Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
“Uh, pretty much everything on the menu is good.” I know because one of the perks of working here all day is they give you free lunch, so long as you try something on the menu. Over the last few months, I had tried pretty much everything.
The food was amazing. I knew why the diner was always so busy, and why a lot of people opted to come here to eat rather than cook at home.
Still, the guy hadn’t said another word, so I knew he was waiting for the recommendation. Reaching out, I grabbed the menu and quickly scanned over the new recipes. “The chicken burger is great. The Mexican sub is amazing.”
“I’ll go with the chicken burger, extra fries, extra cheese,” he said. “Also, chocolate milkshake, extra sauce.”
Okay, it was wrong to be attracted to a guy I had only just seen for like five minutes, probably not even that.
Extra of everything, and a chocolate milkshake.
I quickly wrote down his order, kept a smile on my face, and then turned to leave. My nerves had started to get the better of me. I felt that twisting in my stomach, and that sick feeling I struggled to ignore.
Ringing up the new order, I told myself not to turn back and look, but I just couldn’t help it. Turning back toward the corner of the room, the mystery man was still looking at his cell phone. He had absolutely no interest in me whatsoever.
I didn’t know why all my senses were going off, but right now, I hated every one of them. This guy posed no threat to me. He didn’t work for my father, and I needed to learn to stop freaking out. I’m the one that had nearly caused a scene. This was just a hot guy, traveling. I didn’t know his name, who he was, or what he was doing, and it didn’t matter to me either way.
We were two strangers who had found Pickle Quest, and that was how it was going to stay.
Chapter Two
Peter
Niamh wasn’t a total fucking idiot. That surprised me. The moment I entered the diner three days ago, I saw the way she tensed up. She sensed danger while I was close by. That was a good thing. She knew there were enemies out there, and at least she attempted to do something about it. Still, I didn’t fucking like it either way.
Sticking to my cell phone was the easiest option. Also, glancing through emails was quite innocent. Pickle Quest didn’t have a whole host of jobs, but there were some I didn’t want—like trash collecting. I didn’t have a problem with cleaning up trash, but that didn’t give me the opportunity to get close to Niamh. According to the information Ivan had sent me, she had a library card, worked at the diner, and it would seem she had joined the local gym.
I wasn’t working at a library on the off chance she’d turn the fuck up to bring back a book. Nor was I working in the diner, that would be too … suspicious. The new guy getting a job at the diner just wouldn’t work.
Niamh wasn’t stupid, which was also a benefit to her. I had a great deal of respect for her because of her nervousness.
No, the only way I was going to blend in and make this work was the fucking gym. I had no problem with working out, but I had to become a personal fucking trainer. Again, not a problem, but I had to hope Niamh arrived at the gym.
Getting the job on the day of my arrival into town had been easy. I’d already told Ivan my plans, and my resume was fucking ace. He’d also sent me a load of documents that gave me a few days to become acquainted with my new role. I’m a quick study, and since I had no problem working out, this was the easy part.
The guy who owned the gym, Carl Fields, wanted me to slowly get acquainted with everything—all the equipment, the rooms—and to assess each room before taking on a client.
This is what I’d been doing the last three days. The gym opened at five-thirty in the morning, and didn’t close until eight at night. I didn’t have a problem with the long hours. It worked with my plan to blend in. According to Ivan, no details had gone out about Niamh being missing. I didn’t expect there to be.
Finn Byrne wasn’t going to announce to the world that his bastard daughter was missing. I got the message loud and clear from Ivan. Just because a notice hadn’t gone out, and there were no alerts didn’t mean someone wasn’t out looking for her now. So, I had to be careful.
I also needed to protect Niamh while also winning her heart. It shouldn’t be too hard to win her over. I expected this to be easy. Niamh was curious about me. I detected a bit of fear as well, but that was expected. She didn’t know who I was or what I was doing there.