by KB Winters
“What did I tell ya, Boomer?” He nudged me and jerked his chin over at a trio of stunners at the end of the bar. They were dressed to kill, and were well aware of the attention on them as they stood, waiting for their drinks to be handed over. “I swear, it doesn’t matter what night of the week, it’s always like this.”
I laughed, but there was no denying the place was packed with beautiful people. While Aaron sauntered over to the bar to order us a couple of beers, I hung back a step and scanned the room. It appeared to be an even split between male and female. Everyone was young and looked like they were all on the same mission as Aaron and I were apparently on. The place was fairly small, but the back patio was well lit and wrapped around the majority of the bar, providing a ton of additional seating. I turned back, about to ask Aaron if he wanted me to grab a seat outside, when my eyes snagged on a cascade of long, blonde hair. The woman was on the other side of the room, her back towards me, but my heart jumped into my throat, waiting for her to turn so I could catch a glimpse of her profile and confirm if it was Holly.
Aaron bumped my arm and I started. “Here,” he said, handing over a frosty bottle. “What—or rather, who—are you looking at?” He followed my gaze to the blonde. “Is that her?”
Before I could answer, she turned enough that I could see it wasn’t Holly. The girl was still striking, but I lost interest. “Nope. I thought maybe she was.”
“Damn, Boomer. You’re really hung up on this girl.” Aaron laughed and took a pull from his own bottle. “We’ll find you someone else.” He led the way through the restaurant and breezed out through the open doors that led to the back patio. The tables were mostly occupied, but we found one in the corner that was free. “This is better anyways,” Aaron said, sliding into one of the wooden chairs. “This way, we can see everyone as they arrive. You’ll have first pick and I’ll be your wingman. Just like old times.”
He grinned at me and I chuckled, shaking my head at my old friend. “What makes you think I need one? I might not have been out here chasing skirt for the last six months, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get out, you know.”
“All right, then indulge me, Boomer. When was your last hookup?” Aaron’s eyes were alight with amusement as he casually continued drinking his beer.
I sipped my own drink, buying myself a moment to think back. “Uh, let’s see, I guess it’s been about six weeks. This brunette spinner type that works at my gym. She’d been chasing me down for a while, I asked her out for a drink and ended up takin’ her back to my place that night.”
“Nice,” Aaron replied, grinning all the more. “However, in my humble opinion—”
“Humble? Player, you haven’t been humble a day in your life,” I interjected, matching his wide grin.
He chuckled. “Fine, in my opinion, six weeks is way too fuckin’ long. That’s a whole lotta cold showers, my man.”
I rolled my eyes. “Excuse me that I’ve been busy. I have this little thing called a WestPac to prepare for. Keeps me busy.”
Aaron leaned in. “All the more reason why you should be setting aside time to get laid, on the regular. If you know a drought is coming, you save up some water!”
I skittered another glance around the patio and found the trio of girls we’d seen at the bar had made their way to a nearby table and were each taking turns peeking over at Aaron and me. Aaron noticed too and kicked my shin under the table. “Which one do you want?”
There were two brunettes and a blonde. I had a weakness for blondes, and Player knew it. However, of the three, the brunette in the middle was more my type. She was tall, leggy, and had a knockout smile. “Brunette in the blue dress,” I replied.
“All right! Well you go work your magic solo, since you don’t need me, and I’ll bag the leftovers.”
I fought back the urge to roll my eyes at his grand display of ego. I rose from my chair and went across the room to the girls’ table. “Can I get you ladies another round? I’m headed inside,” I asked, leaning over their table, not taking my eyes off the girl in the middle. It was obvious I was only talking to her, even though my offer was open to all three.
The two friends giggled. “Tessa here was talking about getting a spritzer,” one of them replied.
Tessa—my brunette in the blue dress—smiled up at me, a delicate dimple forming on her cheek. “That’s right.”
I straightened and waited for her to join me as we went inside the bar. I didn’t stop to look back, but could feel Player’s eyes on me as I left the patio, just like the buzzard he was.
“I’m Tessa,” the girl stated, as we entered the bar, shoulder to shoulder.
“Boomer,” I replied.
“It’s nice to meet you, Boomer.”
We reached the bar and I turned to face her. “Spritzer?”
“No, actually, I’d be better off switching to club soda. I’m a total lightweight.” The way she said it with a smirk, left no doubt in her intentions for the night. “I wouldn’t want to do something…too crazy.”
I laughed softly. “So, bad time to ask about doing a shot together, then?”
She gazed up at me. “I don’t know, Boomer—can I really call you that?
“Sure. That’s my name.”
“So, are you the kinda guy that a girl like me should do a shot with?” She rested her hand on my arm and I knew she wanted me to say yes. She was begging to be talked into letting her inner wild cat out for the night.
“That depends—” I started, but stopped mid-thought, my eyes drifting over Tessa’s shoulder, to the front door of the bar, that swung open to reveal a gorgeous blonde, with long, tan legs that had been running around my mind since that morning on the beach.
Holly. I perked and smiled over at her, wondering if she’d even recognize me. After all, our conversation had lasted less than ten minutes. Less than five, really.
Holly scanned the room, nervously tucking a strand of her golden hair behind her ear, and stopped abruptly when her brown eyes locked with mine. She held my gaze for a second, a smile starting to form on her full lips, but it died when her eyes dropped and took in the shapely backside of my companion.
“Depends on what?” Tessa asked, her voice husky and flirtatious, as her fingers wandered up my chest to touch the expanse of skin exposed at the collar where I’d left the top button of my shirt undone.
Startled by her question, and her intimate touch, I tore my eyes from Holly, and looked down at Tessa. “Depends?” I repeated.
Tessa frowned and looked over her shoulder. “What are you…oh.”
Holly was still standing in the doorway, looking confused as to whether she should stay or go.
“Who’s she?” Tessa demanded, the honey tone to her voice gone.
I bounced a glance down at Tessa and when I looked back up again, Holly was gone, the only proof that she had even been there at all, was the flapping door.
“What the hell are you trying to pull, here Boomer?” Tessa dropped her hand from my chest and planted both balled up fists on her hips. Her blue eyes were full of fury as she waited for my answer.
“Hey, hey, what’s going on here?” Aaron’s voice drifted over.
I squeezed my eyes closed for a moment before rounding to face my friend. True to his name—Player—he’d “bagged the leftovers” and had the blonde, and remaining brunette on either side of him. The girls were looking at Tessa with wide eyed alarm.
“Before he could even buy me a drink, he was eye-fucking some other girl. While I was standing right here!” Tessa shouted, all but stamping her stiletto clad feet.
The two friends exchanged a dark glance between themselves and then took turns volleying even darker looks at Aaron and me. They released their hold on Aaron and went to comfort their ruffled friend. “You gents have a nice night,” the blonde said, wrapping a protective arm around Tessa, who was still putting on her show.
I didn’t even bother explaining myself as they marched away.
Aaron elbowed m
e. “This is why you don’t wait six weeks. Fuck, man! You’re a little outta practice aren’t ya?”
“Yeah, yeah. I didn’t mean to torpedo your night too.”
He shrugged. “No worries. The night’s still young. You wanna get another beer?”
I looked over at the front door and wondered if Holly was still nearby. “Nah, I think I’ll head back.”
“All right, man.” Player pulled his car keys out of his pocket and we headed out into the night. As we walked down the block to where we’d parked, I scanned the streets but there was no sign of Holly anywhere.
Chapter Eight
Holly
So far, the second day of my vacation was turning out to be just as disastrous as the first. After Hunter’s antics on the beach, I’d hauled him back to the rental house and tried to unwind on the back deck with a book I’d downloaded specifically to get through on the trip, but my rampant thoughts of meeting Jack kept me reading the same paragraph over and over again.
After the fifth or sixth attempt, I tossed the Kindle back in my suitcase and changed into a bathing suit to lie out and get some sun. However, Hunter had wrecked that by chewing on the top of the bottle of suntan lotion and then spraying globs of the slippery liquid all over the white carpet in the living room. By the time that was cleaned up, he was ready to go out for another walk. I’d thrown on a wrap and taken him far enough that when we finally returned home, we both were ready for a nap on the couch. I’d woken up starving and antsy to get out of the house, so I’d driven to the close by city and found Harvey’s Bar and Grill thanks to an online review of close by restaurants.
However, instead of a nice meal and a fancy margarita to take the edge off my day, I’d barely stepped one foot inside before seeing my mystery beach man being fondled by a curvy brunette in a dress so short I wasn’t sure it should even be legal. Jack had seen me and, like a deer in headlights, I’d spooked, frozen in place.
It was distressing enough to find him in the arms of another woman—especially one so trashy—but the worst part was the genuine smile he’d given me. It was cemented in my mind and I couldn’t stop analyzing it from every different angle I could think of, trying desperately to figure out what the hell it meant. There was something about it that was more than just a friendly recognition. His eyes had lit up at the sight of me, and he’d completely ignored his tart of a girlfriend while he took a visual cruise of my body.
My skin flushed just thinking about it.
“Ugh.” I flopped back onto the couch, and took a deep drink from my wine glass. “What is wrong with me?”
Hunter hopped up beside me and wagged his tail.
“Helpful,” I muttered.
To rid myself of the obsessive loop in my mind, I turned the TV on and scanned through the channels again, my eyes glazed over, not really seeing any of the titles on the long list. I finally settled on a sappy TV romance drama and curled my feet and legs up around Hunter’s warm body. He was still tuckered out from our long beach walk, and I was going to take advantage by losing myself in the mindless fluff of the movie.
* * * *
I woke to a cold nose nudging the back of my thigh repeatedly. “Hunter, knock it off,” I said, waving a hand in the general proximity of where his head was buried, not even bothering to open my eyes. “Five more minutes.”
I swam up and out of the dream I’d been having, one that I’d had a few times before, but there were new details emerging that I wanted to hold onto. The dream had always been the same, it started with a mysterious man, with his face blacked out like he was in the witness protection program or something, but he was standing off in the distance, far away. For whatever reason, the dream version of me was drawn to him, desperate to get close enough to see his face. But, I’d never been able to. However, as I’d dozed on the couch after the movie finished, I’d seen the face clearer, or at least, more clearly than I had before. There was something familiar and yet foreign at the same time.
Dark hair. Dark, smiling eyes. A strong jaw…
I jerked away, dumping Hunter onto the floor. “Jack!”
Jack had been the one in the dream. I groaned to myself and shook my head, pressing my eyes closed tightly. “No, no, no.”
As if it wasn’t bad enough that he’d occupied my mind all day, now he was invading my sleep as well. I opened my eyes and reminded myself that, logically speaking, he was in the dream because I’d been thinking—okay, obsessing—about him all day.
Feeling somewhat better about the whole thing, I pushed off the couch and followed Hunter as he charged to the back door. The sun was just starting to brighten the day and I knew it was early. I grabbed the cream colored throw blanket from the couch, wrapped it around my shoulders, and after clipping the leash onto Hunter, stepped outside onto the back deck.
Hunter dragged me down onto the small, grassy yard, and promptly did his business while I scanned up and down the beach. It was still surprising how empty it was. Even the day before, in the afternoon, I’d only seen a handful of other people on the long walk I’d taken with Hunter. But, especially at this early hour, it was peaceful and silent, nothing but the gentle sound of the tide rolling out and in, and a gentle breeze swirling over the sand. The seagulls weren’t even awake yet.
I sucked in a deep, cleansing breath of the salty sea air and smiled to myself, thinking of Rachel. Her favorite thing in the world was her morning run on the beach. As a girl who preferred the routine and stability of a treadmill, her habit had always confused me, but standing on the beach, taking in the early morning beauty of my surroundings, I started to understand.
Of course, that didn’t mean I was prepared to march upstairs and squeeze into my leggings and tank top.
Instead, I got dressed and followed the siren call of Carly’s coffee and decadent pastries up the beach, once I knew she’d be open, having taken care to memorize her business hours on my way out the morning before.
“Good morning, Holly,” Carly called from the back of the coffee shop, as soon as I walked in. She had a broom and dustpan gathered in one hand and waved with the other when I spotted her.
“Morning, Carly.” I waved back before closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath. “Mmmm. Smells amazing. What is that?”
“You’re in for a very special treat today,” Carly replied, hustling across the small shop. She stashed the cleaning supplies in a small closet near the front door, and then went back around the case. “In about…” she paused to consult the clock on the wall, “…two minutes, I’ll be pulling out the first batch of my famous, well, at least around here, ham and cheese scones. It’s my buttermilk scone mix, with pockets of cheese and ham baked right into them.”
“Oh my goodness, sounds amazing. I’ll definitely take one of those. But…” I leaned over the case, my eyes gobbling up all the pastries and desserts, “…I think I’ll need something sweet too.”
Carly laughed. “Well, of course!” She washed her hands at the sink to the right of the espresso bar and came back to face me as she dried off. “I have some chocolate croissants in there. I only do them once a week, cause they’re a handful. So, you might want to take advantage of those, depending on how long you’re staying, it might be your last chance.”
“Sold!” I said, smiling up at her. “Although, technically, I’m here for two weeks, so I suppose that would be long enough that I can come in and get them again next week.”
“Ooh, lovely. A nice, long vacation.” Carly grabbed one of the picture perfect confections out of the case. “You want this for here, or to go?”
I bit my lip. “For here.”
Carly winked. “Excellent choice. I’ll warm it up for you. That way the chocolate gets all melty. Muah!” She kissed her fingertips like an Italian chef. “So, what are you going to do with two weeks to yourself?”
“You mean besides chase my monster of a puppy up and down the beach?”
Carly laughed. “Oh, that’s right. I was going to suggest you tie him to
the bike rack instead of your chair this time.”
I laughed along. “One step ahead of you.” I walked to the front window and spotted Hunter out front, his leash double wrapped around the metal rack. “You know, I’m not really sure what to do. I built this trip up in my mind for the last several months. It was my bright spot in what was a sea of absolute chaos with work. But, now that I’m here, I can’t quite seem to relax. At least, not fully.”
“Girl, I hear ya. On my days off, I’m still coming into work to check on things and make checklists and talk to customers. It’s like an addiction. Trina, my part time gal, she’s always after me, trying to boot my ass outta here.”
I nodded, relieved that someone else understood. “It should be easier. I’m in a beautiful beach house. No work, no housekeeping, hell, I even pre-paid to have my grocery shopping done ahead of time! I literally have nothing to do, but I’m going crazy. My best friend, Rachel, she’ll be here next week, so that will help.”
“That sounds like fun.” Carly came back to the front and passed over my pastry on a small white plate. “Should I offer you a coffee? Sounds like you’re keyed up enough, as is.”
I laughed. “True, but I still need my daily dose. That vanilla latte you made yesterday was amazing. So amazing, I guess my little troublemaker decided I needed to bathe in it…”
Carly roared with laughter as she crossed to the espresso machine. “You got it, girl. Coming right up!”
Chapter Nine
Holly
Even though Carly was still a virtual stranger to me, I found some peace after talking about my problems with her as she’d prepared my breakfast. If nothing else, there was some element of therapy in just having said it out loud to someone other than my dog.
Carly had been busy with a group of customers when I brought my dishes back inside before leaving, but she paused to wave me off, reminding me to breathe and enjoy the day. Hunter and I walked back to the beach house, opting for a route through town instead of along the beach. Even as I’d been indulging in my rich breakfast, I’d been compulsively scanning the beach, wondering if Jack took the same jogging route every day. I wasn’t sure what I’d have said if he had shown up, or if he would have even bothered to stop and say anything.
