He scrubbed a hand over his face and refocused on work.
The sound of thudding feet up the stairs reached his ears, then voices in Arden’s apartment as Jamie and Mila returned. He heard Jamie shout, “Hey, Ty! You up?”
“He’s here,” Arden told her brother. “In the bathroom. Measuring something.”
Seconds later, Jamie appeared in the bathroom door. “Dude. You want waffles?”
“Hell yeah.” Tyler slid the pencil back behind his ear. “I was afraid you forgot about me.”
Jamie grinned. “Nah.”
Tyler followed the scent of bacon back to Arden’s kitchen, where Mila was making herself at home per usual, pulling out plates while Arden opened the bags of food.
“From the Waffle Shack,” Mila announced. “Best waffles in town. And bacon. We don’t go there every Sunday, but…”
“We go there a lot,” Tyler said.
Arden smiled, but seemed a little bemused by the people who’d invaded her kitchen as they all filled plates with food and moved to her small dining table.
“I don’t have any napkins,” Arden said apologetically.
“No worries! We got some.” Mila pulled paper napkins out of a bag and handed them around.
“You don’t want that butter, do you?” Mila asked Jamie, reaching for his plate.
Jamie pretended to stab her hand with his fork. “Yes, I do.”
Tyler handed over a small container of whipped butter. “Here you go, butterball.”
“I love butter,” Mila confessed to Arden. “I probably shouldn’t have it, but thank you, Tyler.”
“You don’t look like someone who likes butter,” Arden said.
“She eats like a goddamn elephant,” Jamie said. “And yet still looks like a stickman.”
“Stickman! Seriously?” Mila scowled at Jamie.
Tyler ignored their insults. “Who wants to go to the beach today? I feel like some beach volleyball.”
“Sure,” Mila said. “It’s a nice day. I’ll need to shave my legs.”
“Thanks for sharing that.” Jamie shook his head and forked up more waffle. “Yeah, the beach sounds great.”
“Arden?” Tyler looked at her, trying to make his expression friendly and casual. “You want to come?”
She stared back at him for a moment, and he wondered what was wrong. Did he have bacon in his teeth? She nodded slowly. “Okay.” Then she gave her head a shake and looked down at her plate.
“Hey, let me text Olivia and book a cabana at the Beach Ball Café.” Jamie pulled out his phone.
“You’ll never get a cabana at this short notice,” Mila said.
“Pfft.” Jamie bent his head as he texted.
Tyler’s own phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. “Norton.” He made a face. “Should I invite him?”
His cousin Norton was close to their age, a couple of years younger, and hung out with them sometimes. He was a good guy, but easiest to handle in small doses.
“Sure, invite him,” Mila said easily. “Arden’s going to have to meet him some time.”
“I apologize in advance, Arden,” he said as he tapped in a text message. “He has a good heart.”
Arden laughed. “Ooookay.”
“And I’ll see what Garth is doing.” Mila turned to Arden. “Garth’s my boyfriend.”
“Got a cabana,” Jamie announced triumphantly a moment later.
“That’s so cool!” Arden looked more animated than she had all morning.
“Norton will meet us there,” Tyler added.
“Perfect. Let’s clean up this mess and get going.”
“It’s okay—” Arden started.
“Hell no, we invaded your apartment and made the mess, so we’ll help clean it up.” Jamie began picking up dishes.
“Maybe next weekend I can make you all waffles,” Arden said. “I make pretty good waffles, if I do say so myself.”
“You can cook?” Mila and Jamie both said at the same time, staring at her as if she’d just announced she’d cured cancer.
“Yeah. I like cooking.”
“Me too,” Tyler said. “I cook for the guys at the station all the time.”
“You don’t cook for us,” Jamie complained.
“You can definitely make us waffles next Sunday,” Mila said to Arden.
“I’ll drive to the beach,” Jamie offered. “There’s room for all of us in my Jeep, and since you have tomorrow off, Ty, that means you can drink.”
“Hey, how was your date Friday night?” Tyler asked Jamie as he too carried dishes into the kitchen.
Jamie’s lips thinned and his gaze slid away. “Uh. I had fun.”
Mila started choking and leaned against the counter. Was she laughing?
“Do I need to Heimlich you?” Tyler asked her.
She waved her hands and shook her head. “I’m okay,” she wheezed.
“What’s so funny? And why are you looking so weird?” he said to Jamie.
“The date didn’t turn out like he expected,” Mila said.
“You met this chick on Spark, right?” Tyler said, naming a popular dating app. “You thought she was amazing.”
Mila collapsed onto the counter in a fit of giggles.
“What?” Tyler demanded, grinning too.
Arden looked back and forth among the three of them, wide-eyed. “Oh we have to hear this. Come on, Jamie.”
“Tell them, Jamie,” Mila choked out.
“Okay, okay. This chick seemed really perfect on Spark—hot, fun, a little geeky. Sounded perfect. So we met for a drink on Friday…turns out she’s a drag queen.”
“You mean he,” Mila corrected.
“Well, he’s Honey Deville onstage, but he introduced himself as Danny when I met him.”
Tyler and Arden burst out laughing at the same time.
“How did that even happen?” Tyler asked.
“It was totally my bad.” Jamie waved a hand. “That’s the embarrassing part. I’ve never used Spark before, and I didn’t read the whole bio or swipe through all his pictures, so I just saw the Honey picture.”
“But here’s the best part.” Mila waved a hand at Jamie to go on.
“He was a really nice guy,” Jamie said. “So I stayed, and we had a few beers. It was a fun evening.” He hitched one shoulder and shut the door of the dishwasher, looking around at them all earnestly.
Tyler laughed. “Are you seeing him again?”
“Not on a date. But we might hang out and play Call of Duty sometime.”
“Oh, Jamie.” Arden shook her head, an affectionate smile brightening her face.
Tyler looked at her across the small room. There it was—the smile. The one that had made his knees weak and his heart stutter. It lit up her eyes and transformed her face from girl next door to glamour queen.
And goddammit…it still made his heart stutter.
Chapter Three
Arden looked around the upscale, beachside restaurant and bar. She’d never been to this place. A group played live music on the patio at one end, and people wearing skimpy swimsuits and casual clothes lined the bar. The hostess led them past the bar and tables arranged on the outdoor deck to a white-canopied cabana. Dark wicker furniture with bright cushions formed a U-shape around a long, low table. They had a perfect view of the beach over the low railing.
“I’m impressed,” she said to Jamie, dropping her tote bag on a chair. “This looks fun and way too cool for a nerd like you.”
“Pfft.”
Arden caught Tyler’s quick grin.
Oh yeah, Tyler’d been a nerd too.
Not anymore, though. He looked like he fit right in here, wearing a pair of black board shorts and a T-shirt that hugged his broad shoulders and chest and draped over his flat abs. His thick dark hair gleamed in the sun. His sunglasses hid his eyes, and yet she had the feeling he was looking at her too. She was glad she also had sunglasses on, hoping they hid the fact that she was totally checking him out.
She had to admit her little brother and his friend had grown up into chick magnets. What was happening in the world? “I need a drink,” she announced.
“Hell, yeah.” Mila nodded. “Me too.”
“It’s National Daiquiri Day,” Arden said, picking up a menu card.
“How the hell do you know that?” Jamie asked.
Arden shrugged, studying the card. “I just do. Do they have daiquiris?”
“They have great daiquiris,” Mila said. “I love the peach one.”
“Perfect!”
“Is Garth coming?” Jamie asked.
Mila wrinkled her nose. “No. He’s working.”
“On Sunday?”
Mila looked down and plucked at her beach coverup. “Yeah. They’re really busy right now.”
Arden felt the faint tension emanating from Mila.
“He works all the fucking time,” Jamie said with a snort.
“You’re one to talk.” Mila lifted her chin. “The guy who works sixteen-hour days.”
Jamie shrugged. “Not every day. I like to have fun.”
“Sixteen-hour days?” Arden gaped at her brother. “Jamie, that’s not healthy.”
“I love it,” Jamie simply replied. “Work is fun for me.”
“With the Fourth of July holiday coming up, Garth will take some time off,” Mila said confidently.
As they ordered beers and settled into the comfortable chairs, the breeze off the lake teased Arden’s hair, and she turned her face into it, enjoying the pleasant temperatures. Unlike Phoenix, where sometimes you needed mist sprayers to sit outside, this was so pleasant. And that big expanse of blue, blue water…she’d missed that too.
With a sigh, she leaned back in the chair and crossed her legs. This was nice and relaxing. She hadn’t slept well last night. She hadn’t slept well for the last year.
Of course her first night in her new home, her mind wouldn’t shut off, and when she did drift off to sleep she was startled into heart-pounding wakefulness by her dreams… terror-filled dreams of trying to get to Michael to save him and not being able to, over and over. She’d been having that same dream in various forms off and on for months. She probably had enormous bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, thankfully now hidden behind sunglasses.
Somehow she sensed Tyler’s attention on her, even though he too lounged in a chair opposite her in a casual pose. Her skin tingled everywhere.
“So are you looking for a job, Arden?” Mila asked when they had daiquiris in hand.
“I will be.” She made a face then sipped her drink through the straw. “Not sure what kind of job, though.”
“Were you working in Phoenix?”
“No.” She peered into her drink and stirred the ice cubes around. “I have a business degree, but when we moved to Phoenix, my husband was playing professional football. He made good money, so I didn’t need to work. I did some volunteer work, though.”
Mila nodded.
Arden’s stomach tightened as it did whenever she thought about her financial situation and the need to find a job. Quickly. Except a business degree from six years ago with no work experience other than organizing charity events wasn’t going to help much with that. She took a few deep breaths, trying to relax the tension that gripped her. She needed to just live in the moment. It was a beautiful day, and she was here with her brother and his friends sitting beside the beach drinking a delicious cocktail. She had a cute, albeit somewhat dilapidated, apartment, but it was a place to live and it was comforting to have Jamie living right in the building so she didn’t feel totally alone.
“Heeeeeey!” a loud male voice cut through the conversation the others were having about the Cubs season.
Arden looked up to see a man about the same age as the rest of them, dark haired like Tyler, about five nine and stocky. He wore Ray-Ban sunglasses with neon green arms, a blue T-shirt that said Do not be alarmed, this is a kindness, and a pair of baggy board shorts.
“Hey, Norton.” Tyler gave a casual wave.
Jamie reached over to bro shake Norton’s hand. “Hey, buddy. Have a seat.”
“Hi, Jamie. Hi, Mila.”
“Hey, Norton, how’s it going?”
“Good.” Then Norton’s gaze fell on Arden. “Hel-looooo.” He pushed up his sunglasses and smiled at her.
“Norton, this is my sister, Arden. She just moved into the empty apartment in our building.”
Norton frowned. “You told me you weren’t renting that apartment out until you were finished renovating it.”
Jamie’s mouth opened and then shut. Arden felt the atmosphere around them shift to bordering on uncomfortable. “Well, uh, yeah, but Arden needed somewhere to stay right away. She just moved here from Phoenix. I warned her that it would be under construction, and she was okay with that.”
Norton turned his attention back to Arden, extending a hand. She smiled and shook it, uncertain of where the sudden tension came from. “Nice to meet you, Norton.”
“Likewise.” He smiled, his gaze moving over her in a way that was more awkward than creepy. But his smile seemed sincere. He dropped a backpack onto the deck and took the empty seat next to her. “So. Arden. Besides being sexy, what do you do for a living?”
Arden choked on a laugh. “Uh. Funny, we were just discussing that. I’m unemployed right now. Got any leads on a good job?”
His eyes widened. “Hell yeah. I can put a good word in for you where I work. The girls in HR are all hot for me.”
She rolled her lips in briefly, trying not to look over at Tyler and Jamie seated across from them. “Where do you work, Norton?”
“At Guardian Mutual. I’m a desktop support tech.”
“Oh. Cool. You and Jamie must have a lot in common.” She bit her lip and now chanced a look at her brother, who grinned.
“Yeah, we’re both tech dudes,” Norton agreed. “Except he’s rich and I’m…not. But hey, I’m working my way up the ladder.”
Arden nodded.
The waitress arrived again, and Norton gave her a long up-and-down look. Arden couldn’t blame him; she was lovely, wearing a tiny pair of shorts and a bikini top. The girl smiled brightly at Norton. “What can I get you, handsome?”
Norton’s eyes brightened. “I’ll have a piña colada, please.”
The girl’s eyes flickered. “Sure thing!”
Norton turned back to Arden. “Hey, Arden. Feel my T-shirt. Know what it’s made of?”
She slanted a look at Tyler, then back at Norton without moving a hand. “What?”
He grinned. “Boyfriend material.”
She grinned, nodding. “Good one.”
“That’s my sister, Norton,” Jamie said. “Cool it.”
“Right, right. So. What are we up to today?” Norton drummed his hands on the table as if playing a bongo. “Maybe some beach volleyball?”
“Sure.” Tyler shoved his glasses on top of his head and sat forward. “That’d be fun. I was thinking that too.”
“Let’s finish our drinks,” Mila said. “Except we’re an odd number now.”
Jamie looked around. “Pretty sure I can find one more person…oh, there she is.”
Mila frowned. “Who?”
“I don’t know her yet.” Jamie grinned. “But I will. Be right back.”
Mila snorted and watched him stand and stroll over to a blonde at the bar in a turquoise bikini.
“I guess it’s easy to pick up chicks when you’re loaded,” Norton said, and the dejected tone of his voice tugged at Arden’s heart strings.
“I doubt that was his opening line, dude,” Tyler said mildly. “Pretty sure he didn’t go up to her and say, ‘Hey, I’m rich, wanna play beach volleyball with me?’”
Arden laughed and met Tyler’s eyes. “Oh, who knows,” she said. “I never thought
Jamie was particularly skilled with women.”
“You’ve obviously been away for a while.” Tyler grinned at her, and holy hotness, she felt that smile all the way into her bikini bottom. She blinked and quickly sipped her daiquiri.
“Your brother’s all growed up.” Mila winked. “Chicks dig him.”
Norton sighed. The waitress arrived with his drink, and he took it and gulped half of it down.
Arden was now realizing why they’d warned her about Norton. She could see how he could get on your nerves. But she remembered Tyler saying he had a good heart, and they apparently kept including him in their activities, and that was kind of…nice.
She relaxed a little more, grateful to Jamie for letting her stay in the apartment and for having these friends who were so welcoming to her. They were good people. She had problems in her life she had to deal with, and she would. But for now, she was going to have fun this sunny Sunday afternoon in Chicago.
“I could have called my friend Emma,” she said. “Then we would have been six.”
“Is she hot?” Norton asked.
Tyler shook his head but Arden grinned. “Yes. She is.”
“How is Emma?” Tyler asked. “That’s Emma Malone, right?”
“Right.” She and Emma had been best friends in high school. Emma still was her best friend; Arden had stayed in touch with some friends from college, but after moving across the country, she’d drifted apart from a lot of people. Everyone else seemed to be living the dream, with great jobs, marriage, beautiful houses and families, and when Arden had been going through hard times, nobody seemed very interested in that. Everyone wanted to know the pro ballplayer’s wife but didn’t seem to care too much about the destitute widow. She didn’t blame them. Who wanted to log onto Facebook and read someone’s whiny complaints every day? Not that Arden did that. She didn’t even want people to know how crappy things had gotten. But that had made it hard to maintain real relationships with some people.
Except for Emma. Emma was her one, true, steadfast friend, and even though they didn’t see each other that often, they’d stayed in touch. Emma was the one person with whom she’d been honest about what was happening in her life, and she was so looking forward to living in the same city as her again and picking up their friendship.
Firecracker: A contemporary romance Page 3