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CHAPTER 69

Kent was a coward. Out in the cafe, Gemma was going about her job, greeting all the customers in that wonderful manner of hers, and he was in there, hiding. He had planned on telling her the truth when she first came in, but her turning up early had thrown him, and then there was the issue with the customer. Now he had been inundated with orders, and she had obviously been run off her feet, judging by the fact she hadn’t even come in to give him a quick kiss or say hi. As soon as she did, he would explain things. He just needed her to listen to his thought process because it wasn’t like he had actually done anything yet. He was just weighing up options, and she needed to know that.

He glanced at his phone, knowing the minutes were ticking by when the doors opened.

“Hey you, are you all right? You look distracted,” Gemma said. “Something’s troubling you.”

How had she done that, Kent wondered? Somehow, a single glance was all she needed to read him. He knew she was the one for him. He had known, possibly even from the first time she had yelled at him, but they would have to get over this hurdle first. A hurdle created by his own cowardice. After all, it wasn’t like hehadn’t had the opportunity to tell her before now. But he hadn’t expected things to move so quickly. Not on the business side of things and not on the relationship side. He hadn’t anticipated feeling so strongly after only a week together, and he hadn’t wanted to upset all that by telling her what he’d done. And now she was looking at him with those perfect wide eyes of hers and he was struggling to know where to start.

“Actually, I’m not feeling so great,” he said.

“No?” Her face narrowed with concern. “What’s wrong? You’re not feeling under the weather, are you? If you’ve got something, I’m bound to have caught it, and there’s no way this place would run with both of us ill.”

“No, it’s nothing like that,” he said. Knowing he couldn’t avoid it any longer, he let out a sigh, then drew in a long breath, hoping that it would steady his thoughts. But when he looked up, he found Gemma was standing just in front of him.

“Anything I can do to make it better for you?” she said, a smile lilting on her lips. How did she do it to him? How did just looking at her make his whole body turn to jelly?

“Have I told you I think you’re incredible?” he said.

“Not today, no,” she said with a grin.

“Well, I do. I think you’re absolutely amazing. And I’m so grateful that I bought this place. Whatever happens.”

“Whatever happens? That sounds very serious.”

He closed his eyes momentarily, only to feel her fingers curl around the back of his neck. When he opened his eyes again, she was staring right at him.

“You know, I’m sure whatever the issue is, you and I will be able to figure it out somehow. It’s a work thing. Money problems?”

This was it. This was where he had to tell her the truth. He opened his mouth, hoping the words would come, but before he’d got a single one out, the door to the kitchen opened.

“Kent there’s—Oh my god.”

At the sound of Sophie’s voice, Gemma jumped away from him and whipped her hands down to her side.

“Sophie?!”

“Sorry, guys, I didn’t—oh my god, I’m interrupting. I’ll go. I didn’t see anything at all.”

She looked between the pair of them, then twisted towards the door, only to turn back again.

“Kent. There’s someone here to see you,” she said.

A second later, she was gone and Gemma was looking like she’d just seen a ghost.

CHAPTER 70

Gemma felt all the blood drain from her face. Her hand was still around the back of Kent’s neck, frozen there, as her head turned to face Sophie in the door. A heartbeat passed, and she suddenly realised what it looked like. She dropped her hand to the side, inching away from Kent as if that would be enough to convince Sophie that she had not been in an uncompromising position with the owner of the cafe and her boss.

“Kent—,” Sophie started. “Oh my god. Sorry, guys, I didn’t—oh my god, I’m interrupting. I’ll go, I didn’t see anything at all.”

Her eyes met Gemma’s with a look of disbelief, or was that disgust on her face? Gemma couldn’t read it. A second later, Sophie had turned around, leaving the kitchen door swinging as she headed back into the cafe.

“Do you think she could tell?” Gemma said, only to shake her head. Of course, she could tell. They hadn't been kissing, that was a small relief, but really, having her hands around Kent’s neck was hardly an appropriate workplace action. She needed to explain things, explain that it wasn’t going to affect how they were working or what was best for the business. She moved to follow after Sophie, only for Kent to grab her hand.

“What are you doing? I need to go speak to Sophie, I need to explain. God, I should have told her when I told the others. She’s going to be so hurt that she didn’t know,” Gemma said.

“Please, I just want to talk to you first,” Kent said.