by Virna DePaul
“No trouble at all. Of course, if you wanted to come up with him, it would be nice to see you, as well. You could both even stay a few days, if you wanted, and I could show you around Hope Falls. Maybe even give you a few self-defense lessons.”
Even as he’d extended the invitation, Alder had anticipated regretting his spontaneous actions. Surprisingly, that hadn’t happened. Now that he and Dara had talked, and she’d made it clear she was okay with simply enjoying some casual time together, it was as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He didn’t have to worry whether he was too old or established for Dara. Didn’t have to worry that he’d somehow tie her down before she’d experienced the world. For a moment, however, Dara had looked uncertain.
Then she’d smiled. “Let me talk to Liam.”
She’d called her cousin, who’d been grateful and excited at Alder’s invitation. They’d made arrangements to meet up, then with a final kiss, Alder had headed back to Hope Falls.
Now, at Brewed Awakenings, he ordered a cup of coffee. This time, Audrey’s sister Vivien was behind the counter, and she smiled warmly at him.
“Good morning, Alder. You’re looking mighty fine today.”
He smiled back at the gorgeous red-head. “Good morning, Vivien. Fine doesn’t even begin to cover how beautiful you’re looking today.” He meant it. Vivien was a knock out, and he’d been extremely attracted to her. He’d considered asking her out more than once, but now all he thought when he looked at her was she was pretty, but she wasn’t Dara.
When Vivien placed his order in front of him, he pulled out his wallet to pay.
“Are you going to be at the Phases of the Moon Festival next month?” Vivien asked.
“Um…I hadn’t heard anything about it.”
“Oh you have to go! It’s so much fun. There will be live bands and a midway with carnival games and dancing under the stars. We’ll have a booth there too. You and Lucky can put out some fliers and business cards if you like and advertise the gym.”
“That sounds great; I’ll talk to Lucky about it.”
Vivien winked and reached up to run her finger down his arm in a blatantly flirtatious move. Alder didn’t make too much of it. In the time he’d lived here, he’d learned flirting was as natural to Vivien as breathing.
“Don’t forget to save a dance or two for me,” she said.
“You got it.” Picking up his drink, he turned around.
He froze when he saw Dara, standing next to the door. She looked gorgeous as ever, her dark hair once again loose around her shoulders, the long waves just touching the tops of her full, sexy breasts. She was wearing a white T-shirt dress that looked rather plain at first glance, but it hugged her curves, accentuating her small waist. It stopped below her knees, revealing her long, shapely legs just enough to make any red-blooded man want to see more of them.
Next to her stood a man that had to be her cousin. He was well over six feet tall and made of lean muscle. His arms were covered with colorful tattoos and he had a small Celtic cross on the side of his neck. His head was shaved except for the bright red Faux-hawk that graced the top of it, and he wore another Celtic cross, this one in the form of an earring that dangled from his left ear.
Alder smiled in greeting, but his smile faded when he saw Dara’s gaze wasn’t on him, but on Vivien. When she finally looked at Alder, she didn’t look happy at all. But then she smiled brightly.
“Hi Alder! Meet my cousin, Liam Brennan. Why don’t you two sit down and chat? I think I’m going to check out the bookstore I saw down the street. Talk to you later.”
And with that, she was gone.
***
Dara felt like a fool. Not because she’d started things with Alder again and then caught him flirting with a beautiful redhead in the coffee shop just now, but because she’d reacted so badly to the sight. The poor guy hadn’t been doing anything wrong, and truth be told, the redhead had been the one flirting with him, not the other way around. Only the moment Dara had seen the woman trail her finger down Alder’s arm, she’d been filled by an intense desire to growl, grab the woman’s finger, and tell her to back off.
In that moment, she’d realized she was a fool. She’d convinced herself she could keep things casual between her and Alder. That she could enjoy time with him and then walk away unscathed. But she’d spent the last three days floating on air, reliving every second of their time together in her room in the bed and breakfast, and dreaming about more time with him in Hope Falls. She’d even arranged for Liam to take the train back to Forestville, by a circuitous route indeed, because he couldn’t spend more than one night before going back to work, and Dara hadn’t wanted to cut short her time with Alder.
“Not smart, Dara,” she whispered to herself. “Not smart at all.”
With a final glance at the coffee shop over her shoulder, Dara headed toward the bookstore she’d seen, promising herself that by the time she returned to meet Liam and Alder, she’ll have pulled herself together.
***
“It’s such an honor to meet you, Mr. Hanson,” Liam Brennan said in a heavy Irish accent. “You’re legendary, man. That upper cut you did to win the title eight years ago? I’ll never forget it.”
“Thank you, Liam. Did you and Dara get a room at the B&B?” Lucky’s brother, Levi, who owed JT’s Roadhouse, had recently converted the four-bedroom cabin located behind the restaurant into an amazing B&B, and Alder had recommended it to Dara.
“It was fully booked, unfortunately, but we rented a small cottage right downtown through Air B&B.”
“Who’s the owner?”
“A Ms. Jane Gonzales.”
The name didn’t ring a bell with Alder. Amazing there were actually citizens in Hope Falls he wasn’t yet acquainted with. “Well, Liam, I’ve read up on you. You’ve accomplished a lot in your short career, as well.”
“Well, I hope to accomplish more now that I’m here. Dara tells me you two met in Vegas?” Although he said it in an even enough tone, Alder suspected the kid was probably more aware of the circumstances of their meeting than he was letting on.
“That’s right.”
“You met in the casino, isn’t that right? She said something about you being a dancer in your spare time?”
Alder choked on his coffee. “Oh she did, did she?”
Liam grinned. “I had a feeling she was pulling my leg. Was she kidding about your offer to give her some self-defense training, as well?”
“No. She was right about that. Did you know she’d been mugged living in San Francisco?”
“Aye. Worried us to no end. I offered to give her some lessons as soon as I got here. But she always brushed me off. I’m hoping you manage to teach her a few things while we’re here.”
Alder nodded. “I’ll certainly do my best.”
Studying him, Liam said, “You should know, however, Dara’s no helpless thing. She was still wrestling with her attacker when some guys came around and helped detain him, but did she tell you she’d inflicted quite a bit of damage on him before that?”
Alder jerked in surprise. “No, she didn’t.”
Liam looked up when Vivien delivered the cup of coffee he ordered. “Thank you,” he said with a wink that actually made Vivien blush. He took a long sip of his coffee before lowering his cup. “Dara nearly scratched the guy’s eyes out. He had to go to the hospital he was bleeding so bad. Kneed him in the balls pretty hard, too. I’m convinced even if those men hadn’t come by to help, she was holding her own pretty well.”
A cloud of pride at Dara’s strength washed over Alder. “That’s good to know.”
“Aye,” Liam said.
“So, Liam. I took a look at your stats in anticipation of meeting you. Let’s talk about your career so far and where you think you want to go from here.”
As Liam began talking, Alder was genuinely taken in by the man’s passion for fighting. He had a good deal of knowledge about training practices and techniques, and Alder knew from h
is research that Liam had plenty of raw talent and lauded potential. Potential that Alder was sure he could mold into a winning title.
It was true, he’d first offered to talk to the young fighter because he’d been interested in seeing Dara again. After meeting Liam, he found he genuinely liked the guy, and that he was very interested in helping Liam for professional reasons. So he took his time getting to know the kid.
But he did so with the knowledge that as soon as they were done talking, he was going to track Dara Brennan down.
CHAPTER NINE
After an hour with Liam, Alder excused himself, saying he was going to the book store to talk to Dara. Liam declined to come with him (thankfully) and said he’d head to the cottage that he and Dara had rented. He explained that he’d only be staying the one night, while Dara planned to stay several more. Alder just hoped she hadn’t changed her mind about that after seeing Vivien flirting with him at the coffee shop. The first thing he planned to do when he saw her was make sure she knew the only woman he was interested in right now was her.
He headed over to the only book store in town, Read Between the Lines. When he stepped inside, he saw Dara immediately, wandering through the Art section. She fingered the spines of the books, pulling out random ones to peruse. She smiled as she opened a large book, and he walked up to her and peered over her shoulder. It was a book of Monet’s paintings.
“Hey,” he said quietly.
“Hey,” she said without looking up, not seeming the least surprised when he spoke, which told him she’d been as attuned to his presence as he’d been to hers.
“Aren’t they beautiful?” she said quietly, touching the pages. “He’s my favorite painter.”
He knew who the guy was, knew his style and his most famous paintings, but he’d never been particularly interested in art. Seeing her rapt face, however, Alder would’ve watched her look through that book for hours. She flipped it over to look at the price, then put it back on the shelf.
“So,” she said. “How’d your talk go with Liam?”
“Good. He’s smart. Talented. We set up a time for he and Lucky to spar in the morning before he heads back home.”
“Oh. That’s nice,” she said.
“Liam headed to the cottage you rented, but I was thinking I could show you around Hope Falls, buy you some ice cream, then give you your first self-defense lesson this evening.”
She laughed but the sound was edged with bitterness. “You’re like a broken record, Alder. So hung up on teaching young women self-defense. Have you taught the locals some moves? The redhead at the coffee shop looked fairly young herself, and since you’re so interested in young women knowing how to kick men in the balls—”
Alder suppressed a smile at the blatant confirmation that she’d been jealous when she’d seen him with Vivien earlier. “Careful, darling. Your jealousy is showing,” he teased.
She blushed and opened her mouth, but then shut it with an audible click. He’d been half-expecting her to get pissed. At the very least, he’d expected her to deny being jealous. Instead, she sighed. “I know, it was pretty crazy, how jealous I felt when I saw you with her. It’s crazy how jealous I feel remembering it even now. I’m sorry.”
He stared at her, shocked by how forthright she was being. No playing games. No trying to deny she’d been jealous.
“I meant it when I said we could be about casual fun, but I’m starting to think maybe I was wrong. And since I know you’re not looking for anything serious, I’m thinking it’s probably best if we don’t take things any further between us. No matter how much I want to. That means we should probably skip the self-defense classes, too.”
When he just continued to stare at her, she frowned.
“What? Did what I say about being jealous freak you out?”
He lifted his hand and brushed his thumb across her cheek. “It didn’t freak me out so much as surprise and impress me. With how damn honest and mature you are. You don’t play games, do you?”
She shrugged. “I’ve really found there’s no point. Playing games just prolongs the inevitable and makes things worse in the end.”
“So you were jealous. So what. That doesn’t mean we need to stop seeing each other. Because I’m jealous of every man you’ve been with. Every man that came before me, and every man that will come after me, but I don’t want to stop seeing you.” He cupped her chin and made her look at him. “You have no reason to be jealous of Vivien, Dara. At this point, all I care about is what you do with my balls. No one else.”
She laughed and leaned her head into his touch. He cupped her cheek and moved his thumb so it smoothed across her lips instead of her cheek.
“I meant what I said, Dara. I’m settling here. I’m not looking for a relationship. But after the time we’ve shared and seeing you again today, I’m finding myself more and more open to the idea that, if a relationship comes out of our time together, that’s not going to be a bad thing. In fact, I suspect it would be one of the best things to ever happen to me. We don’t know if that’s going to happen, of course. But I want you to know, you’re not alone in what you’re feeling. And I don’t want you to go. Stay with me. Please?”
She stared at him for a minute, indecision reflected in her eyes. Then she smiled. “I suddenly have a real craving for ice cream. You still interested in buying me a cone and showing me around?”
“Definitely.”
“Great. I just wanted to look for one more thing while I’m here…”
Alder nodded. “Go right ahead. I’ll wait outside.”
She hesitated, then nodded, and headed to the other side of the store. Alder bent down, grabbed the Monet book she’d been looking at, and then made his way to the register. After paying for the book, he waited outside for Dara.
When she came out, she saw his bag, but didn’t comment. She carried a bag of her own.
“What did you get?” he asked.
“A sketchbook. I didn’t bring mine, but after seeing how beautiful it is here…” She glanced at his bag and was probably going to ask him what he’d bought, but he interrupted her.
“I saw your sketchbook back in Forestville. On the table out on your balcony. I didn’t get a look at your drawings, though.”
“I’ll show them to you some time,” she offered.
“I’d like that.”
After getting their ice cream cones at Two Scoops—chocolate for Dara, Rocky Road for Alder—they walked toward the park, which was officially called the Riverside Recreation Area. It extended miles down the riverbank, showcasing the gorgeous natural scenery of the area.
As luck would have it, they found a bench not far from the riverbank, overlooking the redwoods; no one else was around. Shade provided cover from the bright sun, and they ate their ice cream in companionable silence.
After finishing his own cone, Alder glanced down to see a bit of ice cream on the corner of Dara’s mouth. He leaned down and kissed her, licking at the sweet spot. She tasted of chocolate and sweetness and Dara, and if he weren’t careful, he’d take her right there on that bench in the middle of the woods, with all of the birds and rabbits watching them.
Eventually, she pulled away and they sat there for several minutes, his arm around her and her head resting on his shoulder. Finally, she stirred.
“It’s beautiful here. Do you mind if I do a quick sketch?”
“Not at all.”
Reaching down to open up her bag from the bookstore. She pulled out a pad of sketch paper and charcoal. As he watched, she began drawing the landscape before them: the tall redwoods, the river below. The first few tries, she got frustrated and started over again, and she kept glancing at him, her face slightly flushed. He just waited and watched silently. Eventually, he looked away, not wanting her to feel self-conscious. She was so bold normally, so honest and forthright, but he could tell that with her art, she wasn’t as confident.
She should be. In the short time he’d watched her, he’d confirmed she was a ta
lented artist.
Very talented.
When Alder had been a young man, he’d struggled with the decision to become a professional MMA fighter. His mother had been against it—what kind of a life could that result in, she’d asked—and he wondered sometimes if he wouldn’t have had an easier life going to college, getting a degree, working in an office somewhere. It certainly would’ve been the safer route. But at the end of the day, despite the injuries and the setbacks and the fact that he was already retired at thirty-three, Alder couldn't regret his career in the MMA. If he were honest, it was one of the best decisions he’d ever made in his entire life.
Glancing at Dara and her sketchpad, he saw she was completely absorbed in her drawing. She’d made a nest of birds come alive on the page. He watched her draw, enthralled, not the least bit bored as she shaded the birds, filling in their feathers until he could almost feel their silken wings brush against his fingertips.
When she seemed finished, he said, “You’re really good, Dara.”
She looked up at him, like she’d forgotten he was even there. Then she blushed. “Thank you.”
“Did you ever think about going to art school?”
She opened her mouth. Closed it. And then she sighed. “I considered it, but how can you base a career on drawing? Yeah, I know there are jobs out there, but it’s hard enough finding a job now in the usual kinds of things, let alone something artistic.”
“So?” At her look, he shrugged. “You’re talking to a guy who became a professional fighter. Nothing in life is guaranteed: you’ve gotta go for the things that make you happy.” That’s when he leaned down and, taking the bag, he pulled out the Monet book he’d purchased for her. “I saw how much you wanted this,” he said as she gasped, “and now I think you need it more than ever.”
She took it with gentle hands. Sudden tears shimmered in her eyes, and Alder’s heart contracted at the sight. What was this girl doing to him?
“Thank you,” she whispered. “It’s silly, but Monet’s paintings meant so much to me when I was younger. Whenever I look at his work, it stirs something inside me. I don’t know, it makes me feel like I could do anything in the world, you know?”