One Winter's Night. Brenda Jackson

and was glad when the waiter handed her a menu. She needed something else, anything else, other than Riley to occupy her attention. She might be wrong, but he seemed upset about something. Was he upset with her?

      She placed her menu down. “I’m sorry, Riley.”

      He glanced up from his own menu and arched a brow. “For what?”

      “For getting off to such a bad start with you—having a flat tire, taking you out of your way to come get me, and then having our meeting place changed to accommodate me.”

      He gave his head a little shake. “No apology necessary. You haven’t gotten off to a bad start with me, Alpha. I’m fully aware there are days that don’t go quite as well as you’d like. You didn’t ask for that flat tire, did you?”

      “Goodness, no.”

      “Then don’t worry about it. I’m just glad I was able to help. And as far as having to change our meeting place, McKay’s is a favorite of mine, and I’ll think of any excuse to get some of their chicken noodle soup. Have you had any?”

      She shook her head. “No, I’ve only eaten their burgers and fries.”

      He smiled. “Then you don’t know what you’re missing. You need to try it, if for nothing more than a cup as an appetizer.”

      He had her curious. “Okay, thanks. I think I will.”

      She picked up her glass of water to take a sip and then she said, “So you come here often?”

      “Yes. Tony McKay and I were good friends all through high school. We went to different colleges and he ended up taking a job in Phoenix. When his father died, he returned to Denver to help his mother close down the restaurant, but decided to stay and run it instead. He wasn’t crazy about the job he’d landed after college and his management degree gave him plenty of ideas on how to take this place to a whole new level.”

      He paused to take another sip of his water. “Old man McKay would not have approved of the changes Tony made, especially with the expansion and keeping the place open until midnight. He didn’t believe in change and fought it tooth and nail. Tony and I tried to convince him for years that the only constant was change, and so he might as well get used to it. We told him to embrace it like everyone else so he could stay competitive.”

      He chuckled. “Tony not only embraces change, but he’s implemented a few precedents. Such as convincing our school board to add a culinary class to their high school curriculum and then giving students jobs to gain firsthand experiences while getting class credits.”

      “Smart move.”

      Riley smiled. “We thought so.”

      She glanced back at her menu. “So what else would you suggest other than my usual burger and fries?”

      “Umm, you can’t go wrong with their chicken. It’s covered with the best gravy you can eat and comes with mouthwatering scalloped potatoes and hot buttered yeast rolls.”

      She couldn’t help frowning. “That sounds like a lot of food.”

      “It is, but if the forecasters are right, you might be snowed in for the next day or two and leftovers would come in handy.”

      Was that excitement she heard in his voice? “You really do like it, don’t you?”

      “Like what?”

      He glanced over at her, and the moment he did so she felt a zing in the pit of her stomach. Why was her body reacting so much to him? She was twenty-seven and knew all about chemistry between a man and a woman, but she’d never in her life experienced anything so potent. “The cold weather. I thought you were teasing about liking it, but apparently you weren’t. Here I was, all bundled up like I was living at the North Pole, and you were wearing a lightweight jacket as if you could barely feel the cold.”

      He shrugged, and she couldn’t help but admire the undulating movement of his shoulders beneath his shirt. “I guess I’m immune. I’ve been here all my life and was told I was born during one of Denver’s worst snowstorms. I’ve always enjoyed playing in the snow.”

      He chuckled and the sound floated around the room with such a rich octave it made Alpha draw in a charged breath. “February is my favorite month because that’s usually when Denver is the coldest.”

      Riley leaned back in his chair and her gaze was drawn to his hands. For a quick second, she recalled how those hands had felt when he’d picked her up and carried her into the restaurant. She had felt the warmth of them through the thickness of her clothes.

      “Today is nothing compared to how things will get later on,” he said, breaking into her thoughts. “Surely you understood what you were doing when you traded sunny Florida for Denver?”

      Alpha drew in a deep breath. No, she hadn’t fully understood. The only thing she’d known was that she needed to put as much distance between her, Eddie and her parents as she could. “I didn’t expect it to be this cold so soon. I figured I would prepare myself for January and February, but it’s still November.”

      “Yes, and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Are you going back south for turkey and dressing?”

      Not on her life. “No. I plan on spending Thanksgiving here since I have a couple of projects during that time.” And they were projects she could have gotten out of doing had she wanted to, but she hadn’t.

      The waiter returned to take their orders, and she was glad for the interruption. She was getting too comfortable with Riley and had to admit that he made such a thing easy. He came across as a nice guy. Down-to-earth. A real gentleman, respectful. It was nice to know that for some men, sex wasn’t the only thing on their minds.

       Three

      Riley shifted in his seat, thinking that if Alpha knew all the things that were going through his mind, she would think he was as low as low could go. He had met her less than two hours ago and all he could think about was jumping her bones. No, jumping her bones was too quick and raunchy. He would love easing between those legs and then …

      When he heard the sound of her lightly clearing her throat, he realized the waiter standing beside him had poured cups of coffee and was waiting to take his order. He glanced up at the waiter. George. The seventy-something man had worked at McKay’s for ages and had waited on him plenty of times before with many of his other dates. Was that a smirk on George’s face because the old man had finally caught him being taken with a woman?

      “And what can I get for you, Mr. Westmoreland?”

      “The usual, George.”

      “All right,” George said, taking the menu from Riley.

      Riley glanced over at Alpha and saw she was absorbed in the beauty of the mountains that could be seen through the windows. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked, studying her more so than the mountains he’d seen all his life.

      “Yes.”

      Sitting this close to her, he could see just how beautiful, how stunning, she was. That wasn’t a good thing. How was he supposed to concentrate on whatever presentation she was giving when he wanted to concentrate on her?

      She broke eye contact while reaching for her coffee to take a sip and he did likewise. “So, other than the cold weather, how do you enjoy living in Denver so far?” he asked her.

      “I like it. I’m grateful that the people here have been so kind. I didn’t expect my business to take off like it has.”

      “I understand your work speaks for itself. My sister-in-law was definitely impressed.”

      She smiled. “Pam is super nice.”

      Their conversation was interrupted when George returned with their appetizers, still wearing that smirk on his face.

      Alpha drew in a deep breath. She had done presentations