That might leave her frustrated, but that was a state of being Savannah could take care of on her own.
She shivered, and then, pulling herself together, out of her day dream and began to clear the tables on the side of the diner assigned to her.
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Matt drove through town in the blinding rain. His destination was Logan's diner where Savannah was waitressing. It shouldn’t surprise him. It was the place she was working before she had left. She’d been waitressing there when they’d met. And during their relationship, he had offered to get her a job in his company but she had refused, insisting that she would be uncomfortable working for him while they were sleeping together.
He had insisted but had given up when he realized that he couldn't change her mind about her decision. But he had tried his best to ensure that she got everything she wanted.
Savannah Carson's parents had died when she was in college and she didn't really have a lot of family around. She had dropped out of school in her third year and began to fend for herself. She was independent and liked to work, refusing to depend on him or anyone else...and that was one of the things that he loved about her.
When they broke up, he had been very angry. But he still cared about her and was worried about her and he still wanted her to lack nothing. So he had written her a check. If she could cheat on him... With his own brother, she had obviously never loved him. She had obviously just stayed for the money. He couldn't believe he had fallen for that act. The woman was a really good actress, because she had fooled him completely.
The check he’d written her would have prevented her from needing to work for quite some time. He figured she would have returned to school. Even when they were dating, she’d expressed the desire to finish her degree. He hadn’t understood it, but he’d supported her decision. The selfish part of him had wanted her to be completely reliant on him, but since it was what she wanted he tried to support her.
Why then hadn’t she cashed the check? He asked himself for the millionth time. He had been asking himself that question for months and he was beginning to think that he might go crazy.
He had headed straight for the diner immediately after giving David and Emily his best wishes. He hadn’t told Dash or Stefan that he’d found Savannah. He had just told them that he had an important business matter to attend to. By the time he’d gotten into town it had been late in the evening, and her shift must have ended, so he’d spent a sleepless night in a downtown hotel.
When he’d gotten up this morning, the skies had been gray and overcast and there hadn’t been a single break in the rain since he’d left his hotel. At least the weather had been beautiful for David's wedding. He thought. By now the happy couple would be off on their honeymoon—someplace where there was an abundance of blue skies.
He glanced over at his GPS and saw he was still several blocks from his destination. To his frustration, he hit every single red light on the way down the busy street. Why he was in a hurry, he didn’t know. According to his investigator, she was working there, probably living close to the diner too. She wasn’t going anywhere.
A million questions hovered in his mind, but he knew he wouldn’t have the answers to any of them until he confronted her.
A few minutes later he pulled up and parked at the diner that sported a lopsided doughnut sign. He stared at the place, remembering the first time he saw her. It had been here... Their story had began right here in this diner. And with the way he had felt when he first saw her. He had thought it was meant to be. What an idiot he had been then.
With a shake of his head, he ducked out of the BMW and dashed toward the entrance, shaking the rain from his collar as he stepped under the small awning over the door.
Once inside, he looked around before taking a seat in a booth on the far side of the café. A waitress who was not Savannah came over with a menu and slapped it down on the table in front of him.
He looked around. He knew this was the part of the diner where Savannah served, so she was the one who should be attending to him. Unless she had changed places. Or maybe she wasn't the one his investigator had seen. A huge feeling of disappointment descended on him.
“Just coffee,” he murmured to the waitress.
“Suit yourself,” she said as she sashayed off to the bar to pour the coffee.
She returned a moment later and put the cup down with enough of a jolt to slosh the dark brew over the rim. With an apologetic smile, she tossed down a napkin.
“If there’s anything I can get you, just let me know.” she said.
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her about Savannah when he looked beyond her and saw a waitress with her back to him standing across the room at another table.
He waved his waitress off and honed in on the table across the café. It was her. He knew it was her.
The honey blond hair was longer and pulled into a ponytail, but it was her. He felt, more than visualized her, and his body quickened in response even after all these months.Then she turned and presented her profile, and he felt every ounce of blood drain from his face.What the everloving hell?She was beautiful. Maybe even more beautiful than she was when they were together. Okay, maybe it was because he hadn't seen her for so damn long. But hell, she was stunning.She looked simple, as she always liked to look, but somehow that simplicity made her stand out always. She was wearing her uniform, a short blue skirt and fitted white shirt, with a white apron tied around her waist.He had always hated that skirt. Not because she didn't look good in it. It was actually because she
Tears pricked her eyelids and it only made her more furious that she was actually upset over seeing Matt Bradford again. So much for getting over him.No, she didn’t want to face him. She never wanted to see him again. Never did she want anyone to have the kind of power he had to hurt her. Never again.She buried her head in her hands, trying to comfort herself.“I was a fool to love him,” she whispered. “I was a fool to think I could ever fit in and that his family would accept me. I was so wrong and so stupid.”She jumped when the door behind her vibrated with a knock. Her heart leaped into her throat, and she put a shaky hand to her chest. She stared at the door as if she could see through it.“Savvie, open the damn door. I know you’re in there.”
He didn’t move. “Why are you living this way, Savvie?" he asked. "I can’t wrap my head around why you did what you did. I would have given you everything. Hell, I still gave you a hefty amount of money when we broke up because I didn’t like to think of you being without. But now I find you still living in squalor working a job that is far beneath your abilities.” he said.A wave of hatred hit her hard. In this moment she realized that she truly loved and hated him in equal measure. Her chest hurt so bad that she couldn’t breathe. Her mind went back to the day when she’d stood in front of him, devastated, completely and utterly broken, while he scribbled his signature on a bank draft and disdainfully shoved it toward her.The look in his eyes had told her that he didn’t love her, had never loved her. He didn’t trust her. He didn’t have faith in her.When she’d needed him the absolute
What the hell? He scolded himself. You’re not some horny teenager. He reminded himself. No staring down her blouse."What would you like me to get for you?" she repeated in that sexy voice of hers.Damn, that mouth.He dragged his fascinated gaze away from it with a strength that deserved a gold medal. But nothing, not even God Himself, could cleanse his mind of the acts those curves and lips elicited. Acts that left him throbbing and greedy."The usual" he said stupidly."Oh ermmm... I'm kinda new here." she said. "So I don't really know what your usual is""I know" he said, and grinned at her. He didn't know exactly what he expected from her, but he certainly wasn't prepared for her shy smile.
"Okay," Matt said. "Let me start over then. Hi, my name is Matt Bradford, and I didn't really want to go to the bathroom" He said it like he was in one of those "talk about your feelings classes" and Savannah smiled."Yeah I figured" Savannah said, the laughter had reached her eyes now, it shone and all Matt could think about was how beautiful her smile was. She laughed again, a rich, throaty, uninhibited sound.He smiled. Screw it. He thought..When was the last time he'd had sex? Jeez, he couldn't remember. It had been a while. While women threw themselves at him, especially because of his financial status, it would be really easy to pick up any woman he wanted. But that just wasn't the way he was wired. But right now, as he stared at this woman, he was having thoughts. Really wild thoughts. When was the last time he m
When she had come to his table, Savannah was conscious of her pulse leaping into a gallop as she met his steady gaze when he looked up from his phone.There was a riveting quality about his dark eyes, giving her the weird sensation of a laser probe straight to her heart.Her skin tingled as though hit by an electric charge. She’d met a lot of different men in her waitressing, career. Not one of them had made this kind of impact on her. She wanted to say, "Don’t walk out of my life," but such a plea seemed too embarrassingly presumptuous. Given that she didn't know the guy and he wasn't even in her life. They were simply passersby, not occupying the same world, only this bit of serving him on a cool evening.He smiled a lot, she observed, showing off the flash of perfect white teeth. He was just trying to be friendly with the waitress. Some people were like
“Ah!” He said. The sound of satisfaction. "It's okay. I understand how work can be. There must be a lot to tell me about yourself and I do want to know all of it. Would you join me for dinner, Savvie? I’ve been with been really busy with work myself and a think spending the evening with a beautiful woman like yourself would be amazing.”“Dinner…” she repeated dazedly. The invitation had come so fast her head was spinning.“Yes... Dinner. Regardless of what you might think I promise I’m not a big bad wolf, and you don’t have to fear my gobbling you up on the spot,” he assured her with dry mockery.“Right!” she said, though the idea of being gobbled up by Matt Bradford had actually sent her pulse-rate zooming. "Where and when?” she asked, trying to sound efficient and not too eager.“Whatever suits you, Savvie.”
Savannah wasn’t quite sure what to make of this as she paced a safe distance from the restaurant, trying to leave herself an out if she needed to save face and just disappear. A sink hole might have been better, but she couldn’t conjure one at will. Running away in shame, though, she was familiar with—so she skulked three storefronts from the entrance.They had agreed to meet at the restaurant by seven thirty and it was a few minutes to eight. A few minutes normally meant nothing in terms of the wheel of life. But right now each second felt like torture and those tortures were adding up to to one big ball of fear. And it all rested right in her gut where desire should be right now, where happiness should be right now, where joy and, well—not quite love, but at least lust should be residing. Not this pit of despair.It’s only a few minutes minutes Savannah , it’s only seven minutes Savannah, she said repeat