The Second Chance Café (Hope Springs, #1) Read Free Page B

I’ll be living on the top two floors and using the first for my business. That requires a small commercial kitchen, and better traffic flow than the doorways allow for now.” She paused, taking him in, her eyes a light green that set off her hair and broadcasting frustration. “I can explain more, or you can come by and take a look, or you can tell me I’m barking up the wrong tree and save us both the time.”
    He wanted to say he wasn’t the man for the job, but knew he was. He wouldn’t take shortcuts, or compromise the structure’s integrity, or suggest additional destruction to pad his bill. He didn’t want to do the job, and so he would. “I can stop by tomorrow. Noon or so?”
    “That would be great. I’m roughing it until the place is ready to be lived in, so I’ll be there all day.” She slid from the stool and reached into the tiny purse belted at her waist for a card. “Here’s my cell number. If I don’t hear you knock, you might need to call. Or you could just come in and yell,” she added with a soft laugh. “The place is empty, so I shouldn’t have any problem hearing you.”
    Her card mirrored his, a name and a number, though her ink was raised, her paper an upgrade, just like her T-shirt and boots. “The dog won’t sound a warning?”
    Bending, she mussed Magoo’s ruff until he shuddered, pleasure rolling off of him along with a cloud of coarseblack and tan hair. “I have a feeling this guy will be out making friends with the local wildlife. Or at least letting them know there’s a new boss in town.”
    Ten took in her affection for the dog, took in the fall of her hair and the dancer’s arch of her back as she bent. Took in the curve of her triceps that told him a lot about the body beneath her clothes. He bounced his pencil harder, pulled his gaze away, and stared out the barn door at the trees standing sentry on either side of his road.
    A lot of good they’d done him, allowing this woman and her dog to leave footprints all over, no warning or so much as a by-your-leave for the breach. He’d never indulged in the volatile mix of business with pleasure.
    But what was he supposed to do now, her number and invitation in hand, the house he wanted belonging to her, and lust a monster complication growling at his feet?
    He stood when she stood, and followed her to her Jeep. “Tomorrow, then. Noon sharp.”

CHAPTER THREE
     
    I t wasn’t the dream that woke Kaylie that night but the guttural rumble at the base of Magoo’s throat rattling around like ice cubes. He’d left his sleeping bag and was standing on his hind legs at the window. Something on the lawn below had disturbed him, and as the beam of a flashlight crossed the glass, Kaylie found herself disturbed, too.
    She shoved out of her sleeping bag and, heart racing, into her jeans and boots. Grabbing her flashlight, her phone, and her eight-inch bowie knife, she headed for the stairs with Magoo on her heels. She had her dog to rely on, but she knew better than anyone the truth of a stainless-steel blade.
    She was halfway through the kitchen, having punched 9-1-1 on her phone’s keypad, her thumb hovering over Send, when she realized Magoo’s growl was gone. He was pawing at the screen door, whimpering to be let out, as if whatever danger he’d sensed from the third floor had turned out to be a friendly on the first.
    Kaylie barely had the screen unlocked before the dog pushed it open and bounded through. She switched on her flashlight and followed, holding it with three fingers of her left hand, her index finger and thumb wrappedaround her phone and ready to dial for help. In her other hand, she clutched the knife in a hammer grip in case Magoo had made a mistake. He rarely did, though lacking his nose, she was going to need more evidence.
    She got it as she turned the corner into the front yard to see him sitting at Ten Keller’s side. Not a squatter or a vagrant or a burglar or a thief, but Ten Keller. Here with no