Page 10 of Hard to Hold
A soft blush crept up her cheeks and she instantly looked away.
Damn, she was pretty. Big brown eyes, pouty pink lips. Her blonde hair—darker at the roots—was always pulled back in a ponytail, making her look remarkably young, although I figured her somewhere in her mid-twenties.
I returned my attention to my food, then met Lynx’s gaze briefly.
He shook his head slightly, answering my silent question. I had asked him to find out more information on Amy. Where she came from, how she ended up here. Basic questions that I wanted to know about anyone who lived here. That was how the Caines operated. We kept an eye on these people. That was the way it went and I couldn’t explain why that was, either.
“What’s up, sweetheart?” Lynx asked.
I looked up to see Lynx smirking at two women sitting at a table close to us. Both women were staring, batting their eyelashes. Relatively attractive, you could say. Granted, I wasn’t all that impressed by the pearls with the tank top, but hey, what did I know about fashion?
Not that it mattered. Neither of them got my dick hard. Probably wouldn’t even if they were naked and on their knees in front of me.
It had nothing to do with biology, either. I was capable of getting a hard-on, but the shallow women who solicited me just didn’t do it for me anymore. At twenty, I'd been living high on life, fucking half the women over twenty-five in this town. Promiscuous had been my middle name. At one time, I'd ventured down an entirely different road, sharing women with my cousin on occasion, experimenting with men, sometimes hooking up with a man and woman at the same time. However, I'd kept that part of myself locked up tight for years. As I grew up, I started to have an issue with casual encounters.
Oh, that hadn’t stopped me completely, of course. However, as I neared thirty, it took a little more than a smile and a wink to make my dick stand up and take notice.
That didn’t necessarily explain why my body was on high alert when it came to the cute little waitress with the guarded brown eyes.
“Why don’t you just offer her the job?” Lynx inquired between bites.
I snapped my eyes over to Lynx when I realized I'd been staring at Amy again. “Who?”
“Amy,” he said softly. “Clearly she’s a hard worker and you know we can pay her a hell of a lot more than she’s makin’ here. How many jobs does she have anyway?”
Only two that I knew of.
I glanced over to see Amy wiping down the counter for the tenth time.
“Plus, she’s bored outta her mind,” Lynx added. “We need an office manager.”
We did. That was a fact.
“What makes you think she’d even consider it?” I knew Lynx well enough to know his interest in Amy wasn’t merely as an employee. He’d made it abundantly clear that he was hot for her.
Hell, half the single guys in town had shown their interest.
My mind drifted to my conversation with Rhys. The sheriff seemed to have some interest in her as well. For whatever reason, I wasn’t bothered by the idea. Not the way I'd claimed to be, anyway. Then again, I had some interest in the sheriff. More than I was ever willing to let on.
Lynx shrugged, then signaled Amy over.
I instantly put down my fork and picked up my coffee. God only knew what was going to come out of my cousin’s mouth, and I'd rather not be chewing.
“Can I get you something else?” Amy pulled her pad from her apron pocket.
“Do you like workin’ here?” Lynx asked, point-blank as always.
I peered up at Amy, noticing the way her brown eyes sparkled.
“Uh … yes?” A small frown line formed between her dark eyebrows. “Why?”
“See, we’ve got a spot open at the Cedar Door. It’s an office manager position. Wondered if maybe you’d be interested.”
Her confusion turned to wariness. “Why would you think I’m qualified?”
Lynx peered around, then met her gaze head on. “I figure you run this place rather well, probably not a stretch to think you can manage an office.”
“How much does it pay?”
