Starting Over (Whiskey Ridge Book 1)

by Rachel Hanna

  When they were finally seated at a table in the back corner - probably not an accident on the part of the staff at Leighton’s - she smiled.

  “I’m so embarrassed. I’ve never had such a quick reaction like that before…” The palm of her hand continued to throb in her lap, but at least her sinuses were starting to reopen.

  “I wish I’d known you were allergic,” he said, a little bit of irritation evident in his voice. Who could blame him? He probably spent a small fortune on those flowers, and they were now sitting in a vase on the bar. At least Leighton’s could make use of them.

  “Didn’t think to add it to my profile,” she mumbled back before looking down at the menu.

  Dinner went better than their first meeting, but not by much. Peter talked of pharmacy school mostly, explaining all of his classes in exhausting detail which would make him a great and accurate pharmacist but a particularly dull conversationalist.

  He drank - a lot - at dinner. A couple of beers, a glass of wine and some mixed drink. Kelly didn’t mind people drinking socially, but after growing up with her substance abusing parents, she didn’t like to be around anyone who overindulged.

  Once dessert and coffee were served, Kelly had her mind on one thing. She wanted to go home, put on her bathrobe and cuddle with Tux in the recliner. Yep, living the dream.

  There definitely wouldn’t a second date with this guy, but up until that point he’d done nothing particularly wrong. He just wasn’t particularly right for her.

  “Care to take a walk?” he asked as they crossed through the doorway and out onto the sidewalk.

  “Um…”

  “Come on. We had a bit of a rough beginning, but I’ve enjoyed talking to you. Even if we just become friends, can’t we all use more friends?” Even as he asked her, she could hear his speech slurring, and it suddenly dawned on her that she didn’t want to be responsible for him driving drunk and killing someone.

  Visions of the makeshift memorial in front of her house flitted through her mind. Even though that accident probably wasn’t caused by alcohol, she still knew how devastating car accidents could be.

  So, basically, taking a walk with an intoxicated, boring pharmacy student was possible saving a life. Dang it.

  “Okay. Sure,” she said.

  They walked for about ten minutes before she started noticing something. He was inching ever closer to her. First, his hand brushed hers, so she swiftly stuck both of her hands into her tiny capri pant pockets. But that didn’t stop the invasion of space.

  “Hey, maybe we should walk the square,” she finally said as they passed the small Baptist church in town and the adjoining old cemetery that always creeped her out.

  “Nah, that sounds boring,” he said, his speech still slurring. “Let’s sit.” He pointed to a park bench in front of the church, and then sat down before she had a chance to agree or disagree. Maybe he needed to sit down more than she didn’t want to sit down.

  “Okay, for a minute. But then I think we should get you a cup of coffee.”

  He slid his arm up around and behind her, and she didn’t resist because at least he wasn’t actually touching her. The fact that there was literally nobody around was starting to concern her, though. If this guy was on the ax murderer end of the spectrum, he could kill her right here and bury her in the creepy cemetery before anyone was the wiser.

  Maybe that was stretching the truth a bit.

  And then he did it. “The lean”. The “I’m going to try to kiss you with my alcohol tinged lips even though you’ve given me no reason to believe you want to kiss me” lean.

  Kelly jumped upright and stepped two feet back, almost falling off the curb in the process.

  “What are you doing?” she yelled.

  “Oh come on, you know you want it,” he slurred. How did he seem to be getting drunker by the minute? Did he have a flask hidden somewhere?

  “I can assure you, I don’t want ‘it’ or anything else from you,” she said. “I’m leaving.”

  Kelly hurriedly walked toward civilization, or at least what passed as civilization in Whiskey Ridge. She could see the lights in the center of the square. If she could just get there…

  “Woman, don’t run away from me.” The anger in his voice as he grabbed her by her shoulder and twirled her around was frightening and reminded her of her father.

  “Let go of me!” she screamed as loud as she could, but the dang train that ran just outside of town muffled her voice.

  He had both of her arms now, attempting to pull her closer and force her to kiss him when suddenly his grasp on her arms was gone. And then he was on the ground out cold, blood at the corner of his lips.

  What had just happened? Had he passed out right in the middle of attacking her? And why was his lip bleeding?

  It took just a few seconds to come to her senses and realize what was going on.

  “Are you okay?”

  She turned to see Quinn standing beside her rubbing the knuckles on his right hand. He stood with an intensity she hadn’t seen before, leaning toward her, concern on his face. She sucked in a sharp breath, unsure of what to say so she opted instead to answer his question.

  “I’m fine.”

  Peter finally roused on the ground enough to let Kelly know he was still alive. “Who is this guy?”

  “He was my… date.” Kelly was turning all shades of red at the thought of being on a date with such an obvious loser.

  “Not many other prospects?” Quinn said, sarcasm evident in his words.

  “Do you have to be such a jerk all the time?”

  “You realize you’re the only one who thinks that about me, don’t you?”

  She found that incredibly hard to believe. “I didn’t need your help, you know.”

  “Well, you certainly looked like you did,” he said as he bent down and dragged Peter’s mostly lifeless body onto the sidewalk. Moments later, a police car drove by and Quinn explained the situation to the officer. They loaded Peter into the car, took statements from Kelly and Quinn and took him to the drunk tank. Kelly didn’t press charges.

  As all of the businesses in town closed their doors for the night, Kelly started walking toward her home. Quinn jogged to catch up with her.

  “Woman, are you crazy?” he said when he finally caught her.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You were just attacked, and now you’re walking home in the dark alone?”

  “Listen, Maverick, I don’t need a knight in shining armor, okay?”

  “Well, you seemed to need one back there.”

  “He was drunk. I could’ve handled him,” she said as she continued walking. “Plus, I know this town inside and out. I know every person in it, and I’m not scared to be walking home in the dark alone.”

  “False sense of security,” he said. “You need to be trained.”

  “Pardon?” Kelly said, stopping short and causing him to run into her.

  “I teach self defense techniques to women just for this reason.”

  “Oh, no no no… Not happening…” She continued walking, determined to leave him in the dust.

  “Why not?” He fell back in step with her.

  “Because I don’t want to be one of those people who is scared of everything and constantly looking over my shoulder. I live in a small town America for a reason.”

  “People who know how to defend themselves don’t look over their shoulders.”

  “I said no,” she repeated as she kept walking.

  “Okay, fine. But can I ask you a question?” She stopped and turned to him, her arms crossed.

  “What?”

  “Explain to me, just so I can sleep tonight, what you would’ve done if he’d dragged you into the woods over there.”

  “Alright… I would’ve kicked him in the crotch.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Sure. Any self-respecting woman would’ve done the same.”

  “And you’d be dead right now. If kicking men in the c
rotch worked, no woman would ever be kidnapped or killed.”

  He had a point.

  “Fine. Tell me about your classes,” she finally relented as they started walking again.

  Chapter 7

  Kelly wanted to be anywhere but here. Standing in her yoga pants and t-shirt in the middle of the floor of a karate studio was not her idea of a good time.

  Only one other woman was there, and she was as old as the hills. Kelly had no idea why she was taking a self-defense class at her age, and she was scared that if they had to work with each other she might break one of the woman’s bones accidentally. And then there were would be a lawsuit and an appearance on Judge Judy…

  “Okay, ladies. I’m Master Maverick,” Quinn started. Kelly immediately giggled, and he didn’t look amused at all.

  “Miss Cole, is something funny?”

  “Master Maverick. Just sounds… like a cartoon character or something.” She held her hand over her mouth, trying desperately to contain herself. The warning look he gave her was a bit unnerving, but he continued.

  “Anyway, you’re both here today to learn some maneuvers to protect yourselves in the event that someone tries to attack you. This class is six weeks long, and we’ll meet twice a week…”

  Six weeks? Twice a week? He hadn’t mentioned the huge time commitment to her. She just wanted to learn how to kick butt and take names, but she didn’t want to make a career of it.

  “Twelve classes?” Kelly finally blurted out after he’d started teaching the actual class.

  “Yes, Miss Cole,” he said, glaring at her again.

  After doing some warm ups, which included jumping jacks and squats, they got started on some of the techniques.

  “The first move I want to demonstrate involves someone grabbing you from behind, around your neck. Miss Cole, come on up and let me demonstrate,” he said. She froze in place. Physical contact with Quinn Maverick was about to take place. Maybe she hadn’t thought this through enough.

  She slowly walked to the front. He moved behind her, his chest up against her back as he slid his arm around her neck, her chin firmly against the crook of his elbow. It was uncomfortable in a multitude of different ways.

  First of all, my dear God, his chest muscles were heavenly. She could feel them against her back, flexing and moving as he breathed.

  Second of all, he smelled like all the good things in life rolled into one. Cologne. Sweat. Hard work. Maybe even puppies.

  Third, she almost liked the way he was holding her, even though he was supposed to be an attacker. She stood there limp in his arms. It had been a very long time since a real man had held her.

  “Um, Miss Cole, can you struggle… or something?” he whispered into her ear. His lips brushed against her earlobe and she went weak in the knees. This was ridiculous. He was just a man. A normal man. A ruggedly sexy normal man.

  Imagine him pooping.

  Yep, that was her “go to” answer to getting over crushes. Her mother had once told her to do that when she had a crush on a boy in high school that had no interest in her.

  “Imagine him pooping,” she’d said. “He’s just like you and me. Everybody poops.”

  It might have worked in ninth grade, but right now the thought of Quinn pooping just made her want to buy a candle and sit next to him while he did it.

  Dang.

  “Struggle,” Quinn whispered again. Mentally slapping herself, she pulled and struggled while he explained the maneuver that would save her from this kind of attack. At the end, she had not a clue what he’d said.

  He wanted her to demonstrate it with the other woman in class, whose name turned out to be Clara, but they were both lost. Thankfully, Clara wasn’t the top student in their little class, so she had no idea what was going on either.

  When the hour was up, Kelly was ecstatic to get the heck out of there and made a beeline for the door, following Clara to the top of the stairs.

  “Excuse me, Miss Cole?” Quinn called before she could make her full escape. She slowly turned, quite sure that her beet red face was going to give her away.

  “Yes?” she said innocently.

  “Are you okay? You seemed… dazed… during class.”

  “Sure. I’m fine,” she said, turning again.

  Then she felt his hand on her arm, a soft touch that she wasn’t expecting.

  “I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t bringing up any bad memories or anything…” he said softly.

  “Bad memories?”

  “Well, a lot of women have had experiences. These classes can sometimes trigger certain memories…”

  “Oh. No. Nothing like that. I was just a bit distracted, that’s all.”

  “Good. Well, see you Thursday,” he said before turning and heading into his office. How was she going to make it another eleven classes with a man she was unquestionably attracted to but couldn’t stand?

  Ugh.

  * * *

  Thursday rolled around faster than she’d expected, and she searched for ways to get out of class. But she couldn’t. He’d already confirmed with her earlier in the day.

  “Hey,” she said as she walked into the studio. His previous class was walking out already, and he was taking off the top of his uniform. Yum.

  “Hey, Miss Cole.”

  “Please, call me Kelly.”

  “Okay,” he said, with just a hint of a smile as his eyes lingered on hers for a long moment. “Kelly, it is.”

  She put her purse in the corner of the room and silenced her phone. “Where’s Clara?”

  “Sick.”

  One word that threw her for a loop.

  “So it’s just me and you tonight?” she asked.

  “I’m afraid so,” he said as he closed the space between them. Self defense class was so… close.

  “We can reschedule if you’d like…” she offered.

  “No, of course not. I wouldn’t want you out walking the streets kicking guys in the crotch or something.”

  “Very funny.”

  “Okay, let’s start tonight with the move I used to get the drunk guy on the ground…”

  “You mean punching him in the mouth?” she asked with a smile.

  “No, I mean after I punched him…” He was all business, showing her the exact process of taking someone down.

  She practiced over and over with him until she was tired and the hour was already up. This time wasn’t so bad. Maybe she would get used to this and could ignore his movie star appeal.

  “Is that your phone I hear vibrating?” he asked as they finished up.

  Kelly walked across the room and saw numerous missed calls lit up on the screen. They were all from some unknown number, but she did have a voicemail.

  “Hi, Kelly. This is Estelle, your mother’s neighbor. Listen, there’s no easy way to say this and I wish I could talk to you in person, but your mother’s house has burned to the ground. It’s a total loss. You know how she is… with her possessions… and something caught a spark. She’s okay. They took her to the ER as a precaution, but she really has nowhere to go, sweetie. I just can’t have her stay here longterm. You know why… Call me…”

  Kelly stood there with her mouth hanging open before accidentally dropping her phone on the hardwood floor.

  “Hey, you okay?” Quinn asked, seeing her face in the mirrored wall, the color drained from her skin.

  “Oh my God…” she said softly.

  “What’s wrong?” He held onto her arm as he spoke to her, obviously aware that she was on the verge of fainting.

  “My mom…”

  “Is she okay?” he asked, struggling to get her to look at him. Kelly pulled herself together quickly, as was her style, and took a deep breath. She stood upright and shook his hand away from her arm.

  “Yes, she’s fine. But I have an emergency so I need to get to Atlanta.” She walked to the door and ran down the stairs with Quinn chasing after her, holding her purse.

  “Kelly, hold up!” he called as
she made a beeline for the parking lot.

  Her small car sat under the shade tree at the corner of the lot. She opened the door and climbed inside, turning the key in the ignition before noticing Quinn standing there with her purse.

  “Thanks,” she muttered, desperate to get out of the situation quickly before she had to explain anything about her mother. But then the car wouldn’t start. Not even a sound when she turned the key. “Dang it!”

  “Calm down. It’s probably the battery, or it might be the starter…”

  “I don’t have time for this!” She grabbed her phone and stepped out of the car, dialing the local car rental place. They’d closed an hour ago. She then dialed Maggie, but there was no answer. Then she remembered that Maggie was at her book club and often turned off her phone after work in the evenings.

  “Kelly, tell me what’s going on. Come on,” Quinn said, touching her arm and forcing her to make eye contact. “I’d like to think we’re at least becoming friends.”

  A small smile formed on her face at the thought of that. Right now, he was really her only hope anyway. Maybe he could get her car started or something.

  “My mother’s house burned to the ground. She’s at the ER, and I need to go get her in Atlanta.” She blurted it out quickly, the stress of her voice even surprising her.

  “Let’s go then,” he said, pointing at his truck across the lot.

  “What?”

  “I’ll take you to Atlanta. We’ll pick up your mother and bring her back tonight.”

  “Absolutely not!” Kelly said before sitting back down in her car and repeatedly trying to crank it.

  “Kelly, what other choice do you have?”

  “I’m not asking a stranger to drive me two hours away and pick up my mother.”

  “I’m not a stranger,” he said with a laugh. “I saved you, remember?”

  “Oh dear God. You did not ‘save’ me.” She used air quotes like a cliche teenager.

  “Whatever. Either way, I don’t see what your other option would be. I’m here, I’m free and I’m willing.” Kelly almost laughed at the way he said it, but decided the time wasn’t appropriate.

  “Okay,” she finally relented. What other choice did she have? He was right. Her ultimate goal was to get to her mother, make sure she was okay and bring her back to Whiskey Ridge.