Series: Paige Michaels
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45693 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45693 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
“Ooh, blushing. Have you been spending time with that man of yours?” Guille asked as she grabbed a cutting board and a knife to chop onions for the pico de gallo.
Rolling her eyes, Maya simultaneously bemoaned and celebrated her family and friends. She knew they had her back, but if they’d only shut up.
Chapter Fourteen
A few days passed with them spending their free time together. Most of Maya’s clothes—well, all the ones that fit—now hung in a closet at Deke’s house. They spent all their time together and enjoyed each other’s company completely. Maya couldn’t be any happier. The only annoyance was those darn roses that kept arriving.
She didn’t even have to look at them, but Maya knew that they were there. Every once in a while, she’d walk through the dining room and see someone twirling a rose with a smile. Something inside her would ball up in the pit of her stomach.
Today, she carried a stack of glasses to the waitress stand. As she passed a table, a man called her name. “Maya.”
Turning, she looked at the unfamiliar face and held up one finger to ask him to wait as she stowed her burden. When she returned to the table, she asked, “Good afternoon, sir. Would you like me to call your waitress or is there something I can help you with?”
“I don’t want to talk to her. I hoped you would join me for lunch.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I’m working… But thank you,” Maya tried to be polite as she edged away from the encounter.
“I’m sure you could talk to Mateo and take an hour for your lunch break,” he assured her.
“I’m sorry. That isn’t possible.”
Fleeing from the man who made her feel uncomfortable, Maya hissed, “Follow me,” to Mateo as she passed him at the front desk.
“What’s up?” Mateo asked. “I need to seat a few tables.”
“There’s a man near the waitress stand that just asked me to have lunch with him.”
“Deke’s here?” Mateo asked.
“No. It’s not Deke. I don’t know who he is, but he knows my name and talked to me like we were friends,” Maya said, trying to make him understand why this man made her uneasy.
“That’s weird. I’ll check him out as I walk these people to their table,” Mateo promised.
Nodding, Maya fled through the swinging door into the kitchen. With her mind whirling, she looked at Guille and admitted, “I can’t think right now. What do you need me to do?”
Thankfully, the chef didn’t ask any questions. “Would you shred a block of cheddar and crumble a couple of queso blancos?”
“On it,” she answered and ducked into the walk-in refrigerator to grab what she needed. The box of queso blanco hadn’t been opened so it took a few minutes to wrestle free the blocks. It actually felt good to manhandle the cardboard, and she kicked a crate of peppers on the bottom shelf just because.
“Ouch!” she yelped when the wooden container didn’t yield at all.
Limping slightly, she carried the cheese into the prep area. Mateo and Guille stopped talking as she entered. “Like I don’t know you’re talking about me. What’s going on?”
“That table was empty when I walked through the dining room. There was only a hundred-dollar bill tucked under his glass. Sarita was his waitress. She brought his meal as I stood there trying to figure out if you were talking about another table,” Mateo reported.
“He left without eating or getting it to go?” Maya asked, feeling her brows gather in concern.
“I don’t like this,” Guille announced, punctuating his words with a stab of the knife in his hand.
“I don’t like it either,” Mateo agreed. “I think it’s time to bring in the police, Maya. What if he’s dangerous?”
“We don’t even know that he’s the one sending roses,” Maya pointed out. “Mamá probably talked to every man in the vicinity about coming to meet her daughter. He could be perfectly innocent.”
“Or not,” Guille added.
“Look. Let’s be realistic here. I’m Maya. I’m plain, shy, and basically boring. No man…”
“You are also sweet, kind, and love those close to you with all your heart,” Deke’s voice came from behind her.
She turned to look at him in surprise and immediately dropped the armful of wrapped packages she carried to the worktable before rushing to his side. After hugging him, she asked, “Deke? What are you doing here? I don’t get off until the restaurant closes tonight.”
“I decided to come pick up some of Guille’s enchiladas for dinner tonight. I was almost here when Mateo called me,” Deke reported. “You are in big trouble.”
“I didn’t encourage the man. I got out of there as soon as possible and told Mateo,” Maya protested.
“You handled the situation well. You didn’t call me, however. And now, when I get here, you are talking about yourself very poorly,” he pointed out.