Savage in a Stetson (Crossroads #4) - Em Petrova Page 0,10
the real reason for leaving it. “I realized I’m better suited to other ventures.”
“Which is killing off women’s dreams. Gotcha.” She spun to go.
God, what he wouldn’t give to grab her up, kiss the hell out of her and then bend her over the nearest picnic table.
He curled his fingers into fists. “Jada!”
She glanced over her shoulder at him.
“We’ll see if this town’s too small for two barbecue joints.”
“Guess so.”
He watched her march back across the street. The way she strode, so militantly, her shoulders thrust back and head held high, and the last words she tossed at him both warned him that she was about to launch an attack.
Any woman willing to shove a big man with the nickname Savage into the pond would have something up her sleeve.
He felt the corner of his lips tug.
Long after she disappeared through the front door of her own restaurant, he stood there.
Theo poked his head out. “Is the coast clear?”
Dom chuckled. “Yeah, she’s gone.”
“She’s not too happy to have you as competition, is she?”
“You could say that.”
“You didn’t know she bought the place?”
“Didn’t your momma ever teach you not to eavesdrop?”
“Yeah, but I figured that only applied to conversations about Christmases and birthdays.”
Dom wagged his head at Theo’s antics. They’d known each other since Dom’s first amateur rodeo event, and Theo had taught him a few tricks to get through the elimination round. Now he worked as a ranch hand on the Bellamy, where their friendship had really been solidified.
“No, Jada isn’t very happy. My grandpa told me she quit as a nurse at Crossroads Manor, but I never would have guessed she bought a restaurant.” It seemed the furthest from the Jada he knew.
A dozen questions blasted through his mind. What he wouldn’t give to sit her down and ask what prompted her to walk away from nursing, a field she once claimed to love, and take up, of all things, ownership of a barbecue restaurant?
When he mentioned the menu items he planned to serve, she looked about to pass out or start slinging rib bones at him.
“Wanna grab that prep station off the truck next?” Theo’s question interrupted the flow of his thoughts.
“Yeah, let’s do it.” He shot another look toward Jada’s place. The glass front door swung open, and she walked out in those long, purposeful strides again. She had a cloth in hand and proceeded to wipe off the picnic tables lined up in the grassy spot beside the parking lot.
He’d wondered why business was so slow when he didn’t see a single car in front, but it was clear that she was in the process of making changes. Upon closer inspection, he noted the fresh coat of white trim paint and how the table umbrellas seemed to be scrubbed to bright white that contrasted sharply against the brilliant red stripes.
The Mortimer’s sign remained the same, though. He wondered what she’d call her establishment. Jada’s Home Cookin’ or Jada’s Barbecue Chicken both had a ring.
Seeing her cute, round little ass jutting his direction as she furiously wiped off a table left his Levis a bit too tight. Then he realized Theo was rubber-necking too as he crossed the parking lot to the truck. Dom threw out a hand to smack him in the chest.
“Stop starin’ at her.”
“Touchy, aren’t ya?”
Dom lifted a brow.
“Fine, fine. I see how it is. You still like her.”
What wasn’t to like? Jada was the girl next door with a kind heart and—he knew from their current interaction—enough sass to keep a man toeing the line and guessing at the same time.
She moved to the next table, knelt on the bench and began rubbing her cloth all over the surface.
Theo stopped alongside him to stare.
Dom smacked him again, this time upside the head. “I said stop starin’.”
“Sorry, man. It’s just that she’s got a rockin’ body.”
He grunted. She did. Besides being amazing to look at, it felt great tucked up against him.
He hadn’t gotten further than a couple bases with her. A woman like Jada deserved to be savored, and he took his time getting to know her before ever asking her out. That first date, he’d taken her to the movies and he sat in the dark wanting to drag her onto his lap and press his erection into her firm, round ass. Instead, he’d found her fingers in the dark. He still clearly saw her expression when she turned her head to smile at him.
Hand-holding and tender kisses morphed to more insistent