Page 7 of Diesel
The bell above the door jingled softly as it closed behind her.
Diesel let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes, then rubbed the back of his neck hard enough to sting.
She smelled like flowers and sugar and something homemade.Something soft and familiar.The scent clung to the air even after she was gone, wrapping around him like an unwanted memory.It made his chest ache in a way he hadn’t let it ache in years.
And that ache scared the hell out of him.
She’s not yours to care about.He repeated it to himself like a mantra, but it didn’t help.Not when her kindness was so effortless.Not when her presence pulled at something buried deep in his ribs, something raw and unhealed.She reminded him too much of her.Of Emily.
His sister had been the same way.Emily was gentle, curious, always reaching out even when life gave her reasons to retreat.And he hadn’t protected her.Not when it counted.He’d failed her.
And now, standing outside another small-town shop with another sweet-hearted woman who deserved a better world than the one they lived in, Diesel felt that failure rise up like bile.
Rule one: don’t get attached.
Rule two: don’t make it personal.
Rule three: never let the past repeat itself.
He clenched his fists, staring down at the plate of muffins like they might explode if he got too close.They were still warm.He could see the slight sheen of melted sugar on their tops, smell the baked apples inside.
Damn it.This wasn’t what he signed up for.He was here to handle things, not feel anything.Sophie was the kind of woman that made a man want to feel.That was the problem.She made him want to linger.To believe he could still have a life that wasn’t all steel and scars and regret.But Diesel had been around long enough to know better.
That kind of life wasn’t for him.Still, as the minutes passed and the scent of cinnamon and sugar continued to drift through the air like a promise he had no business wanting, Diesel felt something shift.Not in the job and not in the danger, but in him.Because for the first time in a long time, he wasn’t just guarding someone out of duty.He was doing it because he wanted to.
He’d already started thinking about what might’ve happened if he hadn’t been here.Because when Sophie looked at him with those tired but kind eyes, he wanted to believe he could be something other than the sum of his mistakes.
The worst part?He wasn’t sure he wanted to fight that feeling anymore.
Chapter Three
Sophie noticed thebroken planter the second she stepped outside with the broom.The cracked ceramic lay in jagged halves near the front window, soil spilled across the walkway like a kicked-over grave.
Her heart sank.She knelt down, sighing as she began brushing the dirt into a pile.It must have happened last night.Again.It was another message.Another little jab from whoever had decided she didn’t deserve peace.
Her chest tightened.She hated that she was getting used to this, expecting something ruined every morning.Before she could gather the shards, a shadow fell over her.
