He hadn’t even been back in town five minutes, okay fine for nearly a year, and he had the audacity to have ausual? It had taken Taylor ten years to earn a usual from Ruby.
As though he could feel her fury growing,he turned those dark, seductively curved bedroom eyes that promised untold wicked delights on her.
Taylor’s skin prickled as his stare stroked over her, hot and questioning. He unleashed a small, hesitant smile and it made her feel things she hadn’t wanted from him since she was a teenager. And it was for precisely that reason that she ignored his smile and went back to her paperwork. She could feel his eyes on her though; she couldn’t breathe under the weight of his probing stare.
Come over here, no don’t fucking come over here!Her mind screamed, at war with itself. God, what was wrong with her? Eventually she felt his gaze leave her and she sucked in huge lungfuls of air. Ruby came back with hisusualand he flirted with her some more, the bastard, before he left the diner. Taylor packed up her paperwork and stomped over to Ruby to pay her bill.
“What’s Beau’s usual?” she growled before she could stop herself, not even trying to rein in her temper. The old biddy could handle it.
“Cookie dough cheesecake,” Ruby replied.
The air choked her as it left Taylor’s lungs and she couldn’t breathe. She hadn’t been able to eat it since they were last together, but he had it so often it was his fuckingusual?
“You know, maybe you could make him one sometime,” Ruby said.
Taylor’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “Why on earth would I do that?” she spat.
“Because then maybe he would realize you’ve been in love with him since the day you met him.”
Taylor spluttered angrily, heat suffusing her cheeks. Where the hell had Ruby gotten that ridiculous idea from?
“Deny it all you like, girlie, but I remember the way you used to look at him.”
“Make your own damned doctor’s appointment!” Taylor snapped before slapping down her money on the counter and storming out of the diner.
“Maybe he could give you a good seeing to as well, you might be less cranky!” Ruby shouted after her. Taylor flipped her the bird and Ruby laughed so hard she had a coughing fit.
Chapter 4
“Damn fool woman, what does she know?” Taylor muttered to herself as she stormed back to the laundromat. She was so caught up in her indignation that she didn’t immediately spot that she wasn’t alone.
“Oh, hi,” she said, smiling at Rebelle who was digging through the lost and found box in the laundromat. Rebelle leapt away from the box, clutching a garment behind her back, her cheeks turning scarlet.
“Hi there.” Rebelle’s smile was sheepish. Taylor went over to her machine, ignoring the pang of sympathy for Rebelle which tried to consume her. Even though they’d both lived in the same town and gone to school together, Taylor didn’t know the woman very well, but she knew Rebelle and Christy had been close.
The only things Taylor knew about Rebelle was what she heard from the town gossips. She didn’t know the details of what had happened with Rebelle’s husband, the now deceased Sheriff Black, but she didn’t for a second believe that this tiny, quiet-as-a-mouse, slip of a woman could have murdered him.
“Christy said you’re coming to the wedding?” Taylor asked, turning back to face Rebelle who was no longer holding whatever item she had taken from the box. Her doe eyes were wide, her cheeks still flushed.
“Oh yeah, um, I’m not sure if I’m gonna go after all.”
“Really? I know she’ll be super bummed if you don’t,” Taylor said, then felt crappy when she saw the guilt in Rebelle’s eyes.
“It’ll just be sofancyis all.” Rebelle shuffled her feet. Taylor’s gaze ran over her. Her shorts had a tear in them and her sneakers were held together with some duct tape, her shirt was in good condition but had a large ink stain on the bottom.
“Well, the ceremony is only going to be at their house in the garden and the reception will be at the Inn. They just want to get married around their friends and family, it’ll be about as fancy as my little pinkie. But if it’s a date or an outfit you need, I can help you with both?”
Rebelle started grabbing her clothes from the washer and stuffing them into one of the dryers, not meeting Taylor’s gaze.
“Thanks, I’ll, uh, think about it.”
Taylor knew when she was getting the brush-off so she dropped it and turned back to her own laundry.
“Oh shoot! I thought I had more quarters but I’m out,” Rebelle said, scanning the change in her hand.
“Ruby will make some change for you if you need it,” Taylor said. Rebelle nodded and then scurried out of the laundromat, jumping when the door banged in its frame. Taylor turned back to her machine but saw the door was slightly open and her clothes weren’t inside.
“What the-” She looked in the machines either side but they were empty. She turned to the opposite row of machines and opened up one of the dryers, and there were her clothes inside it. There was no way she had put her clothes in there, that was why she had come back now. She hauled them out, hugging them to her chest, eyeing them suspiciously as she absorbed the heat from them.
