Page 36 of Cautious Love

I pat him on the shoulder and nod. “It’s okay, I’ve got this.”

“Nah, honey, you don’t need to be anywhere near that asshole. I’ll take his order and let you spit in it first.”

I snort and let Bear take the lead. He walks up to Grey, sitting at one of the booths, and completely ignores him, staring at me instead. I let him, and I don’t back down. He doesn’t get to win.

“Hey, I’m talkin’ to you. Don’t look at her, look at me. What do you want?” Bear asks.

The bell rings again. I glance at the door, and my knees nearly give out in relief. Ledger walks in and stops, staring at me. A shaky breath brushes my lips, and if it wasn’t completely weird or out of the blue for me to do it, I’d throw myself into hisarms. But we haven’t discussed that part of our relationship. We probably should.

I glance at Bear and Grey again, and he frowns, looking over his shoulder. Ledger tenses and walks up to the booth.

This cannot be good.

“Should we do something?” Mollie-Mae asks from the corner of her mouth.

“No, Ledger’s got it,” I whisper.

She nods and goes to a couple on the other side of the diner to refill their coffee.

“Grey,” Ledger says.

“Sheriff,” Grey grumbles.

“I hope you’re not giving my friend here a hard time?” Ledger says, patting Bear’s shoulder.

“Sheriff,” Bear says, but keeps his eyes on Grey.

“No, just here to get something to eat.”

“Good,” Ledger says, and turns around.

While keeping his focus on me, he crosses the diner and slides onto the barstool right in front of me.

“What can I get you?” I rasp.

“A cup of coffee, please,” he says.

“Hi there, sheriff,” Mollie-Mae says in her sickly sweet voice. “Mollie,” Ledger says, tipping his hat to her.

She giggles.

My stomach burns, and I grab a cup and the carafe to get Ledger his coffee. I can’t look at them. It doesn’t matter that Ledger isn’t interested in her, and he’s married to me, and she doesn’t know it. But I don’t have to see her flirt with him and watch him inevitably shut her down. I kind of feel bad,but I kind of don’t either.

As I slide his coffee across the counter, he glances over his shoulder at Grey, who’s messing around on his phone.

“Has he come in here before, since everything happened?” Ledger asks me seriously.

I keep my chin high even though I want to burst into tears. “This is the first time,” I whisper.

He nods and takes a sip.

“Can I get you anything?” Mollie-Mae asks Ledger.

I have to give her credit for trying to flirt with him, even though I’m standing right here.

Ledger, the gentleman he is, looks her in the eye and says, “No, ma’am, I’m alright, thank you.”

She gives him a fake smile, and he startles me, taking my hand in his. Sparks roll through my body and my skin tingles with the contact, and I look around to see if anyone is watching.