Serving Trouble

by Sara Jane Stone

  Breathing life into my fantasies . . . Another ride on the bull. . .

  But they had an audience and Josie was wearing the office-­ready dress she’d worn for her first shift at the bar.

  “I heard your voice,” Josie said. She came to a halt and looked past him. The sunlight formed a halo around her as she slowly raised her hands, palms up in a show of surrender.

  “And you must be Caroline,” she added, looking past him. “Please don’t shoot.”

  Chapter Six

  AS A RULE, Josie usually forgot to feel fear until it was too late. Her ex-­boyfriend had towered over her, her cheek still stinging from the smack of his palm, and she’d thought, I’m going to kick the shit out of him. The fear hadn’t seeped in until after Noah had chased him away.

  But staring down a wild-­haired woman sporting a wood-­nymph-­meets–GI Jane look, complete with the gun pointed at her, and Josie’s fear rose fast and furious. Her heart pounded and she couldn’t for the life of her tell if she was still breathing.

  “You can put the gun down,” Josie said. “I work for Noah. The assistant manager at Big Buck’s.” Oh, she was definitely landing a promotion out of this mess. “We’re going to Portland to—­”

  “Caroline,” Noah said, his voice surprisingly calm as he stepped in front of the gun-­wielding woman he’d spent the past five nights searching for in the woods. “Put the gun down.”

  She stopped breathing this time. No question about it. Every muscle in her body begged to move, run in front of Noah, save him—­and stay frozen all at the same time. It felt as if her brain had gone haywire and started sending out mixed signals. Go! Stay! Save Noah!

  “Please, Caroline,” he added.

  Ms. Crazy-­Hair GI Jane lowered her arms and tucked the gun into the waist of her cargo pants. But she didn’t offer a sorry, I forgot I wasn’t supposed to shoot Noah’s employees in his barn.

  Of course, if Josie had gone to war and been attacked by the good guys, she’d probably keep a gun or two in her pants as well. She’d heard enough while walking up to the barn to piece together why Caroline had come looking for Noah. He’d been Caroline’s hero when she needed one most.

  Welcome to the club, GI Jane.

  Josie looked past Caroline to the mechanical bull. The last time she’d seen that bull, it had been wearing her dress and spinning to a slow, sensual beat while she lay naked on the padding below. And Noah had just walked out the door to greet her brother . . .

  Did Caroline belong to the naked-­bull-­riding-­with-­Noah club too? He would jump to a woman’s defense even if she wasn’t his. But she’d also bet the marine looked pretty with her hair brushed. Pretty and kind of like Josie’s more athletic twin in a strange way.

  Not that it mattered. Noah wasn’t hers. And from the sounds of it, Caroline had much bigger problems than whether Noah wanted to take her for a naked ride, on his bull or anywhere else. Problems Caroline had delivered straight to Noah’s doorstep.

  “I need to go to this meeting,” he said to Caroline. “But I’d like you to stay. My dad’s up at the house. I’ll take you up and introduce you before I head out. And we’ll lock up that gun.”

  Caroline pushed her hair out of her face. “I’d love a shower. But I need—­”

  “You’ll get the gun back,” he promised. “But tonight. After we’ve had a chance to talk and determine your next step.”

  Caroline let out a brittle laugh. “I’ve just been trying to get from one day to the next and not burn through all the money my sister gave me too fast.”

  “Take a shower, rest, and we’ll talk,” Noah said as he walked over and picked up her backpack. He let her keep the gun, Josie noted as they headed past her. She followed them out into the parking area.

  “Josie, wait here. I’ll be right back,” Noah said, glancing at her over his shoulder.

  She nodded and turned to her car. Her heart rate had slowed after Caroline lowered the gun, but it wasn’t anywhere close to normal. Not yet. She’d landed herself in stupid situations before. But a gun pointed at her? That was a first.

  But it had almost been worse seeing it directed at Noah.

  Fifteen minutes later, Noah walked down the porch steps and headed over to her. “Let’s go. You’re driving so I can sleep. Consider it part of the assistant manager job.”

  “So I get the promotion?” She followed him to her red Mini and opened the driver’s side door. “And a raise?”

  “Don’t say a word about Caroline, and yeah, I’ll bump up your hourly.” He opened the passenger side door and settled all six-­foot plus of his muscular body into her compact car. Thank goodness she’d unloaded most of her belongings at her dad’s place.

  “I won’t tell a soul.” She buckled her seat belt. “I mean if word got out about how you helped Caroline no one would ever buy your I’m-­a-­surly-­jerk routine again.”

  “You heard a helluva lot,” he muttered.

  “Enough.” She slid the key into the ignition.

  “Look,” he said, turning his head to face her. “A lot of ­people wouldn’t agree with what I did. Testifying against my commanding officer. The marines are like a band of brothers. And I broke that bond. But if I hadn’t said something, it would have been her word against Dustin’s and he claimed he never touched her. My testimony proved otherwise and he changed his story to an affair, pretending she’d consented to sleep with him. And after all that, they expected her to go back and finish her term of ser­vice alongside some of the other guys who’d harassed her.”

  “What?” she said. Seeing Caroline now, it was hard to believe anyone would march up to her and demand the she continue to serve. She wasn’t sure Caroline should be allowed to have a weapon, never mind defend their country. “How could they?”

  “The men we served with haven’t done anything wrong. I watched her fight alongside these guys, driving them around and getting shot at, only to return to the base and become the butt of their jokes. In the beginning, she played along, trying to be one of the group. And I did too, laughing at some things that were pretty damn inappropriate. But over time, it crossed a line and turned into harassment.”

  “She couldn’t do anything?” She felt a large dose of outrage on behalf of the woman who’d pulled a gun on her earlier.

  “Against a few good soldiers? That defense still holds a lot of weight, especially when you’re talking about what looks like a grey area. Hell, the only way Caroline got anywhere with her rape case against our commanding officer was because I testified. And even then, Dustin was acquitted for rape. He received a dishonorable discharge for adultery. He was married at the time, and not to Caroline.”

  “That’s awful.”

  “Yeah.” He turned his head and stared straight out the window. “But that’s how it is. Being a marine doesn’t make a man a hero. I served with plenty of good men and women who deserved the label for their actions. Take away the label—­soldier, sailor, Special Forces, whatever—­and put them in those same situations and they’d still be heroes.”

  “You are too,” she said firmly.

  “No, I just did my job, which sucked half the time because it turns out I like shooting at paper targets, not ­people. And I took a lot of shit for who I chose to defend.” He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “Planning to start this car anytime soon?”

  She turned the key. The car sputtered and made a clicking noise. And then nothing. “Shoot.”

  He opened one eye. “Is this toy going to get us there?”

  “It’s temperamental.” She turned the key and this time it worked. “See? Fine now.”

  “Uh-­huh,” he murmured. “To be clear, I don’t know how to fix this thing if it breaks down between here and Portland.”

  “I do. As long as we don’t need a new part. Dominic taught me. But nothing is going to happen today.” She glance
d over at Noah as she reached the top of the drive. He’d already drifted off to sleep. The facial muscles he tried to force into a scowl instead of his breathtaking smile appeared relaxed.

  He’s so damn sexy when he sleeps.

  “You’re a good man,” she whispered as she turned out of his drive. “I know you are, Noah.”

  NOAH COULD HAVE slept for a week. But they reached the brewery in a little over an hour. The owner and brewmaster had started the meeting with a solid “never,” as in Big Buck’s would not sell the West Coast’s hottest beer in this lifetime. But after talking to Josie and hearing her spout numbers as if she’d memorized his books for the last month, the owner had warmed to her suggestions.

  Hell, maybe she had memorized the books and analyzed the numbers in her spare time. Back in high school, she’d earned a full ride to college. Noah knew they didn’t hand those out lightly. He’d led his football team to state, but he’d never come close to four free years at a top-­tier university.

  Part of him hated the fact that her education was derailed. She could have done a helluva lot more than win over the head of Oregon’s trendiest brewery. But Noah wasn’t about to complain. He’d spent years fighting to keep Big Buck’s afloat. And Josie had turned the brewmaster’s “never” into a one big “yes.” They wanted the new IPA all the college students drove over an hour to purchase because no one carried it in their area? Done. The pale ale too? Not a problem.

  An hour later, he followed a triumphant Josie back to her Mini.

  “You did a great job,” he said, climbing into her clown car. “Earned that assistant manager position and the right to work with any of the other local breweries directly from here on out.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “I enjoy serving drinks, but taking meetings and negotiating? It feels great to go in there and win.”

  And I’m so damn glad I could give that to you.

  She put her car in reverse, her movements swift and self-­assured. Did she have a clue how her confidence spoke to the parts of his anatomy that had no business responding to his employee’s victory? After all she’d been through, Josie hadn’t lost her drive. This wasn’t a woman who played the victim. She pushed through, fighting her way back.

  I’m proud of you, Josie.

  But hell, if he said those words she’d probably demand another raise.

  “I’m planning to sleep on the drive back,” he said. And God help him if he started dreaming about her. He had a feeling his mind would head straight for inappropriate with the woman who’d just proven to be his most valuable employee.

  “I won’t bother you,” she promised. “But I have one question first.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Is there any reason Caroline can’t work for you?” she asked.

  “What?” he said.

  “You need a dishwasher, especially on the busy nights. It wouldn’t pay much. But it would be something,” she continued if he wasn’t staring at her profile trying to figure out if he’d missed something. The nap on the way down had helped his sleep-­deprived mind. But after working and worrying twenty-­four/seven for five days, he needed a solid five or six hours before he felt fully functional.

  “So any reason she can’t join the Big Buck’s team?” she asked, glancing at her blind spot as she merged onto the highway.

  He grinned and shook his head. Yesterday, he’d told her he had a rule against dating his employees at the bar. And now she was asking . . .

  His smiled widened. “You’re fishing.”

  After five long days of torturing himself with images of Caroline dead in the woods, or injured and alone, after six days of working with Josie, knowing she’d come to him for help after losing her child, and facing the fact that he still wanted her, she wished to know if he’d slept with Caroline. All the pain and mental torture of the past few days, all the hard facts, had been reduced to a question innocent seventh graders asked each other: Do you like her?

  “Yes.” She glanced over at him.

  “Thinking about taking me up on the offer to lick you clean?” he asked mildly.

  She let out a laugh and then fell silent. Finally, she said, “I want to help Caroline.”

  “So you’re looking out for the woman who tried to shoot you earlier?”

  The color faded from her cheeks. “She wasn’t going to discharge her weapon.”

  Probably not, but Caroline had still scared the hell out of him.

  “You’ve been searching for her after work,” she said. “I know you want to help her.”

  “I do,” he admitted. “And now that I’ve taken on more management, I’m thinking about relaxing some of the rules.”

  “Oh,” she said. “Really?”

  “Like maybe I could pay one very part-­time, temporary employee off the books and in cash.”

  “That’s not the rule I was talking about and you know it,” she said.

  Yeah, he knew. But he couldn’t resist the urge to tease her.

  “Plus you paid me in cash out of the register that first night,” she added.

  “I’m thinking about relaxing the other rules too.”

  But not because Caroline showed up.

  He leaned his head back, knowing he needed another combat nap or he’d fall asleep standing up at work tonight. He closed his eyes and prepared to drift off into a dream that might become a reality—­if he meant what he’d said about relaxing his rule. Sure, Dominic would still kick the shit out of him if he ever made his way back to Oregon. And after losing her baby, suffering a breakup with her asshole ex, Josie might be looking for a helluva lot more than Noah could deliver.

  He frowned. She deserved a lot after all she’d been through. What had she said yesterday? Look all you want, I don’t fall for the good guys? But he wasn’t a saint. Not even close. If she accepted that, then maybe a night or two—­

  “I just wanted to know if Caroline was part of your naked-­bull-­riding club,” Josie murmured. “If her membership might be current.”

  “No. We were never involved,” he said without opening his eyes. “And for the record, sweetheart, you’re the only member of that club.”

  Chapter Seven

  “I HEAR YOUR staffing criteria has shifted from experienced bartenders to women who need a job.” Chad Summers walked up to the nearly empty bar twenty minutes after noon on Friday.

  Noah glanced at the door to the back room. Josie was in there teaching Caroline how to use the commercial dishwasher, a skill Josie herself had only picked up a few days ago. The two women got along just fine now that he’d erased Josie’s concern that he’d been naked bull riding, or naked anything else, with Caroline.

  And it probably helped that Caroline had taken a shower. Plus, his fellow marine had agreed to let him keep her gun in his safe. He just hoped they didn’t break the dishwasher during the lesson or he’d be serving everyone in plastic cups until he could replace it.

  “They’re not pouring shots and mixing drinks,” Noah said.

  “Yet,” Chad said.

  “Yet,” Noah agreed. “What can I get for you?”

  Moore Timber’s number one helicopter pilot pointed to Fern’s Hoppy Heaven, the special IPA half the country had stopped by to sample yesterday. At this rate, they’d need another keg by tomorrow. “I hear Josie helped you get that crazy beer. Pretty damn impressive for one of your strays.”

  “One of my what?” Noah set the beer in front of Chad.

  “Elvira told everyone in the coffee line at The Three Sisters this morning about how you’d taken in two women desperate for work and given them jobs. She claims you have a heart of gold.” Chad raised his glass. “All I can say is that it’s a damn good thing I found Lena in my bed before she met you.”

  “Elvira’s full of shit,” Noah said and Chad laughed. Hell, they both knew that was a lie. He had a cocktail
waitress with a week’s experience who’d shown up on his doorstep damn near begging for the job. And a dishwasher who was wanted by the police. Plus, his former commanding officer might be hunting for Caroline. Oh, and she lived in his spare bedroom for now.

  “Hey, Josh is planning to stop in later,” Chad said after taking one long drink from his beer. “Can he slip into the back and talk to Caroline? He wanted to check in and apologize for mistaking her for a tree-­hugger.”

  “Sure, though I don’t think she took that as an insult.”

  Chad snorted. “It is to Josh.”

  Noah nodded. The men who’d built their lives around the timber industry, who took pride in caring for the land, harvesting and then replanting, they didn’t exactly get along with the tree-­huggers.

  “After all the time Josh volunteered to the search, yeah he can head back when he gets here,” Noah said. “But he can’t see her alone.”

  “Of course.” The door to the back room swung open and Josie walked in. Chad held up his beer. “To Josie, for making Big Buck’s the only bar with Fern’s Hoppy Heaven on tap outside of Portland!”

  “To Josie!” a pair of college students echoed from the other end of the room.

  She smiled and took a bow, then headed for the ser­vice side of the bar. He walked over to meet her. And yeah, his wide grin pretty much matched hers.

  “You’re not getting another raise,” he said before she opened her mouth. She’d been angling for another increase since she’d witnessed the Hoppy Heaven’s popularity.

  She leaned over the counter. “How about a bonus for giving the customers something else to raise their glasses to?”

  He crossed his arms in front of his chest and watched her gaze flicker to the tattoo on his bicep. Just for a second. Then she was staring back at him again, but he was the only one smiling like a fool. The challenge in her big green eyes erased the sullen mood she’d accused him of wearing like a cloak.

  “I’ll think about it,” he said, flexing his arms. He hoped she wanted the kind of extra benefit he was thinking of offering her—­a kiss that would prove she’d carried the memory of that night in the barn around with her too.