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“Is that what it looks like to you?” she sneered and, God, I wish it would stop. I wish she’d stop looking at my mouth. I wish I’d stop staring at hers. I didn’t want to argue, least of all on my first day here.

Least of all with Frankie.

“There are things that need tweaking,” I said calmly. “Processes that need refining, and suppliers that have contractual obligations to deliver stock when promised.”

“I can’t believe this,” Frankie breathed, her words twisting into a huff of laughter. “I thought that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t be so bad having you own the store. That maybe my parents didn’t make a huge mistake. I was clearly wrong.”

She turned on her heel, flipping the length of her burnished curls over her shoulder and storming off.

“Frankie, this needs to be resolved,” I called after her, ignoring the burning ache in my gut.

“Itisresolved,” she called back, not bothering to stop or turn around. “You’re the only one who has a problem with the solution.”

I stared after her, my heart in my throat, wondering what the fuck just happened.

Chapter five

Cooling Off

Frankie

IseethedasIstomped to the back of the store, ignoring the concerned gazes from Joe and Dean.

I needed to walk away, clear my head before I said something I’d regret.

“Woah, hold up there,” Vanessa murmured as she looped her arm around my elbow, wheeling me around and to a stop. “What’s goin’ on?”

My breath left me in a frustrated exhale and I glared at a spot just past Vanessa’s shoulder. “Nothing,” I muttered, my teeth gritted. “I just need to go some place I won’t get myself fired.”

“Hey, now,” Vanessa said, cutting off my escape. “We can’t have you this bugged out, Frankie, talk to me.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, resisting the urge to look over my shoulder to see if Hayden might have followed me.

I wanted to talk to Vanessa, but every argument that sat poised on my tongue was more childish than the last. I wasn’t behaving the way a manager should. I shook my head, eyes darting every which way.

“I just,” I paused, the words bubbling up and disappearing at once. I was frustrated, flustered, and I needed air. “I can’t do this right now.”

I walked away and Vanessa respected my need for space. I was silently grateful for that, for the fact that she didn’t hound me or pressure me into talking.

It was one of many reasons she and I got along so easily.

That, and she practically helped raise me.

I ducked through the small gap between the café and the deli, marked for staff only, and paced in the short hallway.

I dragged in a deep breath, the air chilled in my lungs. Irrational, that’s what I was being.

But a part of me couldn’t stand by while Hayden turned the store, my parents’ dream, on its head.

No matter how hot she was.

Fuck, I needed to stay on topic. But the memory of our first meeting crept in every time I tried to push it back. The sharp, crafted edge of her jaw, the sleek slope of her nose, and those keen eyes.

Eyes that both terrified me and intrigued me. Eyes I wouldn’t mind having on me.

I shook my head and cursed under my breath.

Was I seeing things? It would explain a lot.