I sighed. Damn.
I kept my back to Birdie while I repeated my mantra in my head. The last thing I ever wanted to do was end up working for Birdie Holt part-time at Sawyer’s Rusty Nail, yet here I stood in my tight uniformed t-shirt and jeans. At least I got to pick my footwear. Tonight I opted for a red pair of dressy sandals with a spiked heel and lacy ties that went up the side of my jeans. It was my one guilty pleasure and damn it I enjoyed it.
I was so close to having enough money to move to Syn City and go to college full-time. If that meant picking up extra shifts at the Rusty Nail any chance I got, I would suck it up.
And working here had nothing to do with being closer to one Sawyer Becker. Even if the bastard was never around. I swear it.
I pasted on a grin before I turned around. “Sorry. I didn’t think I started until six tonight.”
Birdie huffed out a breath, but I knew I had her. My shift did indeed start at six. A glance at the clock hanging on the dark paneled wall told me I had another five minutes before I was due out on the floor.
I snatched up an apron and tied it around my waist, tucking a pad and pen in a pocket. “Has it been busy tonight?”
Birdie pursed her hot pink lips, looking for all the world like she was sucking a lemon. I held back a laugh.
“It’s always busy on Fridays. Make sure you get out on that floor now or I dock pay. And get rid of those ridiculous heels. You look like a hooker.” She marched out the door and I saluted her retreating back.
Hooker or not, me and my heels ducked into the small powder room and I checked myself in the mirror. I smoothed down a few strands of the hair that had escaped from my sloppy ponytail and rubbed a finger under my eye to get rid of a spot of smeared eyeliner. I applied some peachy lip-gloss and stared at myself for a second. Guess that’s as good as I was going to get.
With a sigh, I headed out to the barroom, snatching up a tray as I went.
As soon as I hit the busy floor, Carlos, our bartender and single father, called out to me. “Hola, chica. Lookin’ good tonight, señorita. Can you pick up table four, por favor?”
“Si, Carlos. Y ¡gracias!”
I threw him a smile and got one back for my practiced line of Spanish. In our seldom off hours, he helped me learn his native language while I taught him how to braid his daughter’s hair.
I headed over to the table under one of the new ginormous flatscreens. Four of my regulars sat at the battered round table.
“Hey, guys. How were the tourists today?” I offered the Wilder brothers and one of their crew members a warm smile knowing they’d dealt with some crazy people on the best of days. The men owned an outdoor adventures company and were always good for a few hilarious stories about their customers. It didn’t hurt that they were great tippers, too.
“Surprisingly quiet,” Asher, the crew member who graduated high school a few years ahead of me, shared. “Not one of them tried to get up close and personal with the local wildlife. Kind of a bummer. Could have used a good laugh.”
I laughed. “You sound disappointed.”
A wide grin took up residence across the bottom half of his face. “It keeps things interesting when I have to pull one of them out of the bay or rescue one who thought it was a good idea to take pictures with a cute baby bear.”
“Ya know, Ash, I think you just might have a mean streak.” I shook my head and laughed along with the guys before slipping my pad and pen from my apron. “You guys up for your usual?”
I got their orders and headed toward the bar. A glance over the room told me Birdie hadn’t lied. The place was jammed with a mixture of locals and tourists all enjoying the warm interior and good company.
Bits and pieces of conversation drifted my way as I skirted tables, chairs, and patrons. Most of it filtered out, but then I heard the dreaded words that made my heart stop cold.
“…I heard Sawyer is coming back for good this time. I’m so happy to hear it…”
I froze in place for a long moment until someone jostled me from behind. I shook off the stupor and hustled to the bar with my orders. Usually I’d pick up another order while Carlos filled this one, but right now my mind glitched.
I kept my back to the crowd and stared off into space as I fought to get my breathing under control. I quickly found something that helped me—mental math.
I stood there and started to add up the numbers in my bank account, plus the partial scholarship money I’d been offered, and compared it to the cost of living I’d come up with for Syn City.
I had planned to stick it out in Wild Ridge until late fall before I finally, finally headed to the city to start school in the spring semester. That would give me plenty of time to find a place to live, find a job and get settled. What I really wanted time to do was pass around my portfolio with the jewelers and get my handcrafted pieces in their hands. That way they could see the quality work first hand. If I could only get that far. Up until now it’s all been a fantasy. The best way to move forward and forget about him—sexy and mysterious Sawyer Becker.
But the mention of Sawyer’s return blew all those plans right out of the water. My heart raced at the prospect of coming face-to-face with the hard, gorgeous man I’d done my best to avoid since my mother walked us through his doors while looking for a job three years ago.
With her gone, I took her place and I’ve worked here ever since.
Sawyer was the one man who could tempt me to throw away all my plans with just the crook of his finger.
I shuddered at the thought. As hard as I’d fought my mother’s slutty reputation my entire life, my reaction to Sawyer Becker made one thing crystal clear—if I let them, the locals would gladly ruin my reputation in a blink.
But I refused to make the same choices she’d made. I wouldn’t throw away my dreams just so I could get the attention of a man. Wouldn’t the locals just love that?
My eyes scanned the men bellied up to the bar, mostly locals and mostly married loggers. Most lived and worked together in our small town just fine. But I’d have to be blind and deaf not to hear the opinions that got slung around the bar from time to time about the woman who raised me.
Many old enough to know her, looked down on my mother and her obvious attempts to lure every male within a fifty-mile radius into her bed in the desperate hope one of them would stick around longer than a night. And those nasty comments and disparaging glances were very often directed at me by extension.
On more than one occasion she tried to work her tricks on one of the elder Beckers—Sawyer’s uncles.
She always went on about needing a man like them. Richer than most, handsome and when one wore the ring of a Becker, instant status came with it.
No thank you. I would earn every penny I ever made and make my own status along the way. Titles and recognition never suited me anyway.
Reason enough for me to want to stay away from the quiet, ruggedly handsome soldier who had featured prominently in my daydreams, not to mention a few naughty fantasies, over the years.
Not that Sawyer had ever seemed that interested.
I had enough money saved to get things moving a little sooner. Maybe if I left a month or two earlier than planned, I’d get off this mountain before Sawyer made his return. I could put in my two weeks notice with Birdie and with the Sugarbush Hot Cocoa and Coffee Stand I also part-timed at. Maybe if my stars aligned for once I might actually make it out before he returns.
A smile skimmed my lips. I might be terrified at the thought of seeing Sawyer, but not so terrified I couldn’t take a second to enjoy the idea of telling Birdie Holt to take her job and shove it up her ass. Just the idea...
“Order’s up, Trinity.”
I jolted back to reality to find my tray loaded with three frosty beers, condensation dripping down their sides, and a big basket of buttery popcorn and hot wings for the Wilder brother’s table.
I shook my head, trying to dislodge my unsettled thoughts. I offered the bartender a weak smile. “T
hanks, Carlos.”
I pulled in a deep breath, squared my shoulders and picked up my tray. I might have to make a slight adjustment to my plan, but I still had a plan. I didn’t have to panic at the mere mention of Sawyer Becker.
By the time I got back to Asher’s table, I managed to conjure up a genuine smile for the trio. “Three ice cold ones, guys and some goodies to help it go down.”
I tossed cocktail napkins on the scarred tabletop and served the men their order. “Enjoy. Let me know when you’re ready for another round.”
I moved off toward another table. Before I reached them, a hand fell on my shoulder.
I jumped and spun around, dislodging the hand with my jerky movements.
“Sorry.” Asher smiled and held up his hands, palms facing out. “Didn’t mean to scare you, sweetheart.”
I gave him a rueful grin. “No worries. I think I’m just a little jumpy tonight.” Understatement of the century. “Did you guys need something else?” I twirled a gold ring on my middle finger, feeling the infinity sign along the top of the warm metal more out of habit than nerves. The movement drew his attention for a second before he drew his eyes back to mine.
“No, no, nothing like that.” Asher leaned in close and his scent teased my nostrils—warm male, clean soap and maybe a little tang of fresh mountain snow from his days spent taking tourists out on one adventure or another.
“I actually wanted to see if you wanted to grab dinner. With me. This weekend.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and I was instantly taken back to high school and the days where he did the same thing anytime he talked to the opposite sex. Back then I hid behind books and never engaged with the local hunks. I had too much of a thing for an older man to really notice others back then.
Some things never changed.
I stared at Asher blankly for a few seconds as my mind worked to decipher what he was saying. And then it hit me—he was asking me on a date.
Mild panic held my stomach in its grip. Nothing like the major anxiety attack I’d had a little while ago when confronted by the prospect of seeing Sawyer again after so long. Still, I always hated when the guys I waited on asked me out. Most of them were locals and most of them were well aware of my mother and I didn’t think Asher was any exception.
I sighed inwardly. He was cute. And under other circumstances, I’d say yes in a heartbeat, just to get the ball rolling in my non-existent dating life. Maybe in some other life.
I couldn’t say I wasn’t disappointed by Asher’s invitation. I’d always thought of him as one of the nice guys. But I couldn’t help but question his motives for asking me out.
More old habits with a long life span.
For a very brief moment, I entertained the fantasy that Asher was the good guy he seemed like and he was asking me out because he was genuinely attracted to me. But I knew the truth—my first real date would have to wait until I put Wild Ridge, and the reputation that had rubbed off on me through no fault of my own, behind me.
My mind boggled for a second, thinking about life after I finally started college full-time and designed jewelry as my only job. I’d get to have a sex life for the first time in my twenty years. But before that happened, I’d have to deal with one more mountain man trying to get in my pants.
I smiled. My go-to reaction. I had to live here, knowing they thought my mother was dirt and their opinion of me wasn’t much better. I depended on many of them for my living. So no matter what, I kept that smile pinned to my face.
But the smile I offered him was not the same one I’d given him a few minutes ago when he was just my customer. I knew it must look forced and fake. It was the best I could do.
“Thanks for asking me, Asher. But I’m actually planning on moving pretty soon. I’ve been picking up every extra shift I can before I head out.”
His face fell slightly, his smile dimming. But then it brightened again and he opened his mouth.
Damn it.
I braced myself, fully expecting him to try to convince me. The guys who wanted what my mother gave so freely to any man who so much as breathed in her space wouldn’t be deterred by the fact I was leaving town soon. They only needed an hour or so to get what they wanted, right?
“Look, Asher.” I did my best to jump in and head him off before he could ask me again. “Forget it alright. It’s not a good idea.”
Before he could push the topic, a heavy hand clamped down on my wrist. I jolted and dropped my tray with a clatter on the wood flooring, beer going everywhere.
I raised my head and found myself staring into the burning black eyes of the last man I wanted to see.
“You’re right, sweetheart. It’s not a good idea,” Sawyer growled at Ash without ever taking his eyes from me.
I swallowed hard and my mouth went dry.
Sawyer.
Damn it.
I ignored the stuttering of my heart and the butterflies darting around my stomach with overeager flutters.
Looked like I waited too long to make my escape after all.
Chapter 3
Sawyer
Ash didn’t have a clue how close he was to meeting his end. I was done waiting to claim my woman. As I watched this asshole try and pick her up, the darkness inside me built up over years of war and missions snarled to life, ready for a bloody fight.
As I stalked across the crowded bar toward Trinity, I realized I knew the guy. Asher Bellingham. He was a friend of sorts. I exchanged friendly words over a beer a time or two. Invited him to get-togethers once in a while when I was actually in town, but given the rare occurrence, we grew apart.
But we weren’t so friendly that he’d get to keep his hand if he so much as thought about touching Trinity.
I stood near enough to hear Trinity letting the man down easy, but even with that, my ire rose. Part of me wanted to tear into Ash, make a show of it so everyone would know to keep their hands off.
But the larger part of me just wanted Trinity. And that part of me wouldn’t be denied for even one more second.
I wrapped my fingers around Trinity’s wrist, her pulse jumping erratically. She gasped in surprise and her face turned up to mine, those pretty peach-colored lips parted. Her jewel-toned eyes widened and she stared up at me with a mixture of green and gold swirling in their depths.
So much emotion behind such pretty eyes.
Despite my temper, something eased inside me the moment my skin made contact with hers. Finally, I had her.
I snarled something at Asher, and I didn’t wait for Trinity to recover from her surprise or for Asher to jump in and offer his assistance. I tangled my hand with hers and, with a sidelong glance at Ash that told him everything he needed to know, I tugged her as gently as I could manage to the back of the bar, ignoring the twisting heads and wagging tongues that followed our progress.
Fuck them and the shitty mountain gossip that would come from the show. Let them take out a front-page news article if it made all the whisperers happy. I didn’t give a fuck. Trinity’s palm pressed against mine and nothing in the world would take my focus off the warmth of her skin soaking into me.
I didn’t stop until we reached a small nook behind a small bar area, the spot lots of couples used as a preliminary to getting a room. I needed to reclaim my office space in the back they were using as extra storage for the moment so this place would just have to do.
I pushed Trinity into the corner and used my body to block out the nosy stares of everyone in the bar.
I tipped her chin up and waited for her to drag her eyes off the puckered scar along my collar bone. “What are you doing here?” I demanded, the second I saw the glittering green of her irises.
My God, she was beautiful.
Trinity absently rubbed the wrist I’d clamped down on, staring at me with enormous eyes.
Shit. I slowly reached forward and took her wrist in my hand, cupping it gently while I examined it. Had I been harsher than I realized when I grabbed her?
Smooth, asshole.
“Shit. I’m sorry, baby girl. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Are you okay?”
She stared at me mutely but after a few seconds she nodded her head, sending her ponytail swaying over her delicate shoulders.
I lowered my voice a bit more. When I did I noticed the tension in her shoulders released a fraction or so. “Are you sure?” I couldn’t find any signs of bruising or redness.
“Yeah. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure,” she said softly. And I swear to all that is holy, her soft, sweet voice sent blood rushing south. My cock swelled instantly and throbbed so hard I could feel the teeth of my zipper through my boxers.
I closed my eyes and clenched my back teeth together as I fought for control. No easy feat considering I was standing inches away from the woman I’ve waited years to wrap my arms around, kiss and sink so deep into we both become connected on a soul-deep level.
My cock hardened and that’s when I realized I needed to fuck her like I needed my next breath.
I gripped her hand in mine and her sweet floral scent filled my nostrils. If I were blindfolded in a stadium full of people, I could still find my way to her by scent alone. I breathed deeply, trying to pull more of her into me.
I opened my eyes, and I can only imagine what she saw in them because she inched backward, scooting further into the corner.
With a superhuman force of control, I let go of her hand and stepped back just enough to give her the comfort of a few inches of space between us. It was the most I could give. Even then, something primal inside me growled possessively.
I squared my shoulders and gritted my teeth, promising myself that very, very soon I’d claim her completely and then she’d be all mine.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.” I was proud of how calm my voice came out. I half expected only snarls and growls to escape when I opened my mouth. “I was just surprised to see you here. Why are you here, Trinity?”
She shook her head, those tender eyes narrowing. “I don’t know what you mean, Sawyer. At your bar or Wilde Ridge?”
God. My name on her lips. I tightened my hands into fists at my sides.
706 Sugarbush Lane: Older Man, Younger Woman Small Town Romance Page 2
