Mel put the bottle of wine on the counter and went to open the front door.
“Oh, no,” Harper said as soon as she saw Mel. “Oh, no, no, no. You get your skinny ass in that room of yours and change.”
“What’s wrong with this?” Mel asked, looking down at herself.
“It’s flirty. You don’t want flirty. You want sexy.” Harper grabbed Mel’s hand and pulled her down the hallway.
“Yeah, you need to show off those legs of yours,” Grace said as she shut the door and followed them.
“That’s what’s going to help you in your man-catching endeavors,” Harper added.
“What man-catching endeavors?” Mel asked, coming to a sudden stop.
“Bennett,” Grace coughed.
“Excuse me?” Mel, rounded on Grace.
“Oh don’t even deny it,” Harper said as she dragged Mel into the bedroom. “You sooo want to have that man’s babies.”
“Oh. My. Gosh. It isn’t anything like that,” Mel said a little bit too loud.
“Whatever you say. Now take off that skirt.” Harper let go of Mel’s hand and looked at her.
“You’re being ridiculous. My skirt is fine.”
“You don’t want fine, you want fine.” Except Harper pronounced it fwine. “And you wouldn’t be this resistant if Bennett were asking you to take off your skirt.”
Yeah, if Bennett were asking her to take off her skirt, she’d be completely naked in three seconds flat.
“Strip. Now,” Harper demanded.
“I’m going to go get something for us to drink,” Grace said and left the room.
“The wine’s already poured and on the counter,” Mel called out after Grace as she pushed her skirt down her thighs.
“Pretty pink panties?” Harper asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Just find me something to wear so you’ll shut up.”
Harper turned to Mel’s closet and started looking through it. “No, no, no,” she said as she pushed through the hangers.
Grace came into the room holding three glasses of wine. She handed one to Mel and smirked as she looked at Mel’s undies. “Wow, those are nice. Were you planning on someone seeing those tonight?”
“Are the two of you quite finished?” Mel asked before taking a sip of her wine.
“We’re never finished.” Grace handed Harper a glass of wine and then sat on the bed.
“I see that teddy bear he got you is still on your bed,” Harper said, turning to them. She took a drink of wine.
Okay, so Bennett might’ve brought Mel said bear when she was in the hospital. And it was possible that she’d slept with it every night since. It was just because it was soft and cuddly and…
Yeah, she was pathetic.
“Look, it’s just a silly crush, so let’s not make anything of it, okay? We’re just friends. Nothing’s going to happen and I’ll get over it.”
“Uh-huh.” Harper raised an eyebrow. “Just friends,” she said slowly. “A friend who is helping you out with this little project at your school?”
“And by little, you mean this huge and quite extensive project. A project that is going to take months and lots of his time,” Grace clarified.
“He doesn’t have feelings for me.” Mel was getting just a little bit exasperated. These two were like a freaking dog with a bone.
“How do you know? Have you asked him?” Grace asked.
“No, and I’m not going to. And neither are the two of you,” Mel said pointedly, staring at her two friends.
“Who?” Harper tried to look mildly offended.
“Us?” Grace asked innocently.
“We would never.” Harper turned back to the closet and resumed her hunt.
“What about her jean miniskirt?” Grace asked.
“Ohhh, that would look really good with this orange tank top or this green V-neck with the stripes. Take your shirt off, too,” Harper demanded without even turning around.
“I’m going to need more wine.” Mel took a fairly large gulp before she put her glass down and did as Harper ordered.
* * *
Bennett Hart had been back in Mirabelle for just over two years now. He moved back when he’d gotten out of the Air Force. He’d enlisted when he was eighteen and spent eight years in the service before he’d been shot down in Afghanistan. There’d been ten soldiers in the helicopter that day; only Bennett and his commanding officer had survived, and both of them had barely escaped with their lives.
Bennett had been shot in the shoulder, but the bullet that had ripped apart his body was nothing. He’d had his life ripped apart that day.
He knew just how lucky he was to be alive, but that didn’t stop the survivor’s guilt. How could it? He’d watched as his best friends, his brothers, had died, and there’d been absolutely nothing he could have done to save them.
He was still plagued by the nightmares and panic attacks. He’d wake up in a cold sweat, screaming as he fought with his pillows and sheets like they were the demons that had taken his friends. That day would haunt him for the rest of his life.
These days Bennett took things easy. Well, easier. There were a certain number of hazards that came with working in construction, but he wasn’t being targeted on a daily basis. He’d picked up a thing or two in the military, and building schools and hospitals had stuck with him. Now he mainly worked on remodels with businesses and houses.
He was actually branching off a bit lately, doing more specialty jobs for his boss, Marlin Yance. There was a surprising demand for custom woodwork out at the beach houses, so Bennett had been pretty busy with those. He’d also been working on a few of his own creations.
Bennett had started restoring antiques and building his own pieces of furniture. So far it had mostly been for friends and family. He’d made quite a few things for Jax and Grace’s new house, and he had a few customers here and there.
For Bennett, it was more than just a job. He liked working with his hands, liked creating things. It gave him a peace he’d been missing for quite sometime. Another thing that was giving him peace was being back in Mirabelle. It was good for him to live close to his dad and stepmom.
Bennett’s parents had divorced when he was four. Bennett’s mother, Kristi, had run off to Arkansas with a man with whom she’d had an affair for years. Now they were married with three children. Kristi sent a card every year on Bennett’s birthday, which he never opened. Besides that, he’d had absolutely no contact with her.
Bennett’s father, Walker, had remarried when Bennett was six. Jocelyn had been the one who packed Bennett’s lunches when he was in school, taught him how to cook, and sat next to his father at all of his baseball games and his graduation. She’d always been much more than a stepmother to him; for all intents and purposes she was his mother.
Bennett had also fallen back in with a good group of guys whom he’d gone to high school with. Brendan King, Jax Anderson, and Nathanial Shepherd had all been a year older than him and they’d all played on the Mirabelle High baseball team together. The three guys had been best friends since preschool, or something like that, but they’d welcomed Bennett into their fold, and through them he’d gotten a whole other family.
It had been hard for Bennett at first, hard for him to let anybody into his life. When he’d first moved back he’d kept himself pretty isolated from everyone except his dad and stepmom. Losing his friends in Afghanistan had nearly destroyed him. It took him a while to realize that the country roads of Mirabelle weren’t the same thing as the deserts of the Middle East. Yes, tragedies happened everyday, but his friends weren’t getting shot at.
Well, except for that one time a couple months ago.
Melanie O’Bryan was a sweet girl. Maybe just a little soft-spoken, but she had a quiet confidence. And she had this sassy sarcastic side to her that came out every once in a while. She’d drop these one-liners that tended to shock the hell out of him.
And damn, did she ever have a killer smile, one that made Benne
tt never want to turn away from her. She was a high school math teacher, and from what Bennett had heard she had the patience of a saint and was loved by her students. It wasn’t that surprising. Mel was just a good person. A great person.
When Bennett had walked into that spa all those weeks ago and seen her bleeding out on the ground, it had taken everything in him to stay calm. All he’d been able to think was, Not her. But Mel was strong and she’d survived it, and Bennett thanked God for that every time she was around him, which was quite often these days.
Mel had a knack for holding his attention whenever she was in the same room as him. So it came as absolutely no surprise that he zeroed in on her the second she walked up onto the back deck of Slim Willie’s.
The restaurant was more of an outdoor establishment with a deck that took up almost double the space as the actual building, which was pretty packed. The wooden tables were crowded with people digging into the food in front of them. The band played on a stage off to the side, and the dance floor already had a good amount of people on it. But even with all the commotion, Bennett only had eyes for one person.
Mel was wearing a skirt that showed off her killer legs and a purple-and-blue tank top that showed just a hint of cleavage. Her hair was down, and her curls framed her pretty face and ran over her shoulders and down her back.
Bennett was so distracted by Mel that he completely missed what Brendan had just said. The two men were standing at the outside bar waiting for a drink.
Brendan King was a mechanic at King’s Auto, which he and his grandfather owned. Brendan and his wife, Paige, had just had their little baby boy, Trevor, two and a half months ago, and they were taking advantage of a night out. Paige’s mother, Denise, was on babysitting duty.
“Sorry.” Bennett cleared his throat and focused on Brendan. “What was that?”
Brendan turned and looked over his shoulder. Bennett let his gaze travel back to Mel. She, Grace, and Harper were joining the table where Jax and Paige sat. Mel looked up as she pulled out a chair, and her eyes locked on Bennett’s. Her cheeks flushed a soft pink and she smiled at him. She waved and Bennett couldn’t stop himself from smiling and waving back.
“I heard you two were spending a lot of time together lately. And that you’ll be spending even more time together when school starts,” Brendan said, facing Bennett again. “How’s that going?”
“How’s what going?” Bennett asked.
“You and Mel.”
“There is no me and Mel.”
“Oh, really? So you just get smiley for all the pretty girls?”
“I didn’t get smiley.” Bennett frowned as he looked at Brendan.
“Right.”
“We’re just friends,” Bennett said as he tried to get the attention of one of the bartenders.
The two bartenders were giving a little too much attention to a group of about ten college girls. They were loud, bordering on obnoxious, and they were all processed to within an inch of their lives. Their dark tans were fake—too much time spent in tanning beds. Their makeup was on thick and their clothes were on light. They gave off more than a glimpse of their flat stomachs, and their breasts spilled out of their too-tight shirts.
They did absolutely nothing for Bennett.
His eyes automatically found Mel again. She had a natural, sun-kissed tan and her skin glowed. He wasn’t even sure if she wore makeup or not. And he liked the way she dressed. Her clothes gave off just a hint of the sexiness he was sure lay beneath. She was modest, and real. She was beautiful.
“Just friends?” Brendan said skeptically. “Okay, whatever you say.”
* * *
“You know he keeps looking at you,” Grace whispered in Mel’s ear.
“Shut up,” Mel said, kicking her under the table. “He is not.”
“Yes, he is.” Grace pinched Mel’s leg.
“Ow, don’t pinch me.” She rubbed the sore spot on her thigh.
“Then don’t kick me.”
“What are you two talking about?” Paige asked, leaning across the table.
Jax had gotten Grace’s, Mel’s, and Harper’s drink orders before he’d joined Bennett and Brendan at the bar. So only Mel, Grace, Harper, and Paige sat at the table.
“Bennett,” Grace said.
“Mel has a little crush,” Harper added.
“What part of ‘Shut up’ do you not understand?”
The noise from the crowd and the music from the band were loud enough that there wasn’t really a chance they would be overheard, but talking about Mel’s crush in public made her nervous.
“Don’t worry,” Paige grinned. “I won’t say anything.”
Mel loved Paige and did trust her not to say anything. Paige had fit right in with their little group when she’d moved to Mirabelle over two years ago, and she’d quickly become a very close friend. She had long, dark brown hair that fell in messy waves, gray eyes, and freckles across her nose and cheeks. She was tall, and her running habit had kept her legs in amazing form; it had also melted off almost all of her pregnancy weight.
“He’s really cute.” Paige looked over at the bar for a second before she turned back. “You should totally go for it.”
Cute? No. Bennett Hart was sexy as hell in a way that made Mel want to put her mouth all over his body.
Oh dear. I should not be thinking about that. “Can we please not have this conversation right now?”
“Oh look how red she’s getting,” Harper said. “She really likes him.”
Yeah, that was why she was blushing, not because she was thinking about how lickable his abs probably were. “I hate you all.”
“No, you don’t,” Grace said. “You love us dearly.”
“That’s debatable.”
“Fine, no more harassing Mel…for now. But we will have this conversation later,” Paige said.
“Count on it,” Grace said with a grin.
“So school starts next week?” Paige asked.
“Yeah, on Monday. I’m looking forward to the kids being back. Sitting in that empty room all week was making me crazy.”
Mel was glad they’d changed subjects, because when she glanced up again, Bennett, Brendan, and Jax were at the table, beers in hand.
“Here you go,” Bennett said, sliding a bottle in front of Mel.
“Thanks.” She smiled up at him.
“So what’s making you crazy?” he asked as he took the seat directly across from her.
Mel didn’t miss the matching smirks on Grace’s and Harper’s faces, but at least they kept their mouths shut.
“The kids not being there. It’s too quiet.”
“I’ll bet. Too much quiet makes me crazy, too. Well, it’s not going to be quiet when we’re in that wood shop with the saw going.”
“I would imagine not,” Mel said, shaking her head.
“Jeez, this place is crowded.”
Mel looked up to see Nathanial Shepherd and Tripp Black standing at the other end of the table. Nathanial, whom everyone called Shep, worked at his family’s bar, the Sleepy Sheep. He was tall with thick, shaggy black hair and piercing blue eyes. His jaw was covered in what could only be described as ten o’clock shadow, and his arms were covered in tattoos. He had the whole bad-boy image down to a tee.
Tripp Black had moved to Mirabelle over a year ago when he became the fire chief. He had dark brown eyes and thick brown hair. He was also a man of the perpetual scruff.
“Yeah, good luck getting a drink unless you’re going to flash something. But I feel like your legs could get you fast service.” Brendan looked at Shep.
“Aww, come on, Brendan,” Shep said. “You know you’re the pretty boy around here.”
“Who are you calling a pretty boy?” Brendan asked before he took a pull on his beer.
“You. You going to do something about it?”
“Nah,” Brendan shook his head. “Because we both know the truth.”
“That Jax is the prettiest of us all?”
“Exactly,” Brendan nodded.
Mel wouldn’t exactly say that any of the men around her could be termed pretty. Hot was a better word. Hot and incredibly built. Yeah, all of them were ridiculously good-looking, but none of them had ever inspired the feelings in Mel that Bennett had.
“I’m not even going to comment,” Jax said, shaking his head, as he put his arm around Grace and pulled her close to him.
“That’s because you have a maturity level higher than these two put together,” Paige said, pointing to Shep and Brendan.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Brendan pulled Paige in and gave her a loud, smacking kiss on the temple.
“We should start heading up for dinner.” Grace indicated the ever-growing line behind them and turned to Paige, Brendan, and Bennett. “You guys should start. You too, Mel,” she added with a wink.
Mel really wanted to glare at Grace, but chose not to draw attention to the not-so-subtle grouping. Instead, she got up from the table and followed behind Brendan and Paige, and Bennett fell in step by her side. She tried not to think about how that made her heart flutter a little bit.
It cost twenty-five dollars to get into the crawfish boil, but the food was all you could eat, the live band was sure to provide hours of entertainment, and a lot of people had thought the price was worth it. The place was packed, and the line for food was already pretty deep when the four of them got to the end of it.
“So when do you guys start the project?” Brendan asked Mel and Bennett.
“The second week of school,” Mel told him.
“So you raised enough money?” Paige asked.
“To build the first ten bookcases,” Mel said.
Shep had been so kind as to let them do a karaoke night at the bar on Tuesday nights. There was a cover charge to get in, and there was a jar behind the counter for those who wanted to be a little more generous. People tended to get very generous when they were drinking.
They’d also had two movie nights out at the big barn, using a projector to show classics on the side of the building. A lot of people had come out for it, spreading their blankets out on the grass. Mel had even borrowed a popcorn machine, and they hadn’t been able to make enough for everyone who wanted to buy it.
Unstoppable (A Country Roads Novel) Page 2
