Page 44 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

“Don’t worry, chief. You just shmooze your clientele. I’ll be fine.”

“All right but don’t interrogate anyone without checking with me first,” she warned.

He looked hurt. Annie was about to retract her statement but the timer in the kitchen went off, interrupting her good intentions.

“Your muffins are cooked.” He winked at her and she felt her skin tingle. The timer went off again.

“Stop that!” she snapped, not sure if she meant him or the timer or both.

The morning passed in a blur. The rush didn’t die down until after ten and by then Annie was too preoccupied with prepping lunch to stop and take a breath.

Denise had never appeared or called, but Fisher had done remarkably well in her stead. She needn’t have feared that he would interrogate any of her customers. Instead, he charmed them silly.

Her Tuesday morning regulars included five librarians from the large public library down the street. A jovial group, they drank their double lattes while they discussed unwanted-hair removal, good dates, bad dates and where to get a smoking deal on shoes. Annie had always looked forward to their visits, primarily because she could always con one of them into taking her books back to the library for her. But today, what had they been discussing? The shape of Fisher’s backside, that’s what!

And they were in unanimous approval of it, from what Annie had managed to overhear. Not that she ever eavesdropped on her customers, but when she heard his name mentioned, well naturally, she was curious. He was absolutely no help at all. Refilling their cups while showcasing his slow-burning grin, the man was an incorrigible flirt! And her customers, her female customers, loved it. She sold more coffee and muffins during the morning rush than she had in weeks.

She didn’t want to know why this didn’t make her feel any better. Or why the thought of strangling him with his apron strings brought her so much pleasure. Using the largest knife in her kitchen, Annie chopped the head of lettuce before her as if it were Fisher’s head.

Why did he have to come into her life anyway? She wasn’t looking for this. She’d been quite content with her solitary existence. Now she couldn’t get the man out of her mind. It was like he was sitting on her shoulder all of the time, and she couldn’t get away from him or the feelings he stirred inside of her.

“Gee, what did that lettuce do to offend you?” A low whistle brought her attention to the kitchen door. Fisher stood there holding a glass of raspberry iced tea out to her. “I thought you could use this.”

Annie looked at the mangled lettuce before her and back at Fisher and said, “I meant to do that.”

“Sure,” he murmured.

“I did.” She sniffed. “Not everyone likes big hunks of lettuce in their salad you know.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know many who prefer it in liquid form, either.”

Annie dropped the knife and reached for the iced tea. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. “Want to talk about it?”

“About what?”

“About whatever is making you mutilate defenseless vegetables?”

“No,” she said with a shake of her head.What am I supposed to say? That I want you, but you only want me to help you catch your bad guy? No thanks.

“You’re sure?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “We’d better get back at it. The lunch crowd starts a little after eleven.”

“Whatever you say, boss.” He saluted her and exited back through the kitchen door.

Boss. That was the second time today, he’d called her boss. And she’d gotten one chief. Great. He’d gone from thinking of her as a would-be criminal to a boss. Wasn’t that just dandy?

“So, you’ve decided to hire a young stud to work the counter? And I thought you had no business sense.”

Annie looked up from her desk to find her father standing in the doorway grinning at her. In a three piece suit, shiny shoes and not a hair of his full white mane out of place, he was the epitome of the suave businessman. Annie felt her lips part in a smile.

“Daddy, what brings you here?” she asked.

“I just came by to see how my baby is doing with her business,” he said, enfolding her in a huge hug.

“How’s Muffy?” she asked.