Briony closed the door of The Ledge behind the last of the patrons and released a sigh that echoed in the cavernous room. The couple had hung on until the bitter end, well past the eleven o’clock closing time. She glanced down at her phone and sighed again.
Nearly midnight. And she had to get the twins up at six.
“You’re nicer than I am.”
Briony whirled around, wielding her phone above her head. Cass moved with lightning speed, one aim circling around her waist and drawing her flush against him as he grabbed her wrist and deflected the blow.
“Not the greeting I was expecting,” he said, an amused smirk crossing his face.
“Why did you sneak up on me?” she demanded. She had intended to sound firm. Instead, she sounded breathless and husky. Her body had gone from fear to heightened awareness in the span of a heartbeat. Hard not to be aware when she could feel the hard muscles of his chest pressed against her breasts, his woodsy scent filling her senses as she inhaled sharply.
“I thought you saw me. I was sitting in the back corner.”
She glanced in the direction he’d gestured. The corner booth was shrouded in shadow. Wariness flickered through her. Had he deliberately sat there so she wouldn’t see him? So that he could stay undetected until the last guest left?
She shook off her sense of foreboding. It was late and she was letting her imagination run wild.
“No, I didn’t.”
She’d been more disappointed than she should have been when she’d turned around after serving a group of hunters and found Cass’s barstool empty. But she’d pushed through, focusing on filling drinks and not on glowing caramel- colored eyes that made her deliciously warm.
Slowly, Cass released his grip and stepped back, giving her space. She swayed forward before she caught herself. What was wrong with her? She never reacted like this to a man.
“I saw that you were the last one here.” His voice carried a thread of steel, as if he was angry on her behalf. The thought touched her and filled her with a different, cozier kind of warmth. When had someone cared about her?
Not since Mom. The knowledge that he had stayed to make sure she was safe was like a balm to her bruised and battered heart.
“Gus, the owner, normally stays,” she said past the bump in her throat. “But his wife just had a baby and she isn’t sleeping well, so I told him to go home.” She gestured to the snow-covered prairie outside the windows. “Not like we live in a dangerous city.”
“You never know when danger might strike.” With the way Cass was looking at her, she had a feeling that the biggest threat was standing less than three feet away. Not dangerous, she realized, at least not in that she feared he would harm her. But dangerous in that he was the kind of man who could make her throw her inhibitions to the wind and do something spontaneous.
