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She blinked up at him and said, “Does that mean I’m not in trouble?”
“That’s what it means.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “I’ve been wanting to do that all week.”
“Really?” Since her thoughts were smoking hot along with the rest of her, Gianna had trouble pulling herself together to call him on the fact that he’d ignored her most of the week. Somehow she managed. “You have a very odd way of showing it.”
“You’re right.” He blew out a long breath and backed up a step, as if he needed distance to think clearly, too. “My behavior is inexcusable. Mixed signals.”
“You think?”
“I don’t think. It’s a fact I’ve been running hot and cold.”
“I noticed.” After that kiss she definitely preferred hot, but given his recent mercurial moods it was best not to have expectations.
“Personal stuff in the workplace is a rocky road to go down. It’s tricky to navigate. I was trying to take the high road, do the right thing. I’d never want to make you uncomfortable.”
“You could have used your words,” she pointed out, “said something. I know a thing or two about being conflicted regarding … personal stuff.”
“Oh?”
“Yes.” She lifted her chin a little self-consciously. In for a penny, in for a pound. Might as well use her words. Never let it be said she was a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do person. “I understand how sometimes it’s easy starting down a path, but the right time to turn off it can be tricky.”
“Very Zen of you.”
“Okay. Here’s an example. I dated a divorce attorney for over two years before we had ‘the talk’ where I found out he never planned to commit. Should have turned off that path a lot sooner.”
“I see.”
“Then there was the accountant who saw too many joint checking accounts split, not necessarily down the middle, by messy breakups. There’s a year and a half I’ll never get back.”
“Okay.”
“The college professor who said up front that he was a loner. That one is my own fault.”
“You’ve definitely had a conflict or two.”
“Yes, I have. As with my job, I can handle it. You don’t need to protect me. I’m a big girl.”
“I noticed.” His eyes were like twin blue flames with the heat turned up high.
“Don’t hold back on my account.”
“It won’t happen again,” he agreed.
“That was a very nice kiss.”
One of his dark eyebrows lifted. “Nice?”
“Location, location, location.” She looked around the storeroom and wrinkled her nose. “For the record? The balcony of your apartment has much better mojo.”
“Everyone’s a critic.” He grinned. “Let me make it up to you.”
“How?” She should be ashamed at being so easy, but darned if she could manage that.
“Meet me here after work and I’ll show you.”
“Okay.” Way too easy. The end of her shift wouldn’t come fast enough.
All it took was Shane’s kiss to make her crabby mood disappear. Probably not smart, but definitely the truth.
After making sure everything in the kitchen was shut down and squared away to his satisfaction, Shane turned off the lights. Only the security ones were left on, making the interior dim. The frenzied chaos so much a part of the food-service business he loved was over for the night and eerie quiet took its place.
He waited for Gianna to get her coat and purse then meet him here. Keyed up from work, he paced while he waited. Part of him hoped she wouldn’t show because he didn’t need more complications in his life. Mostly he couldn’t wait to see her. Fighting the temptation to kiss her had given him a lot of time to imagine what it would be like, but the actual touching of lips had been everything he’d expected and more.
What he hadn’t expected was her straightforward sass and steadfast spunk. The way she’d challenged him about how peculiarly he’d been acting had surprised and charmed him in equal parts. He hadn’t been surprised in a good way since the first time he’d seen Thunder Canyon.
With his parents’ blessing, he’d hired a private investigator to find his biological parents and the guy had narrowed the search to this small town in nowhere, Montana. His restless need to connect the dots about himself had been stronger than his aversion to packing himself off to that small town. The surprise was his instant connection to the rugged beauty of the mountains and trees, being drawn in by the friendliness of the people.
He’d grown up in Los Angeles, for God’s sake, where freeways, traffic and smog ruled. He wasn’t a mountains-and-trees kind of guy. At least he’d never thought so. But the connection he’d felt had only gotten stronger in the five months he’d been here. That was already a lot to lose, and now there was Gianna.
That saying—the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree—was a saying for a reason. And the sins of the father … The rest of the words eluded him but when sins were involved it couldn’t be good. Something deep inside Shane rebelled at the thought of Gianna knowing who his father was.
The kitchen door opened and there she was, wearing a navy blue knit hat pulled over her red hair with curls peeking out by her collar. She had a matching scarf tied loosely around her neck and the ends dangled down the front of her coat. When she smiled, the beauty and warmth melted the place inside him that had started to freeze over.
“So,” she said, “just how are you going to make it up to me?”
He wasn’t quite sure, but when the moment was right, he’d know. “You’ll just have to wait and see. Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
There was a rear restaurant exit and she followed him past the pantry where he’d kissed her earlier and the big industrial-size refrigerator and freezer. He opened the outside door and let her precede him, then closed and locked it after them. The area was illuminated by floodlights at the corners of the building.
“That air feels so good,” she said, drawing in a deep breath. “So clean and clear and cold.”
“How do you feel about a midnight walk in the moonlight?”
Her blue eyes sparkled with merriment. “I feel like that’s a promising start to making things up to me.”
The restaurant employees parked here in the back and since they were the last two to leave, Shane figured the only car in the lot, an older model compact, belonged to Gianna.
He looked down at her. “You don’t come out here alone after your shift, do you?”
“No. It usually works out that several of us leave together.”
“Good.” But tonight he would make sure she was safe. “Are you okay with leaving your car here?”
“Because someone might break in? I should be so lucky it would get stolen.” She laughed and the cheerful sound magnified in the still night.
“Is it giving you trouble?”
“Trouble is too nice a word for what it gives me. Every day I cross my fingers and say a little prayer that it will start and get me to work.”
“If it ever doesn’t, let me know. I can’t afford to lose my best waitress.”
“You might regret that offer,” she warned.
They walked across the lot to the sidewalk that bordered an open grassy area. At least there used to be grass. He’d seen the green before winter rolled in and dumped a couple feet of snow. During the day the temperature was warm enough that the existing snow melted a little, wetting the walkway. The sun had gone down hours ago and it was freezing, making the sidewalk slippery. On top of that, a light snow had started to fall.
“So much for walking in the moonlight,” she teased.
“I’m trying to feel bad about that. But for a boy from Southern California, the excitement of snow still hasn’t worn off.”
“All that sunshine and good weather must really get old.”
“It’s a dirty job, but someone has to live there.”
She laughed. “Still, there’s something to be said for Montana.”
“Preaching to the choir, Gianna,” he said. “And it’s not just the landscape or weather. The people in this town are good, friendly, salt-of-the-earth types.”
“I know what you mean.” Her tone was serious and sincere. “I met people in New York. Still have a good friend there who used to be my roommate. But the city is so big and impersonal. There’s an intimacy here that’s unique.”
“Everyone has made me feel really welcome, embraced me as one of them.”
“Thunder Canyon spirit,” she agreed. “But they can turn on you in a heartbeat if you let them down.”
That’s what worried him. But it probably wouldn’t happen tonight. He made a deliberate decision to change the subject. “So, we had a pretty good crowd in the restaurant.”
“We did.” She glanced up at him. “Were you mad enough to spit when that man sent his steak back twice because it wasn’t mooing on the plate?”
He shrugged. “People pay a lot of money for service and food. It’s my job to make sure they’re satisfied.”
“For every persnickety person, there’s a Ben Walters and Kay Bausch.”
“I don’t think I know them.” When she slipped a little on the sidewalk, he took her hand and slid it through the bend of his elbow. It wasn’t an excuse to stay connected. Not really. He was responsible for keeping her safe.
“Ben is in his mid-fifties, a rancher born and raised here. He’s a widower. Kay is a transplant from Midland, Texas. She works for Ethan Traub and came with him when he opened Traub Oil Montana. She’s a widow.” She sighed. “I was their waitress tonight.”
“Nice people?”
“Very. And the best part is they were on a blind date. Austin Anderson fixed them up.”
“Angie’s brother?”
“Yeah. It’s really sweet. And I can’t help wondering if the two of them were meant to meet and find a second chance at happiness. Romantic drivel, I know.”
“Not here. To me it sounds like just another day in Thunder Canyon.”
“On the surface that’s sort of a cynical remark,” she observed. “But digging deeper, I can see the compliment buried in the words.”
They were walking by one of the resort’s Christmas displays with lighted reindeer and Santa Claus in his sleigh. Animal heads moved back and forth and Rudolph’s nose was bright red. The big guy with the white beard moved his hand in a wave. Old-fashioned, ornate streetlamps lined the walkways and the buildings were outlined with white lights.
“This is really a magical place, especially this time of year,” he said.
“I know.” There was a wistful tone to her voice as she stared at the decorations. “What is Santa bringing you this year? A Rolls Royce? 3-D TV with state-of-the-art sound system? Really expensive toys?”
Material things he had. And more money than he knew what to do with had paid for a private investigator to dig up information. But it was what money couldn’t buy that made him feel so empty.
“I actually haven’t written my letter to Santa yet.”
“I see.” She stared at the jolly fat man turning his head and waving. “Have you been naughty? Or nice?”
“Good question.”
The mischief in her eyes turned his thoughts to other things and he looked at her mouth. The memory of those full lips so soft and giving convinced him that this was the right moment to make it up to her for not taking advantage of the romantic mojo on his balcony.
Shane lowered his head for a kiss, just the barest touch. He tasted strawberry lip gloss and snowflakes, the sexiest combination he could imagine. And he could imagine quite a bit. His heart rate kicked up and his breathing went right along with it. Gianna’s did, too, judging by the white clouds billowing between them.
No part of their bodies were touching and she must have found that as dissatisfying as he did. She lifted her arms and put them around his neck, but when she moved, her foot slid on the sidewalk and she started to fall.
Shane shifted to catch her but couldn’t get traction on the icy surface and knew both of them were going down. He managed to shift his body and take the brunt of the fall on his back in the snow while Gianna landed on top of him with a startled squeal. Then she started laughing.
He looked into her face so close to his and said, “That couldn’t have gone better if I’d planned it.” If he had, he’d have planned to be somewhere warm and for her not to have so many clothes on.
“So, you think it will be that easy to have your way with me?”
“A guy can hope.”
Apparently the innocent expression he put on his face wasn’t convincing because she chose that moment to rub a handful of snow over his cheeks.
He sucked in a breath. “God, that’s cold.”
“I’m so sorry.” Clearly it was a lie because she did it again.
“Payback isn’t pretty.” He reached out to grab some snow, then lifted the collar of her coat to shove it down her back.
She shrieked again, then gave him a look. “You’re so going down for that.”
“I’m already down.”
“Then we need to take this battle to a new level.” She jumped up and staggered back a few feet, then bent down. When she straightened, she hurled a snowball with each hand, but missed him.
Shane rolled to the side and grabbed her legs, tackling her. “I learned to do that when I played football.”
He looked down at her laughing face and thoughts of war and retaliation retreated. She was so beautiful he couldn’t stop himself from touching his mouth to hers. Definitely going on Santa’s naughty list this year.
He deepened the kiss and caught her moan of pleasure in his mouth as she slid her arms around his neck. They were already down so he didn’t have to worry about losing his balance this time. That was fortunate because she felt so good in his arms, he had his doubts about maintaining emotional equilibrium.
He cupped her cold cheek in his palm and traced the outline of her lips with his tongue. She opened her mouth, inviting him inside, and he instantly complied. The touch sent liquid heat rolling through him and he groaned with the need to feel her bare skin next to his. The sensual haze lasted just until he felt her shiver.
