She eyed me with open hostility. "That's hardly your concern."
"It is, too," I insisted.
Through clenched teeth, she replied, "And why is that?"
Jack Ward spoke up. "Because that's her sister, Becka."
At the sound of my name on his lips, I sucked in a quiet breath.He knew my name.I didn't even care how he knew it. I just wanted him to say it again.How stupid was that?
She turned to face him. "Whose sister?"
Finally shutting the door, he answered, "Anna's."
At this, Imogen gave an annoying little laugh. "You can't mean the waffle waitress?"
I stiffened. "Hey! There's nothing wrong with being a waitress."
With a lingering smirk, she turned back to me and said, "If you say so."
My jaw clenched. "Idosay so." But what Ididn'tmention was that I was no stranger to food service myself. Not too long ago, I'd been working at a burger joint that wasn't terribly different from the waffle place. I hadn't even been a waitress. I'd been a part-time cashier, which meant that I'd been earning even less than my sister.
But in my own defense, good jobs were hard to find, especially when someone's stepdad had been sent away to prison for a whole slew of financial crimes.
Considering my family history, it was amazing they'd let me near the cash at all.
With a final snicker, Imogen turned back to Jack Ward and said, "Well? Aren't you going to tell her to leave?"
He crossed his arms, making his biceps pop in a way that was stupidly distracting. "No."
She sighed. "Why not?"
"Because she's here for a reason."
"But you don't know that," she protested.
"Then neither do you."
"What doesthatmean?"
Jack looked to me and said, "Go on. Tell her."
I wasn't quite following. "Tell her what?"
"That you're here for a reason."
He was right. Iwashere for a reason. But his confidence was unnerving, and I didn't want to discuss it, or at least, not with Jack Ward or his bitchy sidekick.
Still, Iwascurious. "But wait, how would you know?"
He gave me a penetrating look. "Let's cut to the chase. Your sister's out of town. You knew this, right?"
I nodded.
"So why are you here?"
I drew back.Talk about blunt.I'd read all of his books, multiple times. Maybe some of hischaracterswere blunt, but I'd always imagined that in real life – assuming that I ever got lucky enough to meet the guy – he'd be a lot more eloquent.And definitely nicer.
My fangirl enthusiasm was fading fast. "I don't know," I said. "Why areyouhere?"
