by Lori Foster
“It was already in the works after you brought in Logistics Unlimited. That account has opened doors to others.”
Hogan crossed his arms. “I was at the office all day today and you never mentioned it.”
“I wanted it to be a surprise.” She smiled, reaching out to stroke his shoulder. “Let’s go to dinner now and we’ll discuss it.”
Again, Hogan set her away. “Joni—”
She latched on again. “Seriously, Hogan, lose the apron and let’s go.” She reached for the ties, ready to take it from him.
With a low growl that startled Hogan, Violet warned, “Get your hands off my employee.”
Disbelieving, Hogan stared at her. Her voice was so mean, he half expected her red hair to stand on end.
Joni was bigger, thicker, but Violet looked ready to jump her.
Trying to reason with her, he said, “You dealt with a drunk, disruptive guy earlier and never raised your voice.”
Violet kept her gaze locked on Joni. “The guy never touched me—but she’s all over you!”
“Now, Violet,” Hogan soothed, aware of everyone in the yard staring, including his son and brother, “you’re causing a scene.”
“She’s causing the scene,” Violet snapped, “by trying to steal you away.”
Curling her lip, Joni laughed with derision. “Steal him away from what?” Her gaze dipped over Violet with contempt. “A job as a cook in this dive? I doubt anything I could do would reflect worse than the place itself.”
Violet’s hands curled into fists. “You’re insulting my diner?”
“Yours?” Joni laughed. “Seriously, Hogan, the joke is over. Now let’s go.”
This had gotten way out of hand. “Listen,” he tried to say, but Violet cut him off.
“You have two seconds to get off my property before I call the sheriff and have you arrested for indecent...groping!”
Joni huffed, her chest swelling until he thought for sure she’d pop free. She turned on Hogan with narrowed eyes. “If you don’t leave with me now, right this very second, I’ll be forced to fire you.”
Again he tried to speak, to find a compromise, but again Violet beat him to it.
“You aren’t foolin’ anyone, sugar. It’s not the job you’re offering him, but yourself.”
Red faced, Joni snarled to him, “Well?”
“We will talk tomorrow,” he insisted. “First thing. I can get there at eight—”
“Forget it.” Joni thrust up her chin. “Remember that you signed a contract. The clients are mine, not yours—you can clear out your desk in the morning.”
Stunned, Hogan watched her walk away. Or more like stomp away. He’d just been fired.
In front of half the damn town.
“Good riddance,” Violet called after her.
Several groups cheered. He heard a few people shout, “Go Violet!” and “You tell her!”
Breathing hard with fury, Hogan reached out and grabbed Jason, shoving the tongs into his hand. “Don’t let the meat burn.”
Jason said, “Uh—”
But Hogan already had Violet by the arm and he was two-stepping her past his son, who just stared, and into the prep area.
When Violet realized what was happening, she jerked free, turned and slammed the door on everyone’s gawking faces.
So numb with shock he could barely think, Hogan asked, “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
She threw up her hands. “I’ve saved you.”
No, she couldn’t be that damned obtuse—she couldn’t be that blind to what it meant for him to be fired. “I didn’t need to be saved! I needed that job.”
Her eyes flinched, and then she muttered, “If you’re going to bellow like that, we should have just left the door open. Everyone can hear you anyway.”
Her cavalier attitude rubbed him raw. He laughed, but not with humor. “Jesus, it took me forever to find that job. You know that, Violet.” He shoved his fingers through his hair, still too numb. “I have a house payment, insurance... I was saving for Colt’s college.”
Silent now, Violet put a hand to her forehead.
He saw she was shaking. All over. “You should have stayed out of it.”
On a slow breath, she nodded. “Maybe.”
“No maybe to it. I’m fucked.” He had no idea what to do now. None. Closing his eyes, he tried to get his rage under control. He could talk to Joni in the morning, but she’d been humiliated, and women were funny about things like that.
Hell, he was humiliated, too, and the last thing he wanted to do was to try to talk her around. Joni was a pain in the ass on a good day, but if she thought she had the upper hand—
“Tell me what she paid you.”
His eyes opened. “What?”
“What did you make a week?”
Folding his arms, Hogan named his weekly salary. “Plus benefits.”
Her shoulders drooped. “Oh.” Then she rallied. “I can come close to that, I promise.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to.” He’d seen her books. He knew her income. There was more potential, yes, but she wasn’t there yet.
Looking utterly miserable, Violet started to pace. “I know this isn’t where you wanted to work—”
“Wrong.”
“—and I know you liked the more respectable suit-and-tie job.”
Hogan scoffed. “I haven’t worn a tie in ages.”
Earnest now, she stared right into his eyes. “But I promise you, Hogan, you have my solemn vow, you will like it here.”
Unbelievable. “You aren’t even listening to me.”
She sucked in a breath. “Please tell me you aren’t going to quit.”
“Quit the only job I have now, thanks to you?” Somehow her desperation finally kicked his brain into gear. Possibilities began rushing through him, dozens of them. He wasn’t optimistic—he wouldn’t go that far, and there would be some definite challenges. But he could see a light, a faint glimmer of a light, at the end of the long, dark tunnel. “No, I won’t quit.”
She collapsed back against the prep station and got sauce on the seat of her pants.
Hogan caught both her arms and drew her forward again, away from the mess. “We’ll have to make some changes.”
Oblivious to the “secret sauce” soaking into her shorts, she asked suspiciously, “We?”
“Forget it, Violet. You can’t be territorial, not when you booted out my boss. Not when this is now the only income I have.”
“I wasn’t being territorial, exactly...”
“Yes, you were. You always are. I understand it and we’ll work around it. You’ll remain the boss—”
“Gee, thank you.”
“—but I need to be the manager.”
Her mouth opened, then closed. “Beth is my assistant manager.”
“Assistant, yes. But Kristy said Beth isn’t even sure if she wants to come back. She likes being a stay-at-home mom.”
Violet drooped. “I know. She told me if she does come back, it won’t be for months.”
“If she does, she’ll be an assistant manager, but I’ll be the manager.”
The suspicion grew. “To manage what?”
“Damn near everything.” And before she could explode, he added, “With your input and approval.” But with his input and approval, too.
She thought about it, but now that she’d gotten her way, Violet bit back a smile. “I think that sounds doable. We can discuss the finer points tonight.” Her fingers toyed with the neckline of his T-shirt. “When we’re alone.”
It seemed a million emotions, previously bottled up, exploded all at once. Without giving it too much thought, Hogan hauled her in, ignored her gasp and took her mouth in a deep, hard kiss that
only left him primed for more. She softened immediately, her hands clutching his shoulders, her belly pressing against him.
He’d told her what would happen if they worked together full-time.
She seemed to be in complete agreement.
The second he released her, Violet plopped back against the messy station again.
Trying to still the furious drumming of his heart, Hogan said, “You’ve ruined your shorts.”
She looked over her shoulder at her butt and shrugged. “But not your life?”
He agreed with a smile. “I think my life is going to be fine.” Complicated as hell, but altogether fine.
He walked out to the grill, truly the Barbecue Master.
10
AT NINE THIRTY THAT NIGHT, shortly after closing, Violet stood upstairs in the musty room, watching Hogan move a massive trunk, then another. They each held items of sentimental value. She’d go through them when she was alone, without an audience, in case she got a little weepy with nostalgia.
After he’d cleared the spot, Hogan stopped and stared at the warped door. He lifted the heavy lock. “What’s this?”
“A lock.”
“I can see that. But what’s behind the door?”
“The stairs.”
“What stairs?”
So he was still testy? Apparently. Since that obnoxious woman had left and they’d made their future plans—she loved the sound of that—Hogan had waffled through many different reactions. She could understand, though. Likely every time he thought of the challenges, it weighed on him. Unlike her, he had his son to think about, too.
Although she did a lot of thinking about Colt, as well. As a terrific young man, a valuable employee and an extension of Hogan, how could she not?
Every so often, guilt pierced her, but she couldn’t regret what she’d done. No way could Hogan have enjoyed, or even been content, working in that atmosphere. Colt had told her about Joni Jeffers’s visit to their home, how the woman had leered at Hogan. It wasn’t even close to a date, not when the former boss had forced her way into their house.
“Violet, did you check out? Or are you as surprised by the door as I am?”
Surprised, no. She was excited. But not about the door, or expanding the space. She wanted to kiss him again.
And other stuff.
She shook her head. “I was just thinking.”
Looking skeptical, he cocked a brow. “About?”
Hogan wanted only to talk business. Okay, so she’d tamp down her carnal urges and they’d talk business. If he could keep it under wraps, then she could, too.
Maybe.
“There’s a back entrance to this floor,” she said, striding closer. “You’ve never noticed it in the back lot? Rickety metal stairs that lead up to an equally rickety door? That’s why I have it double locked. I always thought someone could force their way in otherwise, and I didn’t like the idea of getting here and finding an unwelcome, um, visitor.”
“I’m glad you thought to secure it.” He stared at the door. “I can’t believe I never noticed.”
She shrugged. “It was there when Uncle Bibb bought the business, long before I can even remember.”
“Another entrance,” he murmured, fascination in his expression. “Come on. I want to see it.” He took her hand and tugged her along with him.
“So we’re done exploring up here?”
“For now.” Even going down the narrow stairwell, he kept her hand enclosed in his. “I want to get home early enough tonight to actually visit with my son. He has to have questions.”
Guilt, damn it. She tried to shake it off. “Given what he told me about that woman, he’s probably relieved.”
“That woman, huh? Her name is Joni Jeffers and she is—was—my boss. She actually runs a good, solid business. She’s respected. The agency was respected.”
He was respected? Violet wanted to hug him and tell him... What? They reached the landing, and as they turned the corner to the main room, she said, “My diner is not a dive.”
With a short laugh, he said, “No, it’s not. You’ve done well with it. I think I can finesse things a little more, though. Now that I can dedicate all my time to it, we’ll put it on the fast track.”
A shiver of dread mixed with affront went up her spine. Fast-track changes? She looked around as they went through the dim interior to the back door. “Uncle Bibb poured his heart into this place. I see him everywhere. He chose the booths and tables himself, you know. Even repaired them a few times.”
Hogan nodded, somewhat distracted. “He was a handyman?”
“Yes. But see that nick in the wall, right there by the storage room? He was carrying a ladder to change a light, accidentally hit the wall, knocked himself over, bumped a waitress who sent her tray flying, and the noise scared half the customers.” She couldn’t see that nick without smiling.
Glancing at her, Hogan said gently, “We’ll leave the nick,” and drew her outside with him after he’d unlocked the door.
“I remember when he replaced the Screwy Louie sign, taking down the old wooden one and putting up the neon. He was so damn proud of it.”
“With good reason.” Again holding her hand, Hogan led her around to where a longer section of the brick building met a shorter section, and in that space was the stairs. “Huh.”
The heavy metal bin for trash sat beneath the stairs. Broken chips of concrete, dried leaves and a bottle cap filled the corner.
Violet had never much minded the random debris that got in that corner, but now, with Hogan seeing it, she wished she’d had it swept. “It’s not a pretty sight, is it?”
“Not like it is, no. But it could be.” He released her to run his hand along the rail of the stairs, giving it a couple of tugs. “It’s not actually rickety.”
“It feels rickety if you walk on it.”
Taking that as a challenge, Hogan bounded up the steps, his tread deliberately heavy. “No, they’re solid. It’s just that they’re metal, so they make a racket. We’d have to have them inspected, but I think they’d be okay.”
The glow of a tall security light reflected on Hogan’s dark hair and sent interesting shadows over his body, showcasing the width of his shoulders, making the cut of his muscles more defined. “Okay for what?”
As he came back down, the clanking of his shoes on metal echoed over the lot. “If we get the upstairs set up for a younger crowd, you don’t necessarily want them tromping through the restaurant, disturbing people who only want to eat. They could use this entrance, instead. You’d have more capacity without all the chaos.”
Violet pictured it, somewhat liked what she saw, but it was so much change it still bothered her. “You’re moving at light speed,” she grumbled.
He tweaked her chin and smiled down at her. “Have to. Some little redheaded wonder ensured I got fired, so now we need to make this work.”
They were alone in the lot, the printing business next door to them closed, no one around. Even the street was quiet. The scents of sunshine and grill smoke still clung to him, mingling with the scent of him.
Staring up at him, Violet saw his eagerness, as if maybe she hadn’t totally screwed up his life.
She licked her lips, then softly said his name.
His gaze went from teasing to awareness in a heartbeat. His thumb released her chin and instead brushed over the corner of her mouth, then drifted up her cheek until his fingers played with loose tendrils of her hair, tucking them back behind her ear.
When his hand cupped her nape beneath her ponytail, she almost melted. It was such a guy thing to do, especially with the way he drew her in closer while lowering his mouth.
Lord, she was lost long before their lips touched.
This kiss was nothing like the one earlier in t
he prep area. He’d been hungry then, devastating, hard and fast. Now he only played with her, nipping her bottom lip, licking her upper, settling his mouth gently over hers with almost no pressure.
Wanting to feel the warmth of his big body, the strength of him, she moved closer. For so long she’d been tackling everything alone, and now there was Hogan, and somehow, in such a short time, he’d infiltrated every part of her life.
Almost every part. She’d work on the rest very soon.
Holding her, he turned until her back was pressed against the brick wall of the building. He leaned into her, his hips pinning her in place. Both of his hands now held her face tipped up to his so he could kiss her as long and slow and deep as he wanted.
As he eased up, she felt his hot breath on her mouth. “Violet.”
The way he said her name, all raspy and rough, was incredibly sexy. “Yes.” Yes to anything he wanted. He could change the diner; he could take her to bed. Yes.
She felt his smile. “You are such a contradiction.” He leaned in closer, using a hand on her behind to keep her snug against him, his other hand braced on the wall above her head. Tilting his head slightly, he fitted his mouth to hers, moving so that her lips opened and he licked in.
A Barbecue Master with a magic tongue. Maybe that’s what she should put on his shirt—when she got around to getting him a shirt. He knew how to kiss. He knew how to use that tongue to make her toes curl.
Pulling back, he kissed the corner of her mouth again, then her jaw and her neck. He put his forehead to hers. “I shouldn’t have started this.”
“You could try finishing it.”
“Definitely. That’s at the top of our growing to-do list.” He put some space between them. “But I really do need to talk to Colt tonight.”
This time the guilt that swamped her actually hurt. “I’m so sorry. Damn, I completely forgot. I shouldn’t have, though. It’s unforgivable. I know how confused he must be and you already said—”
To quiet her, Hogan touched his finger to her lips. His eyes looked midnight dark and aroused, but still, he was such a responsible parent. “Colt’s not a baby, and he’s probably not all that confused.”
