After breakfast, Freddy left me to walk around the ranch. He took the truck to give the Cafe De La Winters a visit.

Fresh grass crunched beneath my boots. A warm breeze brushed my skin, ruffling my hair. I raised my head toward the sun and breathed in the murky earthy air with a smile.

Cows mooed on my left. Horses trotted on my right. And I was standing in the wide middle with white fences on both sides, bordering the limits of the animals.

"Hey, Doll!" I looked to my right where Sawyer was riding a brown mare. "Come here! Woohoo!"

He galloped away, swinging his hat in the air like a cowboy.

Cowboy Sales King.

I snickered at the thought and ran toward him.

Sawyer grinned and whooped the whole time he rounded the field with his mare. I just crossed my arms and watched them.

He looked so boyish, so carefree in that glistening ray of sun. It was as though nothing dark could ever touch him. His cowboy hat and killer smile would shield him from any danger that dared cross his threshold.

If only that was real...

I sighed and waited for Sawyer to finish his country boy stunt.

Soon enough, he and his new buddy stopped before me and he jumped down.

"So cool, isn't it, Doll?" Sawyer patted his mare with a big smile.

I hummed.

"Wanna enjoy a ride?" He made some weird noise with his tongue and the mare trotted away.

"How did you do that?" I asked when he turned to meet my eyes.

"What?"

"That thing... with your tongue."

The smirk he offered next echoed troubles. Deep troubles.

"Why, I can do many things with my tongue, Doll. Which one are you referring to?" that low, throaty tone only confirmed my theory further.

I gulped and tried not to let the flashes of his mouth on me that night haunt my mind at the moment.

I cleared my throat. "Well, nothing. Oh, I wanted to talk to you about something and I believe, you have some idea about that."

All traces of playfulness vanished from his face and a solemn look took place instead.

"Yeah. I think I do. Let's talk inside, alright?"

I nodded. "That's better."

***

We were sitting on the living room couch. Well, I was. Sawyer leaned his back on the beige armchair adjacent to me. One of his legs was resting on the other, bouncing ever so subtly.

I eyed the motion once before clearing my throat.

"I won't beat around the bushes and I expect the same from you, so I'm asking straight. Why am I here?"

"Smooth as buttah. Great."

"Sawyer..."

His bouncing ceased and he sat straight. "What do you want me to say, Hayes? I'm sure Freddy fed already you about Winters."

"But Freddy didn't tell me why I had to fly in this countryside overnight, Sawyer. He didn't tell me I had to ruin my week, pack my bag, and come to a place I have no business being there."

"Who said you have no business here?"

Sawyer's somber voice couldn't faze me.

"Because you said I'm out of partnership. It was your decision. Now, when you feel like you need my help—"

"Who said anyone about help?"

Fire burst through my veins and it took effort to just breathe and clench my itching fists on my lap. Sawyer's face seemed ripe for punching at this moment.

"I'm through with games, Sawyer. Don't test my patience. Not now."

Sawyer had the gall to flinch and looked away.

His gaze moved around in frantic motions as if to avoid facing the blue whale in this room.

Even though I was seconds away from screaming, I held my tongue to give the big man settle with his male ego.

He must have thought he could do this whole scheme thing without me. And I could tell he wanted to follow through with his plans. But something must have happened that made him change his mind faster than a lightning bolt. But what? That, I had to know.

"Winters are having trouble with their cafe. You know that. What you don't know is that they are on the verge of bankruptcy."

I stiffened.

Sawyer continued. "That was my reaction too when I  reached out to them about buying their shares and heard about it. You see, Trexon Empire is their secondary source of income. Their first priority has always been their family business. Now, that their business is facing troubles they have no choice but to cling to this share as a last straw."

I studied his calm face for a while. His honey-gold had melted into liquid gold even in the natural brightness of the room.

"You found a way out, didn't you?"

Those liquid gold clashed against my gray ones. His lips offered a little twitch.

"How perceptive."

"What do they want? Money? More shares? Loan—"

"They want their business back on track. To carry on their ancestors' legacy—or so Winter siblings have told. If we can do that, they'll wash off their hands with Trexon for life."

Hmm... So, we had to fix a broken business in exchange for their shares. But, wait.

"Do they know your real name? Are you using a disguise or..."

Sawyer sighed. "They know me. For a long time now."

What!

"Why didn't you use your disguise! Sawyer, if they tell Devon we're ruined!"

He gave me a sad smile. "Doesn't matter, Doll. We're ruined either way."

Something heavy dropped in my stomach.

"What do you mean?"

"I've signed a contract with them. Fourteen days. That's the timeframe we have to fix their business and get their shares."

"And... if we can't?"

He shrugged. "Devon gets a visit from Winters."

My heart jumped as a heavier stone dropped low in my belly.

We're screwed. Fucking screwed!

***

The warm smell of coffee and pastry hit my nostrils the second I stepped inside Cafe De La Winters. Sawyer was right beside me.

It was a quaint cafe. Pale walls. Polished wooden floor. Lime green booths and white round tables adorned most of the space. Sugary goods were ready to entice through display on the left while the huge floor-to-ceiling window on the right wall provided golden warmth to this caffeine heaven.

It was a place meant for families and friends to frequent for their daily coffee fix, for loud voices of people to fill the air while baristas delivered orders with busy hands. Instead...

"Too quiet, isn't it?"

I flinched out of my thought to find Sawyer swiping a finger on an empty table.

The mental image of people sitting there and laughing over a steaming mug and baked goods was still so vivid.

I shook my head and looked around. "Where are the Winters?"

"Here," a soft voice echoed from the far left corner of the room.

A petite young woman in a twisted tee, jeans, and bun was hurrying through the narrow counter to reach us. A tall man followed right behind her.

They had the same eyes, same hair, same confident strides matching each other's steps.

Laura and Lui Winters. The sole owners of Cafe De La Winters. And the key to our survival.

Laura came forward with a thin smile and a stretched arm. "Hello, I'm Laura."

"And I'm Lui. You must be Miss Hayes?"

"That's me." I shook hands with Laura and Lui with a soft smile.

Sawyer leaned against a table cross-legged far right from us, watching the show unfold with a lazy smirk.

Prick.

"Mr. Ronnes had high recommendations for you," Lui said, hooking his thumb inside his washed-out jeans.

Recommendations, huh?

I kept a steady smile. "Glad to know. So, about the business..."

"Right. You can see what's going on," Laura's soft voice dimmed a notch as she looked around, "We need to pull this back to its former glory."

"And show Hunters who's the boss." Lui's hard gaze was frozen out the door.

I turned my head to find a swarming crowd hovering over the 'Sweet Hunters' on the other side of the street.

So, they were the main competitor around the block for Winters.

I hummed and turned back to Laura. "They are doing good. But if I'm honest, our main obstacle right now is us."

All three pairs of eyes dropped on me. Their sudden scrutiny had me squirming a little. Even more so when Sawyer's smirk widened.

I cleared my throat. "Well, I'm saying that we need to up our game to improve Winters."

Lui frowned. "Improve? We're already top-notch in terms of services. We don't need improvement. We just  need to defeat those Hunters."

"Yes, but would defeating Hunter guarantee our success?"

Lui's frown deepened. "Of course, it would! Once they're gone the street is ours. People will come to us."

This man was stubborn.

I steeled my spine and offered a thin smile. "Of course, we'll be the only cafe on the block. But what about the next? And the next? The Sixth Street has three chain stores. Two of them are running the cafe."

"What do you mean?" the hint of agitation in his voice told me he could guess what I meant.

Still, I opened my mouth to spell it out.

"It means, people have options, bro. They don't need us. We do," Laura sighed. "I've been trying to tell you this for a while."

"But-"

"No buts or ifs, bro. We need help. And we have to accept it. Please..." she offered a gentle to his stiff arm.

A tensed second of silence.

Two more.

A sigh.

"Fine," Lui's cold voice washed over the whole cafe. "Do what you wish. Just don't come back crying when they bulldoze our shop."

"Bro-"

He shrugged off Laura's hand and strode back inside the kitchen.

Freddy's form was peeking through the gap of the red door before Lui shut it behind him with a loud thud.

Laura's shoulders slumped before she pulled them back up and offered me a faint twitch of lips.

"Sorry about that. I'll see you in the evening, okay? We'll discuss our strategies further then."

"Sounds like a plan." I nodded and watched her walk back inside.

A few more seconds passed as I processed the aftermath of the little tornado.

Suppressing a breath, I turned and eyed Sawyer only to find him munching down a crispy croissant. Without a single care in the world.

Would it be a crime to shove that croissant down his throat and choke him? Because my fingers were itching. Badly.