‘It’s good to know the benchmark.’ Tony’s voice was strong but she was sure a hint of panic flashed through those blue sparklers of his. ‘Anyway, this isn’t about me. How are you? I haven’t seen you in the pub with that vet of yours for a while now.’
Mel narrowed her eyes in suspicion. ‘Have you been staking me out? Figuring all the ways you can try and horn in on my bit of business?’
‘Rabbits Leap makes a habit of knowing Rabbits Leap. We keep an eye on our own. We take care of our own…’ A tightening of those lush lips. A moment of regret? No matter. He’d given her ammunition.
‘You take care of your own by taking over parts of their businesses? My, how civically minded you are.’
‘I know you’re annoyed about the machine, Mel, but you don’t have to be sarcastic about it. Can’t we deal with the situation like adults?’
Mel’s grip around herself tightened as her irritation soared. ‘I can be whatever I want in my café. And I can say whatever I want, however I want, especially when dealing with a coffee thief. What’s next? You’ll be calling my beans supplier? Good luck with that. They know what loyalty means.’
Tony’s lips thinned out more. Good. She was getting to him. Giving him something to think about.
‘As for the vet? Not that it’s any of your business but we’re over. He decided small-town veterinary work wasn’t for him and headed over to Africa to work with wildebeest or something like that.’
‘Thought he would.’
‘Really?’ Mel’s chin lifted in surprise. She’d never thought Tony was the kind of guy who delved below the surface of anything. With that easy smile and light laugh, he seemed… well, about as shallow as one of the puddles that amassed on the main street after a spring shower.
‘Yeah, he had that look about him, the “this place will do for now” look. I’ve seen it before. I knew it was only a matter of time before he left.’ Tony picked up his coffee and took a sip. ‘God, this really is good. Is everything you do this good?’
Mel’s ears prickled hot. Was she imagining it or was that a double entendre? She met his blue eyes and saw not a hint of sparkle or tease. Nope, no double entendre; he wasn’t trying to pick her up.
‘I guess that means I was “this girl will do for now”,’ she said out loud, more to herself than to Tony.
‘Then he was a fool. A man would be lucky to have a pink-haired barista and amazing cook loving him, cooking for him and making his morning coffee.’
‘That sounds more like a slave-master relationship than a real, true-love one…’
‘I’m sure the man would repay you in other ways.’
This time the sparkle was definitely in his eyes.
‘I’d make sure he did.’ The words came out before she could stop them, along with a wink. Traitor. She dipped her head to hide the flush creeping up over her cheeks. How dare her body flirt so easily with the enemy, even though, with his kind words, he was acting more like a friend. Or someone who might be angling for something more than that. Not that she’d ever sleep with the enemy. Uh-uh. No way.
Taking a long, slow, cooling breath she looked up into Tony’s eyes. Something flashed through them. Something quick, hot, fierce. A heck of a lot like desire. Had he been thinking about her… with him? Mel shook the thought clear. Nope, that’d never happen. They were chalk and cheese. Besides, there was no way she was playing around with the local lothario. He didn’t tick any of her boxes. Well, not all of them. Hot. Yes. Fun. Yes. But he couldn’t commit. She’d heard the village gossip. He was a one-man band. No woman lasted more than a night. Anyway, he was hardly boyfriend material. He only loved himself, and he was obviously careless with money, which meant careless with security, and that was the one thing Mel was always careful about.
‘So why did you come here, Tony?’
‘I need to apologise and then we need to have a conversation.’
Mel sat up straighter in her chair. An apology? She hadn’t seen that coming. ‘So, apologise.’
‘I’m sorry I bought the coffee machine. Actually, I’m not. But I’m sorry you had to find out about it like that.’
‘Not much of an apologiser, are you?’
He at least had the good grace to look slightly ashamed.
‘Well, I’m hoping we can come to an arrangement about it.’
‘Really? How about I arrange for it to be removed and you go back to bartending?’
‘How about you teach me how to use it… and maybe even teach me how to cook?’
Mel couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was Tony mentally deficient?
‘Cook? What are you on?’
‘That smell, what is it?’
Mel sniffed the air and remembered she had lamb shanks slow-cooking in a tomato balsamic jus in the back kitchen.
‘That’s my dinner.’
‘It smells amazing.’
‘Don’t try and distract me.’ She waved her hand in impatience. ‘Why would I teach you my whole trade? Coffee and baking? I’d be out of business within weeks.’
‘No, I don’t want to know how to bake. I’m talking about learning to cook real food, like whatever it is you’ve got going back there.’ Tony’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
Mel could almost see the ideas forming in his head. His whole demeanour was changing in front of her eyes, energy fair sparking off his disturbingly muscular body.
‘You’ve seen the food we do at The Bullion. It’s all deep-fried and artery-clogging. I need to get with the times, update the menu, make it appealing, maybe even get entertainment in on special nights, see if I can’t pull in a few more punters. Turn the place into a tourist attraction, or something. Which would be good for your business, too…’
Tony leaned forward and placed his hand over hers.
Pull away.
But she couldn’t. Tony’s fingers tightened around the outer edges of her fist, warm, strong, capable. Hands that knew how to work. Weren’t afraid of getting dirty…
Did he work out, she mused, as her eyes travelled up the length of his legs and settled on his stomach. Was there a six-pack hiding beneath that grey T-shirt? Strongly defined, hard thighs underneath those denims? Biceps made for picking a woman up and pinning her to a wall…
Get it together, girl! She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping not seeing Tony would stop those unneeded images forming in her head. It didn’t work. Was this the effect he had on women? Is that why he was known for having a string of them? Was he truly irresistible?
‘So are you going to help me? Or are you too busy meditating over there?’
Mel tugged her hand out from under his and rubbed her face wearily. It had been a long day. Between her mother’s announcement sending her stomach into free-fall and the revelation that the man sitting opposite her had decided to pit himself against her in the business stakes, she was ready to go to bed. Alone.
‘What’s in it for me?’ Mel opened her eyes to see Tony giving her a charming smile.
‘The pleasure of my company?’
‘I’m not seeing anything pleasurable about your company.’ The lie came quick and easy.
‘Well, maybe it’s time you did.’ Tony’s teasing tone was back. ‘Look, how about this for a deal. You help me create a dinner menu, maybe show me how to make a decent coffee…’
Mel’s eyebrows shot up, her hackles rising.
‘…and I promise to not serve the java until your café closes at…’
‘Three.’
‘Three it is.’
‘I still don’t feel like it’s a good enough deal for me to give you this much help…’
‘Any wine you drink at the pub will be free for the duration of your help?’
The teasing tone was tinged with desperation. Tony had alluded to things not going great, things needing fixing, but maybe he was in deeper than he was willing to let on? And maybe – an idea flitted about her mind – he could help her with her latest drama, the drama that was about to blow into town any
day now…
‘Okay. I’m insane for doing this, I’ll probably regret it with every fibre of my being, but okay. I’ll help you… but you’ve got to do one more thing for me.’
‘Anything. Just name it.’
Mel screwed up her courage and forced the words out before she could talk herself out of them. ‘I need you to be my fiancé.’
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The Little Unicorn Gift Shop Page 25
