Sean chuckled. This woman was going to give him a run for his money, but he was finding that he was more than up to the challenge.
And he did keep things very slow between them, although that did not mean that he kept his distance from her. Exactly the opposite was true. He’d taken to stopping by her shop every morning, delivering either her usual coffee – plus or minus the doughnut, depending on how well he thought she was eating that week – or some other small treat. Sometimes he surprised her with a lunch that he intended to share with her. Of course, it was killing two birds with one stone, since his place didn’t have a refrigerator, and he knew she could stick whatever he’d brought into one of her fridges in the back.
They saw each other almost every day for the first month since they’d met, mostly at his insistence. Tess never got much of a chance to take the lead – which was fine with her, since that wasn’t her bent anyway. It always seemed as if he were several steps ahead of her, and had everything planned down to a T. He even invited her down to his shop to eat lunch with him in the tiny break room – really more of a closet. The close quarters further fostered the blossoming intimacy between them. When not engaging in the occasional burst of conversation, they ate in a companionable silence, neither feeling the need to fill the air with inane chatter. She was practically in his lap, their legs and feet touching under the table as they ate.
Not that his crew allowed them much privacy; just the opposite. They were a loud and rowdy bunch, most of whom he had grown up with, who saw him first as their friend, and then as their boss, although he never allowed that attitude to get in the way of everyone’s – including his – getting their work done. They were a curious bunch, wanting to know who had finally grabbed Sean’s attention away from the shop after a very long – if understandable – dry spell.
“Boss, I hate to drag you away from your lady friend, there,” Matt, his assistant manager began, his expression and tone letting everyone know that he meant the exact opposite of what he was saying, “but I have something you need to come look at.”
Sean was up and out the door in a second with no apologies to Tess. She knew what running a small business was like, and had no problem being left behind until his other employee, Red, entered the room and slid into the chair that Sean had left, saying, “Hey, do you mind if I talk to you for a moment?”
After moving her chair a bit away from him, Tess answered a bit warily, “No.”
Red, who was so named because of his naturally-rusty hair color, smiled, chuckling a bit. “No, I’m not going to hit on you, believe me.” At her raised eyebrow, he stammered to recover himself, not realizing at first just how that statement might be received by her. “Not that I wouldn’t want to, you understand, but Sean would take me apart piece by piece.” He felt like he was only digging himself deeper with every word, and if her broad grin was anything to go on, Tess was enjoying every minute of him trying to tap dance out. Suddenly he stopped and just looked at her. “You’re not going to let me off the hook on this, are you?”
Tess wore a broad smile. “Not on a bet!”
“Well, I really didn’t come here to insult you. I just wanted to say that I’ve known Sean since we were kids playing in our backyards together.”
“I bet you got into a ton of trouble.”
“You have no idea.” Red’s genuine smile faded quickly as he said what he had come to say. “But I wanted to tell you something. Did you know Sean was married?”
Tess stood up so quickly her chair nearly tipped over onto the floor. “He’s married?” She wanted to shriek the question, but couldn’t quite seem get enough breath to do it. It came out like a shattered whisper.
“No, no, not now. He was married – in the past. He’s not married now.” Red knew he was making a mess of this, but he’d known Sean long enough – knew how close to the vest he played things – and he wanted to make sure that Tess knew the score.
But Tess wasn’t sitting down. She continued to regard him suspiciously, as if she thought he was going tell her something else horribly alarming about Sean. “What happened to his wife?”
The big man tugged her back down into the chair she’d vacated so violently a few minutes ago. “She died quite a while ago, more than nine years. They were childhood sweethearts, went together all through high school. He never once looked at another woman, and he really hasn’t since, either.”
Tess’s heart clenched for Sean, who’d lost the woman he loved much too quickly. “What are you saying?”
Red sighed. “Look, you’re the first woman – hell, the first thing besides this damned shop – that Sean’s had any interest in for a very long time. I just wanted you to know how special you must be. He’s no Romeo. He’s a one-woman man. If he’s after you, it’s because he wants you, wants a future with you, whether or not he’s told you that.”
“He hasn’t.”
“Yet.”
Tess looked up at Red as if she doubted his confidence in what his friend was likely to do.
“I’m not kidding, Tess. He’s been like a monk forever, and for the first time in a long time he seems happy.”
“I’m glad.”
Red put his hand on her arm.
