Only His (Hqn)

by Susan Mallery

  “That box is nearly as big as you.”

  Her instinct was to tell him she was fine. It was her policy to avoid conversations with strange men. She would say with all men, but that wasn’t an option in her line of work. So she’d learned to be friendly without ever letting anyone cross the line. However, she’d been in Fool’s Gold long enough to know that life was all about community. Over the past few years she’d learned to trust other people and, most importantly, herself.

  The man paused by her SUV. “Will Falk,” he said.

  “Jo Trellis.” She studied his worn jeans and chambray shirt. “You’re with Janack Construction.”

  “That’s me.” He reached for the box and drew it out easily.

  Remembering how she’d struggled to get it into her SUV, she tried not to be bitter. Men naturally had more upper body strength than women.

  “Where do you want this?” he asked.

  She led the way in through the back, passing from the storage room to the main part of the bar. She pointed to the corner she’d cleared.

  “Over there.”

  Will set down the box, then straightened. “Kid toys in a bar?”

  “A lot of my customers are having babies.”

  “They bring them to a bar?” He sounded shocked.

  She allowed herself to smile. “I get a big lunch and afternoon crowd. They’re here to socialize rather than get drunk. I’ll put the toys away before the evening customers arrive. Don’t worry. No one in Fool’s Gold is corrupting infants.”

  But Will wasn’t listening. Instead he was turning in a slow circle, taking in the mauve walls, the big TVs tuned to a marathon of America’s Next Top Model, and the comfortable chairs with backs and hooks for purses up by the bar.

  “What is this place?” he asked.

  “It’s a bar.”

  “I’ve been in plenty of bars.”

  “You men have a room in back. It’s very traditional. Dark colors, a pool table and plenty of sports.”

  He still looked lost.

  “Fool’s Gold has a large female population,” she explained. “Most of the businesses cater to women, including mine.”

  “I see,” he said slowly.

  She laughed. “If you’re going to be here awhile, you’ll need to get used to it.”

  She walked back to her car. He followed.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” he told her. “I like women. I’ve never known a bar that catered to them, but I’m good with that.”

  She thought about warning him that just because there were a lot of women around didn’t mean he would find it easy to interest one of them. Most of her customers came to hang out with their friends and talk about their problems. They weren’t all that worried about meeting guys. But he could figure that out on his own.

  Will helped her carry in the rest of the boxes. Just when she was about to thank him and suggest he leave, he started opening cartons with a pocketknife.

  “You’re in management, aren’t you?” she asked.

  He laughed. “Kicking and screaming I was dragged there. Why?”

  “You’re taking charge.”

  “Want to tell me no?”

  “I appreciate the help,” she admitted, aware she wouldn’t have had time to unpack everything before her lunch crowd arrived.

  “Happy to give it.” He pulled out a brightly colored plastic refrigerator. “Cute.”

  “I thought it would be fun.”

  The tiny stove came next.

  “How long have you lived here?” he asked.

  “A few years now. It’s a good town. Friendly people.” People who had accepted her without asking a lot of questions. She knew they were curious, but no one pushed. She appreciated that.

  “Good. We’re here a couple of years with the new project. A place like this beats a bridge-build in the middle of Africa. I love being outdoors as much as the next guy, but every now and then I really want a burger.”

  “You move around a lot?”

  “It goes with the territory. Janack Construction is multinational. I’ve been working with them since I graduated high school. Known Tucker since he was a kid.” He moved on to the next box, which contained a toddler-size tricycle. “Now he’s the one in charge of what we’re doing here. Time flies.”

  Jo would guess Will was in his early forties. “What does your family think about you being gone so much?” She asked the question without thinking, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she realized how they could be interpreted.

  Will straightened and faced her. “There’s just me.”

  She nodded and found herself glancing away from his steady gaze. An unfamiliar nervousness ripped through her. The second she recognized the feeling, she wanted to hold up her hands in the shape of a T and demand a time-out.

  No, she told herself firmly. No boy–girl chitchat for her. No smiling, no getting involved, no caring. She’d been down that path and it had led to a disaster she was still paying for. Relationships were dangerous. For some people, they were lethal.

  “That would make the travel easier,” she said, taking a step back. “I appreciate your help. If you’ll excuse me, I have to get ready to open.”

  She retreated behind the bar. The long expanse of wood made her feel a little safer. Sometimes something as simple as a physical barrier helped remind her that she was in control of her life now.

  Will quickly finished unpacking the toys. He broke down the boxes, storing them in the largest one, and took them out back to her recycling bin. Then he came back to stand by the bar.

  “Thanks for your help,” she began.

  “You’re welcome. I was thinking I’d have lunch here.”

  He appealed to her. She couldn’t deny that. The man had kind eyes and she long ago learned that kindness was a vastly underrated trait in a person.

  “You seem like a perfectly nice man, but the answer is no.”

  One eyebrow rose. “You’re assuming a lot.”

  “Maybe, but I’m not changing my story.”

  He stood there, all tall and friendly. Nice. That was it. Will Falk was a nice guy. He’d helped her and she’d blown him off.

  The reasons were legitimate, but he didn’t know that. She sighed.

  “It’s not personal,” she said. “I don’t get involved with men.”

  “Playing for the other team?”

  Despite the uncomfortable situation, Jo smiled. “No. I’m not a lesbian.”

  She waited for him to say they didn’t have to get involved. That it could just be sex. In her gut, she knew that kind of offer would tempt her. It had been a long, long time since she’d been with a man.

  The door to her bar opened and several women from city hall walked in. They waved at Jo before finding their way to a table by the window. In the next minute, twelve more customers came in, including a couple of guys she didn’t recognize, but who appeared to be from the construction site. They called out to Will, but settled in a booth.

  “I can see you’re busy,” Will said. “We’ll pick this up later.”

  “There’s no point.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  The door opened again and Ethan Hendrix walked in. He glanced around the bar, then walked over to the table with the construction guys. One of them stood. Before Jo realized what was happening, Ethan drew back his arm and punched the guy in the jaw.

  Jo glanced at the clock. It wasn’t even noon yet. Looked like this was going to be a very long day.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  TUCKER ADJUSTED THE bag of ice on his jaw. The bartender—Ethan had said her name was Jo—watched him warily.

  “I said I’m not going to hit him back,” he said, knowing he’d deserved the punch and more.

  “Forgive me if I don’t believe you,” she said, then turned her attention to Ethan. “You do that again and you’re banned from here.”

  “I didn’t break anything.”

  “You know how I feel about fights in my bar. Do y
ou want me to talk to Liz?”

  “No,” Ethan told her, quickly, looking a little panicked. “Don’t tell my wife. I won’t do it again.”

  “You’d better not.” She walked away to serve a customer.

  “Strange bar,” Tucker muttered as he felt along his jawline. It didn’t hurt too much. He was hoping the ice would keep down the swelling and bruising. Two crews were showing up in the next few days. He didn’t want to have to explain a bruise to any of them or listen to their speculation about why he’d been hit.

  Next to him, Ethan clenched and unclenched his right hand. “Damn, that hurt.”

  “You’re not getting any sympathy from me,” Tucker told him. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  “Want me to ask the same question?”

  “No. If I had a sister, I would have done the same thing.”

  “Damn straight you would have.” Ethan glared at him. “I expected you to protect her, not sleep with her.”

  “You realize it happened ten years ago.”

  “Do you think that matters?”

  Tucker set the bag of ice on the bar. “Probably not. For what it’s worth, I didn’t mean for it to happen. I was drunk.”

  Ethan’s gaze turned cold again. “You want to tell me the details?”

  “Uh, no. You’re right.”

  Ethan slugged him in the arm. “I trusted you.”

  “I know.”

  “You let me down.”

  Guilt crawled all over Tucker. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say.” Bad enough that Ethan knew about that night. Worse if he knew the circumstances.

  “My mom thinks it was her first time.”

  Anyone who said words could cut like a knife was wrong. Words were a hammer to the gut. Tucker sucked in a breath as the potential truth of that statement hit him upside the head.

  A virgin? No. She couldn’t have been. He groaned, knowing that would make what had happened a thousand times worse. Bad enough to take her while he was skunk drunk, but to have fumbled and called out Cat’s name to a virgin…

  “Kill me now,” he muttered, putting his elbows on the bar and resting his head in his hands. “Wait.” He straightened. “Your mother knows?”

  “She’s close to her daughters.”

  “Apparently. Who else…” He shook his head. “Don’t tell me.”

  Nevada a virgin? She’d been eighteen. It was possible. With his luck, it was likely.

  He couldn’t remember much about that night except that it had been quick and pretty bad. How was he supposed to apologize for that? What was he supposed to say? He’d been caught up in the storm of loving Cat. Everything else had been a blur. Sure he’d learned his lesson—never be a fool for love. But that didn’t excuse anything, especially his behavior with Nevada.

  Jo walked over and placed beers in front of both of them. “Better,” she said. “Looks like you two have made up. Are you eating?”

  “Lunch is on me,” Tucker said weakly.

  “You bet your ass it is,” Ethan told him, grabbing both beers. “We’ll get a table in the back. Burgers okay?”

  Tucker nodded and followed his friend.

  They left the main part of the bar and went into a space that reminded Tucker a whole lot more of the bars he was used to. TVs mounted on the walls were tuned to baseball games. There were round tables, chairs without padding and a big pool table in the center.

  “Interesting place,” Tucker said as they sat across from each other.

  “Home,” Ethan said simply. “Except for college, I’ve never lived anywhere else.” He passed Tucker one of the beers. “You must get tired of traveling all the time.”

  Tucker grabbed the beer and took a swallow. “It’s all I know. Tell me why this is better.”

  Ethan gave him a slow, satisfied smile, then reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He passed over a picture. It showed Ethan with a beautiful redhead. She was looking at him the way every man fantasized about being looked at. A combination of love and pride and contentment.

  “You don’t deserve her.”

  Ethan chuckled. “Tell me about it. Liz is incredible. Sexy as hell, smart, a great mom. She loves with everything she has. I don’t know why she picked me, but she did and I’m not letting go.”

  The simple words, honestly spoken, made Tucker feel uncomfortable. As if he’d accidentally walked in on something intimate, something he wasn’t supposed to see. He couldn’t imagine feelings like that. Loving someone and being loved in a way that was supportive and safe. In his world, love was a trap. A man could get lost in love, and sometimes getting away meant chewing off an arm.

  “Then there’s these three.”

  Ethan handed over a second picture. This one showed three kids—two girls and a boy. The girls were redheads, the older, maybe fourteen or fifteen, was probably already causing havoc at high school. The younger was an adorable carrottop with freckles. The boy, about the same age as the younger girl, was all Ethan.

  “You’ve been busy,” Tucker said, passing back the picture. “Did I know you’ve been married that long?”

  “Liz and I got married last summer. Tyler’s mine. Long story. The girls are her nieces. Their mom is dead and their dad’s in jail, so we have them now.” He put the pictures back into his wallet. “If you’d told me about taking in two kids a year ago, I would have said if they’re not yours you can’t love them as much, right?”

  Ethan shook his head. “I couldn’t have been more wrong. Those girls keep me up nights just as much as Tyler does. Melissa wants to start dating. I want to lock her in her room until she’s forty.” He grinned. “We’re working on a compromise.”

  “You sound like you’re happy.”

  “I am.” Ethan picked up his beer. “It doesn’t get better than this.” He stared at Tucker. “You ever going to settle down?”

  “I’m not the type. I move around too much.”

  “When you take over the company, you’ll travel less.”

  “Maybe. I’m not sure I want to change. I like living all over the world, seeing new things.”

  “Don’t you get lonely?”

  Tucker leaned back in his chair. “There are beautiful women everywhere, or are you so married you’ve forgotten.”

  “Just not interested. Why go looking when you have the best of everything waiting at home?”

  The fervor of the freshly converted, Tucker thought. He’d seen it before. Guys who were newly in love wanted everyone else to have what they did. The problem was they didn’t see that love would turn them all into fools until it was too late. Cat had done it to him, and his dad’s women did it to him on a regular basis. Tucker had learned his lesson.

  Except now, talking to Ethan, he felt a hint of something that might be envy. Roots could be good. A place to call home. Someone waiting.

  No way, he reminded himself. He’d tried that once. Cat had nearly destroyed him. Not by anything she’d done, but his reaction to her. He’d allowed her to become everything. He’d been little more than her love slave. By the time he’d managed to escape, he barely recognized himself. No. Love was for idiots who didn’t know better.

  “You’re going to be around here for, what? A year?” Ethan asked.

  “About that. I won’t stay through completion, but I’ll want to make sure the major elements are in place.”

  “Ever spent any quality time in a small town before?”

  “No.”

  Ethan laughed. “Brace yourself. It’s not what you think. Within a month, everyone will know who you are, what you do with your day and who with. You won’t be able to make a move without running into someone you know. Stay clear of the local women. They’ll eat you alive—and not in a good way.”

  “Sounds worse than construction in a rain forest. Why do you stay?”

  “Because there’s nowhere else I want to be. I grew up here. I belong. I want to know my neighbors, have them watching out for the kids and letting me know when
a friend is in trouble. They have my back and I have theirs.”

  “I can’t relate,” Tucker admitted.

  “You’ll get a taste of it. Be sure to head into town every weekend. Fool’s Gold is known for its many festivals. They happen regularly. The food is always good. Come winter, we can head up the mountain and go skiing.”

  “I’d like that. I haven’t skied in a couple of years.”

  “Good. If you think you can handle it, we’ll have you over to dinner. Or is that too domestic?”

  “I can survive a few hours.”

  Ethan grinned. “We could even invite a couple of the local single ladies. Let them fight over you.”

  “You said to steer clear of them.”

  “Maybe you want the challenge. As long as it’s not my sister.”

  Tucker thought about Nevada. “Hands off. You have my word.”

  “I’d better.”

  Tucker took a swallow of his beer. Thirty minutes ago, he would have considered Nevada a hell of a temptation. Now, not so much. While he still found her intriguing, he’d already crossed the line once. He wasn’t a jerk. He knew when to back off, and with her, that was now.

  NEVADA WAS SO EXCITED that despite not having slept, she needed no coffee to be completely wired for her first day of work. She arrived on the job site nearly an hour before she was expected and hung out in the main trailer, opening and closing the empty drawers in her new desk and going over the schedule for the week.

  The first order of business was to get equipment in place and start clearing. A part of that would include blasting a section of the east hillside. She flipped through the pile of paperwork required by the city, county and state. She saw that the Fool’s Gold Fire Department had to be notified of the blasting and have a representative on-site. At least that was something she could help with. She knew all the firefighters.

  Once the land was cleared, the plumbing would be next. Water in, sewer out. Due to some seriously impressive long-term planning on the part of the city nearly fifty years ago, the resort would be able to tap into the city sewer and water system. That would be a huge savings in money and effort for Janack Construction. The downside was a lot more permits, but they were worth it.