Wyne and Chocolate (Citizen Soldier Series Book 2) (3 page)

I
t had been three days since Jill had become intimate with the
pothole.

Airbag.

Mason
Wyne’s warm, hard lap.

Of the
three, the yummy guardsman was the most enjoyable. So much so, it fueled her
dreams the past two nights, and she’d awoken all warm and tingly.

“What’s
the smile for?” Lea asked, ushering her out of the cold and through the door of
The Pocono Eatery, the restaurant the Gablonskis owned and where her friend
occasionally waitressed when the history major wasn’t in New York City working
at one of the museums. “Are you anticipating my dad’s famous breakfast?”

“Absolutely.”
Not. But it was better than admitting the truth. She’d been thinking about her
friend’s future brother-in-law.

Lea was
seeing Sgt. Benjamin Wyne, one of Mason’s older brothers. And, well, she
assumed marriage was in their future. Practically inseparable since Lea moved
to the Big Apple last year, the couple took turns commuting between an
apartment in the city and Ben’s cabin here in the Poconos because the guardsman
worked full time at the armory across the street.

“Good.”
Her friend smiled. “I’m glad you decided to have breakfast with me.”

She
snorted. “Like I had a choice.”

The
stunning, blue-eyed brunette had practically pulled her down the two blocks
that separated their businesses. If it had been up to her, she would be home,
or in the back of her shop searching for the pin she’d misplaced since her
accident, not out in public. Bad enough she had to leave poor Theresa alone at
Confection Connection again. Her only worker insisted she was fine, and ran the
place the last two days while Jill had been fulfilling her big order. But, even
when she’d finished the order, she’d stayed in the back. Guilt clawed at her
insides for worrying more about her appearance than her helper.

Today,
she decided to take the plunge—into the public eye—thanks to her friend’s
insistence. She loved Gabe’s pancakes; she just didn’t want everyone to see the
two black eyes hidden behind her mirrored sunglasses, courtesy of the dang
airbag.

After
waiving to Lea’s father smiling at them from behind the counter, they headed
for one of the red vinyl booths with a table covered in a cute red and white
checkered tablecloth.

“And
stop worrying about your face. This place sits across from the armory, so
believe me, it’s seen more than its fair share of bruised customers over the
years.” Lea grinned, sitting down. “Besides, you just finished your biggest
order to date. You deserve to celebrate with your friend. Breakfast is my
treat.”

“And
right here.” Gwen Gablonski, Lea’s older sister, and Jill’s other friend,
appeared out of nowhere with a tray of delicious smelling food.

“How’d
you know?” she asked the stunning blonde who, until recently, had been a super
model traveling around the world. “We didn’t even place an order yet.”

“Lea
called ahead.”

A simple
act. One people here did every day. Not Jill. She didn’t have friends. Well,
not before moving to the Poconos. Now she had two. It was strange, but in a
good way.

“Thanks.”
She smiled at both women, fighting back the sting of tears, doing her best to
hide the unexpected rush of emotions.

Lea
frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Something
must’ve shown on her face, despite her mirrored glasses. “Nothing. Sorry. I’m
just not used to…”

“What? A
friend?” Now Gwen was frowning. “Someone who’s happy for you?”

“Someone
who has your back?”

“Yeah.
You could say that.” She held in the snort that threatened.

More
like she was used to
watching
her back. Not trusting people. Keeping her
gaze on everyone. Not letting her guard down. Heck, even now she knew there
were two exits, one to the street that she had to zig then zag around two
tables to depart; the other through a door on a south-facing wall in the kitchen,
which lead to an alley out back. There were two customers eating at the
counter, one was left-handed, but must have shoulder trouble because he was
eating haphazardly with his right hand, the other walked with a limp and used a
cane. And the two older ladies drinking tea in the corner booth were stalling,
killing time, but for what, Jill had no idea.

God, she
was pathetic.

“Look,
Jill.” The dark-haired sister cocked her head. “I know you’ve had to fend for
yourself most of your life.”

She
reeled back, mostly due to the heart-rocking in her chest. “How…” could the
woman possibly know that?

“Your
cousin Nico doesn’t mince words.”

She blew
out a breath and nodded. “True. He doesn’t. I’m not sure what he said about my
mom, but she never really recovered from losing my dad.” Heat infused her face
faster than the wind blowing flurries around outside as old mortifications
rushed to the surface.

“He
didn’t say anything about her, but I get that.” A sad smile tugged Lea’s lips
as she glanced at her father.

“We both
do,” Gwen said, shifting her feet. “Our dad hasn’t been the same since Mom
died.”

The two
sisters shared a look before their attention returned to her, remnants of a
helpless pain she knew all too well dulling their beautiful blue gazes.

“I was
talking about your ex-husband,” Lea stated quietly. “I’m sorry you had to deal
with his gambling issues.”

So was
Nico. In fact, Jill had heard his friend, who happened to be a cop, apparently
had to physically stop her cousin from heading to the city when she’d been forced
to call her uncle for advice.

“You
know none of it was your fault, right?” The kind brunette reached across the
table to squeeze her hand.

Uncle Al
and her cousins were the only ones to ever tell her that. She was not used to
having someone non-related in her corner. To have her back, as the sisters had
mentioned.

The
stinging returned behind her eyelids. Darn it. “It takes two to make a
marriage. Maybe if I had pushed harder to have Donny seek help in the beginning
he’d—”

“No.”
Lea shook her head and tightened her hold on Jill’s hand. “Don’t do that to
yourself.”

Gwen set
a hand on her shoulder and stared down at her. “My sister’s right, Jill.
Gambling is an addiction like alcohol and drugs. The person has to want help,
to seek help, or no amount of counseling will work.”

The
former model sounded as if she was speaking from experience, and apparently
Jill wasn’t the only one who picked up on the sad tone. Lea was now studying
her sister closely.

“What
happened, Gwen?” The brunette released her to grab her sister’s wrist before
the pale woman could walk away. “And don’t tell me nothing. Successful super
models don’t just up and quit the business to go home and wait tables.”

The
stunning woman shook her head. “I’m not ready to talk about it, yet.”

Lea sighed.
“Okay. But you know you can tell me anything.”

Nodding,
the blonde blinked away a sheen of tears from her eyes, and Jill’s heart ached
for the waitress, totally understanding deep pain and the need to keep it to
yourself.

“And me,
too,” Jill rushed to say. “That’s what friends are for, right? To have each
others’ backs?”

Gwen
smiled a real smile that reached her eyes. “Right,” she said, stepping closer
to the table. “We do, so, just remember, that goes both ways.”

“Got
it.” She nodded.

“Okay.
I’d better get back in the kitchen before Dad decides to rearrange the spices
again.” The beauty winked at them before walking away.

Lea
leveled her with a look, gratification warming her troubled gaze. “Thanks for
backing me up with Gwen. I know something’s wrong, but she won’t talk about
it.”

“No
problem,” she said. “I got the same impression.”

Her
friend nodded, then blew out a breath and smiled. “All right, enough with the
past. This is a celebratory breakfast. Let’s eat while the food is moderately
warm. Did you bring what I asked?”

“Yep.”
She withdrew a small container of her special melted chocolate from her purse
and handed it to her friend. “Bon appetite.”

“Amen.
Your chocolate rules.” Lea swiped the container from her hands then poured most
the contents on a stack of pancakes before handing it back to Jill.

She
laughed and emptied the contents on her food.

Three
quarters of the way through her delicious stack of chocolate covered chocolate
chip pancakes, she glanced up as the door open and half the Wyne brothers
walked in. The middle ones. Mason and Ben, who zagged then zigged to their
table while awareness travelled the same haphazard path straight to Jill’s good
parts.

Stupid
body always had that reaction whenever Mason entered a room. He changed the atmosphere…the
ingredients. His irresistible presence mixed with hers to cause a chemical
reaction she was clueless to dissect. So she’d learned to ignore it as best she
could.

From a
safe distance.

That
strategy had seen her through the past year, but was impossible to carry out
when the enigmatic man dropped into the booth beside her as his brother slid in
next to a grinning Lea.

“Hey,
handsome,” her friend said before laying a lip-lock on the guy.

Blushing,
Jill returned her attention to her plate and stared at her decimated pancakes,
unsure if the couple’s
enthusiasm
was the cause of her flush, or Mason.
The man was hot. Literally. Heat seeped into her wherever their bodies brushed,
making her nice and toasty…and hungry. 

The
sudden urge to decimate
him
was new.

She
could feel his attention on her, so she pushed her sunglasses up her nose and
continued to stare at her plate, willing the tempting man to look away.
Think
of something else. Anything else
.

The cold
weather. It was cold. And snowy.

The
hottie next to her could keep her warm.

Dang,
that wasn’t working. Her car, or lack thereof. Her insurance company had
declared it totaled and would be issuing a check within the next ten days. Too
bad she didn’t have the rental car clause in it. Dummy. Luckily, Lea had
insisted Jill use her car in the meantime, since she and Ben commuted by bus to
the big city.

Oh,
sweet baby Jesus, Mason was leaning closer.

“Nice
look. Wild night?”

While
his low, sexy tone turned her insides to mush, she turned to him and shook her
head. “N-no. Of course not. What are you talking about?”

“Your
shades. Not exactly an indoor requirement.”

She
smiled. “Sure they are, if you’re trying not to scare Gabe’s customers out the
door.” Or to keep everyone from tasting their food a second time.”

“Come
on. Your nose can’t be that bad.”

“No.
It’s worse.”

Of
course, he wasn’t the type to take her word for it. No. The bugger reached
right up and slipped off her glasses.

Then
grimaced.

“See? I
don’t exaggerate,” she said, trying to retrieve her camouflage from him, face
heating further.

Easily
outmaneuvered, she stilled when he used his other hand to gently touch her
face. She didn’t even dare to breathe as his thumb lightly brushed her cheek.

“Does it
hurt much?”

His
nearness and tender touch fogged her brain, and his words barely made it
through, let alone made sense. “What?”

“Your
nose.”

“Oh…no…it’s
fine as long as I don’t sneeze,” she stammered before sucking in a much needed
breath and discovered her nose definitely still worked. His woodsy, yummy male
scent engulfed and teased in a most pleasant way.

“It’s
going to look worse before it gets better,” he informed with a slight grin.

“How?”

His
thumb feathered over her skin. “This black and blue will turn an ugly
yellow/brown.”

“Great.
I take it we’re not talking about a chocolate brown,” she continued to babble,
trying desperately to appear in control, despite her hammering pulse and
fluttering stomach.

He was
still touching her, like he couldn’t help it. Very unlike the aloof Wyne that
kept to himself the past year.

Apparently,
their audience agreed, because both Lea and Ben had stopped kissing and were
staring at them with opened interest.

“Hey,
great shiners, Jill.”

She
turned her attention to Keiffer as he strode toward their table, big grin on
his face.

“I’d
definitely say the airbag won.”

Mason
dropped his hand and settled back in his seat. She told herself she was happy
his warmth disappeared, after all, she found it easier to breath. And think.

“I
agree. “ She returned the youngest Wyne’s infectious smile. “It was nice of
your brother to avenge me, though.”

Kieffer
laughed. Lea and Ben continued to watch on with interest, and Mason just
frowned at her. She grabbed her glasses from him and slipped them back on her
face as she bumped shoulders with the sourpuss.

“You
killed it, remember?”

“Yeah,
Mase.” The good-natured brother chuckled. “You stabbed Jill’s attacker and put
it out of her misery…before climbing into the busted vehicle to keep her warm.”

He
reeled back. “Jesus, Keiffer. You know that’s not what happened.”

Anger
tightened her rescuer’s mouth. Apparently, he was just as unhappy as her to
have their business announced to the occupants of the diner. And the four
customers were definitely listening, if their grins were any indication. Even
Gabe was smiling behind the counter.

Great.

“I
climbed in to check her for other injuries,” Mason valiantly stated.

Ben
slung his arm around Lea and grinned. “Oh, is that what they’re calling it
now?”

“Ah,
hell, not you, too.” Muttering a curse, the unhappy man next to her sat back in
his seat and spared her a sideways glance. “Sorry, Jill, there’s no reasoning
with them when they’re like this. I’ve no idea why they’re giving me such a
hard time. You were stranded. It was my duty…a duty
each
of my brothers
has performed over the years. Christ.” He blew out a breath and leveled his
accuser with a look. “You make it sound like I copped a feel.”