“If you’re looking for a balance between sweet and tart, Braeburn is the one you want.”
His gaze fuses with mine, sending my body temperature soaring. “That’s exactly what I’m looking for.”
I give him a curt nod. “Happy to help.”
He drops the apple back into the pile and reaches in to snag a banana from the display by my shoulder. His potassium levels must be excellent because it’s the one thing he buys each week. With a chin dip, he tips the banana in my direction and then stalks off, and I hate that I stare at his ass filling out his jeans just right.
It’s been too long.
Jenna sidles up beside me. “Now, that’s a man I’d let touch me in all the wrong ways.” She sighs.
My head whips to her. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
Jenna’s an employee of mine, and nearly twice my age. Actually, she’s probably more Silas’s age than I am.
“You must agree with me? You wouldn’t let him give you a hard spank or two?”
“I wouldn’t let him touch me at all.”
“That’s your problem.” Jenna smacks her cinnamon gum like she’s just solved the riddle of my existence. “You’re too wound up. You need to let loose. Live a little.”
I glance at Silas and wonder what it would be like to let loose with him. “You know he came in just for a banana,” I tell her. “Again. Isn’t that strange that he doesn’t get a bunch?”
Jenna laughs. “I bet he’s coming in here to get a good look at you.”
I slap at her arm playfully. “No, he is not.”
We watch as Silas pays for his banana, and before he leaves the store, he tosses me one last glance over his broad shoulder.
“See, I think I’m right,” Jenna muses. “He’s wanting to share that banana with you.”
“He’s old enough to be my—” My words halt when Jenna puts her hand up to stop me from speaking.
“Do not say father,” she butts in. “He’s not that old. Probably forty, forty-one.”
“I’m only twenty-three.”
“Who cares?”
“Everyone in town,” I remind her with a raised brow.
“I think you need to go out.” She shakes her hips. “Find some handsome stranger and get freaky with him.”
I roll my eyes. “My father would murder him, and then murder me.”
“Well, maybe you should go to the bar across town. The Cool Cactus.”
My eyes widen. “I can’t go there. My father would have a heart attack.”
But the more I think about going to a secluded bar on the edge of town, I realize maybe Jenna is brilliant. Go to a place where nobody knows me and find a hookup. I’m so over dating. I just need to… unwind.
“Only if he finds out,” Jenna says, adjusting her blonde ponytail. “Which he won’t.”
Maybe Jenna’s right. Maybe I should have a night of fun. I have a few days off coming up, and I could easily slip into something a little more revealing and have a night or two on the town.
I work hard six days a week and never get any time to play. It’s been years since a man touched me, so yes, tonight I’m going to find someone to take away all the stress I’m under from running this store.
Jenna beams when I tell her I’m going to do it. “Just looking at you right now, you definitely need a little fun. Maybe you should head over to the Legendary Villains’ complex and ask Silas to show you a good time. A little appetizer before the main course.”
I gasp. “I would never. I don’t want those rough hands all over this,” I lie, moving my hand over my body, showcasing the goods.
“Oh, I think you’d change your mind if you saw him with his shirt off.”
“Have you seen him with his shirt off?”
“Only in my dreams, sweetie.” Jenna makes a sharp turn and straightens cucumbers. “Don’t look now,” she whispers. “Mr. Redford is here.”
I knock Silas out of my mind and turn my attention to the store owner striding in my direction.
“Hello, ladies,” he says, as cheerful as ever. The crow’s feet nestled beside his faded gray eyes crinkle deeper when he smiles at us.
“Hi, Mr. Redford. How’re things?” I ask.
“Great. Betty, can I see you in my office?”
I give Jenna a nervous glance before following Mr. Redford to his back office.
Once we’re both inside and he has taken a seat behind his desk, he drops a bomb on me. “Betty, I got an offer on the store.”
“You’re selling?” I hold my breath. I love my job, I really do. I’ve worked hard to make The Hungry Grocer everyone’s favorite store in the area, and who knows what might happen if he sells to a huge corporation that will want to bring their own managers and key players in to run things.
My job will be obsolete, and I’ll have nothing.