by Natalie Ann
He’d done it before. Let a pretty face and smoking body control his hormones, but never his mind.
Yet for some reason it seemed Sidney was doing that.
“Want another one?” Sidney asked when she made her way back toward him. He hadn’t even realized he’d drunk the first glass, as he was just picking it up and sipping while he watched the room. Guess more time had passed that she wasn’t in his presence than he realized.
“Sure. Last one,” he said. Two was always his limit. He didn’t live far from the bar, just two blocks. He’d driven over, but he could easily walk home if he felt the need to. Not that two drinks would put him out of commission by any means, but he had an image to uphold so he’d nurse this one for a good hour; otherwise he’d be walking home.
She filled another glass and put it in front of him, taking the one he’d finished and bringing it over to put in a bin to go in the back to wash.
“Something on your mind?” she asked when she walked back through.
“No,” he said. “Why?”
“Normally you come in for a beer, maybe two. Even a whiskey. Though never two whiskeys. You’re staring off into space when you normally don’t either. They say bartenders are easy to talk to. No one has my attention so I was just asking.”
She sent a wink with that last statement. Funny how she could read him well when not many others could.
“So you pay attention to me?” he asked.
“I get a good feel for my customers,” she said back. “You don’t come in often for just a drink. Normally it’s work, though thankfully we haven’t needed that much.”
“No. Butch runs a tight ship here. He doesn’t let too much go on that could damage his property or reputation.”
“Nope. Some say he’s a hard boss, but I think he’s just fair. Nothing wrong with being fair in life. I’d rather be around someone like him than someone I can’t trust.”
Just like him. “Same,” he said.
“So back to my question,” she said, leaning on the bar. “You said it was a long day? Everything okay? Or is it some strict police business on the island that is top secret that no one can know about?”
He started to laugh. “Hardly that.”
“Wow. You do know how to smile.”
It dropped fast. “I don’t spend a lot of time smiling on the job.”
“Or off of it,” she said. “But you should. You look different.”
“Not so old?” he asked. Normally he’d change the subject, but this was the most the two of them had talked and he didn’t want to stop.
“I don’t think you’re that old.”
“Older than you,” he said.
“Oh, now I’m going to have to ask how old you think I am.”
Shit. Talk about getting his foot jammed in his mouth. “You think I’m stupid enough to answer that?”
“You brought up age. I don’t imagine you are someone that backs away from a question or a challenge. Unless I make you nervous?”
Now she was baiting him and he was the fish swimming right toward the worm with his mouth wide open. He didn’t back down from anything. “This is one of those trick questions where a guy could end up in the doghouse. If I say too young you could be insulted that I think you’re immature or flattered you don’t look your age. If I say you are older, you could be insulted that you aren’t aging well or flattered too.”
She laughed. “No one past the age of twenty one wants to be told they are older than they are,” she said.
“Which now means whatever age I give you, you are going to think I’m taking a few years off because I’m going to be afraid you’ll get mad.”
“I have a feeling you aren’t afraid of much either and you are totally taking the fun out of this. Now I know why you don’t smile much. I’ll make it easy on you. I’ll tell you my age if you tell me yours. No guessing this way.”
“That works.”
“You go first,” she said, “since it was my suggestion.”
“Thirty-five. Older than you.”
“Yes, older than me, but not so old it really stands out. Twenty-seven.”
He picked his drink up and took the first sip of the second one. Good way to kill time having this conversation and letting him stretch it out so he wasn’t walking back home.
Twenty-seven was a good age for her. Maybe younger than he would have figured, but she didn’t come off as most twenty-somethings that he’d come in contact with on this island lately.
“So we’ve got age out of the way. You aren’t from around here, so I’ll ask that. Where are you from and what brought you to Amore Island?”
And please don’t let her say looking for love. He might pick his drink up and down it, then march out the door and the two blocks home if she did.
He was sick and tired of hearing how women came to this island looking for their one true love. Half the time they wanted to find it with a Bond. But then when they found out he was from the William side and didn’t have billions or even millions to his name like some of his other cousins, they ran in the other direction.
Of course there were the few that knew the story about the five kids born to Malcolm and Elizabeth Bond that put the first house on this island. That the baby of the group, William, was a love them and leave them type. He had more bastards than anyone else in the family.
Though Mac was legitimate through and through. Not that it mattered when his ancestor cheated on his wife to get those bastards.
Sidney cocked her hip and shifted against the bar. “Are you hitting on me? That’s a pickup line if I’ve ever heard one.”
Double shit. She was right, but he hadn’t asked it for that reason. Guess he could play into this though since it came up. “What if it was?”
“Which isn’t an answer. And that tells me that you’d want to know that before you gave me the answer.”
She was good and he knew he’d enjoy bantering with her. “Maybe.”
“We could go back and forth all night long this way, but I’ll save you the trouble so we can move on to more questions...if you want. If it was, I’m not opposed. If it’s not, then I was only kidding by asking you that.”
He found himself smiling again. “Then I’ll be honest right back. It wasn’t meant to be, but since we’ve established we both might not mind exploring it, I’ll ask again. Where are you from and what brought you here?”
She opened her mouth to answer, but another waitress came over with an order.
“Hold that thought. I’ll be right back.”
2
Less Sidestepping
The last thing Sidney expected when she came in for her shift on this cold windy day was that she’d be having this kind of conversation with big, bad Mac Bond.
Had she’d noticed him over the year that she’d lived and worked on Amore Island?
Hell yeah. She’d have to be blind to not see his good looks even behind his rough exterior.
And what an exterior it was.
Dark wavy hair, midnight eyes always searching and seeking out what was going on around him.
He was tall, over six foot, but maybe just by an inch or so.
His body...yeah, nothing to sneeze at there. He wasn’t muscle bound to the point you’d think he was a bodybuilder, but something told her he had some nice lean and toned muscles under his clothes.
And since she hadn’t dated one person since she’d been on this island, she was starting to realize her hormones were pulling into the starting gate and waiting for the gun to go off.
Images of Mac holding a gun in action were heating her up faster than the whiskey he was drinking.
But just as things were getting good, Nancy had to come over with an order. And since she was on the clock, she had to do her job.
It gave her a few minutes to decide what to say to Mac’s question too. And to wonder why all of a sudden he was hitting on her tonight when it seemed every other time he came in the bar he grunted out a few words, she gave him his
beer, and he went on his way.
If she went home and thought of him often, she never let on and never would. But well, now she kind of could.
No, no. She couldn’t. The only people she’d say anything to were Kayla and Amanda. Kayla was living with Hunter now while the newlyweds prepared for the birth of their son in March. Amanda had a nice guy of her own she was getting it on with, so maybe she could talk to her about it.
Hmm. Amanda was with Mac’s cousin Drew. Wonder if she could find out anything there. Probably not. They weren’t first or even second cousins. Most likely pretty distant, but she knew they talked a lot.
“So I’m back,” she said a few minutes later. “Your question. Where am I from and why did I come here, right?”
“That’s the one,” he said, putting the amber liquid to his lips and grinning a little. There was a mischievous look in his eyes as he gazed at her over the rim. This was a Mac Bond she’d never seen before and she kind of liked it.
“I’m from Billings, Montana. Outside of it actually. Country girl if you must know.”
He started to cough on his drink. Not the reaction she was expecting. “I never would have guessed that.”
“Not many do. I went to the University of Montana...in Billings if you didn’t know where that was.”
“I didn’t. What did you study?”
“English with a minor in Art,” she said. “And let me tell you there aren’t a lot of jobs in that field unless you want to teach—which I didn’t—but even they are scarce.”
Nope, she wanted to write and that was what she was doing. Not that anyone knew that. Or that she’d published five children’s books already. Even did the illustrations herself. She supposed most might not think that was actually writing.
Why the hell did she just tell Mac about her degree when she’d never told her best friends...her roommates? Now she felt kind of bad about that.
“So you ended up tending bar?” he asked.
“It’s a give and take here. You found out about me. Now about you. I’m guessing you’ve lived on the island your whole life since I know you took your father’s place as chief of police.”
“Born in Plymouth like most on this island, raised right here. Even had my mother as my fifth grade teacher in the school not far away. As for college, nope. Went in the Army and got my schooling that way. Did some years as military police and came back home.”
If she thought he’d look sexy with a gun in his hand, thoughts of him in a military uniform just sent her pulse skyrocketing. He didn’t wear a uniform on the job here. Jeans and a shirt that said Amore Island Police on it, his badge either clipped to his belt or on a chain on his neck. She’d seen it both ways. His officers had uniforms so he must have at some point.
His gun was normally on his hip too. Not today though, and not when he came in to drink, now that she thought of it. It should have been the first sign he wasn’t here on duty.
But then again he came in with a jacket on and didn’t take it off until he placed his order.
“Okay, so you wanted to know why I ended up tending bar? Let’s say I couldn’t find a job I liked or wanted. I was a waitress in college and then learned there was more money and less sidestepping behind the bar.”
“I bet you are pretty good at dodging hands and passes.”
“I’ve built up an immunity toward it, you could say. Unless of course I want to be infected.”
“Let’s hope neither of us needs a visit to the doctor then.”
This time she started to laugh really hard. “Sorry. I thought my comment was pretty cheesy and almost took it back, but you added to it and it made me laugh.”
“It was pretty bad,” he admitted. “I was trying to be nice and not laugh, like you did.”
“That was very polite of you. And a side I’m not used to seeing. Again, you never really said why you were looking a little off tonight. All you said was it was hardly a top secret thing.”
“Budgets,” he said. “That always puts me in a mood.”
She shuddered a little. “Same here. I’m much better with money than I used to be.”
A necessity now, but she wasn’t going to admit that.
That morning five years ago when she’d left Rod’s place she only had about a thousand dollars to her name. In London it didn’t get her far and wouldn’t for her time remaining there. She’d been stupid about spending her rent money on going out and having fun rather than putting it away.
“Live and learn, I always tell myself. It’s harder with other people’s money than my own. I don’t have to be accountable for how I spend my paycheck, but I sure the hell do when it’s the island’s money and I need things that cost more than I’ve got.”
“Fundraisers,” she said. “There are some pretty steep pockets on this island that I’m sure wouldn’t mind helping out the local police.”
“There are,” he admitted. “But it’s hard to ask for money even though I shouldn’t take it personally.”
“And I’m sure there are plenty who already think you favor your family, especially if they give money to the island.”
“Right again. But those are facts I can’t change. For now it’s more about going to the town board and working on the percentage I get for my department before I start hitting businesses up. We all have our budgets to follow.”
“Sounds reasonable to me.”
“Don’t sound so shocked. I’m a fairly reasonable guy.”
Two customers came up to the bar, so she moved away to take their drink orders. Then a group of seven came in and grabbed a table and the waitress brought out menus. Not five minutes later two more couples came in and she found herself moving pretty fast.
Normally she loved it when she was busy, as it made the time fly, but for once she would have liked to stay and talk with Mac.
A good twenty minutes went by before she could make her way back to Mac and she noticed he was just putting his empty glass back on the bar. “Another one?” she asked.
“I’m good for the night. Two is the limit unless I want to walk home and it’s a little cold out for that.”
“Don’t blame you one bit. So until next time?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Because you never told me how you ended up here or why.”
She hadn’t had she? She could at least say one thing she was figuring might be on his mind. “It’s not because I was looking for love.”
He nodded his head, put his jacket on and said, “We’ll continue this again.”
“I look forward to it,” she said and watched him strut out, wondering when next time was going to be.
The next morning, Sidney walked downstairs around nine expecting to have the house to herself. The bar closed at eleven on Wednesday so by the time she got home and in bed, it was before midnight. Nine hours of sleep was more than most got and she tried to stay on a normal schedule if she could.
When she walked into the kitchen, Amanda was just coming out of her bedroom. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, good morning to you too,” Amanda said. “Can I get you some coffee?”
Amanda always was the mom of the house. “Sorry. I just normally have the house to myself and it was so quiet here. It’s a good thing I didn’t come down naked.”
Amanda grinned. “You don’t run around naked even if the house is empty. Neither of us does. Now if Bri said that, I’d believe it.”
At one point there were four of them in the house. Amanda had the lease in her name, then Sidney came along, Bri was next, and Kayla next after the last renter didn’t last long. It was just the three of them now, but there had always been three to four in the house as long as she’d been here. It was just she’d been with Amanda the longest.
“Tell me about it. Actually Bri tells me more than I want to know and because she is still single now all I hear about is how badly she wants sex and being celibate is hard.”
“It’s not that hard,” Amanda said. “I was for longer
than I care to admit. Not that I’m complaining about the action I’m getting now.”
“Who would complain about that? You hit the jackpot there.”
“Drew is a pretty great guy. I did get lucky, but I’m not jumping the gun or putting any cart before any horse. Even if Bri talks about jewel incrusted carriages and thoroughbred studs.”
“Always money and sex with her, we know that,” Sidney said.
“Her priorities are a bit skewed. She won’t find what she really wants because she doesn’t know what she wants,” Amanda said, moving to get a pan. “How about pancakes? I’m starving.”
“Sure, I could eat. And why are you here?”
“Oh, I don’t have any appointments until around eleven and decided to sleep in myself. Normally I’m rushing to get in, but we haven’t seen much of each other lately and I was hoping you’d come down and we could chat.”
“What did you want to talk about?” Sidney asked.
“Nothing much. It’s just I miss talking with you. I know I’m not around as much because I’m with Drew and I feel bad about it.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not holding it against you for finding yourself a stud.”
The two of them burst out laughing. “I know. You never would. So what’s going on in your life?”
It was an opening she could wiggle into. “So, guess who came into the bar and was hitting on me last night?”
“Someone I know?”
“I wouldn’t have asked you to guess if you didn’t know him.”
“Silly me. Tell me,” Amanda said as she started mixing the batter.
“Mac.”
“Mac Bond? Chief of Police Mac Bond? Never smiling, always grunting, good old Mac? Isn’t that how you describe him?”
“Yes, that Mac. But he was different last night.”
“Different how? Do you have a crush on him?” Amanda asked.
Leave it to Amanda to get right to the point. “I guess I did without realizing it. And he was friendly last night. He smiled a few times. We talked.”
“You’re blushing,” Amanda said, pointing her finger. “Oh my God. Your dating life has been as dry as mine and yet look at you. What did you talk about? I need details. I told you a lot of stuff with Drew.”
