Energized (7 page)

“Sure thing. Gold-tipped cooking utensils go in the gluten-free section and the silver-tipped in the regular. The two sets cannot be mixed up because of the risk of cross-contamination. When serving both at a table, bring them out on separate trays and try to serve the gluten-free meals first. Honestly, this is not the first time I've served food. I really do know what I'm doing.”

Sadie's overly large nostrils flared. “From what I hear you were a bartender. I'm the only one who tends bar at events so don't try to horn in on my turf.”

“Lighten up, Sadie. The girl's only been here three hours.” The shy busboy made a sound that was a cross between a snort and a cough. With a gray bin in his hands, he carried in the dishes from the front of the restaurant. His eyes were obscured behind hair that wasn't brown and wasn't blond. His dirty white apron covered his equally dingy white shirt and pants. He might have been sixteen or he might have been Hannah's age. It was hard to tell. But one thing was clear, he was quick to defend Hannah. “It's not like she's applied to take your job. Go easy on her, why don'tcha?”

“Ah, look! The mute has found his voice.” Sadie glared at him. “Run along and wash the dishes or clear a table, Mouse. It's all you're good for.”

The man seemed to shrink but his white-knuckled grip on the dish bin and the thinning of his lips radiated anger. An anger matched, if Sadie's death ray glare was any indication.

“Is there a problem, Michael?” Karma asked the busboy, stepping into the kitchen through the swinging door separating it from the Master dining room. Her voice took on a slight Hispanic accent that she hadn't had before. Her face was friendly but her eyes assessing. Her gaze bounced from Michael to Sadie and finally to Hannah.

Then one by one, all eyes turned to Hannah, as if expecting her to answer. So she did. “Nope. Just getting the rundown of how the restaurant operates from Sadie and Michael.”

“I'll bet.” A smile curved Karma's lips and her voice lost
its accent. “Sadie, if you're finished showing Hannah the prep tables, I could use you out front. We have some guests arriving for dinner. Michael, why don't you see about washing the dishes you cleared from lunch? We don't want the boss to come back and find a sink full.”

“Fine.” Sadie scowled but the moment her palm touched the swinging door between the kitchen and the front room, a believable smile lit her face.

Michael didn't answer, but disappeared around the corner. His expression had blanked to the quiet, introspective one he'd worn when Ross had first introduced her.

“Don't mind them,” Karma said when the water started running in the other room. “Sadie and Michael had a fling a few months back.”

Oh, ewww.

“But she's old enough to be his mother.”

“He's older than he looks. But I suspect the age difference was part of the reason it didn't work out. I think poor Sadie wanted more than a fling but Michael . . .” Karma shrugged. “He's only twenty-five and still trying to find himself. Still young, you know.”

“He's older than me. Isn't he older than you?”

“No, I'm twenty-seven.” Karma winked. “Women mature faster than men. Besides, you and I are unique. We needed to figure out who we were much younger than most people, don't you agree?”

Hannah wanted to ask what Karma meant by that, but Virgil appeared at the screened-in back door, two grocery bags in his arms. “Can one of y'all pretty ladies get the door?”

At the same time, Sadie appeared in the opposite doorway, the scowl back on her face. “Karma, since you let Dawn go home early, I hope you plan on putting the new girl to work out here. I'm already working with a six-top. We just had two four-tops and an eight-top walk in. I can't do them alone. Not that I've had time to teach her what those references mean.”

“A four-top is a table with four customers and an eight-top is eight customers. Or guests, as I suppose you call them here. I told you, I have a background in the service industry.”

Hannah glanced at Karma who opened the door with one hand and handed her a pad with the other. “Hannah, are you comfortable doing both of the four-tops? They might be easier than the eight for your first time here, since you don't know the menu yet.”

“Sure. I got this.” Hannah tucked the pad into her apron, then tightened the strings out of habit. Nope, she might not work in the bar anymore, but food service was food service after all.

Sadie huffed and pushed her way out of the kitchen again, that incredibly realistic smile plastered to her face.

The door swung back before Hannah could reach it. She tossed up a hand to catch it before it hit her in the face. A sizzle of energy slapped her palm where she brushed the metal plate on the door.

She shifted and used her shirt-covered elbow to push on the wooden part of the door. But her arm caught the edge of the metal hand plate and something dark seeped in. She didn't have time for a vision and shoved it away. But couldn't quite shake the quiver in her belly. And this time it had nothing to do with seeing Niall again.

*   *   *

“T
HE
C
ONSTRUCTION
S
ITE
Killer has struck again. A body of a man was discovered this morning on Arctic Avenue by four teens who had been using the homes under construction in the planned community as a hangout. Police are not releasing details pending notification of family members. But an unidentified source has confirmed that this is likely the fourth victim of Tidewater's first serial killer. We'll have more on this disturbing development on our sister station Channel Nine news tonight at eleven.”

Niall rolled his truck into the parking lot behind the Boxing Cat and cut the engine, silencing the news bulletin on the radio.

The Brunswick stew he'd eaten with his mother congealed in his stomach. And that seriously pissed him off. What the hell was this world coming to? A serial killer in Tidewater? It was bad enough he'd faced crazy-ass insurgents overseas
defending his country, but to have a psycho in his hometown picking off people like it was his own personal horror movie?

Niall exited his Ford F-250, locking it out of habit and double-checking the lock with the news report still playing through his head. Barely through the door and he spotted a flurry of activity. So much for tonight being a light night as expected.

Virgil loaded a large pizza into the oven while Paulie sautéed mushrooms and spinach in a sizzling garlic butter sauce. Five dinner tickets waited to be filled and six plates loaded and ready to be served littered the counter.

“Boss, Dawn's kid got sick. Sadie's out there but she's in the weeds,” Paulie called out over his shoulder. “I can't leave the kitchen and Virgil's not too steady with a trayful.”

“Bite your tongue, boy!” Virgil snapped, slamming the oven door closed. He turned to reach for the hot meals only to bang his side into the corner of the metal prep table. “Damn this old hip!”

“You hurt, Virgil?” Niall slid his backpack across the floor, sending it skidding into his office and checked on his oldest family friend.

“Nothing a little ice can't fix.” Virgil waved away his concern. “I am old. The boy might be right. I don't seem to be too steady.”

“Where's Karma and Ross?” Niall asked, stacking the plates on a tray.

“Ross said he'd be back. We lost an entire tray of food about ten minutes ago. Some Navy guys came in and got fresh with Sadie. Don't know what happened. Karma was calming her down out back. Didn't you see them?” Virgil asked, hobbling over to the freezer and pulling out an ice pack.

“No.” Before Niall could say anything else, Paulie spoke up.

“Night's been cray-cray, Boss. Dawn left before the dinner rush started and I do mean rush. Then some sailors from the USS
South Carolina
came in for their first at-home meal in months. Words and Sadie's temper flew. The new girl managed to calm down the guests while Karma hustled
Sadie outside. Then
blam
!” Paulie clapped his hands together. “One minute the new girl's carrying out six meals, and the next, dishes and food all over the kitchen floor. She thought for sure she was going to be fired.”

Niall swept his gaze around the kitchen. The only trace of disaster in the room was confined to a few shards of what had likely been a plate in a corner.

“What new girl? Dawn's out sick? Sadie and some sailors? Six meals lost? Sonofa . . .” His string of questions was more of babbled frustration than any real inquiry. Virgil, smart man, just seemed to know it.

“It's fine, Niall,” Virgil said, patting his free hand on Niall's shoulder. “Just our way of letting you know we're glad you're here to save us and not halfway around the world.”

Count on Virgil to be both poignant and joking in the same breath. Niall exhaled and smiled, since that was clearly what the old guy wanted.

“All right, since I am here, point me in the right direction.” Niall hoisted the tray onto his shoulder and turned for the door. “Where are these going?”

Paulie pulled the ticket off the counter. “Table four. Hey, when you get back, can you find Karma? Tell her to hurry up. FYI, that plate by your thumb is gluten free.”

Using his foot, Niall gently pushed open the swinging door. The rooms were lit by flickering candlelight on the tables and on the walls. The place was alive with guests at every table in every section. Clinks of silverware on plates, pings of ice cubes in glasses, and the murmur of the patrons' voices added a homey ambience to the Cat.

Moments like these, Niall understood why Ross had wanted this building. There was an atmosphere of comfort and elegance to the place the old Cat never had. The cozy feel certainly, but not this genteel elegance enhanced by the flickering of the candles in the wall sconces in all four of the rooms.

He'd been expecting chaos but everything looked normal. And signs of being a very good night for the business. They almost never had a midweek night this packed in the other
store. He'd have to remember to tell Ross . . . whenever his brother showed up again.

Niall made his way through the Master Room, down the narrow hallway separating it from the Three Bells, and through the glass-paneled door separating it from the Quarter Room.

Inside tables had been pulled together to change it from several two-tops to one six-top. The three sets of couples at the long table were surrounded by four more two-tops at each corner of the room, granting every guest the illusion of intimacy and privacy in the busy restaurant.

Pressing the curved handle down, Niall then used his left arm to shoulder open the glass French doors. The chatter at the six-top stopped as all eyes turned to him.

Smiling, he spotted the tray stand set up next to the table and lowered the tray. He lifted the first meal in the air. “Who had the gluten-free linguini with white clam sauce?”

Inexplicably, the patrons erupted in applause.

“Oh, thank you! I was just in the kitchen looking for this.” A familiar voice called out from behind him, “See you guys, I told you. The Boxing Cat would get your meal out to you before you knew it.”

Niall's fingers, jaw, even his knees went slack as he turned to see Hannah of Heaven's Gate. Her fairylike face alight with joy.

She was here.

His ears buzzed.

She was in his restaurant.

His heartbeat double-timed.

“Let me get that for you . . . uh, Boss,” she said, slipping the plate out of his hands.

She called him . . .
Boss
?

Oh, hell no.

“B
OSS
?”
N
IALL
FORCED
the word between clenched teeth. He'd tried for a smile when he'd returned to the kitchen with Hannah, but judging by the way she rolled her pink braid between her fingertips, it wasn't working.

But what the hell? Why was she in his restaurant? Working. For him.

A sliver of alarm rippled through his belly. Was she a psycho stalker?

“Yes, isn't it amazing? Last night when I arrived in Tidewater I needed a job. This afternoon while eating lunch here, I was hired. Really incredible.” Hannah dropped the braid, washed her hands in the sink, then walked around the half wall to check over the tickets waiting on the counter. “Anything up for me, guys?”

“Give us three minutes and your pie will be ready.” Virgil gave her a wink. “But these are ready to go out to the Half Room, tables six and seven. Can you carry them out for Sadie?”

“Sure thing.” Hannah didn't hesitate. She picked up the
tray loaded with four plates and started to reach for the pitchers of sweet and unsweet tea.

“I got the tray,” Niall said, sweeping it off her shoulder, leaving her free to grab the pitchers in both hands.

“Thanks.” Hannah's face practically glowed. She led the way through the restaurant, smiling radiantly at the customers.

Niall followed her through the restaurant both appalled and amused by how well she'd fit in. The way the guests chatted with her as she refilled drinks, it was like she'd been working here for months, not hours. Hell, several people called her by name but still had no idea who he was or that he owned the place.

After serving the meals, Niall checked on a few tables. Relief swept through him at the sight of Karma and Sadie back at work. A large table of sailors, dressed in their blue fatigues, left. Michael appeared from out of the shadows and bussed the table.

There was no time to talk to Hannah. Why was Niall trying? She didn't seem to have any great impulse to talk to him. Like a social butterfly completely in her element, Hannah flitted from one table to another. Serving food, drinks, and even jokes. It was alarming and disarming. And fuck. He could smell her honeysuckle fragrance every time she strode past him.

The sight of her killer body in the gender neutral white shirt and black pants uniform, the sound of her laughter, hell, even that damned fresh scent of hers was screwing with his head. But the blood pounding through his body was definitely not headed north. He needed to stop staring at her like some horny teenager. So he did.

Around nine thirty, Niall retreated to his office. He kicked his bag under the desk and folded down the step stool into its other shape, that of a ratty office chair. He needed to work. The English wedding was this weekend. There was still work to be done to prepare for it and Ross was still MIA.

As much as Niall hated the idea of expanding the business, he hated failing more. Someone had to do the work, so
he'd do it. He'd be damned if he'd let his brother drive the Cat into the ground. With one ear listening for the musical laughter of a certain confusing waitress, Niall set his teeth and focused on the numbers on his computer screen.

Crap! He'd really come full circle today. He'd started the day trying not to think about Hannah while working on this damned spreadsheet. And he'd finish it the same way. Only now, she
worked
for him.

Yep. Fucking perfect day.

*   *   *

“
W
HAT A NIGHT!”
Karma said, locking the front door behind the last couple to leave the Boxing Cat at eleven thirty.

Hannah smiled. She couldn't help it. The job, the fabulous tips, and all the wonderful guests she met tonight had made her feel completely at home. “It was an amazing night.”

“You say that now. Wait till Niall docks your pay for those dishes you broke.” Sadie tugged off her apron.

“Oh, I forgot about those,” Hannah said. So much for her great night. “Will he charge me for meals or just the plates?”

“He won't charge you. Dishes break. She's just teasing. Right, Sadie?” Karma smiled but her brown eyes narrowed and the accent was back in her voice.

“Whatever.” Sadie shrugged and glanced around the Master Room, where Hannah had first met Karma and Ross only hours before. “Look, I'm scheduled to open tomorrow. You got the rest of this? I got a date.”

“You go on your date. I'll stay and show Hannah how to close up.” Karma yawned and stretched. “Zig's on the midnight shift this week, so I'm not in a rush.”

“It was nice meeting you, Sadie.” Hannah smiled at the older waitress.

Sadie harrumphed, then disappeared through the kitchen doors.

“I think I feel sorry for whoever she's got in her sights,” Karma said with a laugh. She hit a switch on the wall, bringing up the overhead lights and started blowing out the candles in the room.

Hannah followed her example and within minutes all four of the dining rooms were lit only by electricity. The stark light made the rooms look more like a museum full of antique furnishings than the bustling restaurant it had been earlier. “Thanks for showing me the ropes tonight.”

“You're welcome. You're a fast learner. Besides, I loved how your aura spilled over onto everyone around you all night long. The aura of everyone you spoke with brightened like you were a human torch of goodwill and happiness. Pretty awesome, if you ask me.” Karma's large brown eyes were warm. “You really do fit in here. It's like you were always meant to be at the Cat.”

Hannah couldn't keep the grin from her face. Karma's assessment made her feel ridiculously happy. “Thanks, but the guests made my first night easy.”

“Even when you dropped all those dishes?” Michael's voice preceded him from the shadows. An empty gray bin in his hands. He might have been smiling, but it was difficult to see past the swath of hair hanging in his face.

“You stop. Like you never dropped a dish.” Karma swatted Michael on the arm playfully, then wrapped one arm around Hannah's and tugged her toward the kitchen. “Don't listen to him. He's just messing with you. You really were spot-on all night long. I told Ross that orange glow around you would be good for business. You just draw people to you.”

They pushed through the kitchen door and found it empty. The back door hung open with only the screened door closed but not latched. But the most interesting door was the office one. It stood ajar with the toe of one of Niall's polished black shoes
tap-tap-tapping
on the concrete floor. He hovered between the office and the kitchen, his attention focused on someone in the office.

“What in the hell is wrong with you? No, don't waste my time lying to me. It pisses me off when you pull shit like this. And don't bother giving me your litany of reasons for hiring someone behind my back. I don't care how much we need another server for the wedding. You had no business hiring someone when I wasn't here. Especially when you didn't
bother to do the things I said we needed done. The pantry bulb is still out, the toilet's still jacked up, and I can only assume you didn't clean behind the shelves.” Niall's words came out in a series of staccato beats timed in rhythm with his toe taps.

Tension wafted through the air like an overcharged current on a hot summer night. The hair on Hannah's neck rose and she tried to back up but succeeded only in stepping on Karma's toe.

Karma clapped a hand over her mouth and her eyes watered but she didn't make a sound. In fact, she shook her head when Hannah started to apologize. She hiked a thumb over her shoulder in a silent suggestion they head back the way they had come.

No argument there.

Their exit came to a sudden halt when the door didn't move. Michael was on the other side peering through the diamond-shaped opening. Karma motioned for him to move, but he remained still, staring presumably at the office door. Not that Hannah could really see Michael's eyes, but given Niall's volume, it was an easy assumption to make.

“You told me before you left that one of
our
responsibilities was to do the hirings and the firings.” Ross's voice, less grave but with considerably more volume, cut through the air. Multiplying the tension by ten. “We had a need, so I hired her. What's the big deal? Or am I no longer qualified to hire people without permission of the great Niall Graham? I'm just some stupid kid who can't do anything right, is that it?”

“I've never called you a stupid anything. Hell, I told you five minutes ago that tonight's receipts were outstanding!” Niall's voice rose to match Ross's decibel.

“And I told you that we needed another server for Saturday. Dawn's kid got sick and she had to leave early. Hannah jumped in to help. You should be thanking me.”

“Thanking you for what?” Niall retorted, mockery and disbelief tightening his tone.

“Yes, thanking me.” Ross's voice grew marginally louder and the words slurred. “In a single stroke, I got us another trained server for Saturday and Dawn's shift covered for tonight. Not bad for a dumb-ass kid, right? Oh great and powerful Niall.”

“Should I also thank you for going out and getting wasted during business hours? Got to get your party on? Or are you going to try to tell me that you weren't at O'Toole's until twenty minutes ago? I should warn you, if you're going to lie to me, that you reek of beer.”

“Fuck. You!”

The door swung open, and Niall stumbled backward a few steps as if shoved. He balled his hands into fists at his thighs but didn't raise them. Instead, he turned sideways in the door and let Ross storm past.

Hannah and Karma pushed harder against the door to the Master Room, but Michael didn't budge. Shoot, why couldn't she be endowed with the gift of invisibility? Although, the way Ross ignored them, they might as well have been transparent.

Ross didn't pause, he turned left out of the office and stormed out the back door, nearly knocking over Paulie who must have either been coming in or waiting outside. To his credit, Paulie didn't react. He glanced at Niall who stood red-faced and hands still fisted in the doorway to his office.

Paulie rolled his eyes at the man, then glanced at Karma. “Trash is out and the stoves clean and prepped for tomorrow. Can I—” He nodded toward the exit. “I'm his ride.”

“Go on, Paulie,” Niall said, turning to the chef. “Good-night.”

Paulie hesitated a moment, then nodded first to Niall, then to Karma, then to Niall again. “See you tomorrow, Karma. Clock me out, Boss.”

Hannah's heart pumped like a marathon runner's while she waited for Niall to notice her. Although him not noticing might be a good thing. He'd sounded pretty angry that she'd been hired.

Although what had she really expected?

For him to sweep her into his arms and kiss her the moment they saw each other again? No. But she sure hadn't anticipated him yelling at his brother for hiring her. Maybe if she explained that this was a temporary job. Just something
for a few months until she could find a job as an electrician, it would lessen the blow. Reduce the tension.

Niall closed his eyes and his lips moved as if he counted silently. She tried not to stare at him. Tried and hopelessly failed. Because, well, it was Niall.

His very presence filled the room. His hair, although longer than it had been the night they met, was still short. It stood out in odd tufts, as if he'd been tugging at it.

Then his eyes flew open and his gaze zeroed in on hers. She was locked in his sights but not frightened.

Fascinated.

Niall was tall, commanding, and, despite having just participated in a shouting match with his brother, appeared startled rather than angry. And those vivid green eyes. He stared at her with an intensity that made Hannah's cheeks burn. An odd red light surrounded him. She'd seen that light before. The night they'd made love in her apartment. It pulsed and beckoned her. She might have gone to him, touched him, but then he spoke.

“I suppose you heard all that.” Niall sighed and shook his head as if resigned, running a hand through his hair. “Of course you did. He shouldn't have hired you. It's nothing personal. Just business.”

The words were impersonal, efficient, and had the absolute effect of slicing her in two despite the quiet, beleaguered delivery.

Half of her was devastated by his callous words. The other half just as quickly reminded her that the universe sent her here. He needed her, even if he didn't know it yet.

Now she simply had to convince him of that.

“It's nice to see you too, Niall.”