Page 20 of Bargain with the Bachelor
At some point, I’d have to expand my job search beyond Rhode Island and maybe even beyond New England. I’d lick my wounds, pack up my meager belongings and… leave.
Collecting the cash, I handed it to Jana. “Here—it’s yours.”
The other waiter held her hands up, shooting me an are-you-crazy look. “I can’t take that. It was your table.”
“Yes, you can. I gave him to you.” I pushed the money at her.
Like Cinda, Jana was a single mom, though her situation was the by-product of a divorce and an ex-husband who was a dead-beat dad.
The father of Cinda’s child didn’t even know AJ existed.
She’d fallen in love with him one summer while working at Kingsley Beach. At the end of it, he’d left without a goodbye. She’d found out she was pregnant a few weeks later.
Anyway, if Jana accepted Hunter’s ridiculous tip, it would be a gift. If I took it, it would be charity.
“Honey, if you couldgive me a man like that, I’d take him,” Jana said with a smirk. “But I have a feeling he’s already taken. You should have seen the little-lost-puppy look on his face when I showed up in there instead of you. Believe me… he’syours.”
I shook off the insinuation, and we ultimately agreed to split the cash.
While sliding his credit card receipt into the register, I noticed Hunter had written more on the paper than his signature.
Pulling it back out, I read the manly scrawl across the bottom of the slip.
Kristal, my offer of help stands. Anything you need. Anytime. Hunter.
He’d added his phone number as well. I frowned at the words and numbers. I didn’t ask for him to swoop in and play Santa Claus, and Ireallydidn’t need a sugar daddy.
My mind flashed back to that dark room at the party. A mixture of shame and pleasure filled my insides.
Did this have something to do with our kiss? Did Hunter think I’d be open to an…arrangement?
Mortification set my face and body on fire. Needing to cool down, I retreated to the walk-in freezer and pretended to look for something inside.
No matter what I had to do or where I had to go, I wouldnotstoop to my stepmother’s level and use my “feminine wiles” to get a rich man to bail me out.
If Hunter Bestia thought his shiny new billions could buy me, he had another thing coming.
The next time he came into the restaurant, I reallywouldgive his table to Jana.
And maybe add a hefty dose of salt to his coffee.
Chapter Six
A New Approach
Hunter
I walked into the living room and fell into the corner of one of the oversized leather sofas with my laptop.
“Doc!” My co-workers/housemates/closest friends from high school called out my nickname.
It was bestowed upon me because I was always trying to get them to eat better and take exercise breaks instead of mainlining coffee and donuts while spending twelve hours straight in front of a computer.
Five of them were there, hard at work—everyone but Tuck, who was basically a bat, staying up all night and sleeping during the day.
Whenever we managed to cross-over early morning work hours with him, he yawned through every conversation.
Since people referred to us as the Seven Dwarves, the guys had nicknamed him Sleepy.
