by Lexi Blake
She was looking at him. The fucker. “Yeah. That’s Trevor McNamara. Haven’t you seen an addict before?”
Her mouth turned down. “I’ve seen him before. We did all go to the same school. I wasn’t close to him or anything. It’s been years since I saw him on anything but a magazine cover or the television. I never thought he would come back. He looks good. He looks healthy.”
“He shouldn’t have come back. After what he said about this town in People magazine, I’m surprised he would show his face.”
She shrugged. “He was a different person. And he didn’t say anything so awful.”
“He called us all small-minded rubes.”
Mouse stared.
He hated it when she made him feel like a dumbass. “I know what a rube is.”
He sure did now. He’d looked it up after reading that article.
She picked up the menu. “Well, if you know what it means, then you know he was mostly right. And he was definitely right about the small-minded part. Hasn’t the way this town treats your brother taught you anything? They haven’t exactly been tolerant. If you don’t fit a very narrow criteria, you don’t get to belong here. I should know.”
Mouse did know. She never had fit in, but that wasn’t her fault. She was too quiet, too odd to find a place here. Trev was a different story. He’d been the damn king of Deer Run in his day. Trev had it good and he’d thrown it all away.
He didn’t like the way she was looking at Trev.
“He’s an addict, you know. He got kicked out of the pros. Do you know how bad you have to get to be kicked out of football when you have an arm like his?”
“He went to rehab,” she argued.
“Three times. It never took. He’s an addict. It’s all he’ll ever be.” Trev was an asshole, too. But he hadn’t always been. Bo remembered a time when Trev had been a goddamn lifeline. Trev had reached out and pulled him out of the abyss.
And then tossed his ass right back in. Trev was like everyone else. Everyone left. Everyone but Mouse. Even though his brother was back in his life, Aidan had Lucas and Lexi. He didn’t have time for Bo.
“He’s obviously trying to get better. Why else would he be here?” she asked.
Sweet, naïve Mouse. “He hasn’t got anywhere else to go. No one will have him. He got dropped by everyone. He got fired from his job, and his agent quit on him. All of his sponsorship deals dried up. He’s got nothing.”
A gentle smile crossed her lips. “And now he’s come home. This is where he should be. This is where he can find himself again. Everyone deserves a second chance.”
But Trev had had more than his share of chances.
“You used to be friends with him, right?” Mouse asked the question as Darlene, the waitress, put a Coke in front of her.
Darlene, Patty’s daughter, was the biggest gossip in town. She smiled conspiratorially as she pulled out her notepad. “Are y’all talking about Trevor McNamara?”
“No,” Bo said immediately. The last thing he needed was to get caught talking about that idiot.
“Yes.” Mouse leaned in close to Darlene.
Darlene chose to ignore Bo. “My momma says he’s not welcome in this town anymore after all the bad things he said, but damn, that man is hot. And he has a reputation, if you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, he has a reputation. As a cokehead and an asshole,” he complained.
Mouse ignored him, too. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Darlene’s blonde ponytail bobbed as she got to one knee. “I’m talking about sex, Mouse. He’s got a real bad reputation when it comes to sex. And by bad, I mean good.”
He thought seriously about poking out his own eyeballs with the knife on the table. Then he wouldn’t have to see his best friend glancing that jerk’s way and blushing. Blushing.
“He’s good at sex?” Mouse asked, her breath hitching.
Darlene nodded. “The way I hear it, he can go all night. Some of the women who went to high school with him talked about the fact that he liked a lot of foreplay, but once he got in there, he didn’t leave for a long time. I know that everyone in this town hates him, but I think that won’t keep some of the women from crawling into his bed, real quiet like.”
Women. They were so much worse than men. “Darlene, I’d like to order now.”
She popped back to her feet. “Of course.”
He gave her his order, and she took Mouse’s, too. The minute she bounced off, Bo turned to his best friend. He gave off what he sincerely hoped was an air of paternal authority.
“Darlene is talking crap, you know.”
Mouse’s eyes trailed off. He knew who she was looking at. “I don’t know about that. Why would she lie?”
“Because that girl likes to gossip more than she likes to breathe. All right, let me let you in on a little secret. A man like Trev McNamara is never going to be good in bed.”
Now he had her attention. Her face caught his. “Why?”
So naïve. She really did need him. “Because he doesn’t have to be. That man sitting over there was born with everything he needed to attract a hundred women at a time to his bed. He has looks and athletic ability. He can be a charming bastard when he wants to be. From what I’ve heard, the asshole’s even got a monster cock. No man who has all those things is going to give a damn about foreplay. He doesn’t need to. All he has to do to get a woman to open her legs is to smile at her. That’s going to be his version of foreplay.”
“How do you feel about foreplay?”
A sudden vision of stripping Mouse down and finding out if she tasted as innocent as she looked assaulted him. He loved to eat pussy. He could spend hours with his tongue on a woman. Would Mouse taste sweet and delicate? Or would she get wet and creamy and tangy? How long would he have to lick her before her juices flowed over his tongue?
Fuck. He was thinking about Mouse and getting a goddamn hard-on in the middle of the diner.
“Sorry,” she said, looking down at her hands. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
She’d utterly misread him, but then he knew she probably did that a lot. She had next to no experience. He wanted to let the whole conversation drop, but his hand came out and slid over hers.
“I like foreplay. When you decide to make love for the first time, you need to tell that man that you want a lot of foreplay. Don’t let him cheat you out of that.”
What was happening between him and Mouse? God. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for this. He wasn’t sure of anything at all. He loved Mouse. He knew that deep down. He loved her probably more than he’d loved anyone in his life.
But he wasn’t ready to commit to anyone. Hell, if he did commit to her, it didn’t mean everything would work out. He could ruin the only good relationship in his life by letting his dick lead him on.
Besides, if he slept with Mouse, it would mean something. She wasn’t a good-time girl. She wasn’t someone he could fuck and laugh when the next night she fucked one of his buddies. If he spent the night inside Mouse, it would mean she belonged to him. It would mean everyone would know about them. Right now, they were a weird pair. His friends and the rest of the town thought Bo was nice taking care of the odd girl. It would be different if they knew he loved her. He would be lumped in with her—an odd, misfit outcast.
Damn, he hated himself sometimes.
“I want to go to the honky-tonk tonight.”
Bo let go of her hand. “What? Why?”
She didn’t belong at The Rusty Spur. It was a dive bar located right outside the county line. It was one of his favorite places in the world. It was also the part of his life he kept hidden from Mouse.
She leaned back in the booth. “I’ve never been. I’m almost twenty-six years old. I haven’t lived at all. I’ve spent every ounce of my energy taking care of my parents. I didn’t do a lot of the things other women my age have done. I want to see what it’s like.”
It was smoky and nasty. It was filled with energy and life and
beer and a whole bunch of men who would be all over her in a heartbeat. No way. No how. No go.
“You’ve never been to a crack house, either. That doesn’t mean you should go. You can cross that right off your bucket list. I’m not taking you.” He was supposed to meet Clarissa. He was going to drink for a while and then head on back to her place for a nice long screw. He wasn’t sure how that would work when he explained he needed to drop off Mouse before they got to the fun bit.
Her chin came up. “Fine. I can go by myself.”
Had something happened to her in that house? Where was this coming from? He stared at her like he’d never seen her before. “How are you going to get there? You don’t even like to drive.”
Those smooth, white shoulders shrugged. “I can drive when I want to. Or I can ride my bike.”
He slapped his hand on the table. This was getting ridiculous. “You will do neither one. That road is dark and dangerous. You could get killed.”
She bit her bottom lip, and a frustrated huff left her mouth. “I could get killed walking down the street. I want to go, Bo. I’m tired of being alone. I want to meet someone. I joined this online dating service, but they haven’t sent me a good match yet. It seems like we’re a little isolated. I’ve exchanged a couple of e-mails, but no one lives close enough for me to date.”
He felt like his head was about to explode. “You did what?”
He’d practically screeched. He toned it down. Everyone in the restaurant was looking at them now. Mouse had turned a spectacular shade of red.
She kept her voice low, but he couldn’t miss the irritation as she explained herself. “I joined this nice dating site. I got a check from Lexi and I bought a new computer. She showed me how to set everything up. She said the site I picked was reputable, but I’m not supposed to meet anyone without Lucas running a background check. Lucas says his law firm works with a security company and they’ll vet anyone I date.”
He was going to kill his brother. Aidan was behind this. He just knew it. Master Aidan had to stick his nose into everything when it came to a submissive woman. And Lexi. Bo should never have allowed Mouse to work for Lexi. Lexi wrote BDSM romance novels. He loved his sister-in-law, but she was proving to be a bad influence on Mouse.
“Yeah, I bet Ted Bundy could have passed a background check. Serial killers who haven’t gotten caught don’t show up in the system. That’s a real nice plan there, Mouse. Real smart. Let me get this straight. You’ve decided you want to get laid and the best way to do it is to meet some man on the Internet you don’t know from Adam. Since that hasn’t worked out for you, you’re going to pick a guy up in a skank-ass bar. That’s real classy.”
Tears pooled in her eyes. “You go to that bar all the time. You sound very hypocritical right now.”
He knew he did. He sounded like an asshole. But he couldn’t stand the thought of some jerk who’d had one too many using his girl. His girl. It was happening too soon. They had been building to this for years, but now Bo knew he wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready to give up the life he had for the one he would have with Mouse. Why couldn’t things stay the same? Why had she put on that dress? Why did she have to look so fucking pretty? Why did he have to be such a goddamn coward?
“Hey, if you want to get a reputation, you feel free to go to that bar. Those men will screw almost anything that walks in the door. You won’t have to look long before one shoves you up against the wall and fucks you right there. Is that what you want? You want to lose your virginity in a honky-tonk? Hell, if all that matters to you is the sex, I can call up five of my friends and set it up for you.”
“Is there a problem here?”
Bo hadn’t realized he’d had an audience. Trev McNamara and his sister stood at their table. Trev’s jaw was clenched, and there was a dangerous glint in his eyes as he looked down at Bo.
Mouse gamely attempted a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Her nose had turned red. She wasn’t the type of girl who cried pretty. When Mouse cried, she really cried. “No. We’re fine, but thank you so much for asking.”
Trev’s whole face softened when he looked down at Mouse. “Are you sure, ma’am?”
She nodded, but the tears were streaking down her face.
“This is none of your business.” Bo practically growled at the man, but it was Trev’s sister who replied in a low tone.
“You’ve made it everyone’s business by yelling. You’ve humiliated her. I don’t know what this is about, but no one misunderstood the fact that you called her a whore in front of the whole diner. Patty’s already on the phone.” Shelley pinned him with her dark eyes. She put her hand out and took Mouse’s. “Hey, let’s go fix your mascara, Mouse.”
Trev cleared his throat.
“Bethany,” Shelley corrected. “Sorry. My brother doesn’t like the fact that people call you Mouse. He doesn’t understand, but he can be immovable about some things. Come on.”
Mouse and Shelley disappeared into the ladies’ room.
“You stay out of this, Trev. And you stay away from her. She isn’t one of your strippers.”
Trev frowned down at him. Bo wished he was standing. He knew even standing, Trev’s six foot five topped him by an inch or two, but now the former quarterback loomed over him. “I realize that. Don’t throw this on me, O’Malley. I’m not the one calling her a whore in public.”
“I didn’t do that.” He certainly hadn’t meant to. “I was trying to talk her out of making a terrible mistake. You know all about mistakes, don’t you?”
“I do, indeed, and you’re making a huge one. This scene is going to haunt her. No one will think less of you, but they’ll talk about her. She’s going to feel this scene for a long time. Now, we can go a couple of ways. You can shake my hand, and we can pretend this was all a misunderstanding and then people will start talking about us. Or you can prove yourself to be less of a man than I thought you were and you can keep spitting bile.”
Trev was right. If he held out his hand, people would talk about how Bo O’Malley was the dumbass who welcomed the bad boy of Deer Run back to town. Or he could leave Mouse high and dry to take the brunt of his temper.
Bo cleared his face and put a friendly smile there. He held out his hand. Mouse had been through enough without having to listen to gossip about herself. His buddies would give him hell, but he could survive it.
“You always were a good man, Bo,” Trev said solemnly as he shook his hand. “Even when you were a boy. Scoot over and Shelley and I will eat with you two, and the scene will be utterly forgotten.”
Bo wasn’t sure why, but he did it. He let the bastard sit beside him. He tried not to think about the fact that Trev McNamara calling him a good man had nearly brought a tear to his damn eye. He’d looked up to this man at one point. And he’d been brutally let down.
When Mouse returned, she sat across from Bo, quieter than she’d been before.
“Mouse, I’m sorry,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
She shook her head. “It’s okay. I won’t mention it again. You’re right, that kind of stuff isn’t for someone like me.”
His heart ached. That kind of stuff. Sex and affection and love.
She turned to Shelley and politely asked about her job. Shelley started talking about her redecorating efforts, and the two were off. He and Trev sat there not talking. But he couldn’t miss the way Trev’s eyes nearly ate up Mouse.
When his burger came, Bo found he wasn’t hungry anymore.
Chapter Three
Mouse eased up the road. The pavement had ended about a mile back, and she was struggling to pedal on the gravel. There was a reason most people didn’t ride bikes out this far. Several cars had already passed her by. Bo had been right about this. She could get run down on the road, but now she could hear the music. It seemed foolish to have come all this way only to turn back.
After Bo had dropped her off, she hadn’t been able to sit still. She’d tried to read, but the words had swum befor
e her. She was reading Lexi’s new manuscript, highlighting the phrases that didn’t work and making notes on what she liked. It was part of her job, being Lexi’s assistant. It was only part-time for now, but she hoped one day she could quit all the contract accounting work she did and concentrate on helping Lexi. She usually enjoyed beta reading, but not tonight. Tonight she couldn’t get the fight with Bo out of her head.
The idea of going to The Rusty Spur had tickled her consciousness.
He’d told her not to come. Bo didn’t have any right to tell her what to do. He was only her friend. She’d read enough of Lexi’s books to know a bit about Lexi’s lifestyle. Aidan called the shots when it came to Lexi. But Aidan loved her. According to Lexi, he loved her often and with many toys. Bo didn’t want her like that, so it didn’t seem to her like he had any right to tell her what not to do.
She wasn’t going to go in. Well, maybe for a moment. After all, she had ridden her bike over three miles to get here.
Surely it couldn’t hurt too much to walk inside and see what was going on. She walked the bike up the gravel road. The honky-tonk was nothing more than a prefab building. It wasn’t big. No bigger than a house really. The neon red sign illuminated the parking lot. It proudly claimed that this establishment was The Rusty Spur. The walls fairly vibrated with twangy, bouncy country music.
She’d already spied Bo’s truck in the parking lot. He was here. He was probably drinking with his buddies. He had muttered an apology as he’d dropped her off, but he’d still held to his plans for the evening. Bo’s plans included Clarissa Gates.
The door opened and music seemed to spill out. Two women dressed in tight jeans stumbled into the parking lot.
“Are you sure you want to share him?” the girl in the white jeans asked.
There was a loud laugh as the second woman lit a cigarette. “Trust me, Melody, Bo O’Malley can keep up with two women. Did you see the look on his face when I suggested it? I think he died and went to heaven.”
She tried to shrink into the background. Clarissa and her friend Melody stood outside the doorway. Clarissa looked ready for action. Her blonde hair was teased sky-high, and her jeans looked painted on. She was the picture of a small-town princess walking on the wild side. She took a long drag on her cigarette.
