Page 105 of Save Me

Jenn: Now preferably

Groaning, he sat down at the desk in the pub’s office. He was the king of the amicable breakup. It was a record he’d kept since he started dating in the seventh grade. Jamie had a rule about always ending things on good terms. That mindset—and his charming personality—had kept him from ever having a bad breakup.

Until this one.

This was the breakup that just wouldn’t end.

It had been six months and Jenn Randall kept popping back into his life like a bad penny. It didn’t matter how many times he told her it was over or that she deserved someone better or how much he praised her for being too good for him, she had been almost relentless in her pursuit of trying to get back together with him.

Only…

Now that he thought about it, she never said that she wanted to get back together, just that she wanted to see him.

Practically demanded it.

The weird part was how she never said why it was so important and when he told her he couldn’t or that he didn’t think it was a good idea, she backed off. Today was the first time there was a veiled threat.

Maybe he should have just agreed to meet up with her when she first asked months ago. Hindsight and all that. Now it was just awkward and he wished she’d move on.

Still, he stared down at his phone and knew he had to at least say something. But he was afraid that even a simple response would lead to more drama, so he took the coward’s way out and put his phone on the desk and went out to see how the lunch crowd was doing.

Within an hour, the internet was back up and running, the produce distributor came back with the missing items, and right now, there was a line of customers out the door waiting for a table.

“Yeah, I got this,” he murmured as he walked around helping out wherever he could—bussing tables, delivering food, filling drink orders behind the bar, and flirting with the cute brunette who was waiting for a lunch order that had been called in.

“So…you own this place?” she asked with a coy smile.

“I do,” he replied smoothly. Technically, the Donovan family owned the pub and considering he was a Donovan, some would say he wasn’t lying. “I don’t think I’ve seen you in here before.” She was petite and curvy, with big blue eyes—which right now were blatantly checking him out.

“I’m in town visiting a friend,” she told him.

“Lucky friend,” he replied smoothly. “I’m Jamie.”

Her smile grew a little. “I’m Mandy.”

“Nice to meet you, Mandy. How long are you in town for?”

“I’m only going to be here for a few days, but my friend raved about the food here. After all her bragging about it, I knew I needed to try it. So I’m going to surprise her with the burgers.”

“You’re a very good friend, and I’m sure you’re going to love the food.” He moved a little closer. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll throw in dessert on the house. Would you prefer the apple pie or the peanut butter brownies?”

“Ooo…you are speaking my language,” she practically purred. “I’m going to go with the brownies. Please.”

“You got it,” he said, giving her his most sincere smile. With any luck, he’d have her number before she left and perhaps plans to see her later tonight.

Within a matter of minutes, he was handing Mandy her lunch order, and she was handing him a slip of paper with her phone number. “Call me later and I’ll stop by when you’re done for the night,” she said with a sexy grin.

“Well now…I hope your friend won’t be too upset with me taking you out when you’re here visiting her.”

She waved him off. “She’ll be fine. She always goes to bed early so it won’t be an issue.” Then, with a flirty wave, she walked away, and Jamie watched the soft sway of her hips as she went.

A light smack on the back of his head broke him out of his reverie. “Ow!What the…?”

“Can you seriously not get through one lunch rush without making a date with one of our customers?” his uncle asked with amusement. “Instead of giving away free desserts, maybe focus on making enough money to prove to your parents that all the improvements you insisted on for the pub were worth it.”

“Hey,” he said with an easy grin, “don’t worry. A couple of free brownies aren’t going to hurt anyone. Trust me.”

“Jamie…”

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