Savage in a Stetson (Crossroads #4) - Em Petrova Page 0,13

thought of it all and considered swinging by the nursing home in order to have a short chat with the man and find out. She hadn’t seen the man who insisted she also call him Grandpa in too many weeks. In fact, she missed all her patients. Saying goodbye had wrenched her heart out, but it boiled down to the fact that she couldn’t continue this way for much longer.

Her family all supported her. Friends too.

Did Dom?

He wore a look of utter shock on his face when she declared herself the new owner of Mortimer’s.

Who cared what the man thought or didn’t think? She’d be surprised to find he had any coherent thoughts in his entire skull.

Okay, maybe she was being a little harsh and unkind, but he’d left her and now had no importance in her life.

Come tomorrow, she’d show up Mr. Savage’s Barbecue with her buy-one-get-one special and they’d find out who will come out on top.

And no—it would not be her, straddling those strong hips, hands planted on his tanned, muscled chest…

* * * * *

Maybe he deserved what he got. Jada’s parking lot was full of customers partaking of the buy one get one free Friday night grand reopening special, while his own parking lot had the rare straggler.

“Hey, are you Savage?” The young boy popped up out of nowhere in front of him.

Dom smiled. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“You’re my favorite bull rider! Can I get a photo with you?” He held up his cell phone that was more advanced than Dom’s.

While he held his broad smile in place, he almost groaned out loud. This was the third person to want a photo op with him, and it was increasingly difficult not to wonder if he’d thrown his investment—and Grandpa’s too—down the toilet.

He posed with the kid for a selfie, and then his parents wanted to shake his hand. Maybe putting his name on the restaurant had been a bad choice. Clearly Jada had a better head for business—keeping Mortimer’s name meant she kept his customers too.

“You try my brisket yet?” he asked the kid’s parents. They shook their heads. “Try the brisket.”

As soon as they nodded and moved toward the window to place their order, Dom dropped his smile. A glance across the street showed more cars pulling into Jada’s place. She’d strung a big banner sign between trees announcing her buy one get one free special that happened to coincide with his opening night.

Maybe two could play that game.

He walked into the middle of his parking lot, cupped his hands to his mouth and called out, “Everyone, two for one brisket over here at Savage’s! Two for one!”

His voice carried, and a couple people getting out of their cars at Jada’s looked at each other and then walked over to Dom’s.

Hot damn! It was working. Stealing customers wasn’t so hard if he offered them a deal. Sure, he’d earn pennies on his brisket tonight, but he’d hook the customers on the taste and they’d run back for more.

When the customers reached his property, he offered them a smile and a warm welcome. Before they were served, he ran inside to tell his workers that he’d changed the price for tonight.

After that, it seemed that customers seeing more people in front of his restaurant urged more people into the lot, and he got a flood of business. After a couple hours of serving people, talking with them and welcoming them back again soon, he stole a glance at Jada’s.

She was outside wiping down tables again. He hadn’t set eyes on the woman all day, but now he couldn’t look away. She wore cutoff denim shorts, the kind that rode ever so slightly up her backside when she bent over and enticed with thoughts of a thin strip of denim covering her pussy.

He groaned, this time definitely out loud. He watched her finish one table, straighten, strut to the next and bend over it.

“Jesus Christ,” he ground out. His dick was hardening from a peek from this distance—he couldn’t even imagine what glimpsing those tight, round buns up close would do to him.

After cleaning several tables, she wiggled her hips all the way back inside. Damn, it was bound to be a long night until closing time. He tried to shake off the memory of her ass, the shadow between her delectable thighs… Why hadn’t he made his move when he had a chance?

Because he wasn’t an asshole. Damn his morals. Grandpa had a hand in this