Rogue Beast (The Rourkes #12) - Kylie Gilmore Page 0,57

it’s a restaurant with a bar tucked in back. My friend Sydney owns it.”

“Should we, uh, go in, or do ya wanna keep sitting here hugging me?”

I loosen my grip and take off my helmet. “I can’t believe you called my grandmother Queen Joan.”

“She really does remind me of my dad with her voice of authority. She could have royal blood.”

I shake my head, smiling. “She ate it up.” I was shocked. My grandmother preened.

He grins. “I told ya women of all ages love me.”

“I know you said that, but she’s in a whole different cranky category.”

“People are all the same. They just want to be recognized and treated with kindness.”

My throat tightens with emotion. He’s just so…perfect. Can anyone be that perfect? It’s scary, but I want to believe in him.

“Ready to get off?” he asks with a wink.

I laugh and get off his bike. He’s always sexy flirting.

A few moments later, he opens the wooden front door of the restaurant for me, and I step into the warm and inviting space. There’s a hostess desk up front, empty now, and just past it is a huge stone hearth that was used for cooking back in the old days. The front dining room is empty since it’s late afternoon. The bar is in the back, along with a large room added on in the seventies. It’s the only bar for miles around, and locals often gather just to watch the game on the three flat-screen TVs behind the bar.

A young man I don’t know is setting the tables for the dinner service in the front dining room. “Hi,” he says. “We’re not open for dinner until five, but you can help yourself to the bar.”

I nod. “Thanks. I’m friends with Sydney. She’s expecting me.”

I take Garrett’s hand and guide him through the maze of dark wood tables. Looks like Sydney’s attempting to make it more upscale. I wonder if the menu changed too. Used to be home-style comfort food—meatloaf, fried chicken, burgers. Most every dish came with a baked potato or French fries.

I peek around the corner. “Hi!”

Sydney’s working behind the bar, her auburn hair up in a messy bun. She drops her rag and throws her hands in the air. “Oh my God! It’s Harper Ellis!”

I laugh. She likes to pretend she’s a fangirl. A few people at the bar watching the football game turn to look. I don’t know them, some men in their thirties. They glance at Garrett and turn back to the game.

Sydney takes off her apron and rushes around the bar to hug me. “The famous Harper Ellis! And is this the secret prince of Brooklyn?” She grins at Garrett. “I have a Google alert on her name since she can’t be bothered to keep me updated on her career highs.”

Garrett smiles and offers his hand. “That’s me, though the secret’s out on being a prince. Garrett Rourke.”

“Sydney Robinson. I own this beautiful mess.” She plants her hands on her hips and looks around the historic restaurant she inherited from her dad. Her pink T-shirt with a rhinestone heart, black skinny jeans, and high-heeled boots look out of place in the dim historic setting. Not that I’d expect her to wear an old colonial dress.

“It’s nice,” Garrett says, rocking back and forth on his heels. “The floors are a little wavy.”

“Ah, yes,” she says. “Sloping floors, low ceiling, original post and beam.” She gestures around. “We’ve got all the cool historic touches and all the modern headaches. Let me get a replacement behind the bar, and we’ll take a seat.”

She gets the guy we saw in the front room to take her place. Then she pulls her phone from her back jeans pocket, tapping away. “I’m letting Jenna and Audrey know you’re here. They’re around. Jenna just opened a bakery in the old café.”

“Wait, the café closed?” I ask.

She lifts her brows. “Ah, yeah, last year. Keep up with the times. Summerdale moves fast.”

“What about Rainbow?” She was one of the last original hippie founders and the owner of the café.

She gestures for us to join her at a table for four. “She retired to Florida like all the senior citizens. Your grandmother being the exception.” After we’re all seated, she props her chin on her hand and asks brightly, “How’d it go with her?” She knows exactly how difficult the General can be.

“Like expected with me,” I say. “She had Garrett running around fixing everything she can’t trust Adam to do, because how