Taming Mack (Sinful Nights Book 3)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  “I have to go,” Mack announced and headed towards the door.

  Reid and Brant jumped up, blocking the door. “Hold on, cowboy!” Reid warned, putting a hand to Mack’s shoulder to slow him down. “You can’t go anywhere. You’ve been drinking. Stick around and head back home tomorrow. That will be time enough to make plans and sober up.”

  Mack glanced down at the coffee table where he’d abandoned his beer bottle. His empty beer bottle. And that wasn’t his first one. “Hell!” he muttered, in complete agreement with his brothers. He would have realized that he wasn’t in any shape to drive before getting into his truck, but the very fact that he hadn’t thought about it immediately pissed him off.

  “You’re right,” he agreed, shaking his head at his stupidity. He couldn’t blame that on Eve. He knew better. How many times had he had to call a relative and give them the tragic news when some idiot had thought they were sober enough to drive? Alcohol and driving didn’t mix. Add in a mountain road, no streetlights, and lots of curves, as well as dangerous switchbacks, and that was just a recipe for disaster.

  “I’ll head out in the morning.”

  “Good idea,” Brant said. All three brothers settled in to watch the game. Mack stared blankly at the television, trying to come up with a reason that would make Eve want to stay.

  Chapter 6

  Mack pulled into the station wanting to head over to The Bull Frog immediately. But looking down the street, he noticed that her car wasn’t in its usual parking spot

  With a sigh of frustration, he walked into the station, prepared to head out on his rounds. “Anything happen while I was gone?” he asked Dan, one of two deputies for the town.

  “Nah, everything quiet. The Miller twins tried to build a skateboard and roll down the street.”

  That caught Mack’s attention and he turned his full attention on his deputy, his weapons belt frozen in the air. “What happened?”

  Louis, the other deputy, chuckled, both men shaking their head. “They made the skateboard out of an old piece of wood and four mismatched wheels. They went about ten feet before the board stopped. It took them fifteen minutes to figure out how to straighten the wheels again.”

  Mack smiled, thinking that those boys would end up in the hospital if they weren’t careful. But having been a regular at the Denver emergency room growing up, he knew that the boys would survive.

  He hoped, at least.

  “Time to get to work,” he mumbled and walked out the door. Unlocking the rifle safe, he took out his regular rifle and a box of ammunition. He hadn’t had to use the rifle or his gun in a while and every day, he prayed the trend wouldn’t end today.

  “See you tomorrow,” he called to Louis, who would be getting off in a half hour. Dan was on duty for another five hours. The three of them staggered their shifts, so there was always someone available to the public if help was needed. But there had been many times when all three of them pulled long, arduous shifts because problems tended to happen when one least expected.

  “Oh, hey boss!” Louis called out, pulling a piece of paper out from a stack on the side of his desk.

  “Yeah?”

  He came out from his desk and handed Mack a report. “I don’t know what this was about,” Louis began. “But last night, there were reports of lights up by the cliff falls parking area. When I went to check it out, nothing was there. It was completely dark, no movement.”

  Mack skimmed the report, noting the time. What the hell was going on up there at two thirty in the morning? He nodded and handed the report back to Louis. “Okay, I’ll go see if anything looks odd now that the sun’s up. Call this in to Ryan, okay?”

  “Sure thing, boss,” Louis headed for his desk.

  Mack headed out, irritated when his eyes wandered down the street to the bar. Eve’s car still wasn’t there. “Where the hell are you, honey?” he muttered to himself. Then turned away, sliding his sunglasses on and heading towards his Bronco. He stored the rifle on the gun rack, locked it securely, and slid into the driver’s seat. If his eyes moved down the street one more time, looking for one particular vehicle, he told himself he was just doing his job. Eve might be a temporary resident, but she deserved his protection as much as anyone.

  “So, where are you?” he asked again, his eyes scanning the area for Eve and anything else that looked out of place. Several residents waved to him and he waved back as he headed up the mountain towards the Cliff Falls parking lot. It was a fifteen minute drive and, because there wasn’t a whole lot to do once he’d left the actual town, his mind wandered.

  “She damn well better not have gone hiking again,” he muttered, a cold pit forming in his stomach.

  Chapter 7

  “You’re cut off, Robby.”

  Robby stared in shock and confusion as his now-empty beer mug was carried away. “Hey! Why would you do that?”

  “Because you’re over the edge from feeling good to being drunk,” Eve told him. “And you’re too handsome to get into an accident.” With that, she plucked his keys off of his belt and dumped them into the jar behind the bar.

  “Hey!” Robby protested, but Eve noticed that he didn’t bother to get off of his bar stool.

  Shaking her head, she lifted a hand up, palm out to stop his protest. “Nope! You’re not driving. Joe? Can you take Robby home?”

  “Sure thing, Eve!” Joe called back. Robby grumbled for a moment, but then shuffled over to Joe’s table and started munching on the basket of treats she’d just delivered to the group of men who had come to town to fish for the next few days.

  “Hey, anyone see the lights up in the mountains last night?” someone asked the room.

  Eve stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Why does everyone care that there were lights in the mountains? So what if someone was driving along a mountain road at night. It wasn’t illegal, was it? Last time she checked, driving at night was still okay.

  “I know that Mack’s out there checking it out now,” someone else answered. “He’ll figure it out. If anyone’s doing something stupid, he’ll take care of it.”

  Eve stopped at name, then forced her feet to move, pretending to be fine.

  “He back from Denver?” another person asked.

  “’Course he is,” and everyone laughed.

  Eve bit back a harsh reply and moved towards the kitchen, furious with herself for even caring. But as she walked into the storage room and closed the door, the hurt that hit her was almost overwhelming.

  Mack had kissed her up on the mountain, making her head spin with his touch and the way he’d held her. Then he’d gone into Denver to find a woman for the night. He’d had sex with another woman!

  Oh, she hated him! Eve really hated him! She’d never felt this kind of pain before, not even after finding her ex-fiancé had cheated and lied to her. Which only proved that her engagement had been wrong, but beside the point at the moment. Besides, in this situation, anger was her outlet for this pain!

  “Eve! What are you doing in there?” Annie called out. “We need more meatballs, honey! They are flying today!”

  Eve groaned, wishing she could just go somewhere and hide under a blanket until she could breathe more easily. This hurt and she hated hurting! She hated Mack and…

  “What the hell are you doing?” a deep voice demanded right behind her.

  “Mack?” she gasped, noticing that her heart was pounding. He’d just come back from being with another woman! She shouldn’t be excited to see him, she should be pissed! Pissed off and finished with men. So instead of smiling up at him, she frowned as she pushed past him.

  And yes, Eve was fully aware that Mack allowed her to push him because the guy was too big to push around. Just another reason to be furious with him. Why couldn’t he be a little guy? Why couldn’t he be short and weak? Why did he have to have muscles and biceps and shoulders and that cute butt? And handcuffs!

  With a groan, she shoved the tray of dishes into the dishwasher. Thankfully, the indust
rial sized dishwasher took only a few minutes. When the machine was finished, she pulled the tray out and lifted it…well, she tried to lift it but strong arms came around her and Mack lifted the heavy plastic tray filled with appetizer bowls, putting it on the metal counter behind her.

  She huffed a bit, but pushed the next batch of dishes through. And yet again, he lifted them out of the way, setting them on top of the first rack.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  She glared up at him. “Go away. I have work to do.”

  “Why are you so angry?” he asked, moving closer to her and she closed her eyes, trying very hard not to react. But it was Mack, and he was warm, sexy, and smelled…absolutely delicious.

  “Mack, I’m busy.”

  “How about a batch of meatballs to go, then?”

  She shook her head. “Can’t do that,” she said, retreating to the other side of the kitchen before turning around to cross her arms over her stomach. “We’re out. Too busy.”

  At that moment, Annie stepped into the kitchen and pulled four bowls of the meatballs from the warming oven. Annie didn’t say a word, just stacked up her appetizers and moved off.

  When they were alone, Mack turned to look at Eve with raised eyebrows but she just shrugged.

  “Seems like you have a lot of meatballs still to sell.”

  “They are all taken,” she lied. “I’m sure there are some meatballs in Denver,” she challenged. “Why don’t you head on back there and find out?”

  He chuckled and moved closer. “I have no idea why you’re so angry with me, but I’ll be back later and we’ll discuss my Denver trips. Until then,” he warned her moments before he kissed her. It was just a brief brush of his lips against hers, but it made her head spin.

  By the time she opened her eyes again, ready to snap at him for being so arrogant as to think she wanted him to kiss her, he was gone. She heard the bells over the door jingle and assumed that meant he’d left.

  Sagging back against the counter, she wondered how that man could turn her into a pile of mush! Why couldn’t she think of him like she thought about Robby or Dan or any of the other men that came through the doors of The Bull Frog? This was ridiculous!

  “You okay?” Annie asked, pulling several more bowls of meatballs out of the warming oven.

  “I’m fine,” she grumbled, even though her lips still tingled and her knees were a bit wobbly.

  Annie laughed. “You don’t look fine.”

  Her fingers drifted to her lips, wondering if…

  At Annie’s knowing laugh, Eve knew she’d been fooled. “You’re horrible,” Eve groaned and turned around, setting the bowls up for the next batch of meatballs. She called them Moose Treats for the customers, even though they were simple ground turkey balls warmed in a rich, brown sauce with parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top. So far, they were one of the best sellers.

  Business was getting a bit hectic and she needed to hire additional servers. But Eve didn’t want to do anything without Cynthia’s okay. Her friend would be back soon and Eve wasn’t going to leave her friend in a bind.

  So, in the meantime, she’d just have to hustle. No matter how many appetizers she made during the afternoons, the place ran out every night. Once they were gone, it was just the usual beer and wine, although not many people ordered wine. Colorado, or at last this part of the state, seemed to prefer beer, especially the exceptionally good craft beers.

  Unfortunately, waiting tables and serving drinks didn’t occupy Eve’s mind enough. Even worse, as the night wore on, she kept thinking about Mack’s warning. He was coming back. Perhaps she could push everyone out of the bar early enough and lock up before he came back. Yeah, that seemed like a pretty good plan. She could just…

  The bell rang and the door opened, revealing Mack.

  His eyes moved over the now-small crowd, looking at each person as if searching for something that wasn’t right. Then his eyes settled on her and…did they soften slightly? Or was she imagining that?

  Didn’t matter, she told herself as she pushed away from the bar. She wasn’t going to talk to him. If he wanted someone to talk to, he could just head back to Denver. Because she wasn’t in a chatty mood! Not for him! Never for him again! She was finished, completely done, with men who cheated!

  Not that he’d actually cheated on her, she corrected. One kiss did not a relationship make. Okay, technically two kisses. Hmm…well, three if one counted the brief kiss earlier in the evening, but still…three kisses did not mean that they were in a romantic, committed relationship. But still, she didn’t date men who hauled off to a different city when they needed sex. It was cheating, even if it technically wasn’t cheating.

  He was dressed casually in jeans and a white tee shirt now. And yeah, he looked hot! Sexy, relaxed, and so impressively built that her mouth went dry with the desire to…

  The knowing smile that formed caused her to jump. What in the world was she doing? She couldn’t stand here ogling the man! How rude of her!

  Turning away, she stomped into the kitchen. They were out of cocktails now, only serving bottled and draft beer. All of the meatballs were gone too, although she’d hidden a bowl in the back of the warming oven.

  Not for him, she told herself firmly.

  “Are you going to give this to him or should I?”

  Eve turned to find Annie standing behind her with the last of the appetizers in her hand.

  “I didn’t…” Eve stopped when Annie’s eyebrows lifted, daring her to deny that this last bowl had been reserved. With a sigh, she nodded. “I’ll give them to him. I need to kick him out anyway, so I might as well use this stupid stuff as a reason to talk to him.”

  Annie chuckled as she finished with the last of the night’s close-out chores. When Eve walked back into the main part of the bar, there were only two other tables still filled, one of them with Mack and that handsome ranger. Everyone else had filtered out over the past few hours. It was quiet. They’d done most of the cleaning as the patrons vacated, so there wasn’t a whole lot to do other than put the cash into the safe and lock up.

  “What did you find up at Cliff’s Falls?” Ryan asked, sitting down across from Mack at the small table. Both of them scanned the room, searching for danger. When they realized that it was quiet, only then did they allow themselves to relax slightly.

  “Tracks,” Mack replied quietly. He didn’t want the other residents to know that something weird was going on until he had more information.

  “What kinds of tracks?” Ryan prompted. “Deer tracks? Cat…?”

  “Tire tracks,” Mack interrupted. “Only one set.”

  “So not a car or truck.” Both men pondered the implications of that.

  “A plane,” Mack suggested.

  Ryan agreed. “What kind of lunatic would land a plane there? It’s surrounded on three sides by high mountains so there’s no easy approach.”

  “And whatever they are bringing in, or taking out, it can’t be good.”

  “Agree.” Ryan stood up and shook his head. “I’ll keep my eyes open.”

  “Back at ya,” Mack replied, nodding to the other man.

  Ryan left and Mack relaxed back against the wooden chair. It wasn’t comfortable, but he didn’t care. He was waiting. Eve had disappeared into the kitchen as soon as he’d arrived. Now it was just a matter of time. The men at the other table stood up, dropped a hefty tip onto the table and called out their goodbyes.

  The other waitress wiped down the tables, pushed the chairs in and swept around them, keeping up a running chat with Mack. She didn’t care that he wasn’t overly participative in the conversation.

  Thankfully, it only took her a few minutes to clean up. She untied her apron and hung it up in the kitchen. “I’m heading out, Eve! Do you need any help locking up?”

  “I’m fine!” Eve called back.

  Mack wondered if Eve was going to hide out in the kitchen for the rest of the night. She had to come
through this area to head upstairs to Cynthia’s apartment.

  Just as he thought it, he saw movement, then she came out of the kitchen. Damn, she looked good. Tired. Her dark hair was piled up on top of her head. Her lipstick had been chewed off hours ago. She’d pulled her apron off and he noticed that she was wearing leggings today instead of jeans.

  Nice. Beautiful and exhausted, but nice!

  “Here,” she muttered.

  Looking down, Mack noticed that she’d put a bowl of the meatball appetizers onto the table in front of him. And a fork.

  When he looked up, she was walking away. For a long moment, he just watched, enjoying the sway of her hips. He loved leggings! What a miraculous piece of clothing.

  With a smile, he picked up the fork and started on the meatballs, surprised at how hungry he was. And how amazing the meatballs were. Hot and spiced with an herb he couldn’t identify. Interesting! No wonder people were flocking to the bar lately. The food was delicious. He hadn’t tried the various cocktails Eve offered each night, but the glass dispensers, which had been half full a few hours ago, were empty, already cleaned and set up for the next night’s invention.

  After finishing the meatballs, he took the bowl and fork into the kitchen, more than ready to talk to Eve and find out why she was angry with him.

  Mack found her in the kitchen, leaning against the sink as she stared blankly down at the floor.

  “Eve?”

  Immediately, she jerked upright, looking around at him.

  “Thank you. They were delicious.”

  He took the bowl over to the sink, purposely crowding her. Eve always smelled delicious. Like vanilla today. How could she work in a bar, carrying appetizers, cocktails and beer to her customers for hours and still smell like vanilla at the end of the night?

  He rinsed the bowl and put it in the half filled rack of dirty dishes.

  “Want to tell me why you’re so angry about me going to Denver?” he asked, turning so he could lean against the counter.