I raised my shoulders and threw up my hands. “Still no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Okay, bro, how about this, you’ve got middle child, or in our case, middle Bear, issues.”
I shook my head. “Camden, you’re making absolutely no sense.”
“What your brother is trying to tell you is that if you weren’t so hung up on being noticed, you would have seen that Goldie liked you from the get-go. So your little insult, hell, your slam against my best friend, was completely uncalled for.” The woman with ridiculously long hair stood in front of me and swung it back and forth. Despite my best efforts I couldn’t stop staring at her hair that swayed behind her with the steady tempo of a metronome. Unfortunately her tone wasn’t nearly as soothing. “Goldie was simply being Goldie. She asked Dylan back to her house for coffee. Just coffee. Nothing more, nothing less. She didn’t ask him back to her house to hook up or be belted up for the night.”
I felt my body temperature instantly spike and my cheeks ignite with heat. I didn’t dare look at Goldie, but her friend grabbed Goldie’s wrists and flashed them before me. They were red, chafed, and looked irritated.
Camden started laughing, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Burt shake his head.
“So maybe instead of accusing Goldie of wanting to date your other brother, maybe you should be considering your own actions and seriously kissing the ground she walks on because there’s not many woman in Amāre who’d let a man tie her up with his belt.”
“True that,” Camden said, and then fist-bumped the woman who finally stopped talking long enough for me to say something.
I turned to Goldie. “I did read your texts.” I paused. Should I hold her hands? No. Kiss her? No. Instead, I looked into her eyes. “I’m really sorry for being…”
“Insecure?” Camden jumped into the conversation with Rapunzel quickly on his heels.
“Insensitive?” she said.
Goldie stepped up. “Enough.”
Shocked, I took a step back.
“Listen.” She turned to me. “Maybe you were a bit insecure and definitely insensitive. But—” She pivoted on the heel of her boot and looked at my brother and her friend. “I’m the one that invited Dylan over to my house for coffee after having gone out to dinner with him. What else was Hayden to think?”
I wasn’t sure what to say. For a moment, I thought I saw a flicker of a smile cross Goldie’s face, but if it did it just as quickly vanished. “I should have responded to your texts,” I said, “and for certain I never should have made that comment. It was—” I grimaced, thinking that I had actually thrown my little brother in her face. “I was awful.” I placed my hand on my chest. “I was out of line. You didn’t deserve that. I hope you’ll forgive me.” She didn’t say anything, and her eyes didn’t waver.
I slowly nodded, and it felt like my heart plummeted to my stomach. Understood.
“Well, perhaps I could start over. Miss Locks, I’d like you to meet the youngest Bear, Camden. But that’s it. Now you’ve met us all,” I said at a weak attempt at humor. But Goldie neither smiled nor laughed.
I looked at Camden. “Cam, this is Miss Locks, and it sounds like maybe there was some incident here tonight that involved you and some barstool?” I tried to remain neutral balancing the scales between Goldie and Camden, but Camden was still my brother. I knew he was a hot-headed Bear, but he was family.
“Listen, Hayden, even though she’s crazy about you, she’s some rich Eastsider with too much time of her hands. I accidentally sat in her barstool, and she flipped out on me. I was defending myself.”
If Camden’s face wasn’t so serious I would have laughed. Instead I said, “Camden, you’re over six two and built like one of the Pig Brothers’ brick houses. Goldie’s got to be all of five foot nothing and at best weighs a buck twenty—wet. Now let’s get real. What happened?”
Camden crossed his arms over his barrel chest.
“Cam, the scanner reported on a possible fifty-one-fifty. Do you know what that means?”
He remained silent.
“Well, little brother, what that means is that an officer, like Burt here,” I looked over at my former college roommate. “Burt could involuntarily confine you to a hospital if they suspect you are a danger to yourself or others. And clearly,” I fanned my arm around the tavern. “From the looks of things, you decided to defend the entire tavern. Now.” I took a step closer to him. “Would you like to explain to me exactly what happened?”
Chapter Eight
I stood silently next to Hayden. I wasn’t about to say anything because I wasn’t sure what to say. Burt and Rapunzel were on the other side of me. We were all waiting for Camden to answer his brother’s question.
“It was a mistake,” Camden said flatly, curtly, and without apology. He was nothing like his brother, Hayden, and even further from the oldest Bear, Dylan. But Camden had defended me to Hayden. What is it about little Bear?
I looked at Hayden. He was visibly embarrassed by his brother’s behavior, and worse he seemed befuddled as to what to do next.
“Clearly, it was a mistake,” Hayden said. “But what exactly happened?”
Camden nodded toward a corner of the tavern. Hayden looked at Burt and then at me. “I think things could get resolved a lot faster and easier if I could talk to my brother privately.”
I nodded and took a step back. “Of course.”
Burt stepped into the conversation. “When the call came across the scanner I wondered if Cam had something to do with tonight’s ruckus. I’m here on the Captain’s orders with clear instructions to make sure the Bear brothers get their act together and leave Miss Locks alone.”
I held up my hand as if we were in a school room and not a tavern. “Burt…”
“Yes, Miss Locks,” he said.
I nodded. “I honestly don’t think the Bear brothers are any danger to me. Or that they’re targeting me. I think it’s just been,” I raised my shoulders to my ears, “a string of bad luck.”
Hayden’s dark, soulful eyes looked at me and smiled. “Thank you. May I still have a minute alone with my brother?”
The two Bears walked to a corner of the tavern. I looked around for Rapunzel. She was at the end of the bar. A man in a pricy suit with lacquered black hair and charming good looks was chatting her up. I smiled. Maybe one of us is going to find our happily ever after.
****
“Dude, what is wrong with you?” I stared at my brother.
He combed his fingers through his hair and exhaled loudly. “Listen, I’m not like you or Dylan.”
“What do you mean?”
“Dylan’s got the magic touch with trees. He can spot one and know it’s got the best honey that he can spin into liquid gold. And you.” My little brother pointed to me. “You’re this popular radio jock with a honeyed voice that everyone loves. You could have any woman in Amāre.”
I scoffed. “No, I can’t. Nor do I want every woman.” I glanced over my shoulder at Goldie. “I only want one.”
My younger brother’s chuckle made me turn back in his direction. “What?”
“Well, if you hadn’t have been such an ass you may have been able to have Goldie.”
“Maybe.”
“Oh, you’ve got it bad for little Miss Locks,” he said.
I lightly punched him on the shoulder. “Maybe I do, but nothing’s going to happen if you don’t get your act together and apologize for heisting her barstool.”
“I kind of did a bit more than just heist it.”
I tilted my head. “What did you do?”
“Well, I kind of broke it into little bits and pieces.”
I drew a deep breath. “And why would you do that?”
Camden shrugged. “I had a few too many apple shots, and I let surface the age-old issue that always raises its head when I drink.”
“The Eastside versus the Westside,” I stated as fact.
“Yup, that’s the one.”
“Well, what are we going to do? The Golden Goose was sold to seven small businessmen that have a right to run it the way they deem fit. They can charge whatever they want and hire whomever they like. That’s just life, little brother.”
“They did hire one fine looking bartender.” Camden cocked his head toward the bar.
I glanced again over my shoulder. “She’s a bit pale for my taste, but if you like that translucent skin and dark hair…”
“Like it? I’m in love with it,” Camden said.
“They why did you start a bar fight over a barstool? And Goldie’s barstool no less.”
“That fair little creature over there,” Camden said. “She’s a little minx with the drinkology. She can mix up one helluva drink. I was trying to show off by keeping up with her apple shots, but…”
“They got the better of you?”
Camden nodded.
“So the barstool?” I looked at my brother for clarity.
“That was the apples talking. I do get a bit territorial over the Eastside and Westside thing, but I really didn’t mean any harm,” he said. “Goldie just kind of got in the way.”
“Got in the way?” I heard my voice rise, but I didn’t care. Everyone had their breaking point. “Are you kidding me? She’s amazing. She’s beautiful. How does a woman like Goldie get in anyone’s way? But thanks to you, Dylan, and my stupid, insensitive, careless remark she’ll never want to get near any Bear again. I just lost the woman I love.” I wiped my face with my hands, and when I looked back up, Goldie was standing beside me.
****
“In the emergency room, we get to know when a person is stressed out or on overload because of these little things they do that they might not normally do,” I said.
Hayden grinned. “Oh-kay. Like a tell? Are you talking about tells? Because I’m the king of knowing someone’s tell.”
I playfully rolled my eyes. “Well, actually a tell is an unconscious action when a person is attempting to deceive someone, like in poker or chess.” I gently touched his shoulder, and a wave of electricity rushed between us. I couldn’t help but smile. My body reminded me that while I may try to deny my feelings, physical reactions couldn’t be fooled.
“What I’m talking about,” I said, “is body language. And someone’s body language often reveals how that person is doing emotionally or mentally. It’s a simple gesture or action, but it literally speaks volumes.”
Hayden crossed his arms over his chest and practically shook my hand off him.
I giggled. “See that’s one right there. Your body language is clearly closed off to this topic.”
His laughter was rich and wonderful to hear. He reached for my hand and held it. “Okay, what’s your point, blondie?”
I grinned widely. “I noticed at The Magic Oven that you wiped your face with your hand just before you had to rush to the kitchen to change your date’s dinner order. Though,” I looked at Hayden and raised an eyebrow, “I think Anastasia enjoyed my meal a lot more than her own.”
Hayden’s cheeks ignited in color, and he squeezed my hand. “We already established that I was just trying to do the right thing.”
“It’s fine! I’m playing with you,” I said. “And I noticed that you wiped your face with your hand when we were alone at my house, and you realized you didn’t have…” I didn’t say condoms, but Hayden’s face still turned a few shades of red as if I had. “You were concerned that you were letting me down. But you didn’t, did you?”
He gently rubbed my wrists. “I don’t know? Your friend seems to think that I hurt you, like I’m a beast.”
“You are a beast.” I smiled. “But it was one of the best nights of my life. And when you were talking with Camden, you just did the same gesture. You wiped your face with your hands, and it seems like you were talking about something that seems very important to you.”
Hayden’s brooding bedroom eyes were all that I could see. “It is very important to me.”
“Well, I just want you to know,” I took a step closer to him. “There’s nothing that either of your brothers could do that would change how I feel about this Bear.”
With our hands already interlocked, Hayden pulled me into him. I looked up into his eyes and smiled.
“What about Dylan?” he asked with his lips close to mine.
“Dylan’s a wonderful man. But the oldest Bear is a bit too shy for me,” I said.
“And Camden?” Hayden’s voice teetered on panic.
I glanced over at his little brother and shook my head playfully. “Well, let’s just say baby Bear is a bit too much for me.”
Camden smiled.
“And me?” Hayden’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Will you ever forgive me?”
“Oh, the middle Bear? The one that’s not too shy or not too much? The one that seems to show up just when I need him? And sometimes says the wrong thing? That Bear brother?”
Hayden nodded.
“Even when he says the wrong thing, he knows how to make it right. And that makes this Bear,” I said squeezing his hand, “just right.”
Then the middle Bear brother kissed me. And in that kiss was the richness and promise of happily ever after.
Chapter Nine
In exchange for not pressing charges, the seven owners of The Enchanted Forest had agreed that if Camden replaced what he broke and cleaned the tavern he would also be allowed to come back and drink. And since Camden was still smitten with Snow the bartender, he gladly accepted the terms of the agreement.
“You shouldn’t be doing this,” Hayden said as he picked up a beer can and placed it in the rolling trash can I pushed toward him.
I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and shrugged. “Camden’s coming off one too many apple shots, and I think Rapunzel wanted to drive him home.”
Hayden looked up at me and smiled. “Really?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
He leaned against the trash can for a moment. “I could see that working.”
“Me, too.” Suddenly something hot hit the top of my hand. “What the hell!”
“What?”
I shook my hand.
“Is it your wrist?”
I shook my head, and then another fiery zap smacked down on my other hand. “Damn it! Hayden, help! It’s got me!”
He rushed toward me. “What is it?” He looked around the tavern, but we were completely alone.
“Something hot keeps burning me,” I said.
Hayden looked up, and I followed his gaze. The ceiling was still lit by candles from the many chandeliers stationed throughout the tavern. Since the bar fight, the tables had been repositioned, and now hot wax dripped down without a center place to land.
Hayden moved me aside before another drop of candle wax could fall upon me. Instead, his forearm took the hit.
“Damn that smarts!”
I giggled. “Right.”
He rubbed his arm when I saw another bead of wax plunge toward him.
“Move!” I yelled.
Hayden charged me as he dove for cover. We landed under a large oak table. Tucked in his embrace, moisture rushed to my panties at the heat of his breath of my neck.
“I think we’re safe here,” he said.
I nodded.
“We seem to find ourselves in unusual situations,” he said.
I tilted my head toward the underside of the oak table. “This?” I shrugged. “It’s where Rapunzel and I always end up after a good round of drinking.”
“Ah, but that’s the problem. I haven’t had anything to drink,” Hayden said and exhaled. “And after a night like tonight…” He glanced toward the bar. “You think it’s worth it?”
I slowly shook my head. “Tough call. If you do, you risk the wax. But if you don’t, you forfeit not knowing just how good those Appletinis are.” I shrugged. “Like I said, tough call.”
He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Excellent points. You think that bartender, Snow, still has a batch of spiced ‘tinis
back there?”
“Oh, I know she does.”
He leaned his head dangerously close toward me like he was some rogue interrogator. His spicy scent filled the air between us. “Who’s your source?”
I held up my hand. “I protect my sources. But he’s reliable.”
He snapped. “Camden! Only my brother would know if there was still more booze in this joint.”
I giggled. “Maybe. Maybe not. But it is a bar.”
Hayden rolled his eyes, pulled his black shirt out of his jeans, unbuttoned it and darted out from beneath the table with his shirt capped over his head like Dracula. I started to laugh, and as I watched him zigzag across the tavern toward the bar, I couldn’t stop laughing and cheering him on simultaneously.
“Go! Go! Go! You’re almost there!”
Instead of rounding the bar, he leapt over it. I shook my head, but it was nonetheless dramatic and sexy as hell.
I snuck my head out just in time to see him pop up from the bartender’s position with a silver shaker in one hand and what looked like two chilled martini glasses in the other. I clapped.
“Go, Hayden!”
He rallied to the cry. “Comin’, my lady!”
But without his shirt to shield his head, the wax was sure to get him. I cringed. That’s gonna burn.
But somehow by either sheer determination or dumb luck, Hayden crisscrossed his way back beneath the table without getting zinged by any wax from the now many dripping chandeliers overflowing with hot wax.
“How do they turn those things off, anyway?” I said when he scooted in beside me.
“I’m sure Snow hefts one of the seven wonders up on her shoulders and they blow them out each night.”
Hayden never failed to make me giggle. “You’re probably right.”
He handed me the martini glasses. I held one in each hand, and they were cool to the touch. “Oh, this is going to be so good.”
Hayden shook the shaker of Appletinis vigorously, looking like a pro. He untwisted the cap, and the lime-green concoction poured out smoothly.
Goldie Locks and the Three Brothers Bear Page 7