Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (Eight Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors)

by Violet Duke

  Pulling out a twenty, she slid it over to him. “I’m fine. Thanks for calling me.”

  “I already charged the standard tip for his drinks on his card, hon. You can put your money away.”

  With a determined stare, she walked over and shoved the bill at him. “This tip is my ridiculously small way of saying thanks. Not every bartender would take the time to go through a drunk customer’s phone or find out which bike is his. You did. You didn’t just boot his ass into a cab and leave his bike out in front to get stolen. You genuinely care. I heard it when you called and I’m looking at it now. You’re a good bartender and an even better guy. Take the tip or not, your choice.” She shrugged. “I’m just going to leave it on the counter regardless.”

  Then she just up and walked away.

  Holy shit. The little hellion was more potent than a shot of illegal moonshine.

  And evidently, he wasn’t the only one who thought so.

  Reaching over to pocket the twenty, the bartender couldn’t take his eyes of Tessa. “Sugar, if your boyfriend wasn’t looking ready to tackle me, I’d be embarrassing myself in front of all my regulars right now begging you for your number.”

  Tessa laughed. That damn, captivating laugh that had a half dozen heads at the bar turning her way. “That’s my friend Brian. He’s not my boyfriend.”

  An amused chuckle rang out from behind the bar. “Tell him that.”

  Smart bartender.

  Tessa tossed them both a puzzled look and went over to retrieve her friend—a guy that could’ve passed as a bouncer for this very bar. Even though he was too drunk to stay on his feet without swaying, the second he saw Brian, the man’s frame went stiff, fists at the ready as he exchanged a few hushed words with Tessa. One drunkenly blinking eye on Brian the entire time.

  With an arm wrapped around his waist, Tessa walked Isaac out of the bar, exchanging mollifying introductions as she walked Isaac over to the row of bikes out front. It wasn’t until Tessa mentioned him being Connor’s brother—and just a friend she’d spent the night discussing HD testing with—that Isaac eased off with the suspicious glaring.

  Seemed like the need to protect her wasn’t his compulsion alone.

  Brian watched then as Isaac barely managed to throw his leg over his Harley.

  “Tessa, you can’t be serious. The guy is too drunk to sit up, let alone hold on to you. He’ll take you both down if you try and ride double with him.”

  The corner of her lip rose up. “Are you offering to ride double with him instead?”

  He scowled at her. “I’m being serious. Were you telling the bartender the truth? Do you really know how to even ride this thing?”

  “Yes. I took lessons years ago.” She met his eyes quietly. “It was one of the things Willow always wanted to do.”

  He cataloged that info to read more into later. “Still, this is dangerous and you know it.” He helped Isaac off the bike. “C’mon, let’s get him in the SUV. Then you drive and I’ll follow you on the bike.”

  She pulled back. “Have you ridden a Harley V-Rod before?”

  Admittedly, no. But he’d driven a few dirt bikes when he was younger and the occasional buddy’s motorcycle in college. “It can’t be that different a ride.”

  With a fierce headshake, she clutched Isaac’s keys tighter. “Sorry, no can do. I’m not letting you near the bike.”

  Annoyed, he bit back. “I’m not going to wreck it.”

  Surprised, she looked up. “I was worried about you hurting yourself. But yes, now that you mention it, I can’t let anything happen to the bike either. But I will take you up on the offer of putting Isaac in the SUV. It’ll save me from using his belt to buckle his arms around me like last time.”

  He came to a stuttering halt. “You did what last time? Tessa, the guy’s got a hundred pounds on you, easy.”

  “I didn’t get on the freeway or anything,” she defended, chin raised stubbornly. “Isaac has actually never come to this bar before. Normally, he sticks to bars in Mesa or Tempe. Since I don’t exactly know where he lives, I usually just coast us over to get some coffee and food in him to sober him up enough to ride back to my place where he sleeps it off. And I go really slowly. You could call me Fred Flintstone by the way I ride.”

  Such an illogically weird reference, that, for some reason made him want to protect her even more.

  “Fine. You ride the bike. But just because I’m morbidly curious to see if you can actually adhere to a speed limit. You go slow though, you hear? I’m talking granny-on-a-scooter slow. I’ll be right behind you the entire time.”

  Smiling, she suddenly jumped up and kissed him on the cheek. Out of the clear blue sky.

  “What was that for?” he asked gruffly, wanting seconds.

  “Your alpha-protectiveness. It’s growing on me. It’s sweet.”

  Sweet? That was the last description he wanted to hear coming from her mouth. He didn’t want Tessa to think of him as the sweet guy she could just give an innocent peck on the cheek to.

  He wanted more.

  “She meant it as a compliment,” came the slurred commentary from his backseat.

  Brian glanced up in the rearview mirror.

  Isaac blinked at him slowly. “Tessa. She hasn’t had sweet guys in her life. It’s actually a hell of a compliment.”

  And then he passed out again.

  Huh. Brian processed that drunken revelation later while half-dragging Isaac up to Tessa’s little one-bedroom apartment. After dropping him onto her living room couch, Brian motioned for Tessa to follow him back outside.

  “Why don’t I stay over tonight too?” he offered. “Just give me a spare pillow; I’m fine sleeping on the ground. Better to be safe than sorry. I mean I know he’s crashed here before, but let’s face it, he’s really drunk and he’s a guy.”

  She gave him a reassuring headshake. “You don’t have to worry about Isaac. He wouldn’t try anything, trust me. He’s in love with a woman from his past. Random flings are the only thing he’s open to while he waits on her. And that’s just never going to happen with us.”

  No, just as he’d thought. A girl like Tessa wouldn’t be open to just a fling.

  Then again, for a girl like Tessa, Brian wasn’t sure he’d be open to just a fling either.

  “Isaac and I have been friends too long,” she continued. “And since I don’t have a whole lot of friends, I make it a point not to fling or get flung by one.”

  Funny, Brian would think a woman as full of life as Tessa would have a ton of friends.

  “I guess you could say we’re more like each other’s emergency brake if we ever find ourselves sliding backward down a hill.” She shrugged. “No muss, no fuss. We just know to screech the other to a halt since we already know exactly what the other is going through.”

  Been there. Never really had that.

  “So he’s in your phone directory too?” he asked, envious over that somehow. He wanted to know Tessa as fully as Isaac seemed to. Though even then, she was so fiercely independent, he wondered how fully anyone truly knew her.

  “Yeah, but not as a drunk-in-the-bar contact. Just as Isaac. I guess I’ve never used the emergency brake ‘advanced feature’ of our friendship.”

  Then what’s kept her from crashing all these years?

  “Hand me your phone,” he said gently.

  Giving him a look, she passed it over, a faint smile on her lips as she watched him type something into her phone. When his phone rang a moment later, he disconnected her end and gave it back to her while quickly typing in something on his own phone.

  He watch
ed her curiously scroll through her friend directory—a short scroll—and smile wider when she saw the new name he’d put in her contacts list. “‘If I Just Did Something Insane,’” she read aloud with a chuckle. Then she looked up and read his screen, which he was displaying with the contacts entry he put for her phone number, “Caution—Crazy Woman.”

  She laughed. “Nice.”

  “Oh, and I put my cell phone number in there instead of my landline because I don’t want to be getting what’s sure to be daily calls of insane reportings on my home phone.”

  She whacked him in the gut in relaxed humor. He caught her hand and tugged her closer, enjoying the return of her smile with a long lost ease that was as welcome as it was confusing, as turbulent as it was comfortable.

  Smoothing her hair back, he gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. “Don’t do this by yourself anymore, sweetheart. If you’ll let me—and I really hope you do—I’ll be your emergency brake from now on. Whenever, wherever.”

  He climbed in his SUV and started it up, rolling down the window before he shifted into gear. “And could you do me one huge favor?” he called out.

  She smiled hesitantly. “Sure.”

  “Lock your bedroom door tonight. I know he’s your friend and all, but the thought of him being just a few feet from you in bed is killing me…almost as much as it’s killing me to think of you sleeping anywhere but my bed tonight.”

  At her quiet gasp, he just gazed at her for a parting second before saying softly, “Sweet dreams, Tessa. I had a great night.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ALL WEEK, she’d thought about the feel of his lips on her skin…about being in his bed…about being in his bed while he did more than just kiss her cheek like a gentleman.

  Today alone, she’d been so hot and bothered by all the possibilities, she’d had to restart the prep on three dishes for tonight’s catering event.

  She had it bad.

  “Hey Tessa. Sorry we’re a little late.”

  At the sound of Connor’s voice, Tessa glanced up and smiled.

  “Hey guys. Are we late?”

  At the sound of that second voice from the other entrance, Tessa’s smile froze…and her heart rate went from a trot to a gallop. What the heck is Brian doing here?

  Funny how the two brothers sounded so alike and yet Brian’s voice was the one that had her nearly forgetting why she was holding a tasting fork in each hand. She turned just in time to see Connor look over at his brother in surprise.

  “Hey, man. I didn’t know you were helping Tessa out tonight, too.”

  Neither did I.

  Even though Brian’s eyes shifted over to address Connor, Tessa could still feel his attention on her.

  Okay, seriously, why were her hands still holding two folks midair?

  Right, tasting. While the guys chatted, she awkwardly jammed a fork in both of their directions. “Want a taste?” she offered lamely, blushing when she saw the sizzling hot awareness in Brian’s eyes dial up to scorching as he answered her silently.

  Yes.

  Tessa quickly spun back around to the stove, their murmured compliments over the food barely audible over the blood pounding in her ears.

  Hearing the loud, jovial sounds of Abby and Skylar gabbing away as they entered the ballroom kitchen was her only saving grace. Grabbing two more tasting forks, she took a sample of two different entrées and greeted them without missing a beat. “Hi Abby. Hey Skylar. Burgundy-braised pork loins in this one, and the other is stuffed beef tenderloin.”

  “Yum,” praised Skylar. “Crazy good stuffing.”

  “This pork is like butter,” chimed in Abby. “You seriously need to teach me how to make this glaze. I’d eat it by the bowl-full.”

  Finally feeling her nerves settle, Tessa smiled. “Oh good. I was pretty sure I didn’t screw it up, but I don’t usually handle much more than the prep and finish for the non-dessert dishes. I mean I’ve helped Lana do individual steps of almost all the dishes a bunch of times, but I’m definitely a better baker than I am a cook.” She mentally stuck a tasting fork into her brain to stop her rambling. “Anyway, thank you guys again for swooping in to help at the last minute. This is the first time Lana has been sick during an event.”

  Tessa knew she’d only managed to turn it down from a ramble to a babble but she was downright frazzled. And it wasn’t just because of Brian’s nerve-wracking presence. It was because of the entire event itself.

  Her ten-year high school reunion.

  Sort of.

  To avoid that train wreck of a reminder altogether, she just switched her brain to autopilot. She could do this. This was just like any event. And Brian was no different than the other helpers they sometimes booked for bigger events.

  Riiight.

  She plastered on a big smile and dove in feet first.

  “Connor, Abby, could you two set up the dessert station for me? I have a photo of the standard set-up we use over by the serving carts. There will be five trays of desserts so if you could just space it accordingly, that would be awesome.”

  “No problem.” Abby went over to grab the photo and quickly ushered Connor out the door.

  Grabbing two pitchers, Tessa handed them over to Skylar. “I’ve left all the chafers—those metal trays that keep the food warm—at the serving stations out in the ballroom. Do you think you and your dad could take these pitchers and fill each of the pans out there with about an inch of water and then get the fire going on them? I’ll have all food ready to go out when the water gets hot enough.”

  “Sure.” Skylar headed over to the sinks at the other end of the kitchen to fill the pitchers.

  Then at the drop of a footstep, the kitchen suddenly felt no bigger than a broom closet.

  Tessa didn’t even have to look up to know that Brian was now standing beside her.

  “I didn’t get a chance to say hi. I like the blue hair, by the way. Maybe even better than the pink and purple.” He placed a kiss on her cheek. The other cheek, this time.

  Not that she was keeping track or anything.

  “Hey, Tessa did you want us to—” Connor’s voice halted mid-sentence and disappeared as he got jerked by the collar right back out of the doorway.

  Tessa blushed. “I take it Abby was the one that asked you to come help?”

  “Yep. In what was the most obvious set-up of all set-ups.”

  Her cheeks were going to burst in flames at this rate.

  And feeling the back of his fingers brush over her heated skin didn’t help the cause one bit.

  “Brian, I have no idea why she did that. I swear, I haven’t even told her we went to dinner last week.”

  He grabbed the candle lighter and volleyed back, “Who said the set-up was on your behalf?” before heading over to help Skylar carry out the pitchers.

  CONNOR CORNERED ABBY at the far end of the buffet station, out of earshot from Skylar. “Is someone sticking her cute little nose in where it doesn’t belong?”

  His impish wife looked up and batted her lashes at him. “What do you mean? Tessa needed the help. And when I heard how big the event was, I figured it’d be best to call Brian.”

  Uh huh. “For an event involving cooking?”

  “Whiiich is why I also called in Skylar.”

  Connor chuckled. “So Brian talked to you about Tessa, huh?”

  In an instant, her grin vanished and turned into a piqued pout. “Wait, Brian’s been mentioning Tessa to you?”

  Shit. Major guy-code violation. “No,” he backpedaled. “Not specifically…”

  “You’re lying!” It was an indignant, hands-on-hips huff. Cute as hell.


  “Possibly,” he fessed up, smiling as he offered graciously, “Of course I might know for sure if I’m lying or not if you tell me what Tessa’s been telling you about Brian.”

  Brian and Tessa were so going to kick their asses for this.

  Abby maintained military silence for all of three seconds before her curiosity got the better of her. “Okay, Tessa hasn’t been talking to me about Brian per se. But she did comment out of the blue once that Brian is really alpha intense.”

  He blinked. “And you’re sure she was talking about Brian Sullivan?” His brain couldn’t even find a long enough thread to link the two descriptors to his brother.

  Bobbing her head excitedly, she was practically giddy. “That’s why I invited him tonight.”

  Connor chuckled. “Well, this is going to be interesting.”

  THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME since Connor’s wedding that Brian was seeing Tessa all buttoned up in that white catering uniform. He much preferred seeing her in her off-the-wall novelty tees she always paired with a denim or flowing gypsy skirt. She looked…more her that way.

  And he was really starting to like her being her.

  He’d known this was a set-up from the first thirty seconds of Abby’s call a half hour ago, but he went along with it anyway because he’d wanted to see Tessa.

  He was starting to get addicted to the woman.

  After finishing up getting all the warming stations going on the buffet line, he sent Skylar to help Abby and Connor finish up at the dessert table and headed back down the corridor to the kitchen to see what else Tessa needed done.

  “I’m telling you guys, that’s her. You can’t tell because she’s all covered up, but that’s definitely that chick we almost pulled a train on out at the lakes our sophomore year.”

  Brian rolled his eyes in disgust as he neared the group of three guys standing out in the hallway near the restrooms. Those were the very guys he’d avoided in high school. Pathetic that some of them just never seemed to grow out of it.

  “I know that night was her first time but she would’ve been all over you guys too if those other girls hadn’t thrown up all over the place and killed the mood for everybody. The girl was a freak—still is, I bet. Look at that club skank hair with the blue streaks. She’s probably wearing something slutty right now under that chef coat.”