door unlocking then climbed in.She’d just closed the door when he eased away from the curb.
