Kiss Me, Katie! & Hug Me, Holly!

“Well…”

“Excuse me, miss?” It was Dan, the mechanic, holding up an empty coffee mug. He looked hopeful. “Are we going to get more coffee over here sometime today?”

Before she could answer, Lou, the postal clerk, waved his hand. “And I need my order,” he called out. “Preferably before my next shift is over.”

Riley had to give her credit. For someone he suspected had never waited a single table in her life, she didn’t so much as flinch. But it was the oddest thing. For one minute there he thought she seemed uncertain, vulnerable, but then she turned back to him and her gaze was as cool as ever.

He had to laugh at himself. Though it was second nature to him to rush in to help or save people-anyone, even women who annoyed him-this woman didn’t need his help. She’d probably never been uncertain or vulnerable in her life. “Looks like you’re going to have to start serving sooner than later, princess.”

“Princess?” Her eyes went glacial. “Did you just call me…princess?”

“It seemed to fit.”

She shook her head and stared around her in bafflement. “It’s official. I’ve stepped into the twilight zone.”

“Miss?”

This time it was Mindy, the librarian. Her glasses slipping nearly off her nose, she raised her finger and smiled hesitantly. “Can I get-”

“Hold your horses!” Holly told her. Slamming her arms into the apron, she then glared at Riley. “And what are you smiling at?” she demanded.

“Your lovely bedside manner.”

She growled at that and proceeded to ignore him. It wasn’t often he was ignored by the opposite sex, but in this case he didn’t mind. Holly Stone was most definitely not his type, though he did understand her. All too well.

Riley had grown up with a sheriff as a father. Ted McMann had been warm, loving and, given that his wife had left him for the faster city life, stubborn and tough to a fault. As a result of that unrelenting authority, Riley had spent a good part of his youth tearing up the town and racing with a fast crowd. Hurting his father. Still, it hadn’t taken Riley long to figure which side of the law he wanted to be on-the side without the bars. His father was still grateful.

Now Riley enjoyed the slow, sweet country life very much. He loved his ranch, he loved his job, and he loved the wild, open desert that had been his home since birth. But he didn’t fool himself. He wasn’t likely to find a woman suited to this life, not for keeps anyway. In his experience, both with his mother and the few women he’d gotten serious enough about to even contemplate settling down with, women craved far more than what small- town living could provide.

Not Riley, not anymore. Yes, he’d left Little Paradise for college, but after four years, he’d missed it with all his heart and soul. He loved the huge, open spaces, the quiet, the sense of freedom he’d never found in a place teeming with too many people and things. Yeah, he’d been ready to come home.

Princess here, on the other hand, didn’t look ready for a break from where she’d come from. She was glowering at her customers as if this was all their fault.

“I almost hate to butt in here,” he said with amusement. “Because honestly, it’s so much fun to watch you work this out by yourself. But I feel the need to point out that this is what some would consider a people job.”

“Do I look like a people person?” She yanked the apron strings around her waist and tied it. With an air of dignity better suited to royalty than a tiny cafe out in the middle of nowhere, she studied the mess behind the counter.

Marge had been an excellent cook, an even better people person, but cleaning up after herself hadn’t been her strong suit.

The place was a disaster area.

Behind them, the clientele grew restless. From the kitchen came utter silence, the meaning of which obviously didn’t escape Holly, because she chewed on her bottom lip and stared through the service window, clearly wondering how she was going to manage both serving and cooking.

“So, what’s the plan?” Riley asked her.

She ignored that, too, so he stood, then moved behind the counter. The area was small. Holly was close enough that he could see her eyes weren’t completely light blue, as he’d first thought, but had little specs of darker blue swimming in them. And though he was tall, she came up past his chin, so that he could look into her eyes without stooping.

Surprised when he did just that, she backed up a step, then lifted her chin again. “What are you doing?”

He smiled, enjoying her queen-to-peasant tone. “Just looking at you.”

“Well…stop it. And why are you back here anyway?”

Hell if he knew. She was as annoying as any woman he’d ever met and yet for some reason, she stirred his blood. “Don’t you want help?”

She looked horrified. “From you?”

Oh, yeah. She was definitely annoying.

“What does a cowboy, much less a sheriff, know about running a cafe?” she asked.

“What do you know about running a cafe?”

He had her there, he could tell. She just glared at him, apparently her standard response when she didn’t know what else to do. Riley imagined she alienated quite a few people that way, but for some reason, it only amused him all the more. “What’s the plan?” he asked again, tying on Eddie’s old apron, which was thankfully dyed beige, not hot pink.

“Why should I tell you?”

He smiled at that. “Because in case you haven’t noticed, you’re about to handle this place all by your little lonesome. In fact, if I were you, I’d be super-extra sweet to me.”

Her gaze was glacial. “I don’t do sweet.”

He laughed and went for the coffeepot to pour himself a cup, watching as she vanished into the kitchen. “Don’t I know it.”

HOLLY STOOD in front of the huge grill, staring down at the congealing fat surrounding the burgers, which good old Eddie had been cooking for who knew which one of the customers out front.

She supposed she could go out there and ask, but then she’d have to admit she was clueless, and she’d have to admit it in front of Riley McMann, the first man she’d ever met with the unique ability to completely ruffle her feathers.

No man did that to her. She did that to them. But not in this case, damn him anyway.

Things were definitely out of control.

Frustration swamped her. She felt as if she were floundering in a situation, scrambling to get what she wanted.

And what she wanted was so simple. It always had been.

Acceptance.

Compassion.

The L word. Love.

She deserved those things, didn’t she? Sure, she’d always been a bit of a troublemaker, but that was only because she knew what she wanted, and knew if she didn’t go after it full-steam ahead, no one was going to hand it to her.

No one had ever handed her anything. Instead they took one look and judged her on looks alone. So she had good genes, so what? Being blond and smart didn’t mean jack diddly unless she was respected for it, which she wasn’t.

From out front, someone called for the waitress.

Ha! She knew even less about how to be a waitress than she did how to cook.

But if she was going to make this work, if she was going to prove her worth to her family for once and all, she needed to learn both, and quickly.