Free Marrying the Wrong Man by Elley Arden

he blanked. And that couldn’t happen. He needed to keep his mind clear around her—otherwise he’d end up burned again.
    The restaurant needed help, but it couldn’t come from her. No, he needed someone he could trust to stick by him. He was done with people who ran away.
    The phone rang again.
    Somebody wanted to get a hold of him. He walked into his office on the third ring, and saw
Unknown Caller
on the display. If it was a wrong number, he could just hang up. “Hello.”
    “Charlie.”
    Will.
Charlie squeezed his eyes shut and covered his face with his free hand.
    “Guess where Kory and I had dinner tonight?”
    He was not in the mood for guessing games. “I don’t know. Where?”
    “At the Caldreas’s house. You can imagine our surprise when Hannah came home crying and saying she quit her job at the bistro because she didn’t want to be a waitress.”
    “I didn’t yell at her. You told me to be nice, and I was nice.” He’d barely spoken to her all evening to make sure.
    “I don’t know what happened, Charlie, and I don’t care. You have one person helping you now—Corbin. I’m starting to agree with my mother; rescinding our financial support and putting that money into a bakery would be much less hassle.”
    Charlie sniffed. Without the Mitchells’ help, he’d be as good as closed.
    Voices sounded in the kitchen.
Corbin and Morgan.
Wait! Technically, he had more than one person helping him. It wasn’t perfect, but if it saved his ass … “I already have a replacement for Hannah.”
    “You hired someone else on your own?”
    “No, your mother did. Morgan Parrish.”
    Silence.
    Charlie sunk into his desk chair. Good God, things had just gone from bad to crazy. Now, he was going to have to work with Morgan until they found her replacement.
    “Wow,” Will said. “I did not see that coming. What the hell was my mother thinking?”
    “Beats the hell out of me.”
    “Is she any good?”
    “She managed. End of the night, and she’s still here.”
    “Hey, that’s more than we can say for most of them.”
    Charlie dropped his head to the desk. She was still more than capable of walking out on him tomorrow or the next night. Maybe he should take bets on when.
    “Okay. Then I’ll try to get Hannah back to hostessing since Morgan’s going to waitress,” Will said.
    At least something good should come of this.
    When he’d hung up the phone, he buried his face in his hands. If he weren’t sober, he’d be drunk by now. He opened the bottom desk drawer and grabbed a bottle of spring water. He polished it off in five seconds flat.
    “Night.” Morgan stood in the doorway. She tipped her head and settled her gaze on the bottle in his hands.
    “Water.” His defensive streak was still so strong.
    “I know.” She smiled softly. “Thanks for giving me this chance.”
    He nodded and tossed the empty bottle into the trash. He didn’t want to give her any chances to let him down again, but he needed her—temporarily—or he was going to run this place into the ground. He couldn’t afford to go it alone just yet.
    “If you want, you’re welcome to stop by and see Charlotte tomorrow. She’s feeling much better now.” She tipped her head to the other side. “Thanks again for everything you did that night.”
    Did it make him a bad man to wish he hadn’t done a damn thing? Then, maybe she wouldn’t be staring at him like there weren’t miles of stagnant water between them.
    He grunted like none of it mattered. Maybe that made him a jerk, but if he had to work with Morgan every night except Sunday and Monday, he had to maintain some emotional distance. And he wasn’t sure about seeing Charlotte tomorrow, either.
    Self-preservation was the name of the game. He had to put himself first. After everything she’d done, he couldn’t trust Morgan to do that.
    • • •
    “Morgan Parrish, is that you?”
    Three tables into her second night waitressing at Char
-
Grilled Bistro, Morgan hated