by Mia Carson
“No,” he repeated and settled down on the floor beside her.
She stared at him long and hard, wiping her face with the cloth. Her gray eyes swirled with emotions and he wondered how much of her rant she remembered. “You must be just like me,” she decided.
“And why is that?”
“Any other man who just met me would’ve turned tail and run by now,” she said. “Who the hell are you, Alec Wolf?”
He shrugged, picking at a broken nail. “Just the new guy in town.”
“Sure you are,” she whispered. “But we all know that’s a lie. You’re running from something.”
“Is that right?” he asked, hoping she wouldn’t push for answers. Funny, since that’s all you want to do, a voice echoed in his thoughts.
“Yeah, and you know what sucks about running? You’ll never get far enough away. I know, I’ve tried,” she said and with a groan, pushed to her feet. “I’m going to go pass out now and pray I forget all this when I wake up.”
She staggered down the hall to a bedroom and fell onto the bed. Alec watched her struggle with the blanket until he sighed and helped her cover up. “Good night, Iris. Maybe our next date will go a little better.”
“Date?” she asked through a yawn. “Whoever said this was a date?”
He opened his mouth to reply but her breathing steadied and she did, indeed, pass out. He considered staying with her for a little while longer to make sure she was fine, but freaking her out was the last thing on his mind. This woman did something to him, and he couldn’t put his finger on it. She was slightly unhinged and had a temper that rivaled a tornado, but she drew him in and until he knew why, he wasn’t going to let this be their last encounter. After he left a note for her on the counter with his name and number, he locked the bottom lock on her front door and pulled the door shut behind him.
“Are you seeing Iris?” a man called out from the sidewalk.
Alec lifted his face to find Jenson leaning against the picket fence, a beer in hand, and glaring. “Who’s asking? Jenson or the new deputy?” he replied stiffly, not moving away from the door.
“Both,” the man leered. “You’re new in town. How do you know her?”
“Old friends,” Alec lied. His hands fisted at his sides, and every vibe coming off Jenson told him he was trouble. “From college.”
“Is that right?” he said and wiped his nose on his arm. “I know all her friends, and they ain’t her friends no more.”
“I am. I've just been gone for a while,” he said and walked down the path.
“Yeah? What school did you attend?”
Alec pictured the living room and tried to remember the name on the diploma he spotted beside a few photographs. “Northwestern,” he said the second the image appeared in his mind.
Jenson’s body stiffened. “Never heard of you.”
“We haven’t talked in years,” he said, hoping he sounded convincing. “I just moved here recently. Thought I’d look up an old friend, take her out for drinks.”
“So you are dating?” he snarled.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Alec said and reached the sidewalk. He smirked when Jenson took a step back before he frowned and planted his feet. “She’s asleep, so why don’t you head home, deputy, and you can talk to her about her dating life tomorrow—or never. Never sounds good.”
Jenson reached out and shoved Alec hard in the chest, but the man was drunk and Alec barely moved. “She’s my girl, and you won’t go anywhere near her again. Got it?”
“And what if she doesn’t want you?” he challenged.
“You got a lot of talk for a new guy in town,” Jenson snapped. “You know what? We’ll settle this like men. There’s a new gun range in town. Meet me there Sunday, and we’ll see who the better shot is.”
“Shooting for women?” Alec asked, attempting a worried tone.
“Yeah, that’s how we do it up north. Have a problem with that?”
Alec shook his head, knowing the only gun range in this town was his, and he was the best shot in both Dakotas. “No, not at all. See you Sunday, then.”
Jenson nodded, turned around, and staggered off, tossing his beer bottle in someone’s front yard on the way. If August was with him, they’d follow that man for a few blocks and see how hard they could mess with his head, but he was alone and the old days were gone. He was a different man, and there was a dangerous vibe coming off Jenson that Alec did not like. Something bad had happened between him and Iris. If he found out the man had hurt her in anyway, he didn’t give a shit if Jenson was the governor. Alec would make sure he couldn’t walk straight for a year.
Chapter 4
She had to be dead. That was the only explanation for why her head throbbed like someone bashed it in with a sledgehammer. Iris groaned as she rolled over, and the room spun around her. She hadn’t had that much to drink last night, had she?
“Damn whiskey,” she grunted, and when her feet hit the floor, it was like a cannon blast. “Gah! Damn Danny for letting me have it!”
She rubbed furiously at her eyes, trying to clear the blurriness, and squinted against the light flooding her bedroom like she was trapped in a lantern. She glanced down at herself, patting her still fully dressed body and knew she was forgetting something, something important about last night… nope, nothing. She wobbled out of her bedroom, passing photographs of her parents on the way and ignoring them all. She freshened up in the bathroom and exchanged her wrinkled clothes for yoga pants and a black hoodie before stumbling into the kitchen.
“Coffee… Must have it,” she grumbled to the room. Her voice echoed off the tile, and she frowned at the sound. Last night, there’d been more voices in her house… She dumped grounds in the coffee pot, filled it with water, and hit the brew button, wracking her brain to try and remember last night.
Most of it was fuzzy, but she knew she’d been at Danny’s bar and there’d been a guy? Two guys… She tapped her fingernails on the counter, shaking her head when a piece of paper with writing not hers caught her eye. She snatched it up, her eyes scanning the words quickly, and her body stiffened, mortified as the worst bits of last night flew back at her. Jenson at the bar… the man walking her inside… seeing her puke!
“Oh, this isn’t happening,” she mumbled. “He was the first hot guy I meet in years who isn’t a jackass, and I throw up in front of him! Way to go, Iris. Big two thumbs up, you idiot!”
With the coffeepot gurgling happily behind her, Iris dug around in her purse for her cell and checked the number Alec had left her. Alec Wolf. His rum-colored eyes appeared in her mind, the hardness in them trying to cover up the sadness and something else she couldn’t put her finger on. She closed her eyes, trying to remember if she did anything else last night, and the sensation of warm lips caressing hers drew another curse from her. They had kissed! Just a sweet kiss on the porch, but butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she remembered the feeling of his body so close to hers.
“Nope, he’s not going to want anything to do with you,” she told herself firmly. “He saw you puking your guts out. No sane man in his right mind will want to deal with your baggage.”
But when she looked over the note again, she frowned. Date. He had enjoyed their impromptu date, and if she wanted to go on a second, he said to give him a call. She was going to call and tell him she was so sorry, but if she called him now, would he expect her to want that second date? Leaning against the counter, she stared intently at his number on the paper, debating what to do. If she still had friends, she’d call them, but Jenson had ruined every friendship she’d had. The phone slipped in her hand, and she was about to put it down when it rang, scaring her. She yelped and dropped it on the floor.
“Damn it. I really need to get a dog or something,” she muttered as she knelt down to pick it up. Living alone was making her paranoid. She didn’t even check the number before she swiped her finger across the screen. “Hello?”
“Iris, I ho
pe I didn’t wake you up,” Joe said on the other end, and she sagged in relief.
“I’m up, just making coffee,” she told him.
“You are just making coffee at eleven o’clock?” he asked.
Iris shot a look at the oven clock and cursed. “I didn’t realize it was that late.”
Joe’s deep laughter echoed through the phone. “I heard you had quite the night, but you can tell me about it Monday on your first day of work.”
“I’m not sure you want to hear… Wait, did you say first day of work?”
“That I did. Swing by today when you have time. I’ll have you fill out the paperwork. Then Monday morning, you’ll be here at eight sharp to start your new job. We’ll discuss pay today, too,” he said. “I must go, but I expect to see you this afternoon.”
Iris sank to the floor of her kitchen, trying to understand what was happening. “Joe, I can’t. You’ve never had an employee in your shop. You can’t afford it.”
“Listen to me, Iris, I know what I can and can’t afford,” he said sternly. “You will take this job because you need it, and it is not charity. I’m thinking of taking a vacation soon and need someone to watch the shop. You will do nicely.”
She hung her head and nodded, running her hand through her hair as she held her head. “I can’t ever thank you enough for this.”
“You won’t have to. I will see you soon,” he said then hung up.
Iris held her cell as she sat on the floor, the strong smell of coffee filtering down to her. A job. She finally had a job, which meant an income of sorts. If Sam asked about her job, she could say she had one and not let him know just how bad their financial situation had become. He only needed to worry about staying healthy. The job with Joe was a step in the right direction, and maybe she’d be able to find something better and get them out of this hole.
She stood and made a cup of coffee with just sugar before she looked at the paper with Alec’s number on it again. Last night had definitely not been a date, and she had no idea how to plan a second one. Her experiences with men started and ended with Jenson, and he was a bastard.
“Deputy Bastard now,” she reminded herself.
He was going to be impossible to deal with if the sheriff thought he was good enough to be a damn deputy, but she would keep her nose down the best she could and stay out of his way. Alec, on the other hand… She wanted to bump into him again. She wasn’t sure why after the way last night had gone, but the warmth of his laughter and his smile, the way he kept his word to Danny without fail, told her he was just like her. Caring—over-caring, really—and the sadness in his eyes? He’d been hurt, just as she had, and maybe this was his chance to move on.
“Or he’ll just use you and spit you out,” she muttered. She set her coffee down, picked up her cell again, and dialed the number.
It rang three times, and Iris prayed it’d go straight to voicemail, but a deep male voice answered. “Hello?”
She froze, her mouth open like some idiotic fish before she cleared her throat. “Alec?”
He sucked in a breath and muttered a curse. “This is him. Who’s calling?”
“Iris… from last night?” she mumbled, suddenly unsure whether what she remembered from last night had been real or a dream. “Listen, sorry if you didn’t expect me to call. I just wanted to apologize, and you left your number, but if you want to forget it all, I’ll understand.” Her anger grew as she spoke, thinking he was an idiot for leaving his number if he didn’t want her to call.
“Iris, no—I wanted you to call,” he said quickly. “I’m trying to avoid speaking to someone, but not you. I’m sorry, really.”
“So, you are running from someone?” she said and hopped up on her kitchen counter.
“How much of last night do you remember?” he asked, and she heard his wolfish grin through his words. “I was starting to wonder if I needed to come over and check on you.”
Iris grinned, imagining him showing up at her front door to make sure she was alive. Then she glanced down at herself in her sweats and messed up hair and recalled he’d seen her puking her guts out last night. “Well, no need to do that. I’m alive.”
“Not alive and well?” he asked lightly.
“No, not yet. Still working on the well,” she said. “I called to say thanks for getting me home last night and for stepping between me and Jenson. You didn’t have to do that.” The rest of the night’s events were slowly coming back to her with each sip of coffee, and she cringed, thinking about what might’ve happened if Jenson didn’t have the sheriff standing just feet away from him.
“Yes, I did,” he said. “And if he asks you, we’re friends from college.”
Her face scrunched. “Friends from college? Did you run into him again after you left here?”
“Yeah, but I’m not going to give you the details over the phone. I want to see you again, Iris, preferably when you’re not drunk and I’m not having to fend off your asshole of an ex,” he said with a throaty laugh. “What are you doing today?”
“I have to swing by the pawn shop and fill out some paperwork for a new job,” she told him. “Then, after that, I was going to see Sam at the hospital, but nothing else really.”
Why didn’t you say no? You don’t need this distraction right now, a voice nagged her.
Hell yes, I do. He held my hair while I puked! No normal guy does that—hell, Jenson would never do that. We’re doing this.
“Iris?”
“Yeah, sorry, I’m here,” she stuttered, shaking her head free of her musings.
“Why don’t I come and pick you up and we can do whatever you need to do together? And afterwards, we’ll go on a second date that might not end with you hugging a toilet.”
She groaned. “You just had to bring that up again.”
“It happens to the best of us, though I must say, you handled yourself quite well,” he said, laughing.
Iris debated whether she should say yes. Having him deal with Jenson for her was bad enough. Did she really want to drag him into dealing with the rest of her baggage? She couldn’t remember everything she'd said last night, but she had a feeling she told Alec more than she should tell anyone she just met in a bar.
“Why not?” she said finally.
“Maybe we’ll just stay away from the whiskey tonight,” he said. “Be there in an hour?”
“An hour sounds great,” she said. “Thanks, Alec, really. You don’t have to do this.”
“Never said I did, but I want to. Besides, I’m new in town, and as payback for taking you home last night, you can show me around town,” he said, and she rolled her eyes. “See you soon, Iris.”
She hung up and stayed in her kitchen until the coffee cup was empty, and she considered pouring a second to help chase the last bit of grogginess away. But she was in desperate need of a shower and some clothes not just thrown on if she was spending all day with Mr. Alec Wolf. As she hopped into the steaming water a few minutes later, she wondered why she even bothered. He’d leave her, just like Jenson had, after a few days. She wasn’t an easy woman to deal with, she knew that. Hell, half the town knew that, but it didn’t mean she wanted to spend the rest of her life alone. She just felt like her life would turn out that way eventually.
The water poured over her shoulders, and she tried to let her worries wash down the drain with it, but her reality sucked. That was just how it was. Nothing was going to change anytime soon. All her dreams, all her ambitions, were gone, and now, she was going to be known as the pawn shop girl. Perfect.
Alec splashed water on his face and ran his wet hands through his long hair, fixing it into the messy style he used to wear it in before Nikki took over his life. She had changed his wardrobe, his hairstyle, and forced him to shave every day. He never realized how much he’d hated it until the morning when he woke up, looked in the mirror, and didn’t recognize himself. He’d always worn his hair down, but Nikki insisted on him pulling it back if he refused to cut it. He scratched
at the scruff on his face and grinned.
Iris didn’t seem to have any issues with how he looked. Then again, she’d been hugging a toilet, and as far as he was concerned, she might not even remember much about his looks. But she had said yes. He would get his tour around town and spend more time with Iris Newton, a curious woman he couldn’t stop thinking about.
He was in the kitchen, making waffles with the old waffle maker he’d had since before college when August staggered into the kitchen wearing sleep pants and one sock. He rubbed his face and grunted at Alec before trudging towards the coffee pot.
“You look marvelous this morning,” Alec teased, and August grunted again. “Where did you go after you left the bar?”
“Went back to the bar,” he muttered roughly. “Did you know everything in this damn town is within walking distance? As is your house? I’m glad, otherwise I’m not sure where we would’ve ended up last night.”
Alec frowned as he slipped a waffle out of the maker and poured in more batter. “We?”
Light steps padded down the stairs, and a moment later, a blonde head of hair appeared in the doorway. “Morning, Alec,” the woman called out cheerily before hurrying to August’s side and kissing him passionately.
Alec raised a brow and leaned against the counter, watching his brother struggle for air until the woman let go. She reached around him for coffee, and August’s face turned three shades of red.
“Uh, Alec, this is Melody,” August said. “Met her at the bar last night when I left you.”
“Nice to meet you, Melody,” Alec said and held out his hand. She took it lightly and giggled. “August, there’s no furniture in my house yet. Did you make this woman sleep on the damn floor last night?”
His little brother buried his face in his mug as the woman giggled again. “No, there were boxes of blankets in the room so we dumped them on the floor and made a nest. It was quite toasty, all snuggled up together,” she whispered as she ran her fingers down August’s bare chest. Alec glowered at him.
“Ah, do you mind giving us a minute? How about you go warm up the shower?” August told her, and she flounced away, wearing August’s t-shirt from the night before and boy shorts that showed off her ass.