Undercover Fire by Kathleen Hope

If Katherine had to put up with one more impatient, obnoxious pig of a customer today, she was going to scream. No, that wasn’t satisfying enough. One more customer like that and she was going to dump the steaming pot of coffee right in his lap. That would teach them! Sure, it would also get her fired and leave her homeless in two weeks when she couldn’t pay her rent. But sometimes, it almost seemed worth it. Almost, but not quite.

So, taking a deep, calming breath, she replaced the coffee pot, smiled at the man signaling angrily to her from across the congested dining room and forced her feet to walk toward the customer she would henceforth refer to as Angry Man.

“Good evening, sir. What can I get for you today?” she queried with a smile still plastered on her face. But just as the scowling man opened his mouth to respond, the door opened wide and out of the corner of her eye she saw the group walking in. Damn it! Her brother Dylan, with his entourage of mindless lackeys. It was disruptive, to say the least, when her brother decided to drop in on a slow day, never mind during a dinner rush with a dining room teeming with irritated customers.

“Just one moment, sir,” she excused herself, cutting off Angry Man mid-sentence, and hurried toward Dylan. “What are you doing here?” she whispered fiercely without preamble.

“It’s nice to see you too, sis.”

“I somehow doubt this is a social call.”

“I need you to keep an eye on Adam for a few hours.”

“I’m in the middle of my shift.” But as she spoke, she carefully...