Free BIG DADDY SINATRA 2: IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU, Book 2 by Mallory Monroe

to
Denise.  
    Even
Kerstin noticed it.   She stared daggers
at Denise.   But Denise also noticed how
it was the flunkies at her table who did her dirty work for her.   Whenever Denise went to their table to take
or deliver their orders, she was met with derisive comments by the
flunkies.   Kerstin never said a thing,
but Denise knew the mean girl game better than most.   The so-called popular girls tried to recruit
her all through high school, but she kept turning them down.   So they turned on her too.
    But
Kerstin’s displeasure only further confirmed for Denise what she’d been
wondering all along.   Her interest in
Brent was reciprocated.   He was attracted
to her maybe as much as she was to him.   So despite the cool reception of the so-called it girls, Denise was pleased.   Why was she so pleased, considering the fact that she was still pining
over Mark, was the question.
    And
then, after lunch, when she was handing Brent the bill and turning to head back
toward the kitchen, he reached out and grabbed her by the arm.   She looked at his big, smooth hand on her
small arm, and then she looked into those seductive, piercing eyes.   Her heartbeat quickened.
    “What
time do you get off?” he asked her.
    She
had a sudden feeling that she should tell him to get lost.   “Six,” she said instead.   “I don’t have to close tonight.”
    “How
about I swing back, pick you up, and we go for a drive?   Or out to dinner if you prefer?”
    Denise
knew Norm and Jenay wouldn’t prefer it at all, and Stephie wouldn’t like it
either since she had a thing for Brent too.   But Denise was developing an itch lately that was screaming to be
scratched.   And here was a gorgeous hunk
ready, willing, and undoubtedly able to scratch the hell out of it.   And those damn sexy eyes of his!   What was a girl to do?
    But
she wasn’t in Maine to pick up some man and get her heart broken again.   Especially if that man was her best friend’s
stepson and a player to boot given the attention these girls around town gave
to him.   But even with all of that, it
was still a close call for Denise.   But
she decided against it.   For now.
    “Thanks
for the offer,” she found herself saying, “but I’ll take a pass.   You guys have a nice evening.”
    Tony
couldn’t believe it.   After she left
their table, he leaned forward and stared at his brother.   “She turned you down?” He had a look of
astonishment on his otherwise handsome face.
    Brent
looked at the bill and pulled out his wallet.   It hurt, but he wasn’t telling Tony that.   “Whatever,” he said.
    “But
. . . she turned you down, Brenton!   She
turns me down all the time, and every other guy around here, but she turned you down?   You ?”   Then Tony smiled.   “I love her!”
    Brent
stood up and tossed two twenties onto the table.   “Then you pay the bill, lover boy,” he said.
    Tony
laughed.   But then he looked at the bills
Brent had just tossed onto the table.   “Forty bucks?” He stood up.   “You’re leaving the girl who turned you down a forty dollar tip?”
    “Just
pay the bill,” Brent said, and left the café.
    He
went outside as the afternoon sun gave way to an overcast sky.   The Hot Spot restaurant was inside the
Jericho Inn but its entrance and exit backed up onto a busy Jericho thoroughfare.   And as soon as Brent walked out onto the
sidewalk, he was accosted by various residents who had issues with his father
or issues with the police department, or both, and they wanted to know what
Brent was going to do about it.   But
Brent had no answers to give them.   He
was just standing in front of the café waiting on his brother.   And even with the questions and all of the
activity around him, he still found himself thinking about Denise.
    He
even turned and looked through the café’s window in search of her.   And when he found her, he couldn’t take his
eyes off of her.   Contrary to what Tony
believed,