CHAPTER ELEVEN
Tess watched Dylan and Logan make themselves at home in her café kitchen. They’d made sure the reporters stayed outside, which was just as well considering Logan had been part of the reason they were there in the first place.
She now had a fan club of about twenty people sitting in the café, waiting to see one of the women involved in the Senator Gibson scandal. The fact that her grandparents had lived in Bozeman for more than seventy years gave her story more local appeal. But it didn’t make her any less of an idiot for trusting Logan. He’d sucked her into his life, made her think he wasn’t so bad after all. She might even have thought he was pretty amazing.
She’d been blinded by his brown eyes and lethal smile, hoodwinked by his sense of humor and kind heart. It was just a pity he had the instincts of a shark and the morals of an alley cat. She felt mildly disturbed that she’d discredited alley cats by comparing them to Logan. They couldn’t help the circumstances of their existence, but he could.
She tried getting rid of the frustration simmering inside of her by beating a bowl of butter and sugar to within an inch of its life. While she struggled to find the good in anything that had happened, Logan flipped pancakes and Dylan ate a bowl of Annie’s homemade granola.
A couple of pancakes slid toward her on a plate. “You’re going to wear a hole in that bowl.” Logan’s voice might have been slightly amused, but his face was wary.
At least he wasn’t stupid. He’d point blank denied taking the photos that had appeared in the paper. After everything that had happened, Tess didn’t believe him, and he knew it.
“It’s better than using the spoon on you,” she said sweetly.
Dylan made a sound that could have been a snort of amusement or a dry cough. He walked across the kitchen and left his breakfast bowl in the dishwasher. “I need to go to work. Call me if you need anything.” He sent Logan a pointed look before leaving.
Tess didn’t know what the look meant and she wasn’t about to ask. Logan had already annoyed her more than once. She wasn’t about to prolong his presence in her café.
He’d insisted she call her two part-time staff to help with the early morning rush. She’d come up with every excuse she could think of to keep them at home. But as soon as she’d mentioned reporters, media and scandal in the same sentence to Lizzie and Samantha, there’d been no stopping them. They’d practically flown through the back door, checking their lipstick and hair before descending on the circus out the front of the café.
It was the type of day no one expected to see in Bozeman. But if you were going to be part of it, a solid coat of lipstick, a tight, but not slutty dress and the perfect hairstyle were essential.
Lizzie and Samantha, like the people around them, hadn’t come to Angel Wings Café for the coffee they were drinking or the good food they were eating. They had come for two reasons - to see Tess and try and get their faces in front of a television camera.
Annie pushed open the kitchen door. “We need three short stacks of pancakes. One stack of blueberry, one plain, and one with lemon and ginger syrup.”
Logan ladled pancake mixture onto the hot griddle. “Coming right up.”
“Do you need more toasted sandwiches?” Tess asked as she added flour to her cake mixture.
“Cheese and tomato are running low.”
“I’ll get more out to you in a couple of minutes.”
Annie nodded and looked around the kitchen. “Where’s Dylan?”
“Left for work,” Logan answered. “How’s everything going out there?”
“Busy. A couple of the regulars have gone home. Said it was too noisy for them and they’d see us tomorrow.”
Logan flipped the pancakes and took three plates out of the warmer tray. “Pancakes will be ready in one minute.”
Tess watched him stack the light, fluffy pancakes on each plate. He drizzled syrup on two of the stacks and slid them across to Annie. “Watch the plates. They’re hot.”
Before Annie left the kitchen, he had another batch cooking. “You’re still angry.”
Tess cut a tomato into thin slices, then walked across to the fridge for a block of cheese. Logan watched her with a quiet calm that annoyed her. “I’ve got a café full of movie star wannabees, reporters camping on the sidewalk, and the person who started all of this making pancakes in my kitchen. You could say this hasn’t been one of the best days of my life.”
Lizzie stuck her head around the kitchen door. “Two tall stacks of pancakes with maple syrup.”
Logan opened the oven door. “They’re ready now.”
Lizzie smiled as he plated the pancakes. “You should work here more often. Each time we take an order of pancakes into the café someone else wants some.”
“Not going to happen,” Tess muttered. She’d had breakfast with Logan practically every morning for the last few weeks. He’d helped in the kitchen, expanded his cooking skills to include omelets and French toast. And stabbed her in the back as fast as his fingers could fly across his keyboard.
Annie ran into the kitchen. “Turn the TV on. Mad Mitch is outside. It looks as though he’s live on air.”
Mad Mitch was their nickname for Mitchell Maderson. He was a local television legend. Tess guessed hosting the breakfast show for twenty years did that to a man. Combined with a solid background in practical jokes and the ability to try anything once, Mad Mitch had scaled the undeniable heights of media stardom. He’d even appeared on the Tonight Show once, rocketing his appeal even further into Montana’s history books.
A year ago, after Annie had practically twisted her arm, she’d installed a small TV on the kitchen wall. Tess hardly ever turned it on, but Annie insisted they needed it for emergencies and the lunchtime edition of Fashion Central.
Sure enough, Mad Mitch was standing outside, summarizing the main highlights of the worst couple of days of Tess’ life.
“Is that…?” Tess turned to Annie.
“Oh my God. It’s Lizzie. How did she get out there?”
Tess turned toward the kitchen door and would have run into the café, except an arm wrapped itself around her waist, hauling her against a rock hard body.
“No you don’t,” Logan growled. “Lizzie can look after herself.”
Tess tried pulling his arm off her. “Let me go. Mad Mitch will make her say things she’ll regret.”
“Shh.” Annie her finger against her lips. “I’m trying to listen.” She turned the volume up and concentrated on the screen.
Logan kept hold of Tess’ waist. “You might as well sidestep to the right so you can see the interview.” He hauled her close and moved his feet to the right.
If Tess didn’t want to end up on her bottom, she had no choice but to follow his lead. She almost managed to ignore Logan’s body pressed against hers and the way his breath tickled the side of her face. Being up close and cuddly with Logan made it hard to stay annoyed with him, so she tried to break free.
“Not going to happen.” Logan sounded happy about the predicament she was in. “Now quit wriggling around like a worm on the end of a line and listen to the TV.”
Tess did what he said, but only because she wanted to hear the interview. Mad Mitch was living up to his reputation, telling his listeners about Senator Gibson’s not so glorious fall from grace. Lizzie stood patiently beside him, looking like a domestic goddess in her pale pink dress and frilly white apron.
“Where did she get the flowers in her hair?” Tess asked.
“Becky’s store,” Annie said. “I saw her go outside and grab some roses on the way through. They look pretty threaded through her braid.”
“Did she pay for them?”
Annie shrugged her shoulders. “She’ll sort it out later.”
When the camera moved across to Lizzie, Tess forgot about her hair accessories and focused on what she was saying. Mad Mitch must have asked her about working in the café. Lizzie grinned and told everyone at home what a great place Angel Wings Café was.
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When the questions became more focused on Tess’ character, Logan’s arm tightened around Tess’ waist. “You’re like a giant boa constrictor.” She whacked Logan’s arm for extra emphasis, but he didn’t even flinch. “Let me go,” she hissed.
“I’m not letting you go until Mitch has finished his interview. You’ll try and do him bodily harm before it’s over and he’s too nice a guy for that.”
Tess wiggled sideways. “You know Mad Mitch?”
For the first time all morning, Logan actually laughed. “That about sums him up. But never underestimate Mitch. He’s got a good business brain under all of that personality.”
Tess turned back to the television when she heard Evie’s name mentioned. Lizzie told Mitch she didn’t know anything about Evie’s death three years ago. When he pushed further, she ended the interview by asking him out on a date.”
Tess’ mouth dropped open. “Did Lizzie just say what I thought she said?”
Annie looked equally confused. “He comes in here once a week for lunch. She’s never said she’s attracted to the guy.”
“It looks like she is now.” Tess watched Lizzie grin when Mitch told her he’d go on a date with her. She would have smiled too if she hadn’t been locked in Logan’s arms.
As soon as the camera cut back to the studio, Annie groaned. “How does Lizzie do that? She meets a man she likes and asks him on a date. I couldn’t do that on national TV if I tried. I’m doomed to a life of singleness.”
“Just because Lizzie’s got a date with Mad Mitch, it doesn’t mean everyone’s found their perfect man. Look at me.”
Annie did look. Closely.
Tess blushed bright red when she realized what Annie was seeing. Logan still had his arm plastered around her waist and a goofy smile on his face. “For Pete’s sake,” she growled. “Would you get your hands off me?”
Logan obligingly removed his arm and stepped away. Tess decided that life had a funny, twisted way of working out. Because as soon as Logan stepped away, she missed him being close.
So she did what always made her feel better. She pulled a container of flour out of the pantry and started making cheese scones. “Don’t you need to go to work?”
Logan sent her one of his, I-know-what-you’re-trying-to-do stares. “I took a vacation day, so I’m all yours.”
Annie sighed. “While you two are sorting out what’s going on, I have customers to serve. We’ll probably be inundated now that Lizzie is famous as well.”
Tess waited until Annie left before trying to get Logan out of her kitchen. “You can’t stay here all day.”
He started unpacking the dishwasher, stacking clean cups and saucers in the cupboards. “Someone has to make sure you’re not harassed. It might as well be me.”
“I don’t need you to look after me.”
Logan didn’t bother replying.
“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be in this mess,” she muttered. “My life was perfect until you did the follow-up story about Connie’s wedding.”
“Perfect?” That got Logan’s attention. “By perfect you mean hiding in a café, working all hours of the day and night and hoping no one caught up with your past?”
“I wasn’t hiding. Not much anyway.” Tess stuck her nose defiantly in the air.
Logan crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I imagine a supermodel earns a fair bit of money. And if that supermodel was as careful as you are with your finances, I’d imagine it could add up to a significant amount by the end of a ten-year career.”
“What I have or don’t have isn’t any business of yours.”
“I don’t suppose it is,” Logan said. “But I’m making a point. You didn’t need to come back here. You could have made your home in thousands of places, anywhere in the world. But you chose Bozeman because of your grandparents.”
“So?”
Logan stared at her. “You’re a softy. Your heart’s bigger than most people could fit inside their chest. You care about people and want to give something back. The least I can do is make sure you don’t get hurt.”
Tess looked down at the scone dough she’d been pummeling. She’d kneaded the mixture so much that the scones would end up being as flat as the pancakes Logan had perfected.
Tears filled her eyes when she thought about what he’d said. “It’s too late. You’ve already hurt me worse than anyone could. You need to leave.”
“I didn’t give Jilly the photos.”
“I don’t care anymore. Go back to work, Logan. I’m sure there are other stories waiting to be told.”
He watched her throw the scone dough in the trash and wash her hands.
“We need to talk about this, Tess.”
“No, we don’t. I’m sick of hiding, sick of pretending I’m a different person to the woman in the magazines. It’s time to do what I should have done when I first arrived.” Before Logan could begin to imagine what she was going to do, she unlocked the back door. The small crowd of reporters moved out of her way as she walked up to her apartment. She was about to transform herself into the supermodel she’d once been and face her worst critic.
Herself.