landed in Austin. I’d given him the name of Rick’s restaurant—very creatively named Rick’s Restaurant—and we headed straight there.
I was relieved when we got there ahead of Jefferson, glad that I’d have a minute or two to catch up with my old friend before my boss arrived. Hopping out of the car as soon as it stopped, I pushed through the single wooden door that led into Rick’s.
The restaurant was one big room with a view of the kitchen in the back. I saw Rick there, animatedly talking to a server who looked faintly familiar. As I soaked in the sight, I realized who she was and why she seemed so familiar.
It was Leah James, Rick’s little sister. Only she wasn’t so little anymore.
When I thought about Leah, my mind conjured up images of a brat three years younger than us who had lived down the hall from Rick in his family’s home only a few blocks away. Her chestnut hair had been cut into a blunt bob at her shoulders and she’d forever had her nose buried in a book.
The Leah I was looking at now was nothing like that girl. She had her chin up and her green eyes blazed into Rick’s while they spoke. Her hair was so long that even up, it reached halfway down her back.
Her server’s uniform was tightly fitted to curves I definitely wouldn’t have expected little Leah to have grown. Only, she really isn’t little Leah anymore.
She was all woman now. The kind of woman I liked to get in trouble with, no less. Gorgeous, curvy, and—unless her personality had undergone a complete one-eighty—spirited and sassy.
I swallowed hard, mentally composing myself before I headed farther inside. She might not be a kid anymore, but Leah was still Rick’s baby sister, which meant all the usual rules applied. The most important one of which was hands—and any other body parts—off.
But even though I knew what was expected of me, I could already tell that it was going to be easier said than done. The door opened behind me to let Jefferson in, buying me the time I needed to remind myself who she was and what a terrible idea it would be to try anything with her.
After all, I was only in town for one night again. I definitely wasn’t ruining a friendship older than two decades over one fucking night.
Chapter 3
LEAH
The older man near the windows kept looking at me funny. I knew Sarah’s uniform was super tight on me, but he wasn’t looking at me in that way. I couldn’t describe the way he was looking at me, but the closest I could get was to say he seemed curious about me.
His son, or the guy sitting with him who I assumed was his son, now he was looking at me in that way. Every time I got close to their table, I could practically feel his electric blue eyes on me. I didn’t mind though, considering that I kept looking at him in the exact same way.
The guy was stupidly hot. The kind of hot we didn’t get around here very often. The ones who were that hot didn’t usually stick around for long after high school.
That was one of the reasons why my brother was so popular with the ladies in town. He was—apparently—that kind of hot. And he’d stuck around. Which made him a prized specimen in our little corner of the world.
This other guy, with his dirty blond hair, blue-blue eyes, and great complexion, would’ve set panties on fire up and down main street if he’d been from around here. Depending on how much time he’d be spending in town, he just might do it anyway.
Rick was going to have to lock his favorite bedroom rodeo companions inside to keep them away from this one. I, on the other hand, was perfectly companion-free at the moment. As such, I wouldn’t have minded doing the horizontal hula with this guy.
However, my brother had paid me to be good to customers, so I was on my best behavior. While it hadn’t specifically been a part of the speech he’d given me earlier, I was pretty sure flirting with customers would not be considered my best behavior.
“Anything else I can get you, folks?” I asked, smiling sweetly when I placed their meals down.
The older man didn’t make a move for his food, keeping his gaze locked on mine. “You’re a very wholesome girl, aren’t you?”
“Wholesome?” Nope. Not at all. But