Page 63 of Seduced in Ink

“Here we are,” Guy said after a moment. She looked around at the tiny little mountain town they were in, everything looking picturesque.

It was very touristy, but it worked. The outsides of the buildings all looked very similar, but she figured they would each be a little different once you got inside. When you were in mountain towns like this, even a McDonald’s had to have a particular architecture and aesthetic that fit the ambiance of the area rather than a typical fast food place.

They went inside the Boulder Cup, and she looked around at the wood carvings on the walls, the gorgeous stained wood rafters, and wondered if she could add something like that to her place. Maybe not until she had the second location in mind and more than a few written down notes and hours of research.

She’d have to talk with her cousin and Aaron about it and get their thoughts.

The idea that she wanted to talk about it with Aaron should surprise her, but not really. He was easy to talk to, except for when it came to discussing her feelings. But everything else? It was like he understood her completely.

“So, what will you have?”

Madison looked at the perfectly hand-drawn menu and smiled.

“Let me see. A latte of some sort, but they have so many delicious flavors. Maybe a toasted marshmallow?”

It was the middle of summer, but still, that sounded great.

“They have it iced if it’s too hot for you.”

Guy said that as if it were an innuendo, and she was confused. Still, she let him do what he needed. She didn’t understand what he wanted from her, but she wasn’t going to give it to him, regardless.

He ordered for her. She wasn’t too happy about that, but she allowed it, and would have said something if he’d forced her to get it iced. When he paid, she let him because he would likely make a scene if she protested.

She was going to be nice. Not because her mother wanted it, but because she was just decent. Guy seemed to be a good person, who was merely humoring her mother, but Madison still didn’t understand what he got out of this whole thing. He didn’t want her. Maybe as a prize, but not in the way she wanted to be needed.

Not in the way she wanted Aaron. Or the way she wished he desired her.

She quickly pushed that thought from her mind, knowing that she couldn’t let herself go down that road. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them if she allowed herself to keep thinking that this could be something more than what it was.

She and Guy took a table outside on the deck, the mountains surrounding them, the air clean and fresh.

“I love it out here. They have a great location.”

“They do, and they’re thinking about selling.”

She froze, looking over at him. “Really?”

“Really. It’s owned by an older couple that wants to retire soon, and their children don’t want any part of the family business. This place has had a lot of reincarnations over time, but the same owner no matter what.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I have my ways,” he said with a smile that worried her.

She didn’t like that expression.

And she didn’t know why.

“I’m not anywhere near ready to buy a place like this. And I don’t even know if I want to come up here or start in Fort Collins like I was planning.”

“Why would you want to go to a dirty college town when you could have a place like this?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Fort Collins is beautiful. Every place in Colorado is. And I’d probably do better business up there anyway.”

“If you want to deal with the college clientele and that riffraff.”

“I think we have very different ideas of whatriffraffis,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Perhaps.”