With luck he would actually listen to what she wanted and leave, but there was always a chance he wouldn’t. Paige put her right hand on the handle of the scissors under the counter in case he wanted to push her too far.
The fear building in her chest loosened as he took a final sip of his coffee and got up from the stool, smiling. Before she had time to react, Carter lifted her left hand to his mouth, turned it over and pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist.
“Thank you for the coffee, Miss Long.” He let her go, turned and marched out of the store.
Paige let out a shaky breath and slowly released the scissors.
It had been fine. He had been nothing but gentlemanly toward her, leaving when it was clear she was uncomfortable. Carter was a handsome man, almost certainly a Dom, and hadn’t done anything to her.
She was fine.
She wiped away the moisture threatening to spill from her eyes and closed up the store for the night.
“
T
hey were doing
what
in the kitchen?”
Paige had wanted to wait until at least midmorning to let Sadie and Ian know about her evening’s adventures, but it wasn’t to be. Beth was supposed to have worked that afternoon and Paige figured she was safe to try and get a bit of extra sleep. However, Beth had taken it upon herself to try and win back her job with a call to Ian.
As a result, she now had an angry brother in her living room, while she sat curled up on the couch trying to pull her brain to the land of the living after a crappy night’s sleep.
“They were fucking on the kitchen island. How many other ways do you want me to say it?”
“You fired them? On the spot?”
“You’re not honestly standing there trying to convince me I should have kept them on?” Paige had more than enough guilt over what she’d been forced to do without needing Ian adding to it.
Ian pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes and sat on the opposite end of the couch. “No, I’m not.” Resting his hands in his lap, he leaned back and closed his eyes. “I was looking forward to having a few nights off to rest.”
“I know.”
Truth be told, Paige had been more than a little worried about Ian over the past few months. He was more often than not working eighteen-hour shifts, always hovering around in case someone needed something or there was a problem with the equipment. He’d lost weight, and his skin was paler than normal.
But with them now down two employees, Paige knew it would be Ian who would be picking up the extra shifts.
Yeah, no guilt there.
Reaching out, she squeezed his thigh. “We’ll hire a few more people. I’m sure I can find more students to cover the shifts without much effort.”
Ian didn’t say anything. If Paige hadn’t known better, she would have assumed he’d fallen asleep. After a few minutes of letting her concern start to creep up into the danger zone, he pushed himself to his feet like a shot and bolted to the door.
“Ian?”
“I’ll let Sadie know what’s going on. You take your morning off and rest up. You look like shit.” He kept his back to her as he moved, pausing at the door. “Don’t worry. You did the right thing.”
It was stupid, but the tension in her body lessened with his blessing. “I feel like crap about it though.”
“As you said, they didn’t give you much of a choice. It would have been better if it had been Sadie and Paul, then we could have yelled at them.”
“You okay?”
He pressed his head to the doorframe, a soft chuckle slipping from him. “Yeah. Get some rest and we’ll see you at lunch?”
“I’m not going to take the morning off. Don’t argue, either. Do you want me to call Beth?”
“No, I’ll do it.”
The soft click of the door as he left was unnerving. While Paige and Ian had their moments, she hated seeing him dejected. Ian was their driving force, the glue that kept them together and moving forward when things threatened to pull them apart. If he was wearing down, the rest of them were screwed.
Paige pulled herself together faster than she would have normally and bolted for the bus. It couldn’t hurt to have all hands on deck today until they figured out next steps. Maybe she could call a temp agency to see if they had anyone looking for some flexible hours.
Out of the three of them, she lived the farthest away from the store. Paige had bought her small home years ago, right after she’d kicked Rick out. She’d saved enough to afford a modest down payment and had stayed there ever since. When they’d found the location for the store, she’d considered selling and getting someplace closer for all of ten seconds. It was her refuge, her pride and joy, the one place she could go to clear her head.
If she couldn’t find her internal peace the way she preferred, the last thing she could afford to do was give up her home.
Stepping off the bus, Paige had her head down as she walked to the shop. Unusually distracted, she didn’t notice the men coming her way until she was almost on top of them. Startled, with her hand on the doorknob, she was shocked to see a familiar pair of hazel eyes.
Gone were Carter’s leather pants and shit-kicker boots. This morning he had on a pair of blue uniform pants and a uniform shirt with the Toronto Fire Rescue Services logo on the left breast.
Firefighter. Nice.
Carter didn’t exactly smile at her, but his gaze brightened and the corners of his lips twitched. “Hello again.”
“Hi.” She found it hard to keep her eyes locked on his. “I’m surprised to see you.”
Carter nodded to his considerably older friend. “When I came on shift this morning, I was telling Garry here about the awesome coffee I’d had. He wanted to try it.”
The man in question was standing behind Carter. Garry smiled and took the door from Paige, pulling it the rest of the way open. “And it better be worth it. He dragged me halfway across town for this.”
She let Garry go in and could only follow when Carter bowed slightly. “After you.”
“Thanks.”
Unlike the previous night, the store was buzzing with activity. The line was long, but Ian and Sadie were flying behind the counter, taking orders and making drinks as quickly as they could manage.
“I need to get back there and help out.” Paige started to move past Carter when his hand wrapped around her arm. Her stomach somersaulted when she recognized the glint of interest shining back at her.
“I got the feeling last night we might have a lot in common.” His voice still had that same smoky quality and Paige found herself swaying closer to him, wanting to be pulled into his hard chest and held there.
She stepped back. “I’m not sure about that.”
“I’m just about to work my next twenty-four hour shift and then I have a few days off. While I don’t normally drink anything but coffee when I’m getting close to working, I do go out to the clubs. Maybe I could convince you to come out with me sometime. Friday night? Nothing serious. Someplace neutral if that would make you more comfortable.”
Carter’s intense gaze traveled over her face, and for the first time in a long while Paige wanted to say yes.
“Carter, what do you want to drink, man?” Garry’s voice cut through the din of the shop.
“Plain black.” He didn’t back down from Paige’s stare. “You didn’t seem to be shocked by our appearances last night.”
“We have lots of customers from Mavericks in here. I’d be in a constant state of freak-out if I reacted that way every time a customer walked in wearing leather and a collar.”
Someone bumped into Paige as they scurried past on their way out the door. Carter led her to the side wall and turned his back to the rest of the shop. The illusion that they were once again alone, surrounded by the scents of coffee and sex, had Paige’s nipples beading inside her bra and her panties growing damp.
“You noticed Tina’s collar?”
Shit.
She shrugged in what she hoped was a close approximation to something relaxed and uncaring. “It was hard to miss it.”
“Actually, it would have been easy to miss it. Ryan is protective of her and didn’t want Tina wearing something that would draw a lot of attention. Most people who see it think it’s nothing more than an elaborate necklace.”
Paige had to concentrate to keep her breathing even. Without breaking eye contact, she licked her lips and slipped her hands into her pockets. “I guess I know what to look for.”
Carter nodded, cast a glance at Garry placing their order and ran his hand down Paige’s arm. “Meet me at Mavericks Friday night. For a drink.”
“I don’t think—”
“Simply a drink. I can offer Josh as a reference if that will make you feel better. I’m curious.” The lopsided smirk he gave her softened the intensity of his face.
“Curious about what?”
“You.”
“Carter, we need to go, buddy.” Garry was at their side, two coffees in hand. “It will take us forever to get back through traffic.”
“I’m coming. I’ll meet you at the car.”
“Too hard to get parking, he says. He leaves his truck at the station and makes me drive.”
Carter stared at Garry for a moment before the other man chuckled and walked away. “I’m going.”
When Carter turned his focus back to Paige, something in his face changed, hopeful. “Take this.”
The business card was warm from his body heat. Paige didn’t look at it before she tucked it away into her back pocket. “I haven’t said yes.”
“When you’ve had a chance to consider, call me and let me know either way.”
When he left, Paige had to give her head a shake.
Did that happen?
Ignoring the pounding of her heart, she slipped behind the counter and threw on an apron. “Can I help the next person?”
The hour that followed was frantic as they dealt with the late-morning rush, which quickly bled into the lunch-hour crew. Sadie was in back making extra sandwiches and another batch of her tarts while Paige and Ian handled the front. She ignored the sidelong glances Ian threw her way and focused on helping the next person in line. After an eternity, the line finally dissipated, leaving the siblings with the chance to catch their collective breaths.
Ian ran his hand through his hair and let loose a tired chuckle. “I’m trying to decide if our newfound popularity is the result of the ad in the student newspaper, or if Josh has been telling all new members at Mavericks to come here.”
“It’s probably both.” Sadie bit down on a sandwich, her brown bob tucked neatly behind her ears. “Either way, we’re going to have to hire a ton more staff if we’re going to keep up.”
Paige sighed. “That’s going to be my job for today. I think we’ll start with a Help Wanted sign in the door. I was going to call some of the placement agencies to give them a heads up. Students will be our best bet.”
Ian groaned but for once didn’t argue with her. “I’m going to take a quick walk. If I’m going to be here all day then I need some fresh air for a bit.”
Paige watched him leave, not liking the way his shoulders slumped forward. She turned to Sadie, but before she could even ask, her sister held up her hand.
“I don’t know. It could be that the reality of being a business owner is finally hitting home with him. I think he’s tired.”
“If he wasn’t so stubborn and would back off for a bit, then maybe he wouldn’t be stressed out.” Paige loved Ian with every fiber of her being. He was hardworking and would do anything for either of them. But when he got fixated on something, he let that thing consume him.
“He’s a bit like you that way.” Sadie tried to hide her smile by taking a sip of coffee.
“I know when to take a step back and reevaluate. Ian doesn’t let go. Ever.”
“I
meant
he doesn’t have much of a personal life because he’s forever working.”
Paige rolled her eyes and threw a towel at her sister. “I have a social life.” It was simply on temporary hiatus.
“Apparently. Who’s the cutie firefighter?”
“No one.” Grabbing a piece of paper from the file folder she’d left behind the counter, Paige held it up. “Do we have any markers? I want to put up a sign.”
Sadie crossed her arms and stared at her. “That’s evasion if I ever saw it. Who is he? Did you meet him at a club?”
“Just because you and Paul are all happy families now doesn’t mean you can interrogate the rest of us. He’s some guy and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop meddling in my life.”
Sadie’s arms dropped to her side. “I’ve never meddled.”
Shit.
“Sade, I’m—”
“No. Stop right there.” Sadie took a step back, her eyes brighter than they should be. “I have never once
meddled
in your life. In fact, I’ve suffered at the hands of your
meddling
for years now.”
Paige stood still, the words for once not coming. It was a common enough accusation from Ian, but never Sadie. Not once.
“I don’t know what’s happened to you, but you’ve gotten worse over the past few months. You hardly smile anymore, and when you do seem to be in a good mood it hardly ever lasts.” Sadie cleared her throat and moved toward the kitchen. “I think you need to take a closer look at your life and what you have going on before you continue to pick on the rest of us. I’m going to get some baking done. Call me if things get busy.” Without another look, meek and mild Sadie stormed off.
Paige’s hands shook as she reached for a mug, needing the caffeine jolt to help right her world. Had she sunk to the point where she was pushing away Sadie, one of the few people still important to her? She didn’t have a lot of friends, not anymore. She’d left them behind when she walked away from Rick. The result had been her leaning on Sadie and Ian, and, from the sound of things, driving them both nuts.
The last thing she wanted to do was force them away. While they didn’t know the reasons for her breakup with Rick, or why she’d stopped going out and doing a lot of the things that had been a part of her life, they still tried to be there for her. She’d made a deal with herself the night she left Rick that she wouldn’t tell them any of the details.
Neither of her siblings needed that level of shit in their lives.
The bell above the door announced the arrival of Customer 1645, or Blue Eyes as Sadie called him. Ian had been trying for months now to figure out his name, and he played along by not giving Ian any hints. Ian was head-over-heels-in-lust with the man, and for once Paige had to agree with her brother’s tastes. A bit of the darkness that had settled on her lifted when Blue Eyes smiled her way.
“Hello, beautiful. How is the coffee business today?”
“Much better now that our favorite customer has shown up.”
Blue Eyes scanned the store without appearing obvious. Paige pulled out a large cup and tried to keep her face as impassive as possible. “He’s gone for a walk.”
“Who?”
Like you don’t know.
“Ian. Sorry, no one to bug you about your name today.”
Blue Eyes chuckled. “That’s okay. I’ll have to come back later to make up for it. I don’t know if I could survive without my dose of the third degree.”