by Molly McLain
The bartender strolled up to their table then, with fresh drinks for Carissa and Maddie. “Courtesy of Tony,” the cutie said, before he winked at Nicole and Ally. “What’ll it be, ladies? I have instructions to catch a couple for you, too.”
“The biggest margarita you’ve got.” And Ally was back.
“Something with Malibu for me, please.” Nicole chuckled and rummaged through her purse for her phone. She’d shoot him a text for now, but at some point she would need to go over and actually talk to him. But not now. Maybe after she had a drink in her system.
“I’m Kyle, by the way.” The bartender offered his hand and when she accepted, he brought her knuckles to his mouth. Smooth.
“Hi, Kyle, I’m Nicole.” Her face grew warm, but the guy couldn’t have been more than twenty-one, maybe twenty-two. He had mall rat written all over his Hollister t-shirt and faux-hawked hair. Cute, but not her type.
“Well, Nicole, newcomers get free shots at McCauley’s. Come up when you’re ready and I’ll hook you up.”
When he walked back to the bar, Maddie meowed, but Carissa shook her head. “Nice as his ass is, I’d be leery of that one.” She gestured toward the bar where another group of women were doing some of Kyle’s shots.
“No worries, I’m not interested.” Swiping her phone awake, she smiled. Tony had beat her to the punch on the text.
A peace offering? he asked.
She sighed, knowing in her heart of hearts that he wasn’t trying to commandeer her life. Not like Derek had. But how to explain her concerns without telling him more than he probably cared to hear? Not necessary, but thank you. Also, fun looks good on you. You should wear it more often.
Ally bumped her elbow into Nicole’s side. “Quit texting Lover Boy and move it. I need a shot.”
“Your drink is on its way!” Carissa waved to the bar.
“The quicker I get alcohol into my system tonight, the better. Believe me.” She prodded Nicole again.
“I’ll go with to make sure you don’t do something stupid, like grab Mark by the balls. Though that might be fun to watch.” Maddie followed Ally to the bar where they were pulled into the other group of women. Two more shot glasses were promptly laid out and filled.
“We gonna let them have all the fun?” Carissa waggled her eyebrows as Nicole’s phone vibrated in her hand.
Careful. I might think you’re flirting.
Oh God. Nicole dumped her phone back in her bag with a laugh. She was definitely flirting. It just came too naturally with him. And what the heck was she gonna do about that? She smiled at Carissa. “Not a chance.”
Chapter Thirteen
After a shot of something that tasted like toothpaste, Ally dragged Nicole and Carissa to a clearing in the middle of the bar and demanded they dance.
“I need to look like I’m having a blast,” her friend muttered as she began twisting and turning to an upbeat pop hit.
“Aren’t you?” Carissa asked, dancing too, though truth be told, Nicole didn’t think either of the women were lubricated enough to truly enjoy the music.
“Apparently not. He’s still standing over there and not over here, isn’t he?” Ally jerked her chin over her shoulder and Nicole smiled. Mark had watched Ally from the corner of his eye since he arrived, his mouth set in a firm, unreadable line.
Nicole caught Tony watching her, too. Only his expression and demeanor were a lot easier to read—he was hungry. Probably they had the same kind of meal in mind, but indulging would be promptly followed by deep regret for splurging. Just like she always felt after devouring a slice of turtle cheesecake. A seemingly good idea, very satisfying at the time, but not so much the next morning when her stomach hurt and the scale read another pound higher.
Impressively, Tony was keeping his distance. She suspected he was giving her breathing room after this afternoon and, while that was nice, what she really wanted was for him to come over and pull her onto the dance floor so she could put her hands on him again. Maybe she could convince him, with as little explanation as possible, that she didn’t need him to save the day with her house—but she wouldn’t mind if he kissed her again.
“You see Tyler and his friend over there?” Ally leaned in, discreetly pointing to pair of guys talking with Kyle. The one she didn’t recognize looked just as young as Kyle, but what he lacked in age, he certainly made up for in salacious glances in Ally’s direction.
“Let me guess—you need a wing woman.”
Ally nodded, her eyes pleading. “Would you? I obviously need to up my game.”
“Right now?”
“Yeah. Before I lose my nerve.” Tossing her hair over her shoulder, Ally stood a little taller. “Eat your heart out, Mark Dunn.”
Nicole laughed. “You’re such an evil temptress.”
“Desperate times...”
The slow country song on the jukebox came to an end and a faster, sexier hip hop one followed. Ally sucked in a breath. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
***
Tyler proved to be a total bump on a log unlike Jason, who’d jumped at the opportunity to bump-n-grind all over Ally and had done a bang-up job of keeping her occupied on the dance floor for a solid forty-five minutes. If Nicole didn’t know better, she might’ve thought Ally was genuinely having a good time. The only clues she wasn’t were the dozen or so peeks she snuck at Mark over Jason’s shoulder.
Yawning, Tyler slid off his bar stool and excused himself to the bathroom. Nicole wandered back to Carissa and Maddie again, who’d taken to pouting about the unwillingness of their men to dance with them.
“I’d ask Tony,” Carissa said to Nicole. “But I’m pretty sure he’d rather take you for a spin.”
There was a good chance that was true since they’d been throwing casual smiles back and forth all night. She hadn’t intended to continually eye-stalk him, but he looked really good tonight. Especially when he laughed. So sexy.
She pulled out her phone to text him again—damn second drink—but paused, her gaze drifting back across the bar. He was bent over the pool table taking a shot. Mmm, those shoulders. And wow, that butt.
She still owed him that explanation, and preferably not one from behind the comfort of her phone.
Waving Kyle over, she ordered a third drink for herself and a bottle of whatever it was Tony was drinking. Best to talk to him before the buzz turned into obnoxiousness.
“Aw, man,” Kyle said with a disappointed smile. “I was really hoping the rumors weren’t true.”
“Rumors?”
“The ones that have been flying around this town since you started working for him.” Kyle refilled her glass with coconut rum and orange juice and slid the beer across the bar with another of his college-boy grins. “Hit me up if it doesn’t work out.”
Why did she suddenly feel like she was about to take the walk of shame toward a booty call? Worse, that every single person in the bar who’d heard those same rumors would think the very same thing?
Maybe this was a bad idea.
But they had to work together next week. She needed to do this now.
Squaring her shoulders and gathering her nerve, she set off to the other side of the bar.
***
“You’ve got company.” Luke jabbed Tony in the side after he sank a double into the corner pocket. He stood to contemplate his next shot, casually glancing to the other side of the pool table where his buddy tipped his head.
Holy shit, she’d actually come over. And here he thought he’d have to give in and make the move himself.
She smiled softly—nerves or flirting?—and her pretty eyes twinkled like summer stars beneath the dim bar lights. “Take your shot. I can wait.”
Sweet Jesus, that voice.
He grinned, acutely aware that every single one of his friends had stopped talking to stare at Nicole. Probably trying to figure out why the hell a woman like her would want to give a guy like him even five seconds of her time.
Not that her
coming over meant anything. Hell, she could want to talk about Bri for all he knew, though the heated look in her eyes was a lot more personal than professional.
Like a nervous chump, he scratched on the line-up, much to the delight of his buddies, who snickered liberally beneath their breaths, but at least kept their friggin’ mouths shut and didn’t say anything more inappropriate.
He handed off the cue to Brody and took his time sauntering over to Nicole, because a guy couldn’t come off too eager in the presence of a beautiful woman. Especially a guy who’d just blown an elementary shot. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he shrugged. “Can’t show ’em up and clean the table in one round.”
“Oh, of course not. Big, bad Marines have such fragile egos as it is.” Smirking, she handed him a beer. Their fingers brushed when he took it from her and, with absolute fucking pleasure, he watched her eyelashes flutter and her chest rise as she held her breath.
“Thank you,” he said. “But what are you trying to say? You think I’m cocky?”
“You? Never.” She bumped him with her elbow and winked.
She wanted to play, did she? Well, then... He leaned in close. “If I’m being honest that scratch was totally your fault.”
“Mine? How?”
“You distracted me.”
“I did?”
This time when he spoke, his lips grazed the shell of her ear. She shivered. “It’s not every Friday night a hot blonde saunters up to my pool game with a beer in hand and a smile on her face.”
“Maybe I came over so you could introduce me to your friends. Maybe the beer was a bribe.”
After the dumbass he’d been the past couple days, it was possible. “You wanna meet my buddies?”
“Well, I don’t want them to think I’m a snob.”
He pulled back and studied her for a long moment. She raised an eyebrow, goading him. “Let’s go then,” he said, thumbing over his shoulder.
“Tony...” She grasped his forearm before he could walk away and, just like every other time she touched him, blood rushed to his balls, sending waves of desire rolling through his body. When he looked back, her cheeks were flushed and her lips parted. She’d yet to deny the pull between them, but she wasn’t jumping head first into acknowledging it either. “I thought maybe we could talk for a minute first.”
So she could reiterate why getting involved with him would be a bad idea? Or so she could ask for a do-over of last night?
“Okay,” he said, hoping the latter was true and wishing the bar wasn’t so damn packed. Real conversation over the noise was near impossible. “Wanna go out back on the deck? It’s a nice night...”
Her eyes lit up. “Yeah. That’d be great.”
With a hand on the small of her back, they made their way outside. The music still vibrated the planked floor beneath their feet, but at least he could hear her without having to damn near attach himself to her. Not a bad thing, of course, but he didn’t need her freaking out again.
Nicole wandered over to the railing and quietly watched the river roll below. Her hair danced in the breeze, reflecting the moonlight, and when she leaned forward, cocking her hip just so, his fly grew snug.
“Our nightly dip in the river was always my favorite part of visiting with Gran as a kid. You know, minus the leeches.”
“And snakes,” he said, moving up beside her.
“Oh, God. Really? Did you really need to bring them up?” She laughed and shivered at the same time.
He grinned behind the lip of his beer bottle, taking back an easy swig. “I won’t tell you about the monster I found in the backyard this summer then.”
Her eyes flew open. “Are you serious?”
“Yep. Pretty sure it’d just had babies, too.”
“Oh, fuck.”
Damn. A dirty mouth. What other words could he get her to say? “You don’t talk like that in front of my daughter, do you?”
“No!” Color filled her cheeks and her eyes went wide. So pretty. “I just really hate snakes.”
“Good thing I’m just shittin’ you then.” Laughing, he bumped her arm on purpose and leaned on the railing beside her. “So you wanted to talk?”
“Yeah.” She nodded, looking out over the water again. “About today...”
“I owe you an apology,” he blurted out.
“I owe you an explanation,” she said at the same time.
Nicole blinked at him for a moment, then laughed softly.
He didn’t. “You don’t owe me anything, Nicole. You told me you didn’t want my help and I should’ve accepted that. No questions.”
“It’s not that I don’t appreciate the offer... I mean, there’s work to be done, yes. But you really are busy. And a project like that would totally cut into your time with Brianna. Also, I really don’t have the money. Gran didn’t have anything but the house, so there’s no cash floating around I could put toward the repairs. I did consider taking out a home equity loan, but if the house doesn’t sell right away, I’m stuck with that payment every month.”
He nodded. “I get it, but you do realize that I’ve had a lot more time for Bri these past few days because of all the work you’ve put in around my house, right? I only had to cook once this week, and all the laundry you did...shit, Nicole, you have no idea how much I appreciate that.”
“But that doesn’t mean you need to go out of your way to return the favor. In fact, the whole reason I did those things was so you could relax at night, not so you’d have time to put more hours on the time clock.”
“You’re hell on a man’s ego when he’s trying to be noble, you know that?” He grinned and took another pull from his beer.
“I’m sorry.” She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and the innocent gesture had his cock twitching again.
“As far as the money goes, I actually had some credit to burn at the lumber supply store, so don’t worry that I paid out of pocket for anything. I would—and I can—in a heartbeat, if you wanted to work out a loan or something. Hell, I don’t even care if you pay me back, but I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“No, I wouldn’t.” She shook her head and smiled softly. “And stop being so damn sweet, okay?”
“Pretty sure I’ve never been sweet a day in my life, city girl.”
“I’m not so sure about that.” She turned toward him and it was all he could do to not let his gaze drop down over her body. She was all curves and temptation tonight and, while he’d been able to admire from afar earlier, there was no way he could be subtle about it with her standing a foot in front of him.
Definitely not sweet.
“Tonight is your first night out in how long?” The tenderness in her voice hit him like a warm caress across the back of his neck. Just like she’d touched him last night. Just like he wanted her to touch him again.
Id-i-ot.
“Not that long,” he muttered. She already knew too much personal shit about him. No need to spill all his secrets.
“Tony...”
He shook his head and stared out at the water, rushing over the rapids. “Is this what you wanted to talk about? Because I think we already had this conversation the other day.” And the longer he stood there, listening to her speak, like she actually gave a damn, the more he hated that they could never be more than friends.
But then she sidled closer, her breast bumping his bicep. Her fingers fanned along the back of his arm and then his ribcage. “I liked kissing you last night.”
Just like that, an ember of hope began to glow in his chest. “Yeah?” he asked, turning just enough to see her face.
She nodded as the tip of her tongue snuck out to wet her lips. “But I didn’t expect this to happen. Not in River Bend and definitely not with a guy who’s given me a much needed job.”
“Says the woman who’s given me a much needed reprieve.” He shuffled his feet so they were standing front to front, nothing but a few millimeters of cool, night air between them. “You lied to m
e though.”
“I did?” She glanced up, her eyes glinting in the moonlight.
“You told me you weren’t running from anything.” His fingers skimmed over the delicate line of her jaw. She shivered. “But I’m pretty sure that’s not true.”
“Don’t. Please.” She put a hand to the center of his chest and that ember turned into a flame. Jesus Christ, the things she did to him with just a touch.
“Why not?” He was an understanding guy. And he was pretty sure he’d figured out what she was hiding anyhow.
“Whatever this is between us is already awkward enough. Sharing the details of my messed up past would only make it more uncomfortable.
She didn’t trust him. Something he’d have to work on then. “This thing between us doesn’t have to be awkward, you know.” There was nothing wrong with a few kisses between friends. There was nothing wrong with more than a few kisses.
“Tony...” Her hand fisted in his t-shirt and she closed her eyes. “I’ve been doing this single woman gig for six years. I like my independence.”
Liked it or needed it? “And kissing me jeopardizes that?” He wasn’t proposing they run off to Vegas, for Christ’s sake. He wasn’t even suggesting they move beyond making out a little. He wouldn’t complain if they did, but he’d known from the start she wasn’t a one-night stand kind of girl. The likelihood of him ever seeing her ass in anything less than workout shorts was slim to none.
“Separately, no. Together, maybe.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
She smiled and smoothed her fingers over his chest. “I know. And I don’t expect you too. Just know that your good intentions might freak me out sometimes. That’s my issue—not yours.”
He nodded, even though it went against his nature to step back and not put himself out there for someone he cared about. Because he did care about Nicole. They’d known each other for six days and already he’d go to whatever extent necessary to make sure her life was a little easier.
“Okay,” he said, letting it go. For now. “I’m glad we had this chat.”
