Maggie's Man

Maggie smiled at the good-looking cowboy who had planted himself opposite her at the counter. He had come in here every day for the past few weeks and wasn’t showing any signs of getting tired of her cooking—or her company—yet.

“Morning, Maggie. I’ll take a coffee and one of those cinnamon buns, please.” His baby-blue eyes twinkled as he removed his hat and placed it on the stool beside him.

“Coming right up. This is getting to be a regular habit, isn’t it?” She grinned at him. “Not that I’m complaining, of course.”

“Yeah. No one cooks like you do. It’s well worth the trip.” He took the plate from her, sniffing the fresh cinnamon.

“Oh, right.” She felt a little disappointed.

He must have noticed her expression. “You sure know the way to a man’s heart,” he added quickly.

Good save. She snickered. “Well, I wish that was all it took,” she joked.

He raised his eyebrows, taking a swig of his coffee. “You’re not gonna tell me you’re single?”

She giggled. “I sure am,” she told him, admiring his subtle way of asking. “I know it’s hard to believe, isn’t it?” She put a hand to the back of her head, posing like a model. Sticking her nose in the air, she gave him a blasé look before bursting into laughter. She knew she was a little too old and a lot too fat to pull off a super-model appearance, but she was having fun pretending. In truth, she was still in her twenties, but she felt more like a hundred and twenty.

“I can’t for the life of me imagine why you’re not wed.” He sounded serious, much to her amazement.

She sighed, quickly turning away from his handsome face while wiping her hands on her apron.

“Can we get some coffees over here, miss?” An older gentleman had just sat at a window seat with a lady, whom Maggie guessed would be his wife.

“Of course.” Maggie suddenly felt flustered. She hadn’t taken any notice of them coming in, as she’d been too busy laughing with Aiden Fielding, the gorgeous cowboy.

Her hand shook as she poured the coffee, and she tipped one of the cups over with the edge of the coffee pot, sending the hot, black liquid running all over the counter.

“Damn!” She felt herself go hot and knew she was blushing. Panic overtook her as she quickly tried to rectify the mess.

“Hey, hey. Are you okay?” Aiden was on his feet in a second, moving everything out of the way of the stream of coffee that was threatening to engulf everything in its wake. His voice was calm and gentle, and Maggie wished she could be as composed as he was.

“Yeah, I just…” She took a cloth and soaked up the spill, surprised to see Aiden dive behind the counter and grab a clean cup.

He quickly poured the drinks and placed them on a tray while she cleaned up the counter. “Did you scald yourself?”

He was right next to her, and she was surrounded by his fresh cologne. She had admired his scent from across the counter, but he was even closer to her now, and she was immersed in the heady aroma. He was a gorgeous-looking guy and seemed to really care about her. But she had to remember he was way out of her league—and age range. Although he must have been a year or two her senior, she usually went for much older men than him—not that she’d had that many.

“Er…no. No, I’m fine. Thank you,” she stammered as he stared at her with his big, concerned eyes. “I’d best take these over.” She took the tray, brushing past him as she squeezed from behind the counter to serve her customers.