“Oh my God,” Sarah gasped, hurrying towards the front door.

Thankfully, by the time Sarah reached the front of the restaurant, Alex was already on his way back. “You okay?” she asked as he walked back in. He nodded, but she could see the movement in his tightened jaw. “You did good, Alex,” she offered with a smile. “You didn’t even punch him or anything.”

“Yeah, well, I sure as hell felt like it, let me tell you.” Cindy walked up to them and Alex turned to her. “Never put up with a customer like that, okay? I don’t give a shit about the customer always being right. I’ll kick them out on their asses before I let them treat my employees like that.”

Cindy nodded, smiling. “Thank you, Alex.”

The front door swung open, and a frightened older lady rushed in. “There are two men fighting in the parking lot.”

Sarah rushed out behind Alex as he practically sprinted into the parking lot. All Sarah could think as her heart pounded nearly through her chest was that Angel would be getting there soon. She wondered if maybe he’d arrived early and it might be him fighting the idiot Alex had just thrown out. To her relief, it wasn’t Angel, and the rude jerk was pinned against a car. The much bigger guy fighting him or rather subduing him had his elbow lodged against his throat. The woman who’d been at the restaurant with the guy stood off to the side, crying.

“I want him arrested!” The rude animal gasped, spitting out blood.

It was only when the guy holding him against the car laughed that Sarah made the connection.

Leonardo.

“For what?” Leonardo asked. “For not letting you beat your girl?” Leonardo pulled his arm away from the guy’s throat, picked him up away from the car a few inches, and then slammed him back down. “You f**king pu**y!”

“The only one who’s gonna get arrested is you, ass**le,” Alex said, pointing at the guy on the car. “For trespassing on my property after I told your ass to leave. Let ’im go,” Alex said to Leonardo.

Leonardo picked him up and then shoved him away. The man stumbled a bit, wiping the blood off his face. Alex lifted his wrist and looked down at his watch. “You have two minutes to get off my property.”

The guy took his time walking to his car. He and his date got in, and he revved it up then skidded out of there like a mad man.

Leonardo, who was nearly as big as Alex, turned back to Alex. “Sorry, man, I didn’t mean to cause any trouble. I’d just driven up when I saw him pushing his girl around. I got out of my car and asked him nicely to stop. He didn’t, so . . .” He shrugged with a smirk. “I went easy on him and just popped his lip open.”

Leonardo flexed his fingers with a grimace.

“Nah,” Alex said. “No worries. I’m glad you did. That’s what dicks like him deserve.” Alex held out a hand and Leonardo shook it. “Thanks for not letting him do that in my parking lot. That’s the last thing I want customers seeing when they drive up.”

Alex explained that the man had just been kicked out for being a rude ass**le then talking to his girl the way he had. Sarah was still staring at Leonardo—her brother. Her heart thumped a mile a minute.

Nodding and smiling, Leonardo brought his eyes from Alex’s to Sarah’s. “Sarah, you’re even more beautiful in person.”

“What?” Alex stopped mid-stride, making Sarah look away from Leonardo.

She’d seen that hardened glare on Alex all too many times, so she explained quickly. “This is Leonardo,” she said, “my brother. Angel said he told you about him.”

Alex’s eyes went wide and that glare softened. “Yeah.” He turned back to Leonardo with an understanding smile. “Yeah, he did. So you’re her long lost brother, huh?”

Leonardo smiled a strange little smile and nodded.

“I was meeting with him after my shift,” Sarah explained. She turned to Leonardo, a little confused. “I thought we were meeting later? Did I miss a text or something?”

“No,” he said, looking a little embarrassed suddenly. “I just got here a lot earlier than I thought. My friend, the one I’m staying with tonight, is still at work.” He lifted a shoulder. “I knew you were working, so I figured I’d stop by and check out the restaurant you talk so much about.”

“C’mon in,” Alex said, starting back toward the entrance then turning to Sarah. “Sarah you can take off now if you want.”

As tempted as she was, she knew better. “Angel is meeting me here, actually. He’s coming with us.”

“Ah.” Alex nodded. “Well, then come in and grab a bite or a beer while you wait for Angel. Go ahead and wrap it up Sarah so you can sit and wait with him until Angel gets here.”

Clearly, Angel hadn’t shared the doubts he so obviously had about Leonardo still with Alex; otherwise, she was certain he wouldn’t be so willing to give them time alone. He probably hadn’t told Alex that she hadn’t met Leonardo in person yet either. She knew Alex would have been suspicious or at the very least cautious, yet he’d practically encouraged her to leave with Leonardo—alone.

Sarah had Leonardo sit at the bar while she finished up her last two tables then went to put her apron away and grab her stuff from the back. Alex had the kitchen staff put out a mini dessert buffet on the house to make up for the disturbance they’d been witness to.

Before heading to the bar to sit with Leonardo, Sarah stopped and grabbed a few warm churros from the dessert bar. Cindy and Lilly, another one of the waitresses on duty, stopped by.