The Path

by Tawdra Kandle

  I glanced at him, worrying snaking around my heart. “A drink?”

  He grinned and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, a ginger ale on the rocks. That’s all I want. We’ll get you a beer, we’ll chat it up with the locals and then I’m hitting the hay. And you, my friend, can fill me in on everything else that’s been going on here.” He clapped his hand on my back. “It’s good to be back with you, man.”

  The Riptide was already busy by the time Linc and I stepped up to the bar. I found us two stools, and we sat down as Emmy waved to me from the other end.

  “Hey, Ryland.” She smiled as she approached us. “How’re you doing tonight?”

  “Can’t complain, Emmy. This is Lincoln Turner. He’s my unofficial business partner—meaning he does everything a partner would, but he doesn’t want the title. He’ll be in town for the rest of the Riverside job.”

  Emmy wiped her hand on the bar rag and extended it to Linc. “Nice to meet you. I’m Emmy Carter, and I run the Tide on weekend nights.”

  “And her boyfriend Cooper owns the house where I’ve been staying.” I glanced at the pretty redhead. “Linc’s taking the second bedroom at Coop’s house. I cleared it with Cooper first.”

  She waved her hand. “Hey, the more, the merrier as far as I’m concerned. Cooper’s just happy someone’s living in the house.” She leaned one hip against the bar. “Now what can I get you gentlemen?”

  “Is it too late to get a burger?” I looked over her shoulder into the kitchen. Dinner service ended before the music began, and only bar food was served thereafter.

  “Nah, grill’s still open. What’ll it be?”

  “How about a Ripper burger for each of us, medium well, a side of fries, a beer for me and a ginger ale for my buddy here?”

  Emmy rapped her knuckles on the oak bar. “Coming right up.” She pulled down two mugs. “I hope you’re planning to hang around for the band tonight. They’re from Tampa, and it’s their second time here. I think they’re going to be huge.”

  I glanced at Linc. “Up to you, buddy. I know you’ve had a long day of driving to get here.”

  “Let’s see how I feel after eating.”

  Emmy set our drinks in front of us. “So, Lincoln, is it? Seems like you’re a little late to the game, huh? Isn’t the hotel nearly finished?” She glanced my way. “At least that’s what Abby tells me.”

  Linc nodded. “Seems that way, doesn’t it? Actually, I head up the details crew. We come in after Ryland and the local workers have done all the hard stuff, and we make it look pretty.” He winked at her. “And call me Linc.”

  “Don’t let him fool you. The finishing touches are some of the most important in this job.” I took a long drink of my beer. “It’s an artisan job. Linc’ll be working closely with Cooper, so I’m anxious for them to meet.”

  Emmy’s eyes brightened, and her smile grew soft. “Oh, he’ll love that. He’s got such a gift, you know? Just takes my breath away.”

  I nudged my friend. “Not that she’s biased or anything.”

  “Not a bit. I actually fell in love with Cooper’s work a long time before I gave the man himself the time of day.” She turned toward the kitchen. “Hey, Aaron, two Rippers and a new basket of fries, okay?”

  The bar slowly filled as Linc and I enjoyed our hamburgers. He fancied himself a connoisseur of burgers, so I wasn’t surprised when he raved over the buffalo-sauce and blue cheese sandwich.

  The band was just beginning to warm up when Emmy returned to check on us. She refilled Linc’s ginger ale and offered me a second beer. I hesitated, but Linc pushed the empty mug toward her.

  “Go ahead, give him another.” He stood up and grabbed his baseball cap. “I think I’m going to walk back to the house. It’s a beautiful night, and I could use the exercise after being stuck in the car for two days.”

  I swiveled around on my stool. “You sure? I’ll drive you back. I don’t need to stay here.”

  Linc shook his head. “Nah. You’re young. Stay, have another drink, flirt with the pretty girls.” He jerked his chin in the direction of the cluster of women beginning to crowd the small stage. “That blonde chick in the shorts and jean jacket’s been eyeing you up all night. Have some fun, man.” A small, sad smile played over his lips. “Have some fun for me.”

  I watched him make his way through the throngs of people standing between the tables until he disappeared through the door. When I turned back, Emmy wore an inscrutable expression.

  “He’s got a story, doesn’t he?”

  I gave a little shrug. “Don’t we all?”

  “True enough, my friend. Okay. Let me set you up with another beer, then I’m going to make sure the band has everything they need.” She cast her eyes upward toward the ceiling. “I love our live music Saturdays, but now that Abby’s living upstairs, I feel bad about how loud it is. She says it isn’t a problem, but I bet some nights the pictures on her wall are rattling.”

  “She’s up there now?” I hadn’t thought about Abby living above the bar. Her personality was so utterly opposite of the casual, laid-back atmosphere at the Tide that it seemed impossible for the two to coexist.

  “Yeah, she came in just a little while before you did. Usually she hangs out down here for a while before she goes up, but tonight she didn’t even stop to talk. Just gave me a wave and ran upstairs.” Emmy narrowed her eyes at me. “Everything okay at the hotel? You didn’t give her a hard time, did you?”

  I clapped my hand over my heart. “Why do you assume it was me giving her a hard time? Maybe she was busting my balls. Ever think about that?”

  Emmy cocked her head at me and raised one eyebrow. “Ryland, I like you. But Abby’s my best friend, and I know her. She seems tough, but that’s just her exterior. You’d be surprised how easily she can be hurt.”

  I thought about the expression in her eyes last night, and something inside me shriveled. “Yeah, maybe. But to answer your question, I didn’t even see her today.” Which was true, even though I knew what was bothering Abby probably had more to do with last night than with anything that had happened since.

  “Hmmm. Well, maybe she was just tired. She works damn hard, that one.”

  I smirked. “Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?”

  Emmy laughed. “Touché. Although I’ve slowed down quite a bit since Cooper’s moved in with me. I have a lot more fun these days.” She untied her apron and rounded the end of the bar. “Speaking of which, it’s time to start us up. I’ll be back to check on you in a few.”

  My eyes followed Em as she headed toward the guys on the stage. The blonde girl whom Linc had pointed out to me earlier smiled at me when my gaze traveled that way. She was pretty in a non-memorable way, which was generally how I liked my women. Nothing to make me stick, nothing to hold me down. Just innocent, harmless fun, over in one night and as quickly forgotten as the beer I’d just drained. A woman like that was just who I needed tonight; a little flirting, a little making out in the shadows. I thought of my truck parked in the Tide’s lot. Maybe a little more than that, if she was willing. Anything to drive thoughts of Abby Donavan from my head.

  The lights dimmed, and a single spotlight focused on Emmy standing on the stage in front of the band.

  “Hello, Crystal Cove! Welcome to Saturday night at the Riptide. Tonight, we’re excited to welcome back Tampa’s very own rising stars, The Bay Runners!”

  Cheers and shouts rose as the guitar began to sing, soon joined by the voice of the kid playing it. I smothered a sigh; when I had I started thinking of anyone under the age of twenty-five as a kid?

  “Hi there.” A soft hand touched my arm, and I wasn’t at all surprised when I glanced down and realized that the hand belonged to Blondie. She gave me a tentative smile that matched the hesitation of her whispery voice.

  “Hey.” I forced a return grin.

  “Great band, aren’t they?” She moved closer to be heard, and in the process pushed her breasts against my side. “I saw them here in F
ebruary. I just had to come back tonight.”

  “Yeah.” I reached for my beer and tipped it against my mouth.

  “Were you here that night? It was wild! All the spring break kids were going crazy.” She giggled. “Someone spilled a whole pitcher of beer on me, and I was wearing a white T-shirt. It was so embarrassing!”

  The way she said it told me that she hadn’t been embarrassed at all. I gave myself permission to imagine her in a see-through shirt and waited for my body’s reaction. Yeah, there it was. I was still alive and well. I let my gaze drift down her body and took in the boobs currently smushed against me. They were nice, I decided. More than nice. She had a generous rack, and I liked that in a woman. Right?

  “No, I wasn’t here that night. I’m not from the Cove. I’m just in town for a little while on a job.” I finished my beer and pushed the empty mug across the bar.

  “I’m Lacie.” She had to practically shout for me to hear her now, even though she was almost climbing my body.

  “Ryland.” I turned my mouth to her ear, and as I spoke, someone jostled us, tipping Lacie off-balance. I caught her by the hips and let my hands rest there, just above her ass.

  A smile curved her lips, and she wriggled against me. I felt her hardened nipples against my arm, through the thin tank top she was wearing. Nope, no bra there. Right about now, I should be hauling this chick up so that I could kiss her. It was dark over here, and everyone’s attention was focused on the band. I could kiss her, feel her up . . . and then see where things went from there.

  But damn it. I had zero desire to do that. Even when I pictured us in my truck, with Lacie straddling me while I palmed those luscious tits, my dick only gave me a half-hearted response. And even though I didn’t want to admit it, I knew why. It was because of the woman a floor above us, who was probably already in bed, maybe with a pillow over her ears to muffle the noise of the bar. I smiled, picturing Abby trying to drown out the music. For some reason, I saw her in a long white nightgown like the ones women wore a century ago. That would suit her more than anything else, I decided.

  Lacie brought my attention back to her when she slid one hand down my chest to rest between my legs. My body reacted, of course; I was a man and I was alive. A girl touches the cock, and it’s going to spring to attention. That was just biology.

  With the fingers that weren’t currently in possession of my manhood, she gripped my wrist and bought my hand to her boob. Leaning into me, she bit my earlobe and whispered, “I live in an apartment around the corner, and my roommates are going to be gone all night. Want to get away from the crowd?”

  There it was: my golden opportunity to get laid, gift-wrapped and handed to me on a silver platter. If I believed in shit like fate and destiny, I’d have lit out of that bar with Loosey Lacie over my shoulder, taken her to her empty apartment and banged the hell out of her until sunlight.

  Instead, before I could even stop and think about it, I backed away. I pulled my hand off her tit and her hand off my dick. Holding both her wrists in my fingers, I smiled and tried to let her down gently.

  “Lacie, you’re very pretty, and I’m sure you’re a nice girl. But I’m not really into one-night hookups.” Since when? I ignored the voice in my head. “And since I’m just kind of passing through town, that’s all tonight could be. So you should check out some of the local guys. I bet you’d have a better time. But thanks for the offer.”

  Her mouth turned down, and her eyes blazed. “Yeah? Well, fuck you, Ryan or whoever the hell you are. Any other guy in this bar would die to get the chance to go home with me.” She kicked at my barstool and stormed off until she was absorbed by the crowd.

  “Smart move there.” Emmy was suddenly back, retrieving my empty mug as she winked at me. “That girl gets around. I’m impressed you turned her down. Most guys don’t.” She shook her head. “It’s sad, really. I’d be devastated if my daughter acted like that.”

  “Yeah.” It was all I could manage at the moment. Some part of my physiology was still incredulous that we’d told Lacie no.

  “Want another beer? It’s on the house, for being such a decent guy.”

  I thought about it for a moment. “No thanks on the beer—I have to drive home, and two’s my limit when I’m behind the wheel—but how about a root beer and I’ll say thanks?”

  Emmy laughed. “You got it.”

  For the next two songs, I nursed my soda and brooded. My mind kept returning to Abby. To the way her smile lit up her whole face when she actually let herself relax. To the sound of her voice when she was trying to convince me that her way was better. To the vulnerability in her eyes on the afternoon she’d told me about her douchebag of an ex-boyfriend, and to the stark terror there when I’d been about to kiss her.

  I thought of the way her legs looked in those ridiculous heels, and the sassy sashay of her ass in the short skirts she sometimes wore. I remembered the glimpse of cleavage I’d gotten when she’d leaned to examine the wainscoting in the hall one day. What I’d seen wasn’t the overabundance possessed by Lacie, but it’d gotten me hard anyway. And just remembering, I had to shift in my seat and adjust my pants.

  Damn it all to hell. Abigail Donavan was the last person in the world I wanted to desire. I’d promised Linc. And she’d been right last night, too; it was bad business to get involved with someone I worked with. And we had nothing in common. Zero. Zilch. She was stiff, rigid, uncompromising. Ice queen. Except, as I’d said to Linc today, she really wasn’t. That was just the defensive exterior she kept up. When the ice melted, I had a feeling Abby Donavan burned hot.

  And I wanted that heat. I wanted it right now, as much as I’d wanted it last night when I’d pulled her against me.

  Without giving myself a spare minute to second-guess my actions, I stood up and pushed my way through the crowd. The band was playing its last song before a break, so not one person paid any attention to me. When I reached the far side of the restaurant, I maneuvered through until I found the door that led up the steps to the second level.

  I’d never been up there, of course. But I knew she was at the top of the stairs, and I didn’t hesitate. I took the steps two at a time to the landing. Once I reached it, I knocked on the door.

  Emmy was right; the music was loud up here, too. I wondered if Abby would even be able to hear me over it. I briefly considered waiting until this song ended, but waiting had lost its appeal as an option. I pounded on the door again.

  Still nothing. In frustration, I gripped the doorknob, thinking maybe she’d hear the rattle if I shook it enough. But to my utter amazement, it turned in my hand, and the door swung open.

  I had about the length of a breath to spy her across the room before she saw me. Abby was sitting on a worn sofa with headphones over her ears, which explained why she hadn’t heard my knocking. She had a book in her hand, and her legs were curled under her. She wasn’t wearing the long white cotton nightgown I’d envisioned; instead, she had on a pair of black yoga pants and a green T-shirt.

  I stood frozen, still in shock that the door had been unlocked. Abby must have either sensed me or caught my movement out of the corner of her eye; surprise flooded her face, and then in a delayed reaction that might’ve been hilarious under other circumstances, she shrieked and scrambled up to the back of the sofa.

  Once it filtered into her brain that it was me and not some random attacker standing in the doorway of her apartment, terror gave way to mad. She jumped to her feet, threw her book onto the sofa cushion and tore off the headphones.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” She screamed the words, and distractedly I thought I’d never seen Abby so out of control. I liked it. “Who do you think you are, just walking into someone’s apartment?”

  “I knocked.” It sounded lame, especially in the face of her fury. I tried again. “I knocked and I pounded, and you couldn’t hear me.” I pointed to the headphones. “I guess because you had those on.”

  She hugged her arms around her middle.
“So that’s what you do? If you go to someone’s house and they don’t answer, you just burst right in? Who are you? Goldilocks?”

  It took me a minute to follow what she meant, and then I had to bite back a laugh. Abby’s quick wit was just another point in her favor. I closed the door behind me, slowly getting back my equilibrium and with it, the pulsing desire that had driven me up here to her.

  “I wanted to see you.” I took two steps into the tiny living room.

  Abby glanced behind her, as though judging how much space she had for retreat. I moved closer, and she tightened her arms around her ribs, sucking in her bottom lip. “Did you think that maybe I don’t want to see you?”

  I stopped just in front of her, hooking my thumbs in the front pockets of my jeans. “I don’t think that’s true.”

  She raised one eyebrow, and I could tell she was trying to pull her armor back into place. Only the tremble of her fingers as they clutched at her arm hinted at her fear. “Are you calling me a liar?”

  I laughed. “No, Abby, I don’t think you’re a liar.” I reached out one finger to tuck a strand of black hair behind her ear. “And I don’t think you’re a coward either.”

  “Why are you here? Can’t whatever this is wait until Monday?” She took a step back, but she couldn’t go any further, and she raised wide green eyes to mine.

  “No, it really can’t.” I lifted my hand slowly to her face, cupping her cheek. “I couldn’t wait one more minute to do this.”

  Without giving her a chance to protest, I tilted her head back and covered her lips with mine. She didn’t respond for several seconds; she stood still as a statue, her mouth unmoving. I had a moment of misgiving, wondering if I’d really read her so wrong. If I were the only who wanted this.

  And then with strangled cry, her arms dropped from her own waist and slid around me. She moved her lips to match my kisses, and I groaned, opening my mouth and coaxing her to do the same. When her tongue darted out to stroke against mine, an explosion of want erupted inside me.

  I kept one hand on her face and lowered the other to her hip, pressing her closer to me. Abby rose up on her toes, seeming as eager to consume me with her hot little mouth as I was to have her. I could’ve easily laid her out on the couch and taken her there and then, or shoved her up against the wall and pounded myself into her softness. God knew I wanted to do it, and I wasn’t at all sure she’d stop me this time.