Page 25 of Promise Me, Katie

Glowing with pride, Katherine cleaned out the big brewer and wiped down the counter where she’d been sitting. With most of the cleaning already done by Grace, she stayed behind the counter, finding little things to do so she looked too busy to talk. But it wasn’t long before her quiet concentration was broken by the voice she couldn’t seem to forget.

“It’s nice to see you, Katie.”

Startled, Katherine looked up to see Matthew sitting alone in the booth. Her heart raced from fear and a little excitement.

“It’s okay,” he said, tilting his head toward the men’s room. “We have a few minutes.”

“Oh, okay,” Katherine said. “You didn’t tell him we’ve met before.”

“I didn’t know you’d be here when he suggested we stop by.”

“Sorry about that. I guess I wasn’t exactly conversational orvery eloquent the day we met.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Matthew said, his grin revealing the subtle presence of a dimple she’d been too distracted before to notice. “It’s nice to see you. I’ve been wondering when we’d get the chance to talk again.”

Katherine’s gaze fell away, ashamed that she’d been wondering the same thing.

“Katie…”

Matthew’s gaze was so searingly hot that Katherine felt a warm shiver race across the surface of her skin as she looked up.

“It’s nice to see you too,” she admitted.

“Let’s be sure to talk more some other time,” he told her, shifting his attention back to the tabletop and the half-eaten slice of pie in front of him.

As Katherine’s brow furrowed in confusion, she didn’t understand what had happened but then turned away just as the door of the men’s room opened, and Justin reappeared, brushing pie crust crumbs from the front of his uniform.

“You missed one,” she teased, causing Justin to swipe at the front of his shirt even faster. And it made Katherine laugh.

“You do know that harassing an officer of the law is a punishable offense, right?”

“You know where to find me.”

Justin shook his head, mumbling something about “Daddy’s little troublemaker” as he walked by. But Katherine kept smiling despite her nerves feeling frazzled from the push and pull of emotions. She’d probably have been on the verge of tears again if she thought too much about it, and she couldn’t do that. All she needed was to stay calm long enough to get her work done so they could finish up and leave, and she could go home.

“You can do this,” she whispered to herself again and again until she was so engrossed in menial tasks that she failed to hear them heading for the door.

“There’s some money on the table,” Justin called out. “We’ll be waiting outside until you lock up.”

When she turned to wave goodbye, all Katherine could see of Matthew was the back of his head, and a pang of disappointment flustered her.

“What iswrongwith me?” she scolded herself, slamming down a saltshaker.

As promised, when Katherine locked up, Justin’s police cruiser was parked in the parking lot. Since he’d backed in beside her, it left the cruiser’s passenger side closest to the driver’s side of her truck, leaving Matthew sitting less than two feet from her door.

Hurrying by, she waved with one hand and fumbled with her keys in the other. “Please, please, please don’t roll that window down,” she murmured through clenched teeth.

Earlier, Katherine had noticed how good Matthew smelled, so she also knew it could be dangerous for her heart to breathe in his warm, masculine scent again.

“Thank God,” she exhaled once she was safe inside of her truck. Unfortunately, her little prayer was premature as Matthew lowered the window on his side of the car. Panicking, Katherine wondered if she could pretend not to notice.

“You can do this,” she whispered to herself, knowing she couldn’t be rude to him again.

Then, grabbing the window crank, she lowered the glass.

“You okay, neighbor?”

“Yeah, sure,” she said with a smile. “Thanks for hanging around. I don’t normally stay this late.”

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