Where Winter Finds You (Black Dagger Brotherhood #18)- J.R Ward Page 0,47

in the morning.”

Putting the keys to her heart, she told herself they shouldn’t matter. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“And I have something else.” From the back pocket of his slacks, he took out a wad. “This is returned to you as well.”

As she gasped at the sight of ten hundred-dollar bills, she was momentarily excited. But then she narrowed her eyes. “Trez. I believe you found my keys on the floor. This? You most certainly did not.”

He held up his forefinger. “Before you tell me to pound sand, I’ll have you know that the guy who ate here last night is a buddy of mine. When I told him what happened to the tip, he insisted on my bringing this to you. And”—when she went to interrupt, he kept talking—“as I didn’t know how much he left you, you can count the bills yourself and know they’re actually from him. You never told me how big the tip was. Only you and he know that.”

Putting her hands on her hips, she shook her head. “I can’t accept—”

“Count it.” He prompted her with the cash. “Go ahead. You’ll see that—”

“No.” Smoothing her palms over her hair, latent anxiety caused her to fidget. “I believe you that it comes from the male. But losing the money was on me, not him. He does not need to make up for the fact that I lost it.”

“You were in a shoot-out,” Trez countered. “It was not your fault. And you didn’t lose it, the money was stolen.”

“So it’s my bad luck. Not his.” She reached forward and curled his hand closed. “Take this back and thank him. I really appreciate the kindness. But I’m going to keep working here, and as soon as I can, I’ll fix my own problem with the housing situation.”

“Does it change your mind if I tell you money is no object to the guy?”

“No.” She smiled at him. “But I really appreciate you trying to take care of me. And seriously, please thank him for me.”

Trez muttered some things under his breath. But he did put the cash away. And on the one hand, she was probably nuts for turning the Benjamins down. If the male was as rich as Trez was suggesting, they clearly weren’t going to be missed—whereas on her side? It would change things tremendously.

She couldn’t do it, though.

“I really am grateful,” she said. “And to you as well.”

“Can I still see you at the end of tonight?”

That flush she’d felt as he’d come through the back door to the restaurant returned. “Yes.”

Trez stared at her for a long while. “I’ll come pick you up after your shift. I’ll just chill outside in my car until you come out.”

“I can’t wait,” she whispered.

As they stood together in complete stillness, she knew where he was in his mind. She was there, too. Yes, it was crazy. Yes, it was intense. Yes, it had started with the adrenaline rush last night after the drama at the club. But when a craving was this strong?

You stopped asking about where it came from. And gave into it.

“I can’t wait, either,” he echoed before he turned away.

Thank God this isn’t one-sided, Therese thought as she watched him go.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

There were all kinds of reasons to wish the night away, but for Trez, the main one was finally getting off her shift at the restaurant in any moment. Not that he had been counting down the minutes.

Okay, fine. He’d been counting them down since he’d left her.

And he’d come early. Given that this was an average, non-holiday, non-blizzard night, dinner service at Sal’s tended to grind to a halt around 10:30 at the latest. The waiters were usually off quickly thereafter. So yes, he’d shown up at 10:17 and parked in the shadows, outside the reach of the security camera by the back door.

He was not looking for a rehash with iAm. Nope. They’d both said their piece, and there was no going back from the lines that had been drawn. And besides, he was strictly on the happy train now, and anyone who had a problem with that, including his blood relative, could back off.

As Trez waited, ticking off each patron who emerged well-fed and sated into the cold, he couldn’t help contrasting this shelter-in-place with the one during the storm the previous night, the one where he had cut the engine and stayed in the frosted temperatures, the snow blanketing his