“Oh, come on. You’re sitting here in the only food truck in town, practically the only small business if I’m being honest, and you don’t know that she’s made some deals?”
“I don’t make a lot of money here, Bastian,” I said softly, my eyes darting between him and his accomplice now.
A seagull cawed overhead and the water crashing on the beach sounded much louder than before.
“You could make more if you answered my questions.” His voice was calming now, almost hypnotic, urging me to go ahead and obey. He pushed the extra change my way.
I wasn’t that na?ve.
I shook my head. “I don’t want your money.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, and I could see him clenching his jaw. Then he slowly unwrapped the straw, never taking that gaze from mine. He dipped it into his drink and brought it to his lips. Full lips. Ones that wrapped around the straw and sucked in my creation.
I shouldn’t have been turned on. He looked like a stuffy god, a ruler who needed to unwind.
It had me curious, nervous, fearful, and turned on all at the same time.
All things I shouldn’t be feeling. The one feeling missing that should have been there was regret.
He cleared his throat and I jumped, lost in my own thoughts and focused directly on his mouth. It quirked up before he immediately let it drop again. “Your shake is really good, Morina.”
“It’s out of this world.” Dante stepped around him and put his large hand out as if he wanted to be friends. “Nice to see you again. Wasn’t aware we were going to. Your name is Morina, right?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why, Dante? Find something in my file that isn’t there now?”
“Your file says you reside in the town over and have no relation to Maribel.”
“My mother was quirky with birth certificates. My dad’s the only name on mine.”
He lifted a shoulder and turned to Bastian. “Can’t expect me to know that.”
“Cade would have.”
“Cade’s had his head in a computer since he was born. I was fighting for our country. Want to weigh the two?”
“Not really. Considering my brother can start a war in 2.5 seconds on a computer, there’s not much to weigh,” Bastian shot back.
Dante laughed, so easy in his confidence even when it was being threatened. “You’re right. That guy is chaos waiting to erupt.”
“Tell me about it,” Bastian grumbled.
Dante’s green eyes cut to me again, and he lifted his shake with a smirk. “Guess we’re going to be getting to know each other much better Ms. Bailey. We can start with what you put in this shake. Is that lavender, citrus, and chia seeds?”
I heard the passion in his voice and saw the blatant disregard he had for his boss when he had a question about said passion. Bastian scowled behind him.
“You’re right,” I said. “I hide a lot of good stuff in there. I’m hoping you get an energy boost from the citrus but that the lavender keeps you calm.”
“Oh, I already know I will. Tastes like the right mix,” he mumbled. “I’ll be back for more for sure.”
I laughed at the way he vigorously nodded at his drink. I loved seeing people happy with something I created.
Bastian tapped his friend on the shoulder and Dante immediately stepped aside as he nodded to me and walked off toward the car. Good, they were going. Hopefully only Dante would come back while they were in town.
Once he was out of ear shot though, Bastian dashed my hopes. “You know something about this town and I have business in it, Morina.”
“Well, it’s a small town. Everybody knows something. Ask anyone.”
“I want to ask you though. I have business with your grandmother. You seem to have figured out a little trick and I need to understand why.”
“What do you do, Mister…? Armanelli was it?” I waited for him to confirm.
“You know you can call me Bastian.”
“Sure it can’t be daddy anymore?” I couldn’t hold back. If he was going to throw little girl in my face, I was going to bite back. I turned and grabbed the large pitcher to take it to the sink.
“Oh, it still can, piccola ragazza,” he growled low enough that I almost didn’t hear.
My body reacted immediately. Jesus. He jumped from gentleman to just man so fast. I knew he was dangerous and into something questionable now more than ever. Still I was stupid enough to find him attractive.
I flipped my hair over my shoulder and glared at him. “No thanks. I’ll go with Bastian.”
We stared one another down. Maybe this would be the farewell battle, the one where he left me alone after.
Instead, he asked, “Care to share why you’re so defensive?”
“I don’t like you insinuating I’ve done something shady with my food truck. I’ve been here for years. My family ran this truck, and it’s been a staple of the area. There’s nothing odd about it.”
“Except that you’re the only one.”
“We don’t make much money. Maybe people just decided they wanted to make more in an actual building. The beach isn’t for everyone.”
He hummed low like my explanation didn’t make much sense. It did to me because that’s what had happened. I made just enough to get by because there wasn’t much overhead. I’d inherited the thing. We kept with tradition and this was part of it. Might have not been the smartest idea, but it didn’t matter.
“I have to clean up and get ready for the day.”
“Hmmm. Finally getting into work attire?” His gaze drifted behind me to where most of my clothes were together with a lot of other knick knacks.
Suddenly, I felt the urge to clean and that infuriated me. I couldn’t control my eyebrows slamming down. “If you think your smoothie is contaminated, I’m happy to take it back.”
As I reached for it, he backed up immediately. Ah, he liked it just as much as Dante had. “I’m keeping the smoothie.”
“It could be full of germs,” I singsonged.
“It’s surprisingly good… for a black suit smoothie, nice even.”
I smirked at him. “Am I supposed to say you’re surprisingly nice even with that black suit you’re wearing now? Because I won’t. This meeting has not been enjoyable.”
He finally stepped back, like he realized he overstayed his welcome. His shoes sank into the sand a little and looked completely unnatural in it. “I’ll see you around.”
“Please don’t,” I grumbled once he was out of earshot. I turned and washed out the blender. I scrubbed it harder than I should have but it was the only way to take out my frustration. The man was an entitled piece of work. What business did he have in the area?
He probably wanted to open a smoothie shop down the street.
I knew a shark when I saw one, in the water or out of it. They snuck up on you, then circled and circled, watching for your weakness. I wasn’t giving him any information though.
I spun back around and made myself a smoothie. I poured way too many strawberries in with strawberry yogurt and added some strawberry syrup too. My smoothie didn’t have to be nutritious. It was feeding my mental health instead, right?
I let the machine whir as I stared out at the beach. One of the guys lifted his smoothie to me in a cheers motion and I smiled.
This was my town.
My beach.
My oasis. And no one could take that away.
9
Bastian