Matching Mr. Right(30)

When the mystery man’s warm breath heated her ear, repulsion skittered up her spine. Then he kissed her cheek and whispered, “It’s been way too long. How are you, honey?”

At the sound of the familiar voice, Shelby’s thumping heart settled a little.

It was Greg!

“Hi. You scared me.”

“Sorry. Couldn’t resist.”

When he dropped her to her feet, she spun around and gave him a hard hug.

After a few moments, she reluctantly let go and took a step back, drawing in the sight of him. Greg, like Nick, was tall, but Greg was blond and blue-eyed dreamy.

Suddenly her brain cleared enough to realize he’d called her honey. Babe would have been better, but now was not the time to analyze his every word. She’d do that later.

While she was having a private party in her head, Nick’s hand slipped around her waist, plastering her against his side. “What’s going on, Shelby?”

She lifted her chin and stared into Nick’s narrowed eyes. She’d probably startled him when she’d panicked for a moment, there. But he’d seemed genuinely worried about her, and that was kind of nice.

“This is Greg. I should’ve known it was just him. He was always sneaking up on me like that when we were kids. But I didn’t think I’d see him until tomorrow.”

Greg beamed a bright smile. “I got in a day early and I couldn’t wait to see what you and Jo have done with the place. It’s fantastic, Shelby.” Greg held out a hand to Nick. “Greg Westin.”

Nick slowly removed his hand from her waist and clasped Greg’s hand. “Nick.” Then he turned to her. “So, is your little reunion   over? We have a meeting, right?”

Ignoring Nick’s snippy tone, she replied. “I’ll be right with you.” Then she smiled at Greg. “The café is Jo’s baby, I just help out sometimes. I’m super proud of her.”

“Me too. Where is she?”

“Right through there.” She pointed toward the swinging doors.

“Thanks. Really great to see you, Shelby.” He waved and headed to the kitchen.

And then it hit her. She must look awful! She was sweaty, and her hair had probably gone limp from being around all the steam. Maybe she could repair the damage before he came back.

She grabbed her purse and laptop from under the counter, but before she could slip away to freshen up, Nick’s long fingers wrapped around her upper arm and stopped her.

Slapping a twenty on the counter with his other hand, Nick said, “We need two coffees, black, and whatever you’re having, barista! Since when do you work here?”

Was he mad at her? “I own part of this, so when half the staff calls in with the flu, I help out. It’s a particularly nasty bug this year so if you haven’t already, you should get a flu shot. I’m thankful I did.”

“I never get sick.” Nick leaned closer and scowled. “So, that was Greg-the-surfer-dude-prince, huh? Does he often scare the crap out of you?”

What had crawled up Nick’s butt? Maybe he was mad that all the alcohol he’d consumed the night before had led to his kissing someone like her when he was used to flawless Beth.

“Greg was just happy to see me, so what?” Shelby laid her things down, poured the drinks and tucked them into a cardboard carrier.

After slipping his twenty into the tray, she shoved it into his gut.

Hard.

He grunted, but then motioned for her to go first.

After giving her tarnished knight-in-shining-armor an eye roll, she headed toward the dining area.

Beth joined them, slipping her arm through Nick’s bent one, and pulled him close. “I have an eleven o’clock so could we move this along? That is, if your spat is over?”

Nick slapped the coffee carrier onto the table. Then he drew a deep breath and composed himself. “Shelby Marx, Beth Gunderson.”

Beth nodded and then slowly slithered her long body onto a chair. Man that was a sexy move. Maybe Shelby’d have to give that a try sometime when she went to dinner with Greg. But it probably didn’t look nearly as sexy since she was five-two instead of five-ten.

Nick cleared his throat. He stood behind her, holding her chair and frowning.

Since when did Nick pull out chairs for her? “Thank you?”

As she sat down, she decided not to think about how her makeup had probably sweated off and her mascara streaked. It’d be futile. “Beth, thanks for coming today. I see you filled out the questionnaire online last night, so I just need to—”

“Just find me someone like Nick, and we’re good.” Beth laid her hand on Nick’s forearm and gazed deeply into his eyes.

Shelby couldn’t pinpoint why that bugged the hell out of her, but it did. “Okay. But are you looking to date this person or are you looking for something like you and Nick had?”