Page 98 of On His Ranch

“Um… okay. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Piper tentatively walked up to the truck, slid her backpack off, and tossed it into the passenger side as her muscles screamed. Then she took a seat. It would have been nice to make a quick getaway, but her height and short legs put her at a disadvantage that caused her to have to spend a few moments fiddling with the knobs on the side of the chair to get it positioned the way she needed it.

Before she could do anything else, Chase leaned in. She tensed, but all he did was take the seat belt, reach around and buckle her in. As soon as it clicked, he righted himself again and shut the door.

“Drive safe.”

“Uh…” Her stupid, traitorous body was humming where his arm had brushed against her. “Yeah, I will. Thanks.”

“Piper?”

Her breath hitched. “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry I was a shitty daddy.” With that, he lifted his hand in a wave before turning and beginning to walk back in the opposite direction.

She sat there, her chest tight, hands clenched on the steering wheel, and watched until he was out of sight.

* * *

Three weeks later

“You just got another table, Piper,” Wendy announced, pushing her glasses on top of her head for the ninetieth time that morning.

In ten minutes, she’ll be telling everyone that will listen she can’t find them, Piper thought, hiding a smile. “Okay, thanks.” She walked back into the dining room, trying not to look as frazzled as she felt. She had only been working at the Robin’s Nest diner for a week, and in any other restaurant she’d still be in training. Robin, the owner, didn’t believe in training, however.

“I am a firm believer in sink or swim,” she’d told Piper mere moments after telling her she was hired on a trial basis. “Sink or swim.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she agreed with lots of nodding.

“Good, glad to see we understand each other. Now it’s time to throw you in the deep end and see whatcha got!”

More like being thrown to the wolves, she thought, squelching the urge to roll her eyes as she finished making the drinks for her table. Some things like that were leftovers from her time with Chase. She’d finally stopped thinking of him every waking moment, alternately agonizing over whether she’d made the right decision and convincing herself she had. But then there were times like that—and her newly found habit of ‘ma’am’ and ‘sir’ing everyone—where he surfaced and each time, it made her heart ache in her chest.

Just keep going, just keep going. It had become her new mantra. One day, it would stop hurting to think of him. Maybe given enough time she’d even be able to roll her eyes again. Nowthatwould be true revenge!

Piper forced herself to smile as she went to deliver the drinks to her table. She took their food orders, punched them in, and went to greet her new table. Her forced smile froze on her face and she stalled in the aisle halfway there.

Sitting casually in the corner booth was Chase, real and in the flesh. He had spotted her, his dark, magnetic eyes trying to pull her in.

Of course he can’t even give me the courtesy of letting me see him first!she thought, the old anger surfacing.

“You gonna get his drink order, honey?” Wendy asked at her elbow. “I could take the table, if you’re too busy. I’m sure he’d rather a pretty young thing like you, but it’d give me some eye candy for the afternoon.”

For a moment, she was tempted. That would serve him right, to track her down—because she knew at once this couldn’t be a coincidence—and be handed off to someone else. She let out a sigh. “That’s okay, Wendy. I’ve got it. Thanks though.”

“Aw, shoot. Alright then.”

“Next time,” she promised with a giggle. But as she made her way over to his table, her amusement vanished. “What are you doing here?” she asked by way of greeting.

His brow arched. The familiar sight of it made her belly swoop. “Hello to you too. Can’t I just be hungry?”

Knowing that he wanted to scold her made her pussy clench. “Your mom’s food is better than anything we serve here, so you’d do better to head on home.”

Chase let out a low whistle. “Damn, little girl, I’d have thought your temper woulda cooled by now.”

Her belly knotted in delicious anticipation. She leaned forward and whispered, “Is it just killing you that you can’t do a thing about it?”

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