Chapter 1

Dani unlocked the door, gently pushing it open since the door was hanging loosely in its hinges. It had been like that since a few weeks, but she hadn't gotten around to repairing it. She felt something underneath her feet. Her eyes fell on the ground, noticing the mail piling up on the floor. Her little café had been closed for the holidays, and she didn't want to ruin the holiday cheer by looking at her bills so she placed them by the rest of them in the office, telling herself she would look at them next week.

Dani had inherited the little café when her father had died. It had always been her dream to go to university and study journalism, but the sudden death of her father had caught her by surprise and she couldn't bring herself to sell the café. Much of her childhood she had spent drinking milk while drawing pictures at the bar, talking with the regular customers and when she became sixteen she even started working there. While all her friends went to the big city to chase after their dreams, Dani stayed behind to fulfill her fathers dream.

Managing the café by herself was hard, and it wasn't long before Dani hired staff to help her cope with the pressure. The people of Charming had been kind to her as she was trying to get the café back on track, helping her out whenever help was needed.

Dani sighed when she saw her café. There was something soothing about your own business in the morning sun. As she was not expecting a busy day, Dani had the café to herself today. Occasionally she enjoyed the peace and quiet of working alone, but on busy days she was glad when she had someone there to help her. She did the financial side of the business by herself, after doing a course at the nearest college she could manage it easily.

She always started off the day by brewing some fresh coffee, more for herself than for her customers. Even though Starbucks was getting more and more popular, their coffee was nothing compared to hers. After her coffee she checked the inventory, but due to them being closed for the weekend because of the holidays, she still had plenty of everything left.

Dani nodded in content. Even though the journey had been hard, she prided herself in keeping the café in such good shape. Never ever had she considered selling it in the past ten years she ran it, and never ever would she. The café was part of her now, as it was part of her father.

Customers were already lining up outside when she opened the door, all wanting her coffee to start off the day. Dani hoped it would stay at that, as she doubted she could handle more people than the ones lining up at her door. Maybe it wouldn't be as quiet as she had anticipated.

"Good morning," she greeted her customers happily. Some of them had been visiting the café for as long as it had been there, and Dani was very glad the town supported her so much. Especially the local MC, Sons of Anarchy had been great. Dani has known Jax Teller, their VP, since high school and she had to admit she had always had a major crush on him. Back in the day it had looked like they were getting together, but then her father died and she needed to process that before she got into anything with him. However during that time he had gotten together with Tara Knowles and after she left to study medicine with Wendy Case. Dani still remembered how bad she had felt when she heard Jax and Wendy had gotten married, and how happy she was when they got a divorce, but she never dared to tell him that.

Dani especially looked up to Gemma, who had become a mother figure to her. Her mother had died in an accident when she was very young, so she couldn't remember anything of it, but in the meantime Gemma had been there for her.

It wasn't until after lunch hour when everything quieted down again and Dani had time to quickly go to the bathroom. She just managed on her own, but luckily the busiest part of the day had already passed since she didn't serve dinner.

The café was completely empty when a customer she had never seen before entered. Most of the time it meant they were tourists, as she knew all of her regular customers by their name. Dani put down the cloth she used to dust off the tables and wiped her hands clean on her apron. "Can I help you?" she asked, studying the guy.

He was mid-aged, tall and quite handsome. His hair was slicked back and his expensive looking grey suit brought out the green in his eyes. Dani knew she hadn't seen him in Charming before, but she couldn't help but wonder what he was doing here, in her café.

The guy extended his arm, offering her his hand. Dani didn't trust him, but found it wasn't polite to reject it. She shook his hand, never letting go of his gaze while praying another customer would come in soon, as this guy was definitely not a tourist.

"I'm Harrison Lewis," he spoke, letting go of her hand.

"Can I help you?" Dani asked again. She leaned to the side to rest against the bar. Mr. Lewis didn't look like he was here for a cup of coffee.

"As the matter of fact, yes," Harrison said. He ran his fingers through his slicked back dark blonde hair. "This is a nice place you got here."

"Thanks," Dani replied, furrowing her brows.

"You run it by yourself?" Harrison slid his finger across the bar as if he was examining it for dust.

"Yeah," Dani said, getting impatient. "Look, just get to the point. What do you want?" She had no time for this. She still had to do the books for the week and bake a cake if time allowed it. Work had to be done.

Harrison raised his eyebrows, probably not expecting her snarky remark. "Okay…" he started. "Well, I want to buy it."

"It's not for sale," Dani immediately fired back.

"You haven't heard my offer," Harrison flashed her a smile, but she wasn't falling for it. People often tried to buy her café, wanting to turn it into an apartment block or a mall, but never would she sell her father's café.

"I don't need to hear it. I will not sell it," Dani grabbed the piece of cloth she was cleaning the tables with again and started to dust of the bar, hoping he would take the hint.

"Very well, then," Harrison said. "I'll talk to you soon." She wasn't sure what that meant, but she figured he would come back with an even better deal. Even if they were offering her millions, she couldn't sell the place. The sentimental value too big.

She didn't reply as she watched him leave the café, Jax Teller entering at the same time. The two men looked at each other while one of them left and the other entered. Dani was glad they didn't exchange words, as she didn't feel like dealing with them fighting.

"Who's that guy?" Jax nodded, sliding on a barstool.

Dani shook her head, grabbing a cup to fill it with coffee. "No one," she said while focusing on pouring the coffee in the cup, trying not to spill it. "He wanted to buy the café."

"You said no, I hope?" Jax replied. He smiled softly as she handed him his coffee. Taking a sip from it eagerly.

"Of course!" Dani said. "You know I would never sell this place."

"Do you want me to look into him?" he asked.

Dani shook her head. She didn't want to involve SAMCRO in her business. Besides, they would probably make it worse than it was. She figured Harrison would come back maybe once or twice, trying to convince her, but if she stood her ground he would disappear sooner or later. They could hardly kick her out of her own place, could they?

"Don't worry about. If he comes back I'll make sure he won't come back a third time."

"I don't doubt it," Jax laughed.

Dani moved behind the bar and stood opposite of Jax, resting her hands on the counter, slightly leaning. Being orphaned on a young age taught her to be strong. Dani was never one to let someone just waltz over her.

"Are you coming to the clubhouse tonight?"

Dani smirked. She had been to quite a few of SAMCRO's parties, and the thought of them already made her smile. Their parties were definitely the best ones, as they always got out of hand. Dani wasn't a big drinker herself, but she loved watching everyone around her. All the guys being pissed, and the women trying to grab their attention.

"Not sure, still have a lot of work to do here," she replied honestly. As much as she wanted to come, the café was her first priority, and with no one to cover her, she had no choice.

"Get someone to cover you, you're the boss," Jax replied.

"There is no one else. I gave them all the week off," Dani replied.

"Try to come, I'd love to have you there. Besides, it will probably go on until tomorrow morning so you don't really have an excuse."

Dani cocked her head, smiling. The only person who could persuade her to do anything was Jackson Teller. Never could she resist his smile, the way he talked. She knew this was dangerous, but she couldn't help herself.

"Is Wendy coming?" she asked out of nowhere. Wendy had blamed her for her divorce with Jax, although this time it was hardly her fault. There was tension between her and him, but if one thing was against her principles, it was cheating. Nothing had happened between them during his marriage with Wendy, yet she still blamed her. Dani figured Wendy blamed her just so she had someone else to blame but herself, and things hadn't been great between them since then. She knew once Wendy saw her at the clubhouse, things could not be kept civil.

"You know she's not," he replied. Jax took one final sip, placing the mug back on the counter to slide it towards her.

"Then I might come," she teased. Dani knew she would probably go after work, as she hadn't seen Gemma in some time and there was no better way to end the day then by drinking an ice cold beer with her friends.

A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter of this story! I've been wanting this story for some time now and finally found the time to do it. Please review to let me know what you think. Hopefully I'll see you next time! :)