Read Online 0451471040 by Kimberly Lang - Free Book Online Page A

you?”
    “Give me the lemon bar and find out.”
    The door opened and a small group walked in. She looked over and called out, “Hi! Be right with you,” then turned back to stare Tate down. “ Do you?”
    He looked pointedly at the pastry in her hand. With a sigh, she set it down on the plate and slid it over to him. He picked it up immediately and took a bite, claiming it as his before she could reconsider. “Now go take care of your customers.”
    “You’re terrible, Tate Harris.”
    “But I’ll have this budget sorted out by the time you’re done with them,” he promised with a cheeky smile.
    Damsels in distress can’t be picky about how they get rescued, she thought, and went to help her customers.
    •   •   •
    Molly didn’t exactly flounce away, but it was close—and kind of funny. He’d never sparred with her before like that, but it had been more fun than he’d anticipated and, more importantly, meant that last night’s awfulness had been forgotten—or at least they would pretend it had never happened.
    He still wanted to strangle this newfound need tomeddle out of Helena, but Ryan would probably protest.
    He had to give Molly props, though. She’d been a good sport about the whole thing, at least up until he’d doubled down on the fiasco with his apology. He might not have hurt her feelings, but he now knew exactly how she’d felt when she’d heard him snap at Helena. It was definitely a ding to the ego; that was for sure.
    Especially since she’d been so very earnest in her declaration. That level of frankness wasn’t just her trying to salvage her pride.
    And, yeah, it stung.
    He’d gone home and eaten the cookies Iona had made in her quest to win his hand, wondering—just a little—what about him had caused that level of distaste in Molly. It wasn’t as if he could ask, though, so he’d been left wondering.
    And since she was being so friendly today, it made him wonder even more.
    He watched as Molly seemed to be debating the qualities of two different kinds of coffee with her customers and wondered why Helena was so gung-ho on fixing Molly up with him. Pretty, smart, successful business owner, kind—all the fine qualities Helena was marketing were all right there on display. Her charms weren’t some well-kept secret or anything. If Molly wanted to date, she shouldn’t have any problem finding someone.
    So why was she single, then?
    He scrubbed a hand over his face. That wasn’t his business, and why did he care? He was here to sort out Mrs. K’s disaster of a record-keeping system, not ponder Molly’s love life.
    Just before he went back to the paperwork mess in front of him, he saw Molly smile at her customers. Andwhile he’d seen her smile hundreds of times—the woman was always smiling, it seemed—this time he realized that it was always the exact same smile.
    That made him pause.
    Molly certainly wasn’t afraid to tease or flirt—after all, she worked in the service industry; it was practically part of her job description—but it was always safely within the expected and socially approved boundaries. He thought about the conversations he’d had with her. At Latte Dah, she was professional, perky, and friendly. When she brought Nigel into the clinic, she was friendly, perky, and concerned. Around Helena, she was friendly, perky, and fun. Half of what was so strange about last night was that she hadn’t been like that. It was what had led him to offer his services today— not , as Helena wanted to think, due to some desire to play Lancelot. Sheesh.
    Right now her face was open and interested as she talked to her customers—exactly the same as it usually was.
    The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Molly acknowledged people, included people, and even listened to them, but she didn’t actually engage with them, even though it seemed like she did. It had to be intentional, and she was so good at it that he doubted anyone ever noticed the