He shrugged. “What are friends for?”
“I’ve just been so nervous and worried about the research project and writing my dissertation.”
“You should probably eat,” Tim said. He was looking at her as if she had a second nose or third eye. “When was your last meal?”
It took a moment for her sleep-fogged brain to kick in. She was hungry, she realized. “Breakfast this morning.” Had she been in that greasy diner only that morning?
“Why don’t I buy you din—” His words were interrupted by another knock on the door.
Please don’t let it be the professor. Please don’t let it be the professor. She turned around and grabbed the doorknob once again.
“Hey, Beth,” Reidar said, standing next to Kelan.
Relief or excitement—she didn’t care which—made her grin when she saw them in the hall.
“Hey. I didn’t expect to see you two here tonight.”
“Disappointed?” Kelan asked.
“I wouldn’t say that.”
Reidar pulled Beth into his arms and kissed her. She didn’t fight, didn’t try to pull away, and he kept it gentle. Against her lips, he murmured, “We came to see if you wanted to grab some dinner.”
“Mmm,” was her response as she leaned into him and then sighed. “I’d love to, but I really need a shower.” She wouldn’t admit she needed one to fully wake up. She felt a little groggy, a little drugged.
Her internal clock was way the hell off. Now she’d be up all night, but at least she should be able to get some work done on her dissertation.
“A shower…hmm?” Reidar hummed then nipped her ear, giving her goose bumps.
Tim cleared his throat.
Without looking at him, without even pulling away from Reidar’s embrace, she said, “Oh, um… guys, this is a colleague of mine from the university. Uh…Tim, these are the Falke brothers.” She smiled, knowing her cheeks were probably cherry-red. “Or at least two of them, Reidar and Kelan.”
“The locals who own the puma,” Tim said, a hint of derision in his voice.
“The puma’s name is Falke, and nobody owns him,” Kelan said then pulled Beth away from Reidar and kissed her soundly.
Tim sputtered. “Both of them?”
Beth slowly leaned back and looked into Kelan’s intense gaze. No use denying the obvious.
“Yeah. Both of them.”
Kelan eyed her lips and murmured, “What do you say, hon? You hungry?” His softly growled question reminded her of another time when he’d asked her that, and the delicious memory gave her insides a need far beyond mere food.
She nodded. “You guys wanna come in and wait while I shower?”
“I’m out of here,” Tim said in a tone that got her hackles up. “But Beth, remember what I said before. Don’t come crying to me when they hurt you.”
She frowned at him. If she went crying to anyone, it certainly wouldn’t be a male coworker.
Tim stood up to his full height, which was a few inches taller than Reidar and Kelan, but he probably didn’t break the one-sixty mark, whereas the Falke brothers were easily two hundred pounds of solid muscle. Despite Tim’s words, the three men stood glaring at each other until she cleared her throat.
“I know what you said, Tim. You just remember what I said about my time…and my business.
See you first thing in the morning,” she said and pulled Kelan and Reidar into the room by the belt loops of their jeans, making a space for Tim to exit.
Kelan locked the door after Tim brushed past him and into the hallway. “Hurry up,” Kelan said as he retrieved his cell phone from his pocket. “I’ll get us a table at The Gold Miner, so wear something nice.”
Beth stopped on her way to the bathroom. “I don’t have anything nicer than a pair of jeans. I’m working here, not hanging out in nightclubs.”
Reidar grinned. “Jeans are fine, sweetie.”
Kelan grunted then spoke into his phone.
“You sure?” she asked Reidar. “I don’t want to stand out.”
Reidar gave her a gentle kiss. “We’re not wearing suits, now are we? Jeans are fine. I think he just wanted to see those long legs in a skirt.”
She grinned, warmed by his compliment, and said, “I could wear my lab coat and a belt.”
“Not out in public, you’re not,” Kelan said as he closed his phone. “But maybe when we come back here.”
Reidar chuckled when Beth burst out laughing.
“Reservations in twenty minutes,” Kelan said and popped her on the ass. “Get a move on.”
“Yes, sir.” She scurried into the bathroom and shut the door. She hoped the food was good, because she was starving. Then maybe, since she was so well rested, she’d invite them back for a little fun before she kicked them out and got some work done. If nothing else, she could write up an account of everything that had happened in the last couple of days in the journal she kept on her laptop.
Everything that had happened with the cat.
Not with the Falke brothers.
She’d never put that down in writing. That was to keep safe inside her…heart.
“Hurry it up, Beth,” Kelan called, which prompted her to turn on the shower and strip out of her clothes.
Beth did feel a bit underdressed, but not horribly so. She wore the newest pair of jeans she had with her, and the closest thing she had to a blouse, a white button-down man’s shirt. The plaque near the door inside The Gold Mine touted it as a four-star restaurant according to one of the big gourmet magazines, and the executive chef even had Michelin rating. White linens covered the tables laden with real silver and crystal. The lighting was subdued, yet not as dim as the pub. Luckily it was past the normal dinner hour, so there weren’t many patrons.
The hostess, dressed in a stylish black dress that didn’t show too much, yet enough to get good tips, led them to a small table in a private corner. The table that, apparently, Kelan had requested. The Falke brothers seemed to be regulars, even if the hostess wasn’t sure which brothers they were.
Reidar held Beth’s chair for her, and she sat, took her purse off her shoulder and set it on the floor beside her. He took the seat to her left, while Kelan sat on her right. The table was small, the space intimate.
“Do you drink wine?” Reidar asked once the hostess left.
“Not really. I’d prefer a screwdriver, if that’s okay.” She picked up the gold-embossed menu and opened it. Her eyes nearly bugged at the cost of even the smallest appetizers.
When the waiter came to fill their water glasses, Kelan ordered a screwdriver “light on the vodka” and beers for the two of them. Then he turned his attention to her.
“You remembered,” she said, grinning at him.
He cocked a brow. “With you…everything.”
Reidar touched her arm. “Order anything you want, sweetheart. Everything here is good.”
“Thanks.” She had student loans coming out her ears from years and years of university. Not since her mother’s last engagement party had she been in an establishment of this caliber, and never would she spend this kind of money on a meal. “I’m not really hungry.” She set the menu down. “I think a salad will do me.”
Both brothers gave her a look that bluntly told her they didn’t buy it.
“We saw you eat last night,” Kelan said.
“If you don’t order something that will fill you up,” Reidar added, “we’ll have to do it for you.”
Kelan leaned close to her ear and whispered. “As much as we like control, we’d prefer our woman to order her own meals.”
A shiver went down her arms, and a smile curved her lips. Their woman. Crazy that this was happening so fast, but it sounded so nice. So…right. Much more permanent than a summer fling ever should. Did they really consider what they’d started to be more than that? Dare she hope?