Page 72 of On The Rocks

She touched my arm. “You guys are good together.”

“Don’t say it too loud,” I whispered.

She laughed. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“I’ll be here. Justin and some of the guys will be here too.”

She crossed her arms. “So, I get to babysit the idiots.”

“It’s your specialty.”

Annette rolled her eyes. “Ain’t that the truth. Thanks, Griffin.” She glanced to her left and I followed her gaze to find Lennon hauling one of the bins they used to bus tables to the kitchen.

“Get out while you can.”

She looped her book bag over her shoulder and zipped past the bar and out the front door.

I resumed flipping chairs over and left Dean to finish the mopping. I headed to the kitchen after Lennon and found her sitting at the big stainless steel prep table that dominated the kitchen.

Dawn was shoving a bowl of something with mashed potatoes her way along with a hunk of hearty brown bread.

“Got one of those for me?”

“Anything for you, handsome.” Dawn scooped a healthy portion into a bowl and added bread for me, as well, and slid the bowl over to me.

Lennon stabbed at her bowl with spoon. “What are you still doing here?”

“Evidently, I’m your ride.”

She sat up and her dark eyes flashed. “Dammit, Annette.”

I laughed and hauled over a stool for her. “Sit and eat. We have plenty of time and I haven’t seen you sit down all night.”

“I’m fine.”

“Sit.”

She gritted her teeth, but she sat and went back to making her shepherd’s pie into mush.

Dawn glanced at her then to me and her smile widened. “You two a thing?”

“No.”

“Yes,” I answered.

She shot me a hot look. “Don’t speak for me, ace.”

“She likes me, but she just doesn’t like to tell people.” I leaned over the table and bumped her arm and dug into my bowl, giving the second-in-command of the kitchen a genial smile. “You guys killed it today, Dawn.”

“Thanks. Kain escaped with Bells and left us with the mess. At least I should get the kudos.”

“Doesn’t he always?” She shoved me back a few inches.

I wasn’t sure why her persnickety self made me want to get her more pissed off. Probably something wrong with me mentally. I just slid back next to her and pressed against her arm.

She gritted her jaw, but she didn’t try to move away. We ate in companionable silence as the kitchen staff cleaned up. When her spoon scraped the bottom of the bowl, she slipped away to add her bowl to the dishwasher and headed back out into the main dining room without a word.

Dawn sharpened her knives methodically against a slate blue stone. “You’ve got your work cut out for you, Griffin.”

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