Page 4 of Saving Hanna
Chapter Four
HANNA
“Okay, here’s the deal. You have been coming to here every morning for a month and I know that you are planning on buying the diner from Dotty. So why the hell do you feel the need to continue to come in every morning, ordering the same thing? Why don’t you justbuy the damn place and get it over with?” I voiced harshly, letting my protective side get the best of me.
“Ha-ha… you really dohave a spicy side. For a minute, I thought you were shy and incapable of voicing an opinion,” he said arrogantly.
My temperature just got hotter. I wasn’t sure if I should be angry at the audacity of his remark or the fact he was right. It was another trait I inherited from my mom. Looking him squarely in the eye, I pulled a clean water glass from under the counter, filled it with water, and left him to his thoughts. There was no reason to take his order since I already knew what he wanted.
I had only taken one step before he placed his hand on my arm and inquired, “What time do you get off?”
I wasn’t sure what his motive was for asking, and with the need to prove him wrong about his previous comment, I answered confidently, “When I’m done.”
It may have been a sarcastic reply, but it felt good and, in all honesty, it was information he didn’t need to know. Sure, I could have easily told him, but I needed to hold my ground and forget about the effect he was having on me.
Saying nothing more, I left him to stew and headed to the kitchen to turn in his order. Maybe instead of getting his order right out, I might just wait until it was room temperature. Now, there’s a thought.
~*~*~*~
My day wasn’t going as quickly as I had hoped. It might have been because Aiden was still sitting in the same spot as when he came in five hours ago. My only assumption was that he was waiting until I got off. Little did he know the diner had a back doorand I didn’t have to go out the front door of the diner to get to my car. For all he knew, I was helping the cook or something when in actuality I had left.
By the time my shift ended, Aidan,Mr. Drake, had already left, which made it easier to leave. Most of the afternoon crowd had also left, which would make it easier on Dotty when it was time to close. I offered to stay until she closed at six o’clock, but she insisted that she could handle it. Tugging my backpack over my shoulder, I waved goodbye to Byron and exited the diner through the back door.
I guess I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings. Leaning against a very expensive car, which was parked next to mine, Aiden was staring right at me, stopping me in my tracks. I was about to turn around, not willing to hear what he had to say, but something told me that eventually we would run into each other again.
Walking towards him with all the confidence I could seize, I kept my focus on his eyes like we were having a staring match. He might have pinpointed my shyness and lack of confidence, but one thing he missed was my stubbornness, and just like my mom, I hated to lose.
Pretending to harbor the confidence he knew I lacked, I stepped in front of him, placing my hands on my hips as though that was where they belonged, I asked bluntly, “Have you been waiting here all this time?”
Pushing from his shiny car, he stood tall and said, “I have. You weren’t exactly precise when I asked when you got off.”
“Well, did it ever occur to you thatI didn’t want you to know?” I asked as I walked past him. This man, no matter how gorgeous he was… was getting on my nerves.
“I did, but I think you’d want to at least hear what I have to say.” His confidence, although annoying, had my attention.
“I’m listening,” I replied, holding on to the key that I had pushed inside the lock on the door.
“I have a proposition for you, or rather, a way to make the one thing you want more than anything in this world yours.”
The smile on his face was more than that. It was like a mischievous grin. If he hadn’t had my attention before, he had it now. Moving closer to him, I pulled the key from the door and rounded the front of the car. Somehow, I felt that hearing what he had to say was going to get me into trouble.
Standing tall in front of him, I said, “Go on, I’m listening.” My body became tense, anticipating what he was about to say.
“I have a confession,” he admitted, pushing away from his expensive car and positioning himself within inches from where I was standing. “There is a reason I have been coming to the diner these past weeks.”
My focus was on his lips and I hadn’t noticed that the wind had picked up slightly until he grazed his finger along my cheek to push aside the stray hair that had escaped from my hair tie. Although surprising, I welcomed the feel of his touch against my skin.
Trying to compose myself against the effect he was having on me, I took a step back before I replied to his comment. “And that would be, what?”
“I had to find out for myself who the girl was that used to own the small farm in Danbury.”
I couldn’t have heard him correctly because he didn’t just say farm and Danbury in the same sentence. “Excuse me?” I questioned, feeling confused and annoyed at the same time.
“I have to admit that I was delighted to find that the Hanna Marsh I met overthrew my expectations tenfold,” he said candidly.
“Are you saying that the only reason you were at the diner was to find me? Why would you even do that?” My anger was on the edge of boiling over. Aiden Drake, no matter how good looking he was, just struck a sore spot with me. Stalking wasn’t a trait that I found attractive in a man.
“Yes, and to make you an offer.”
