His reassurance did nothing to cool the heat on my face, and I grabbed a cloth and started furiously wiping down the counters, trying to strike the entire conversation with Rosie from my mind.
I’d picked up a bottle of glass cleaner and started on the pastry case when the door swung open.
Three men entered the shop one after the other — and these weren’t locals.
They were huge, at least an inch taller than Dane, who was over six feet tall, with tattoos that reached out from under their clothes, crawling over every inch of visible skin except their faces.
The one at the front had long jet-black hair, his nose slightly bent like it had been broken more than once. A blond with short spiky hair and a smattering of freckles stepped into the shop behind him, followed by a brown-haired man with the bluest eyes I’d ever seen and cheekbones as sharp as knives.
There was something cavalier about the way they stalked into the room, like they owned the place, and I wasn’t even surprised when the one with blond hair leaned over to plant a wet kiss on a picture of a Victorian woman having tea by the seaside.
“Morning love,” he said to the woman in the picture as he passed.
The black-haired man looked me over and I had to resist the urge to cover my body with my hands. His gaze made me feel stripped bare, like he could see everything under my shorts and tank top.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” he said, running his finger along the glass case. “You must be new.”
“I am.” My voice cracked and I tried again. “I am.”
“What did I say?” he said to the blond. “The Crumb always has the best sweets.”
The blond grinned and a shiver ran up my spine. “You know how I like sweets.”
I caught a flash of his tongue piercing when he talked.
They’d brought a strange chaotic energy into the shop, and I suddenly had the sense that anything could happen.
Thatanythingmight not be all good.
I was standing next to the glass case, feeling totally exposed, feeling weirdly like I needed an escape, when Beck pushed through the door from the kitchen carrying a fresh tray of blueberry streusel muffins.
He took one look at the three men standing in front of the glass case and dropped the tray on the counter, his expression darkening.
“Morning,” the blue-eyed man said to Beck. Now that he was closer I caught the piercings in his left eyebrow and noticed that a strip of his right brow had been shaved. “Looks like you have something new on the menu.”
Beck marched around the counter and took my arm, then pulled me back behind the glass case. “Fuck off, Viggo. She’s not going to play your little game.”
Beck’s usual easygoing manner vanished as he stood with his feet apart, his arms folded across his chest, like he was daring the three men to keep up their innuendo-filled banter.
The man with black hair laughed, his lascivious gaze flicking to where I leaned against the counter behind the pastry case. “I sense a personal attachment to this one. I’m feeling generous, so we’ll let you keep her.”
“You won’tletme do shit,” Beck said. “Now what the fuck do you want, Hawk?”
The man named Hawk walked the length of the pastry case. “I gotta hand it to you, it all looks good.” He looked at the mannamed Viggo, who had opened a pack of sugar from the coffee bar and was emptying it into his mouth. “Didn’t I tell you it would be worth the drive?”
Beck grabbed a pastry box. “Just tell me what you want and get the fuck out.”
He laughed, like Beck’s demeanor didn’t even put a dent in his self-confidence. “We’ll take one of everything. No wait, we’ll take two of everything.” His gaze slid to me again, his eyes homing in on my tits. “We have big appetites.”
Beck haphazardly threw two of every pastry in the case into the box, taped it shut, and shoved it across the counter. “No charge. Let’s call it a parting gift. Nice knowing you. Don’t come back.”
The blond picked up the box with a grin. “Aw, we’re hurt, but no hard feelings. You’re obviously feeling a little… territorial. And honestly, I don’t blame you.” He winked. “She’s yummy.”
I held my breath as they headed for the door. They felt like marauders come to destroy and pillage, like nothing was safe in their presence.
Like nothing was sacred.
“Too bad about the new girl,” Viggo said on his way out.