LITMIR.BIZ

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his hand. “Yes, we’re the boss’s brothers.”

      “Nice to meet you,” she said.

      “Same here.”

      “Likewise.”

      She walked away and both men pushed away their coffee cups.

      “Go ahead, take a drink,” Marcus encouraged.

      Porter held up his hand. “No, thanks. The last time I drank coffee in here, it took the hide off my tongue.”

      “Ditto,” Kendall said. “My mouth was numb for a week.”

      “Just try it,” Marcus said.

      Porter reluctantly lifted the cup to his mouth and took a sip. Then his eyes widened. “Not bad.”

      Kendall took a drink and nodded. “Not bad at all.”

      “So the coffee has improved dramatically since yesterday,” Porter said. “How about the food?”

      “See for yourself,” Marcus said, waving toward the blackboard where Alicia had written the most popular items from the menu.

      Porter lifted his hand. “No, thanks. I had breakfast with Nikki at the boardinghouse.”

      “I already ate, too,” Kendall said.

      They exchanged a quick glance and when Marcus realized what it meant, annoyance flashed in his chest. They felt sorry for him, sorry that they had someone to eat breakfast with and he didn’t.

      “But I could probably choke down a biscuit,” Porter added quickly.

      “Or an egg,” Kendall offered.

      Marcus frowned. “Never mind. You can get something later.”

      Porter took another sip of his coffee. “So…how’s your new cook working out?”

      “Fine.”

      “She’s cute,” Kendall said.

      “Is she?” Marcus said idly.

      Porter laughed. “Marcus, I know you haven’t been in the company of a woman in…well, I won’t embarrass you with the truth, but have you gone completely blind?”

      Marcus gritted his teeth. “No, but considering you’re practically engaged, you should be.”

      Porter scoffed. “Nikki’s the only one for me.” Then he set down his cup. “But that reminds me…I got a call from Emory Maxwell last night.”

      “Emory?” Porter’s former Army buddy had been in Sweetness on leave with Porter when the devastating tornado had hit over a decade ago. Emory had been the one who’d sounded the warning siren from the water tower. “What’s he up to?”

      “Still living in Florida. He and Shelby are coming back to Sweetness Homecoming weekend. His dad is coming, too.”

      Marcus smiled. “That’s good. It’ll be nice to see them all.”

      Porter made a rueful noise. “Emory and Shelby are going through a rough patch. He said they’ve been trying to have a baby for a while now, and it’s really wearing on their marriage. He asked if they could renew their vows in our church.”

      Marcus pursed his mouth. “Will it be ready?”

      “If the fabricator delivers the sections next week as scheduled, then yeah, it should be. I’m putting out feelers for a minister to come and conduct services that weekend.”

      “I think it would be a fitting ceremony,” Marcus said. “Of course they can use the church.”

      Porter nodded. “I agree. Especially since their first wedding had to be held down by the creek after the tornado. Did you know the town gave them wedding rings?”

      “It was the least the town council could do,” Kendall said. “Who knows how many lives Emory saved when he sounded that alarm.”

      “You should let Rachel know about the ceremony,” Marcus added. “It sounds like the kind of thing she’d make a big deal over, get the whole town involved.”

      “While we’re on the subject, when are you going to get that Homecoming banner hung across Main Street?” Kendall asked.

      “Soon,” Marcus said. “I think things here are under control enough for me to leave the new manager in charge.”

      “Molly will hate to hear that,” Porter said with a smirk.

      “Speak of the devil,” Kendall murmured.

      Marcus looked up to see Colonel Molly walk in. She gave them a smug smile as she hefted her considerable girth onto the stool next to Kendall.

      “Good morning, boys.”

      “Good morning,” they chorused.

      “So, jarhead, how’s your new manager working out?” Molly asked Marcus, nodding toward Alicia.

      He turned to look at Alicia to make sure she wasn’t on fire. She wasn’t, but she was still working those short shorts. He turned back. “Fine,” he said with more bravado than he felt. “She has a lot of experience running a restaurant.”

      “You don’t say?” Molly asked mildly.

      “And she has a lot of ideas to improve profitability,” he lied.

      Molly nodded, although she still looked unconvinced. “Good for you.”

      “Yes, good for me,” he said, crossing his arms. But his bluster was shattered by a familiar whooshing noise behind him.

      “Fire!” Alicia shouted.

      He was jolted as she backed into him. He acknowledged a disturbing twinge from the contact before bumping into a stack of glasses on the counter that fell to the floor in a deafening crash. Flames encompassed the grill. He set Alicia aside and reached for one of the three fire extinguishers lined up under the counter. After stepping over the pile of glass, he pulled the key from the extinguisher, and foamed the fire until it was out.

      He grunted, then turned a frustrated glare toward Alicia. “What happened?”

      She gave him a sheepish shrug.

      He took one step toward her, not sure what he would do when he got there, and his feet flew out from under him. He landed on his back on the hard tile floor, the wind knocked out of him. When he opened his eyes, Alicia peered down, along with Porter, Kendall and Molly, who had all stretched over the counter.

      “Are you okay?” Alicia asked, her dark eyes wide and innocent.

      He wanted to answer, but his lungs had compressed. Plus he had the insane urge to pull her down on top of him.

      “Yes, I can see your new manager has everything under control,” Molly said, her expression gloating.

      In his head, Marcus unleashed a string of curses. Alicia Waters had caused him nothing but grief since he set eyes on her. He opened his mouth and dragged in a painful breath. “Everybody out,” he announced where he lay. “We’re closed for the day.”

      He and his new manager needed to have a little one-on-one training time.

      9

      Alicia watched as Marcus shepherded the waitresses toward the door. “Thanks for cleaning up. We’ll reopen Monday morning. Don’t forget to spread the word about the cook’s position.” He closed the door behind them and turned the dead bolt.

      The clicking noise sent a little thrill through her chest—being locked in with Marcus Armstrong would be a great opportunity to pick his chauvinistic brain.

      As far as feeling a little light-headed, she attributed it to not having had anything to eat. The smell of all the fried food on top of an empty stomach was making her queasy.

      With

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