Sam's Promise (Blackwater)

“You’re not going to bring it up at the hospital, are you?”

“Of course not.” He rubbed his frozen hands together as he waited for the engine to warm up. “Beyond telling her I’m going to take over until things are in the black, that is. I don’t want her unnecessarily upset.”

“FYI, Julie might have some information for you about the restaurant. Mom confides in her quite a bit.”

Sam stopped rubbing and scowled at the mention of Julie. “She’s a waitress. Why would Mom talk to her about the restaurant’s finances?”

“From what I’ve seen, Julie has become more than a mere employee to Mom. I think they’re fairly close.”

The news bothered him, but he couldn’t put a finger on why exactly. “As in, the daughter Mom never had but always wanted?”

“Hell, I’m not sure,” Reilly replied. “Just talk to Julie. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

“If you get there before me, try and make River go home. He’s going to be tired as hell, if he’s not already.”

“I doubt he’ll listen.”

“I’m just glad one of us will be there round the clock to keep Mom company. You know how she is about sitting in bed when there are things to be done.” A sudden image of their Thanksgiving dinner sitting cold on his mom’s kitchen table shot through his mind. “Shit, I forgot about the turkey.”

“Julie took care of it.”

“Huh?”

“She mentioned that Mom wouldn’t want to come home to see all that food ruined and the kitchen a mess, and offered to clean it up. I told her we’d take care of it, but she insisted. She’s a persistent little thing.”

Sam smiled. He owed Julie for everything she’d done for them. “She has a key to the house?”

“I loaned her mine. Said she’d leave it at the restaurant for me to pick up later. Speaking of the restaurant, did you know that Julie has also been opening in the mornings?”

“No, I didn’t. I thought Mom took care of all that. She always refused to hire a manager, so it didn’t occur to me.” Sam shoved a hand through his hair. “Is there anything Julie can’t do?”

Reilly snorted. “Smart, efficient, sweet as sunshine and easy on the eyes. I can’t figure why she’s still unattached.”

Sam’s gut clenched when he thought of Julie with some faceless stranger. “She more or less said she hasn’t had time to think about dating.”

“For a woman like her, I’d be more than willing to work around her schedule.”

Sam cursed. “What’s with you guys? You’d think you’d never seen a pretty woman before. Christ.”

“Jealous?” Reilly asked in his usual no-nonsense way.

“Why the hell would I be?”

Reilly chuckled. “Good question.”

“I’m going home,” Sam muttered. He knew damn good and well Reilly had him pegged, and it pissed him off. “See you later.”

He hit the End button and tossed his phone onto the middle console. It wasn’t until after he was on his way that he let himself think of Julie again. She’d been an angel. The least she deserved was a thank-you. All he’d given her so far were a bunch of frowns. Maybe he could take her out to dinner to make up for it. A friendly, no-pressure evening as a way to pay her back for all she’d done for them.

But even as the thought entered his mind, Sam knew he was lying to himself. He didn’t want to be friends with the woman. He wanted to get her into his bed. To sink himself into her sweet heat until they both had a good, long taste of heaven. His cock hardened as image after image bombarded his mind. Damn, what was it about her that he couldn’t stop thinking of getting her naked? He’d never let his libido rule, but hell if he could keep his mind out of the gutter whenever her name popped up.

One thing was certain—Julie Rose had crawled right under his skin, and for the sake of his sanity, he needed to do something about it.

“We’ve had this talk before, Bryan. The Blackwater Diner only serves food.”

Julie tried not to let her irritation show, but it wasn’t easy. Bryan Delaney was a handsome man, in a polished suit-wearing sort of way, and he’d been coming into the diner at least once a week for months. Unfortunately he never failed to ask her out on a date. He also never seemed to understand that no thanks was code for never in a million years. His attention had been sweet—for about the first five minutes.

“Is there a problem?”