Page 52 of Fastlander Fallen

“It’ll be busy enough,” she guessed. “Moosey’s has been slammed every time I’ve been there. If you have a big enough sign at the main road, I think it’ll drag in a big crowd.”

“I like it. Come over here,” he said, and did something that stirred up all the butterflies in her stomach. He touched the small of her back and rubbed it a couple times with his fingertips before he led her around to the back of the building. “Barbecue pits back here.”

“There’s not enough room,” a deep voice behind them said. Captain approached with big, powerful strides. “I’m good,” he assured them.

“What would you need back here?” Ace asked.

“I would need twenty yards of trees cleared that way.” He pointed. “I don’t want anything near the pits.”

“How big is the property?” Ace asked Marissa, who was hanging back. “Can we clear trees all the way back there if we purchase this place?”

“Oh, you have plenty of room to do that. It goes back two more acres. It’s on a steep hill, so not much you can do on the back of this property, but there’s definitely room to clear trees without pushing onto someone else’s property.”

Captain and Ace exchanged a glance, and then Captain started stepping off a measurement from the back door toward the line of trees. “I would have more room for an extra couple of smokers. The baked potatoes could have their own space. We wouldn’t have the run-out problems we have at the other places. I could literally double up the production depending on how busy this place gets.”

“I’ll be honest, rumor has already started going around town that there might be a local Moosey’s,” Marissa said. “It’s getting some excitement.”

Ace and Captain exchanged another look. “Truth,” Captain murmured.

This was so fun! “I’m going to look at the gas station side,” Corey announced. Ace and Captain were painting such a cool picture of this place in her head. She’d never been able to imagine the potential in a place before.

“I’ll come with you,” Ace said. “Captain, figure out a list of changes we would need for your area so we can get a guess on cost for Boss-Lady.”

“Yep,” Captain muttered, already typing something into his phone.

Corey would’ve done an excited dance-shuffle to the front door if she wasn’t in high heels. She felt giddy as she told him, “We could be walking across the patio right here, weaving in and out of picnic tables, saying hi to people. Will it serve beer?”

“We will have four local on tap, and anything different they want, they can buy their own in the convenience-store side, like we do at the other locations.”

“Genius.”

He stepped forward and opened the door for her. “They just left this place unlocked,” she mused.

When she saw the inside, she understood why. There was nothing in here at all except dust. It was only walls and outlets. Nothing to steal.

Ace brushed her back again and guided her toward the back, gesturing. “Snacks, candy, medicine aisles. And back here we can line up the coolers. This place is bigger than I thought it was.”

“How much are they asking for it?” she whispered. “We should haggle.”

“It’s already priced dirt-cheap. It’s zoned commercial, so someone would have to buy this and start a business. It’s been waiting for the right buyer, and I bet no one wanted to tangle with that big gas station down the road.”

“It would be a challenge,” she said, squaring up to him.

He faced her, and nodded. “And a lot of work before we can open.”

“But imagine it,” she whispered excitedly.

He looked down at her lips. “It feels special.”

“It feels so special!”

Ace suddenly leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

She froze, her eyes wide open. Ace eased back with a soft smack. He kept his eyes closed for a couple of extra seconds, like he was savoring it, then backed away by inches. “You gonna stop me?” he asked in a husky voice.

Heart pounding, she shook her head. “Don’t want to stop you.”

He closed the distance between them, slid his hand behind her neck, and gripped it with the perfect amount of pressure as he kissed her again. This time was more gentle, lips moving against hers, and she melted forward, right into him. He brushed his tongue against hers once, and then ended the kiss just as she got addicted to the taste of him. He grabbed her hand and pressed it against his jeans, and she could feel it there—his stone-hard erection. “No more saying you don’t feel pretty.” He eased back and flashed his phone screen at her. His lock screen was her selfie this morning in that joke nightgown. She and Hallie had gotten matching ones for slumber parties.

---