by Paige Warren
“Have you had time to decide on your meal?” she asked.
“I’ll take the special,” the blond answered.
“Eggs, bacon and biscuits for me,” said the dark haired one. She really needed to get their names so she could quit referring to them by hair color in her mind.
“I’m Elodie. Just holler if you need anything.”
“I’m Beau and my brother is Beck.” The blond smiled again.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she said with a smile. “I’ll get those orders to you shortly.”
“Have you eaten yet?” Beau asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t really eat breakfast.”
Beck frowned. “You’re not on one of those weird diets, are you?”
She felt her cheeks warm. “No, but I should be.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you, sweet thing,” Beau said.
Elodie frowned, not sure if he was serious or making fun of her. She couldn’t remember ever receiving a compliment from a guy before. Not even the ones she’d dated in the past, all two of them. Guys like these two should be seen with skinny, busty women. Not someone who looked eight months pregnant. She didn’t even have the sexy, curvy figure of a plus-sized model. She was just round. When her ample breasts weren’t bound, they rested on top of her stomach; her ass had more cushion than she’d like.
Some would ask why she didn’t diet and exercise to get rid of the extra weight. Truth was, as much as she hated being fat, the thought of counting calories and watching what she ate just didn’t appeal to her. Yes, she was a large woman, but at least she enjoyed life. That was more than she could say for some.
Without another word, she turned and walked away. She didn’t know what to make of the men. She turned in their order and poured herself a glass of sweet tea. The diner might charge their waitresses for any food they consumed, but the drinks were free. She tried to fill up on tea so she wouldn’t be quite so hungry. She was amazed her stomach hadn’t growled when Beau had asked if she’d eaten yet.
It didn’t take long for their order to be ready and she picked up the plates. She briskly walked across the room and set the food down in front of Beau and Beck. Beau smiled at her again and nodded toward the kitchen.
“Why don’t you fetch a plate and join us?”
“I’m on the clock. It wouldn’t be right for me to sit and eat with you. What if other customers came in?”
Beau looked around. “I don’t see anyone in here right now.”
How did she decline without admitting she couldn’t afford to eat at the diner? It was one thing for the townspeople to know of her circumstances, but another to admit it to these two hunky men. The last thing she wanted was to see pity or disgust in their eyes.
“Come on, our treat.” Beau smiled again. The man really needed to stop doing that. It was doing strange things to her, making her heart race, her breath quicken, and her pussy quiver.
She opened her mouth to respond when Elliot yelled out from the kitchen. “Elodie, get your lazy ass to work. Quit bothering the customers.”
She felt her cheeks heat and murmured an apology before turning and hurrying away. She couldn’t afford to anger the boss, not when she needed this job so desperately. He’d just agreed to allow her to work the night shift so she could earn some extra money. It meant working sixteen hours straight, five days a week, but she’d do what she must to survive. She doubted she would earn enough in time to save her apartment, but maybe she could save some money and find another place to live. Maybe she’d even drive out of town one day and never look back. There really wasn’t anything for her in Grizzly Pines, nothing but pain anyway.
Elodie finished stuffing the napkin holders then moved on to the ketchup bottles. She’d just finished her task when more customers walked in. With an inward groan, she realized it was the Brubaker twins. They’d delighted in tormenting her ever since grade school. She’d always been on the pudgy side and they’d made fun of her daily. You’d think they’d outgrow such childish tendencies, but if anything it seemed to get worse with each passing year.
She watched as they seated themselves at a table in the middle of the diner and she carried menus over to them. Not that they needed them. They always ordered the same thing for breakfast—eggs, grits, and toast.
She set the menus in front of them and gave them a forced smile. “The usual?”
Jim Brubaker eyed her up and down. “You know, I thought they served cows here, not hired them.”
She bit her tongue. It wasn’t his most creative insult, but it hurt just the same. She heard a growl from behind her and looked over her shoulder. Beau and Beck stared at the Brubakers with narrowed eyes.
“Take that back,” Beau demanded.
Jim smirked at him. “Well, well. It looks like Elodie has found some knights in shining armor. Wonder what she did to get them to champion her. Been spreading your legs like your whore mother?”
Elodie shook from the control it took not to lash out at him. She’d love nothing more than to slap him across his arrogant face. She’d made that mistake once and had almost lost her job over it. Never again. It wasn’t worth it, he wasn’t worth it. She felt a hand on her arm and then she was tugged behind Beck as Beau wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
Beck leaned over, bracing his hands on the table between Jim and his brother Eddie. He looked back and forth between the two, his jaw set, his eyes flashing anger.
“You will apologize to her, or we’ll take this outside.”
Eddie visibly swallowed and glanced at his brother. “Jim, maybe you should just apologize. You know the sheriff is still sore over that incident at the Golden Buckle. He wouldn’t take too kindly to finding you brawling in the streets.”
Jim scowled. “Fine. I’m sorry.”
“Not to me.” Beck nodded in Elodie’s direction. “To her.”
Jim’s lips turned down. “Elodie, I’m sorry.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
“Now,” Beck continued. “Why don’t you boys head home for breakfast. I don’t much care to be looking at you while I eat.”
Eddie stood so fast his chair nearly tipped over. Under other circumstances, it might have been funny. It was obvious that he was intimidated by the tall cowboy. Jim rose slowly, scowled at them, and followed his brother out of the diner. It wasn’t much of a loss. They never tipped her. Beau squeezed her shoulders and Beck turned to face them.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine. I appreciate you helping me, but it really wasn’t necessary.”
“You certainly weren’t doing anything about it,” Beck said.
“It doesn’t do any good. They’ll be back tomorrow with the same insults. It’s not that big a deal. They’ve had something to say to me every day for the past twenty years.”
Beau gave her an incredulous look. “They’ve been tormenting you that long?”
Elodie flushed in embarrassment and shrugged.
“This isn’t over, Elodie,” Beck said. “I don’t know why you’ve let them run roughshod over you all this time, but it ends now. If you won’t stand up for yourself, we’ll just have to make sure they understand you’re off limits. The people in this town need to find a new punching bag.”
Were they serious? They planned to protect her? No one had ever cared what happened to her, not even her mother. She’d almost run away from home once, when one of her mother’s customers had decided she was available to sample as well. Why on Earth would these two hunks want to stand between her and the rest of the town? She wasn’t anything special. Besides, they’d just met! They knew nothing about her.
She stood clenching and unclenching her hands at her sides, unsure of what to say to them. The Brubakers had called them her knights in shining armor. They were more like cowboy heroes. Her cowboy heroes. Beau gave her a squeeze again before he and Beck returned to their table. Not knowing what else to do, she returned to her duties, thankful her boss hadn’t noticed the alt
ercation. He would surely blame her for it.
When Beau and Beck finished their meal, they dropped some money on the table and headed out the door. Elodie admired the view before going to collect the money to pay their check. She hadn’t even given it to them, but she knew they wouldn’t shortchange her. She might have just met them, but they seemed like kind, decent men. Not the kind to skip out on a check or not leave a tip.
She stopped at their table and picked up two twenties, staring at them, dumbfounded. Their two meals together had only been around fifteen dollars. They’d left her a twenty-five dollar tip! No one had ever done such a thing before. Usually she collected two, maybe three dollars for a group of two or more. A dollar for singles. The town wasn’t known for its generosity, not toward her anyway.
Elodie finished her shift, working hard the rest of the day and night, feeling like she was going to drop at any moment. Her feet had never been so sore before. And she wasn’t going to think about how much her back ached. She doubted even a hot bath would cure what ailed her tonight. But as ready as she was to put her feet up, she didn’t really relish going home to her empty apartment. When she’d woken this morning, she’d discovered that her cable had been shut off. Apparently she was farther behind in payments than she’d thought. Thank God, she had one of those pay-as-you-go cell phones, or she’d be without a phone by now too. Couldn’t anything go right for her? It seemed if it could go wrong, it did.
After clocking out, she gathered her things and headed out to her car. She’d had to park around the corner in back of the diner. It wasn’t an ideal place to be at night, in the dark, because there weren’t any lights back there. The light over the rear entrance had a short in it and never worked properly, so the owner just quit turning it on.
The door slammed shut behind her and she dug blindly through her purse in an attempt to find her keys. If she’d been smart, she’d have pulled them out before she stepped into the blackness of the alley, but she was just too damn tired to think clearly. Finally, her hand closed around the cold metal of her keychain and she pulled it out, keys jangling. She walked briskly down the side of the building toward her car, one hand gripping her purse.
A shadow stepped away from the building, directly into her path. She froze, aware that she’d have to go through him to get to her car, and the door to the diner was too far away. The shadow moved closer until she could make out his features. Casey Woods, mayor Woods’ illegitimate son, and known troublemaker. What he could want with her, she had no idea. She’d seen him around town, but they’d never really talked before. He’d been two years behind her in school.
“Give me your purse,” he said, his voice raspy like he was getting over a cold. As he drew nearer, she saw his eyes were bloodshot and his skin was pale. She quickly assessed him, saw his jittery hands and determined that he was in need of a fix.
All of the money she’d earned today was in her purse. If she gave it to him, she’d have nothing. Even her phone was in the purse, along with her license and her favorite lipstick. Something told her he wouldn’t allow her to remove any of the items, especially not the hard earned cash that she so desperately needed. With a hand that was steadier than she’d have thought possible, she held the purse out to him.
He stepped closer and jerked it from her grasp. “Now the keys.”
She swallowed hard and clenched her hand around the keys. That damn car was the only thing she had left, she couldn’t part with it willingly. Maybe if she refused, he’d decide it wasn’t worth the hassle and just leave.
“You can’t have my car. I need it.”
“So do I, bitch. Now give me the keys.”
She shook her head and backed up a step. With wide eyes, she watched as he pulled a gun from behind his back and pointed it at her. As if in slow motion, she saw him pull the trigger, watched the gun kick, and a moment later felt the bullet slam into her. Either he was a lousy shot, or he didn’t intend to kill her. Blood blossomed on her shirt near her left shoulder and the world spun. She pressed her hand over the wound and sank to the ground, her knees hitting the unforgiving pavement. The heat of the day seeped through her jeans and burned her skin. Even though it had been hours since the sun went down, it was still a hot and humid night. Sweat beaded on the back of her neck and drenched the cups of her bra.
The metallic scent of her blood filled her nose as dots swam before her eyes. Casey stepped closer and wrenched the keys from her hand, pulling on her shoulder. She cried out in pain and watched, helpless, as he ran to her car. He jumped inside, started it, and peeled out of the alley. As the taillights disappeared around the corner, she called out for help, hoping someone would hear her.
Lightheaded and dizzy, she sucked in a lungful of the balmy air before sinking into oblivion, her body slumping to the ground. Lying face down on the pavement, blood began to pool under her shoulder.
Chapter Two
Beck dished the eggs onto his plate as Beau played with his breakfast at the table. His brother had been deep in thought ever since meeting that hot little waitress yesterday morning. Not that Beck could blame him. She’d been weighing heavy on his mind, too. Man, the minute they’d walked into that diner, he’d seen her standing across the room. His reaction to her had been so intense it was almost like getting kicked in the chest by a mule. He’d noticed women before, but never like this.
“Are you going to eat it or play with it?” he asked Beau, as his brother shoved the eggs around his plate again.
“Do you think either of us has a shot with her? I mean, a woman like that has to have offers, regardless of what those dickheads said to her yesterday.”
“Why don’t you say what’s really bothering you?”
“All right. There’s one of her and two of us, and you can’t tell me you don’t want her as much as I do. You’ve had this goofy grin on your face since meeting her yesterday morning. I know it’s because of her.” Beau tapped his fork on the edge of his plate. “And I have to admit, I’m more than a little attracted to her. I wanted to pick her up and carry her out of there yesterday. I felt like her place was here, in our house, and I wanted to bring her home.”
Beck shrugged. “I guess the question remains, what are we going to do about it?”
Beau’s fork froze in mid-swipe. “Do?”
“Well, like you said. There’s one of her and two of us. I don’t want to feel like I’m competing against my brother for the affection of the only woman in town who’s caught my interest since moving here. Do you?”
Beau set his fork down and tapped his fingers on the table. “No, I guess not. So what do you suggest?”
“I suggest that we take a page out of our brother’s book and we share her.”
Both of Beau’s brows lifted. “Share? As in a ménage?”
Beck nodded and shoveled a forkful of eggs into his mouth. He watched as Beau digested that bit of information, rolled it around, and studied it from every angle. Beau may be younger than him, but he still respected the hell out of his brother. If Beau wasn’t completely on board with this idea, then they’d push it aside and come up with some other idea. Beck just couldn’t figure out what else would work half so well.
“Do you think she’s the type of woman to enter into a ménage relationship? Think she’s ever done it before?”
“Hard to say. Doesn’t hurt to approach her and give it a try though. I say we do it subtly though. Don’t just rush forward and blurt out what we want. Maybe it we both do a little wooing, get her to fall for both of us, then she’ll be more amenable to seeing us together.”
Beau picked up his fork and began to eat, obviously feeling more at ease. He still had a thoughtful look on his face and Beck wondered what he was thinking.
“Did you think of a problem with my proposal?”
“No. Well, not exactly. It’s just…what’s Mom going to think of all this? What if Elodie is ‘the one?’”
“It might take Mom by surprise, but do you really think it would bother her
? As long as we were happy and settling down, I think she’d be content.”
“And Dad?” Beau asked.
Beck grinned. “Something tells me Cody took after our old man. If anyone can appreciate a ménage relationship, I have a feeling it will be Dad. Not that he’d ever admit it, especially in front of Mom. But something tells me, Dad was a wild man back in the day.”
Beau laughed. “Yeah, I guess I can see that. All right. So let’s do this.”
“We’ll swing by the diner again in the morning for breakfast and see if we can sit in her section again.”
Beau shook his head. “No, I mean let’s do this now. Let’s call the diner and see if she’s working.”
Beck felt a strange fluttering in his stomach at the idea of seeing Elodie again so soon, not that he’d ever admit to such girly feelings if anyone asked. He wanted to see her again, more than anything, but what if she shot them down? They hadn’t asked if she was seeing anyone. What would they do if she had a boyfriend?
He watched as Beau made the call, only half listening to the conversation. When Beau hung up, he looked worried, which had Beck tensing in his seat. Something wasn’t right.
“What is it?” he asked.
“There was an accident. Elodie’s in the hospital.”
Beck dropped his fork and shoved his chair back, rising to his feet. He carried his plate to the sink, hastily dumping it in the basin.
“Come on,” he said. “What are you waiting for?”
“We’re going to the hospital?” Beau asked.
“Hell yeah, we’re going to the hospital. Our woman needs us!”
Beau’s eyes lit up and he smiled as he placed his plate on top of Beck’s. They hurried out the door, barely taking the time to lock it, before piling into Beck’s truck and taking off for the nearest hospital, and their precious Elodie. The one woman who was going to make their lives worthwhile. Beck may have only met her briefly, but he already knew he wanted more than a one-night stand from her. He wanted the whole thing—the picket fence, nighttime cuddles, and 2.5 kids. Now they just had to convince Elodie of that.
