Page 14 of Taming Bull

Lily

STUNNED, I STARED at the cashier, willing different words to come out of her mouth. She had to be mistaken. She couldn’t possibly be serious. “What do you mean you don’t serve breakfast anymore?”

The look she gave me questioned my intelligence, sobriety, and grasp of basic English. Slowing her words as if decelerating her speech pattern would increase my chances at understanding, she repeated herself. “We no longer serve breakfast.”

No. This couldn’t be happening.

“It isn’t profitable. Corporate made the call to pull it from our menus.” She pointed at the menu on the wall behind her. “We don’t even open until ten now.”

Which explained why she’d been unlocking the doors when I arrived. I really should have put two and two together sooner, but I was far too heartbroken to tell time or read a menu. I needed a sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast bagel to improve my quality of life. The promise of that cheap but delicious comfort food was the only thing keeping me going right now, and I didn’t give a single fuck about the restaurant’s profitability.

My happiness depended on that goddamn bagel, and if I didn’t get it, I ran the risk of devolving into a sniveling ball of pathetic single cat lady piss. Nobody wanted to see that. It wouldn’t be a good look for me.

I wanted to go full on Karen and make a scene, but it wasn’t the restaurant’s fault my life had gone straight down the shitter. Not at fault, but they should have held the power to fix it via chewy, greasy comfort food. I was desperate. The last bit of internet advice I’d followed was a piece titled, ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder.’ It was proving to be complete and total bullshit. Despite the recommendation of relationship gurus everywhere, giving Bull space had clearly not made him miss me and throw himself at my feet.

Nor had it made me want to club him over the head and force my love upon him any less.

It had been two weeks since I’d last talked to the asshole, and I was no closer to getting over him than I had been when he’d sat across from me, sweating bullets and pretending not to watch me lick the neck of my beer bottle like a lollipop. I’d thrown a fit and told him I didn’t even want to be his friend before storming out of the Copper Penny.

That’s me, the picture of maturity and grace.

I couldn’t help it. Bull just brought out my crazy and encouraged it to tango with him. We’d done this song and dance so many times I felt like I was following a script, but that was the first time I’d taken my flirting so far. I’d pushed hard, and he’d repelled even harder. So now, I was giving him space so he could miss my awesome self and come begging for my forgiveness.

So far, this plan sucked ass. I’d seen him a few times, but it was like he was trying to outmaneuver me. To out-ignore me.

I didn’t even know which of us was avoiding the other anymore.

Then this morning, I’d woken up early and decided this bullshit had gone on too long. It was past time to swallow my pride and get my friend back. Raiding my piggybank until I collected enough cash for the expensive bakery that made the best doughnuts in Seattle, I’d taken a dozen of their most popular delicious, sugary fat bombs to the club’s auto shop. Bull’s shift started at nine, but I arrived at a quarter ’till, knowing his obsessively early ass would already be there.

Thinking back about it made my fists clench in anger.

Tiffany, a beautiful blonde with enhanced, giant boobs she liked to display in tight, scooped-neck tank tops, despite the autumn weather, was working the counter. Sauntering up to her like I belonged there and wasn’t at all intimidated by her superior boob size, I held my head high, clutched the box of doughnuts to my chest and asked for Bull.

“Sure, Lily, take a seat. I’ll get him.” She picked up the phone and spoke into it.

I had too much nervous energy to sit, so I paced beside the counter and waited. Seconds stretched into minutes as I second guessed myself at least a dozen times—once for every doughnut in the box—and almost left. Twice. But above all else, Bull was my friend. I missed him. I needed to apologize and make things right between us.

Bull was talking to the new guy when he walked through the side door and into the room. I didn’t want to be disappointed by his expression when he saw me, so I turned away and counted. One, two, three, four… His steps faltered. Turning at the sound, I caught the longing on his face as he hungrily devoured my appearance.

Pride flared in my chest as I inwardly high-fived myself for his reaction. It had taken me an hour to perfect this sunset eyeshadow I’d seen on YouTube. My long, brown hair was styled in soft waves, and I was dressed in a sexy mid-thigh sweater dress and knee-high black boots. The outfit had almost cleaned out my bank account, but the look on his face was worth every penny.

Like a sister, my ass.

He wanted me as much as I wanted him. Desire burned in his eyes and flared his nostrils. He looked more like a determined Spanish Fighting Bull than a Bullmastiff, and I was here waving the red cape and begging him to charge.

“Lily.” He said my name much like a curse. Like he’d just stubbed his toe and that was the first thing that came out of his mouth. Then, the invisible wall he kept between us went back up, shielding his emotions. He met my gaze, and icy indifference stared back at me.

Son-of-a-bitch.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

The eye-fucking he’d greeted me with had filled me with hope, but this frosty reception shattered it. Struggling to recover, I tried not to notice the pity in Tiffany’s eyes as she pretended not to watch us from the counter. I needed to fix this… needed him to hear me out and give me a chance. Give us a chance.

“Can we… talk for a minute?” I stammered, every ounce of uncertainty I felt leaking into my words.

“It’s not a good time right now. I gotta get to work.”

I glanced at the clock on the wall. He still had twelve minutes. I only asked for one, but I wasn’t about to beg for it. Fine. He was pissed at me. No big deal. I still had one more trick up my sleeves. Opening the box of goodies, I spun it around to face him, banking on the way to a man’s heart being through his stomach. Bull had a sweet tooth. I knew this, and I intended to exploit the hell out of his weakness. Since he wouldn’t give me the courtesy of a private conversation, I’d just have to say my piece in front of everyone. Fine. I’d sacrifice my pride.

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