Page 87 of Seaside Cowboy's Second Chance

Yes, Mom had only asked Marina to help in her absence because Marina was the eldest and therefore the most responsible one. Why did the firstborn child always have to be punished for arriving first?

The buzz of voices in the dining room met her together with a few curious glances. One of those glances sent a jolt of awareness charging through her.

Kai. Her secret crush. So secret it had taken her years to realize it herself. Her heartbeat increased from his mere presence.

Distracted, she stumbled, and her arms flailed in her desperate attempt to catch herself. Food flew in different directions. One of the biscuits landed in someone’s tea.

Oh no!

She held onto the plate and the basket.

Kai rushed to her and steadied her. He wore a white pirate shirt with long sleeves, and now he also wore a steak, a few rice grains, and green beans with long pods. One of those beans even ended up in the loop of his earring.

The steak skidded on the floor, and the rice and green beans plopped behind it. Except for the pod that stayed in the earring as a statement to her clumsiness.

“I’m... I’m so sorry.” She gave out a sound close to a hiccup but not quite.

“Hello, Marina.” He smelled of something musky and exciting, sending her pulse into overdrive. “It’s okay. Are you all right?”

“Hi. Yes. No. Yes. Of course, I’m all right.” Even if she realized she wore some rice, too, and probably had a green pod stuck in her hair.

She stepped back from the enticing heat of his arms. Because now he wasn’t the flirtatious boy with twinkles in his brown eyes she’d become best friends with. He was a man with a broad chest and muscles chiseled by outdoor labor. But just as before, he was off-limits. Even more so now.

She tore her glance away from him and surveyed the damage. “We’ll get that tea replaced right away,” she said to the woman who now had a biscuit in her iced tea.

A few biscuits landed in a corner and one on a man’s lap. But nobody was wearing the salad. Whew!

Overall, Kai had endured the biggest damage. She gasped at the large grease stain spreading on his shirt. “I... I’ll pay for dry cleaning. Or... or I can try to remove it now.”

“Yeah, why doesn’t he take off that shirt?” A woman in a bright marmalade-hued dress with a wide white belt called out.

Heat crept up Marina’s neck.

Thankfully, Kai didn’t pay attention to the comment. “It’s no problem.” Then he stooped to gather the mess on the floor with napkins. “Don’t worry. I’ll clean this up.”

“No, I’ll take care of it.” She placed the juicy steak back on the tray, which was far from a good idea, but she couldn’t think straight in his presence.

Why was this happening again? She was supposed to get over her ridiculous crush many years ago. She had. She’d even fallen in love with someone else. Someone who’d felt safe. Who’d been his total opposite.

Well, the joke was on her, wasn’t it?

“I’m so sorry about the steak, sir,” she apologized to a bald sixtysomething man in gray slacks. “I’ll get another one ready immediately.” She didn’t know how, but she’d have to figure it out.

She’d helped at her mother’s restaurant before, but mostly by waiting on tables. She’d never made anyone wear food then.

“You’re understaffed today, aren’t you?” Kai’s tone turned unusually serious.

She nodded. “Yes.” And she needed to get back into the kitchen instead of staring into his eyes. Oh, and mop up the floor before anyone slipped.

“You’re doing great. Looking great, too.” He winked.

Yeah right. He’d paid compliments to everything in sight, one of the secrets of his popularity. Usually, she was well-put together, but today, her apron was stained and crooked, her hair probably a mess—or did she forget to take off her hairnet? She’d be grateful if she didn’t have sweat stains under her armpits from all the heat in the kitchen.

“Any day now.” The woman pointed at her tall glass of iced tea with a floating biscuit in it. Then she gestured to the biscuits near the wall. “And you’re just inviting roaches with bread on the floor. Not to mention, I’ve been waitingforeverfor my order.”

Now Marina would have those stains from all the heat she was gettinghere.

“Right. Sorry about that.” Her stomach clenched while she picked up the biscuits. She didn’t like apologizing, either.

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