Deeper Read online

  Eddie moved to the counter, which now boasted six high stools instead of the lonely one from times past. He’d set out two mugs and had a Thermos of coffee waiting.

  “Are you sure your other son doesn’t need a job?” he asked as he poured.

  Bess didn’t see the point in being coy. “Connor wants to make his own way, Eddie. I appreciate the offer, but he wanted to find a job on his own.”

  Eddie nodded as he added cream and sugar to his mug. “I can understand that.”

  “Conn’s got a stick up his…shirt,” Robbie said from the table behind them.

  “Connor’s always been a little more stubborn,” Bess stated.

  Eddie grinned. “Well, if he changes his mind, let me know.”

  “I will. Thanks.”

  Her friend leaned a little closer. “So, after Kara gets here and takes over, want to go grab some breakfast? We have a lot to talk about.”

  Bess’s stomach rumbled at that moment. She’d be a liar if she said she wasn’t hungry, but she couldn’t exactly tell Eddie she was yearning to get home so she could have hot supernatural sex. Not to mention that Connor would most likely still be there, since his interviews weren’t scheduled until later in the day. “Sure.”

  “Good.”

  They chatted while Robbie filled out the paperwork. Bess wondered if Eddie had always had such a charming sense of humor, or if he’d grown into it the way he’d grown into his broad shoulders and long legs. She’d always known he was smart, but he was funny, too.

  Leaving Robbie to Kara’s tender mercies, they headed down the street to the Frog House again, where another breakfast awaited. Eddie had done a lot of preliminary work regarding the mechanics of starting a new business, creating spreadsheets about what equipment they could keep and what they’d need to buy. He sifted through a sheaf of papers, explaining his thoughts, while Bess listened, blown away at his expertise.

  “And we’ll have to get the paperwork for a partnership,” he said with a glance. “You’ll want a lawyer to look at it. What?”

  She shook her head. “You’re sure you want to add me as a partner, Eddie? I’m not bringing much to this.”

  He sat back in his seat. “Would you feel better if you were a silent partner? Not on paper? No risk?”

  “Oh, it’s not that.” Bess touched the folder of documents. “It’s more your risk than mine. Do you really want to make me a partner? I mean—”

  “I trust you.” Eddie smiled. “But if you don’t want to do it—”

  “No. I do want to do it.” She meant it, too. She nodded and looked again at the papers. “I really do.”

  “Well, then. I want you.”

  Heat flushed her cheeks and throat, but the blush was welcome. So was the smile that followed. “It’s scary, isn’t it?”

  “It doesn’t have to be.” Eddie closed the folder. “I think it’s exciting.”

  “It can be scary and exciting, too, can’t it?”

  He looked thoughtful. “Sure.”

  “It’s a big change for me,” Bess said. “I haven’t worked in years.”

  The quaver in her voice embarrassed her, and she wished she hadn’t said anything. “I haven’t really done anything but be a wife and mother for years,” she blurted, making it worse.

  Eddie smiled. “Then maybe it’s time for a change, huh?”

  It wasn’t that simple or easy, but Bess smiled, too. “Yeah. Maybe it is.”

  CHAPTER 30

  Then

  “I have to get back.” Nick gathered up the paper from the wrapped sandwiches he’d brought to share, and tossed it in the Dumpster. “Lou called in sick today so I only get half an hour.”

  Bess sucked the last bit of soda through her straw and tossed the paper cup in the garbage. Nick wiped his hands on his jeans before putting them on her waist and pulling her close, a gesture that had her giggling even though she appreciated it.

  “What? Those chips were greasy,” Nick said. “You’d rather I got your shirt dirty?”

  Bess, allowing herself to be pulled against him, shook her head. “No. I was just thinking how I’m glad I don’t have to do your laundry.”

  Nick snorted. “I wish I didn’t.”

  She fit in his arms just right, her own arms around his neck. “We can do it later, when I get off work, okay?”

  Nick, bending to nuzzle into her neck, murmured, “We could just go naked. Set a trend.”

  She laughed breathily as his lips made a moist pattern on her skin. “Oh, sure. That would go over really well.”

  His hands drifted from her waist to her ass, rubbing. “I’d like it. If you were naked all the time—”

  “B-Bess?”

  She looked over her shoulder. Eddie stood in the doorway, cheeks crimson and eyes averted. She stepped out of Nick’s arms and turned to the door. “Yes?”

  “I n-need some help with the inventory.”

  “Oh. Sure. I’ll be right in.”

  Eddie didn’t go at once. His gaze rose to take in Nick, then Bess, before he ducked back inside the shop. Bess turned to face Nick, intending to get in one last kiss before he left her, but his scowl stopped her.

  “What’s the problem?” she asked.

  Nick jerked his chin toward the doorway. “He’s in love with you.”

  Bess laughed, self-conscious, because Nick wasn’t wrong. “Oh, he’s not.”

  Nick’s lip curled. “He is. Little nerd’s got the hots for you. Big-time.”

  “So?” Bess slipped her arms around Nick’s waist, but holding him was like holding wood. “Why does that worry you?”

  His scowl didn’t soften when he looked at her. “I’m not worried. Why should I be worried? You have something going on with Eddie the dork?”

  The vehemence in his voice stunned her, and she stepped back. “No. Of course not. God, Nick. What’s your problem?”

  “I don’t have a problem,” he said. “I have to go.”

  “I’ll see you tonight, right?” Their relationship seemed suddenly far more of a slippery slope than it had a few minutes before.

  “Yeah,” Nick said as he threw a black look toward the doorway. He stalked away down the alley without kissing her. Without looking back, either.

  With a sigh, Bess went inside. Eddie had piled a few boxes of paper cups on the floor and pulled out the packing slips. He was supposed to count the sleeves of cups and match them to the packing slips before putting the cups in the supply closet. A simple task he’d performed a hundred times already.

  “What’s the problem?” She sounded grouchy, but didn’t care.

  “These cups aren’t the ones we usually order,” Eddie explained. “And also, there aren’t enough in the boxes. I mean, there aren’t as m-many as there are listed on the sheet.”

  Bess peeked into the box and checked the sheet. “Five sleeves in the box, five on the paper.”

  “But there are supposed to be fifty cups in a sleeve,” Eddie told her. “There are only forty-seven in three of them.”

  Bess looked again, half-torn between admiration at his attention to detail and still annoyed at how this stupid problem had caused, however indirectly, friction with Nick. “So…mark it down and I’ll leave a note for Ronnie. He can deal with the supplier.”

  Eddie nodded and scribbled some numbers on his list. “Okay.”

  “Is that it?”

  He nodded again without looking at her. Bess heard the buzz and hum of conversation out front, and though she knew Brian and Tammy both needed supervision, she wasn’t quite ready to get back out there and deal with the public. She watched Eddie go through the remaining boxes. She knew she was making him nervous, because his fingers fumbled and his cheeks got redder and redder through the fringes of black hair hanging over them.

  “He’s not good for you.”

  For a second Bess wasn’t sure she’d heard Eddie say anything at all, much less those actual words. “Who?” was a stupid question to ask, because she knew exactly who Eddie mean