Light the Fire (Jackson's Hollow #1)

Chapter 34

"All right, so what exactly is in a Moon Over the Mountains?"

"Lavender syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, two shots, and..."

"And a marshmallow."

Jo sighed. "Right, and a marshmallow."

Ms. Blue laughed and reached over to grab one of the laminated menus, which were all made of pages of old books with recycled paper menus pasted onto them. They were pretty neat. "It's okay, Jo, I don't expect you to have everything on the menu memorized the first week. Or ever, really."

"Yeah, but I'd like to," Jo said, leaning against the counter. It was after hours at the antique store, and Jo had asked Ms. Blue to test her while she practiced fixing a few drinks. It had been a few days since she had gotten the job at the coffee bar, and she was enjoying the work, even if the espresso machine sometimes didn't like her. Overall, she felt that she was getting pretty good at making the drinks.

"How about you clean up here while I go count the register?" Ms. Blue said, "And I'll give your boy a free drink if he helps you."

"I'm not sure he deserves it," Jo said with a smirk. She glanced over at the corner of the shop where Ryker was sitting in a rocking chair, studying for one of his classes as he waited for her to get off work. His hazel eyes met hers with a half-frown, obviously wanting that free drink.

"If you want a free coffee, you have to sweep."

"Then it's not really free," he replied.

Honestly, the attention was sweet, but it was also starting to get stifling. She knew he was on edge about Duncan and their discussion about mates, but she was going to have to put some boundaries in place. Having him hover all the time wasn't healthy for either of them. And if he put up a fuss about it, well, she knew where to find his siblings. She would bet that Lexi and Brett would be on her side about the whole thing.

The steady sound of brush swishing across the floor almost made her laugh as she wiped down the counter. All right, fine, she owed him one black coffee, his favorite. Which was absolutely boring.

She was determined to start trying out new drinks for him, ones that might appeal to him while all the more elaborate drinks did not. Something simple, maybe. She would have to get the hang of mixing flavors first. At the moment, she just didn't want to break a machine.

After the tables were wiped, Jo quickly re-filled the napkin dispensers. She was just finishing up when a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist, tugging her back against a broad chest.

"Hey," Jo protested, even though she was smiling. Ryker's love language was definitely physical touch as far as she could tell. And it was kinda hard to complain about that, even if she wanted a little more room to breathe sometimes.

"I'll finish these if you get my coffee," he murmured, planting a kiss against her neck.

Jo snorted and twisted out of his arms, promptly handing him the last dispenser and a bundle of napkins. "Deal, but only if you straighten up the sugar packets."

Ryker frowned over at the packets on the little table where people could add sugar and cream to their black coffee. "What's wrong with them?"

Chuckling, Jo grabbed a to-go cup to pour Ryker's coffee into. "They have to be in perfect rainbow order. Get those browns out of the yellow." Jo ignored his muttering under his breath as he went to re-sort the packets; she instead focused on packing up her stuff, leaving Ryker's coffee on the counter for him.

"Be right back," she murmured, heading over to the little office in the back. After popping her head in to let Ms. Blue know they'd finished and were heading out, she went back into the shop to find Ryker ready by the door, her bag already slung over his shoulder along with his own. Friggin' strong werewolf-man.