Page 32 of Rescue
“That sounds great. Thank you for your help, Miles. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” I do my best to give him a smile that shows him my gratitude.
I peel my eyes from his and look at the clock. It’s a couple minutes past 6, and usually there’s at least one person waiting for me to open the door, but when I flick my eyes over there to check I see I’ve gotten lucky this morning. Looking back up at Miles, I reach my hands up and run them through the short hairs on the back of his head and pull him down for a kiss that was intended to be short and sweet. It quickly starts growing into something hungry and passionate. Just as I let out a low whimper, I hear a car crunch into the gravel in the parking lot and it brings me back to the present.
I pull myself away and Miles clears his throat and turns around to get himself together. I see him discreetly adjust himself. I head to the door, unlocking it, and as I’m walking back behind the counter Miles stops me and kisses me one more time. This kiss is much different, just a short peck, but it somehow still packs a punch that goes straight to my core. I want this man and I don’t know how much longer I can wait.
“Thanks for the coffee, beautiful.” He grabs the coffee I made for him a few minutes ago and blows some steam off the top before bringing it to his lips and taking a slow, hesitant sip. I’ve never wanted to be a cup of coffee before. Fantasies flit through my mind about what he could be doing to me with that mouth when I’m dragged back to the present by the door opening and the first customer of the day walking in.
When I look back at Miles, he’s giving me a mischievous look that tells me he knows the carnal thoughts I was just having. I don’t know how he does it, but he rarely gets me wrong. It’s like he has some kind of insight into my deepestand apparently dirtiestthoughts. I get one more smile before he turns and walks out the door. It's going to be so hard to think about anything but him until he’s back here this afternoon.
Just as I’m closing, Nana comes sweeping in as if I had summoned her, dressed to the nines in a vibrant flowy shirt and pant suit. She’s hardly limping anymore, and her wrist is already out of the hard cast, now just wrapped in an ace bandage to make sure she doesn’t reinjure it.
“Penny, love, this place looks amazing. I can’t wait to see what you can do once this place is all yours. Sky’s the limit. Don’t hold yourself back on account of me!” she says as she’s crossing the room. By the time she’s done she’s standing in front of me sweeping me into one of her amazing Nana hugs. I’d probably move home just for these hugs.
“I haven’t told you I’m taking the cafe yet!”
“Oh, come on. Do you really expect me to believe you’re going to give up your dreams of owning your own place and tell me no? Come on, baby girl. You’ve got to give your old Nana some credit.” She’s looking at me as if she’s daring me to contradict her. I know as well as she does that I’m not going to.
“Ok, ok. I would love to take over the cafe for you. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I promise I won’t let you down.”
“Oh, sweetheart, I know you won’t. You don’t have it in you to let me down.”
When she hugs me again, I know she means it. I can feel how much support and love she has for me and it feels amazing knowing I have her in my corner.
“That brings us to the next thing I need to talk about,” I say as I pull away from her. “Spencer’s been hounding me to come back to the city and get my stuff from his apartment. Can you watch the cafe for a day or two while I get things together there?”
“Absolutely. As soon as the doctor clears me tomorrow, I’m all yours. I’ve been missing this place. Maybe I can start coming in and to help out here and there, too.”
We go over specifics and decide for me to leave early Saturday morning since the cafe will be closed on Sunday. That should give me plenty of time to get everything accomplished in LA and get my stuff back here and unpacked. It helps that Mama is off work on Saturdays and can come help Nana so she’s not alone. Mama never has been great with baking, but she can take orders and make coffees if things get too busy for Nana. Now I won’t have to worry that she’s doing too much before she’s ready while I have to be in the city. I can’t wait to finally put everything between Spencer and I to rest. Once I have all my things, I don’t see a reason why we would need to talk ever again.
About an hour after Nana leaves, Miles comes in with a large paper sack in his hands and a smile that I’m starting to recognize is just for me. A sense of excitement runs through me and the butterflies in my stomach start their dance. I wish I could say I’m getting used to this heady feeling that pops up whenever I’m around him, but I’m still struck by our chemistry every time he walks into the room.
We’ve become comfortable enough with each other now that he sets the bag on one of the tables and comes right over to kiss me. I’ve been thinking about him all day and the relief I feel at finally being with him again is palpable. I bring my hands up to his collar to pull him closer to me and deepen the kiss.
I feel like a teenager being with Miles. It was never like this with Spencer. This all-consuming feeling that nothing else in this moment matters but the two of us. It seems crazy but I think I’m falling in love with him. My eyes fly open in the middle of our kiss and I’m shocked at my revelation.
I must pull back without realizing because when I look up to meet his eyes, his head is cocked slightly to the side and his brows are drawn together slightly with confusion. “Hey, gorgeous, everything ok?”
“Yes, of course, why wouldn’t it be?”
“You just seem a little,” he pauses as though he’s trying to choose his words carefully, “out of sorts, that’s all.”
“It’s been a busy day. Nana was just here earlier and said she could cover things here at the cafe on Saturday so we can get my stuff from the city. Will that work for you?”
“Yeah, I’m usually off on the weekends anyways so that will be perfect. I’ll call my dad tomorrow just to make sure he’s available in case anything happens while I’m gone, but that shouldn’t be an issue.”
“I’m sure Spencer will be working. He never takes Saturdays off. So, if we leave first thing, we should be there mid-morning and have plenty of time to get everything packed and loaded up.”
“Sounds good to me. Whatever you need, I’m your guy.” He wraps me in a hug, his big body dwarfing mine. Relief courses through my body, thankful for his support.
“What’s in the bag?” I say after a few moments of us just standing in the middle of the empty cafe absorbing each other after a long day. A delicious smell is starting to waft out of it and it’s making my mouth water.
“Oh!” he says as though he’s just remembering the bag he set down a few minutes ago. “My mom brought some of her ribs just as I was leaving the store. She said she made some for all of us boys and she was making her rounds. I thought, me being the nice guy that I am, that we could share them.”
“Oh my gosh, your mom’s famous ribs?” I let out a small squeal before rushing over to the bag and pulling out all the contents. Ribs, coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans, and four corn bread muffins. She has really gone all out and I could not be more excited. I remember her making all this stuff when we were kids and it was my favorite meal of hers. I didn’t spend a ton of time at her house, but when I did the food was always delicious.
We sit at one of the tables and eat the mostly amazing food ever. We don’t talk much, but that’s just because everything tastes so good. After dinner we spend a little time talking over our ideas for Saturday. We decide that I should spend the night at his house tomorrow evening so we can get up early and head to the city together. We’re going to take my car and his truck so that we have plenty of room for all my stuff. I don’t have that much, but I do have a bed and a dresser that we’ll need to load into Miles’ truck, and we’ll use my car for most of my clothes and small stuff.
Once we have a plan in place, I walk him out to his truck. He leans down to kiss me slow and gentle, his lips leaving shivers of desire all over my body. The chill in the air forced us not to linger. He leans his head against my forehead and whispers “I’ll see you tomorrow” before quickly climbing into his truck.
I dash back inside, breathing heavily, not from exertion but excitement for tomorrow night. Spending the night together means so much more. And I couldn’t be more ready.
