Savage in a Stetson (Crossroads #4) - Em Petrova Page 0,34

she couldn’t make brisket! The man had overstepped one too many times today, first with her regular and also by copying her sign.

She looked toward Savage’s. What a horse’s ass.

* * * * *

Dom chuckled to himself every time he thought of that pig wearing a red kerchief. Clearly, the sign designer ran short on ideas, and they’d both been his victim. If there was a third barbecue joint in Crossroads, he wouldn’t be surprised to see a pig wearing a green kerchief on that sign.

He pushed away the takeout box of ribs. He had to admit that he could go for something besides his own leftovers, but owning a restaurant meant he had food going to waste unless he ate it.

Sales had been down today, despite the new sign, and he’d prepared far too many ribs. But if he ate another rib, he was going to turn into one.

He chucked the box in the trash and went to his kitchen window to stare out. The thing about owning a business was forgetting how to spend his free time. If he wasn’t cooking, he was working on the books or marketing. The only times he’d found a spot of calm since the day he opened his doors were spent working his butt off on the Bellamy and with Jada.

What he wouldn’t give to see her little purple delivery-mobile pulling up in front of his house right now.

When she told him off for the sign, all he could think about was yanking her against him and kissing her into silence. How did they get along so well in bed but went at it like cats and dogs outside it? Lately, getting the sharp edge of Jada’s tongue had morphed into foreplay.

He wanted to see her.

Why was he hanging out here alone at home when he could be teasing her into another orgasm?

He grabbed his phone and keys and locked his house. When he climbed into his truck, he shifted some takeout cups of sweet tea from Savage’s to the back to throw away later. A look at the passenger’s floor showed him he’d eaten in his truck one time too many times. He clearly needed to tidy up and get his life in order.

As he drove through Crossroads, his mind flitted from his business to Jada and then his grandfather and back to Jada. When he stopped in front of her house, he didn’t see her truck or the ugly purple car either. Well, he’d wait for her. Eventually, she’d come home.

He parked and cut the engine. He should be placing ads for his business or working up some fliers with coupons to hand out. He thought about stamping the little pig face with the kerchief into the corner of his coupons and had to chuckle again at how silly the problem with the sign had become.

Of course, she’d still be fuming. He chuckled to himself. He liked her hot temper, and the flash of her eyes always stirred him up. But he knew the other side of Jada, the super sweet woman who took time for every person she came in contact with.

Maybe he could persuade her to join him in visiting his grandpa. The man would love to see them together, especially since he continually asked Dom what he was doing to fix things with her.

What was he doing, besides driving her nuts? He pulled his hat off and rested it on his lap. Darkness had long ago fallen, and she should be home by this time, unless she stopped in at Joss and Cort’s to see the baby, but it was too late for visiting babies.

He had a nagging feeling that she was still at the restaurant.

He started the truck and threw it into gear. The drive from her house to Mortimer’s only took a few minutes. When he pulled into the parking lot, he expected to see her truck. But a glance at his own restaurant revealed it parked there, the headlights on full force, aimed directly at his sign.

And Miss Jada Ellis was balanced on a ladder with a bucket of paint in hand.

“What the hell?”

He zipped into his parking lot, causing her to stare into the brightness of his headlights. Then she started to scramble off the ladder, but not before he got a good look at what she’d been doing.

Repainting his sign. Vandalizing it, more like.

He parked crooked and jumped out. “Jada!”

She leaped off the bottom rung of the ladder and turned her back