Rowan took a long drink of ice water and a deep breath. She may be thirty-one with no outside skills at all, but she was fierce and determined to make it. She was already running the Snack Shack for the community poolâHA! Proof that she could handle it out here. Rowan smiled at the thought. Besides, she had Justin to think about. Failure was not an option.
*****
Shane sat holding his corn dog in the air, stunned at what had just happened. He couldn’t believe his luck. The girl! His girl-the one he’d been trying to meet for weeks, was working here of all places. When she handed him his lunch, he got so lost in her eyes, he didn’t want to come back. They were the brightest hazel he’d ever seen, and they glowed as if a light was shining within, making them appear almost yellow. When their eyes locked, it was as if she looked straight into his soul. He shivered at the thought.
He noticed her the day she’d moved in and had been trying to talk to her ever since. He thought it would be relatively easy, given that they lived in the same apartment complex, but he’d been so wrong. She moved like a cat and he always missed her. He even considered stalking the mailboxes, figuring she had to get her mail at some point, right?
When Shane first saw her, she took his breath away-and that never happened. Dressed in old tattered jeans and a tight black tank top, he couldn’t stop watching her. As she carried in her boxes, he kept expecting her friends to show up and help her move the big stuff. As far as he saw, no one ever came and she never really moved in anything big.
At first glance he thought she was young, like just out of high school young, the way her body rippled with muscles as she carried her boxes up the stairs and the spring in her step as she practically skipped down the stairs empty handed to get more. Her silky brown hair was cut short, just hitting her chin line in the front, tight in the back. She looked like an athlete or a fitness model. But after watching her for a while, he decided she wasn’t that young after all. She had the kind of beauty that gave most women confidence, but she never looked anyone in the eye when they passed on the stairs and never once stopped to talk.
He had watched her move in all her stuff, never once venturing out and offering her help or hospitality. He’d been kicking himself ever since. What a dickhead move that was. He could have manned up, introduced himself and offered her help, but he just stood in his ground floor apartment all day, mesmerized by her, like some creepy stalker. Just when he’d realized his mistake and was about to venture out, his phone rang and his whole life got turned upside down.
“Uncle Shane!” his niece Jennifer screamed, pushing a French fry in his face.
“What’s up, sweetheart?” he asked her, coming out of his daze.
“Eat, silly.” She plopped a handful of fries into his paper boat.
“What’s wrong?” his nephew Jake asked. “You look funny.”
“It’s that lady,” Aaron added, before inhaling his burger.
Of all of his sister’s kids, he related to Aaron the most. Shane vividly remembered being nine. Just at the cusp of being cool, but not quite old enough to pull it off. Jennifer, the oldest of the group, was a lot like their mother: organized, bossy yet caring. At eleven, she had already perfected the art of getting her brothers to do what they needed to do without making them feel like she owned them. Jake was seven and a handful on a good day. Why or how he agreed to watch them for two weeks while his sister and her husband enjoyed a second honeymoon was beyond him. At day three, Shane wondered if he was really going to last another eleven days, but hey, who’s counting?
“Do you know that lady?” Jennifer asked him.
“No, sweetie. But I think she lives in our complex. I guess I just didn’t expect to see her here. That’s all. Go ahead and eat so we can get back in the pool.”
He sat back and ate his disgusting corn dog in three bites. This is what he remembered doing as a kid. Hanging out at the pool, eating pool food, and soaking up the sun. He and Melanie spent more time in their community pool during the summer than anywhere else. That’s where he learned to watch people. He learned to recognize the difference between fear and excitement when kids jumped off the diving board. He watched teenage boys square off silently when they were both eyeing the same girl. He watched in awe as his sister’s friends evolved from play mates to real girls, and as his friends changed their own behavior around them. All skills he used on a regular basis as a Private Investigator. He loved being a PI. Knowing early on he was never going to be a desk job guy, and that he didn’t follow orders very well, he’d never aimed for a traditional career. In high school he learned that he could blend in almost anywhere and had a face that people rarely remembered.
Between that and his theater classes in college, he soon became one of the top investigators in the area. The only down side was, at 32, nothing surprised him and trust was a rare commodity in his world. Other than casual relationships along the way, he’d never had what he would call a girlfriend, never met that one girl who took his breath away. Not until now, anyway. And he didn’t even know her name. He needed a name to go with that face and that body. He needed it now.
He stood abruptly causing all three kids looked up at him nervously.
“Keep eating, guys, I’ll be right back.” He nodded his reassurance and turned toward the snack bar.
It was time for him to man up. He was a PI for God’s sake; at the very least he could get a name.
“Can I help you?” The young girl at the window fluttered her eyelids and smiled at him. Shane chuckled as he remembered his own hellish teenage years.
“Yeah, hi.” He turned on his most charming smile. “I was just wondering. There’s a lady who works here, she just brought us our food.” Shane waited.
“Oh yeah. That’s our manager, Rowan. Is something wrong?”
“Nope. That’s great. Rowan, huh? Thanks. That’s all I needed.” He turned, a genuine smile on his face.
“Hey, wait Mister,” the girl called, and he turned back. “What’s your name? Seems only fair, right?” She smiled coyly at him.
“Uh, Shane,” he told her, impressed with her forwardness, “My name is Shane Adams. Have a good one.” He nodded to her and left to go back to his charges.
*****
Climbing the steps to her apartment, Rowan thought of nothing else but peeling off her clothes and taking a nice, cool shower. The complex had a small pool, but she needed to get the smell of old meat and grease off her skin and out of her hair. Then, maybe if the pool was empty, she would sneak down and take a quiet dip. The last thing she wanted to do was get in a pool with a bunch of screaming kids.
Luckily, there seemed to be few children in this apartment complex. After doing as much research as possible, she had decided Oakdale would be her next step. She knew that Justin was set for a while longer, maybe later this summer he could come visit her, but the days when it was the two of them against the world were long gone. Truth be told, she liked it better this way. It seemed as if she had spent her whole life taking care of somebody, and just being in charge of herself was a nice change. Knowing that Justin was safe and far away from Jolly was enough for her. He was living his life, she was living hers.
She was thankful for her job at the pool, but knew that it was only for a couple of months at best. One of these days she would get a real job that didn’t involve grease and slime, but until that happened, she would stick with fast food. It was better than the shady under the table work she had when she first started out.
Summer was short lived and the kids would be going back to school, the teenagers she managed would be back in high school, and she would be, once again, out of work. She needed to find something to do that was easy to pick up and move. Maybe bartending, or construction. She knew a lot about construction, she knew nothing about bartending, or drinking.
Walking into her apartment always made her smile. She knew, without a doubt, that this was her safe place. Having moved several times now, she knew exactly how to make her home perfect for
her. Not too sparse, but not so cumbersome that she couldn’t pack up and move quickly. Always keep moving! That was the key to her survival. At least for the first few years. She knew that going in, but it was worth it. Worth every inconvenience, every box lost or destroyed, every item left behind. Her freedom was worth all that and more. Jolly be damned-this was her life.
She peeled off her clothes, throwing them in a plastic bag. They smelled so bad, she didn’t want them stinking up her apartment. This was her life and she loved it, stinky clothes and all, but there was a limit.
*****
The cool water moving across her skin as she dove into the pool was heavenly. Having put her laundry in the washer, she planned on swimming till they were done. The laundry room was just across the way from the pool, so doing laundry was as easy as taking an evening swim. She’d always wanted to be a swimmer when she was a kid, now she got to indulge with each and every load of dirty clothes.
Coming up for air, she pulled herself out of the pool and sat on the side. It was still hot outside, but with the sun almost down, it was nice to just sit and enjoy the warm air drying her suit.
“Nice night.” The deep voice penetrated her thoughts and she darn near fell back into the pool.
“Oh! You scared me-” She turned and came face to face with the father of three from the pool. “Shane?”
His face lit up when she said his name. Tami had not let up all afternoon about the hot dad that wanted to know her name, and how awesome was Tami that she now knew his. It had gotten on her last nerve.
“Hi Rowan. So the window girl told you I came by, huh?” She could hear the amusement in his voice.
“Yes, she did. Your daughter’s not old enough to be annoying yet, so I guess I shouldn’t blame you for asking Tami, but for heaven’s sake, she would not let up.” Rowan slipped back under the water.
Why was he here and why was he talking to her? She was so flustered, she couldn’t think straight. She had to breathe at some point, so when she got as far away from him as possible she came up for air.
“ânot my daughter.” She heard when her ears cleared.
“I’m sorry. What?” she asked, still flustered.
“I said Jennifer is not my daughter. Neither are the boys. I’m the crazy uncle that agreed to watch them for a couple of weeks while their parents rekindled their relationship in Hawaii.” He looked right at her, waiting.
“Oh.” Rowan let that soak in for a second. “Wow, you are crazy! I take it you don’t have kids of your own?”
Shane simply shook his head.
Rowan laughed out loud, “So you had no idea what you were signing up for, then. Well, you’re in for it now.”
He grinned, stirring infernal heat deep inside her. The promise of that grin made her toes curl; she had never seen anything so sexy in her life. With no other recourse, she dove back under the water to pull herself together. Popping up back on his side of the pool, she pulled herself out of the water and slicked her hair back.
Taking a moment to look at him fully, she noted how comfortable, casual and edible he looked, standing there in worn jeans and a t-shirt while she was nearly naked, a fact not lost to her. His muscles called to her, and the way his fingers dangled elegantly from his hands made her mouth water. Oh, what were those fingers capable of? She tried to clear her mind before meeting his gaze, but from the look on his face, she guessed she wasn’t as quick as she’d hoped.
He smiled as if waiting for her to have her fill. Chagrined, Rowan turned, grabbed her towel, and headed out the gate. “Good luck!” She called over her shoulder as the gate slammed shut.
Chapter Two
Shane was reminded again that he was blessed with the best mother in the universe when she offered to take the kids for the weekend. He was so grateful, he vowed to send her the biggest bouquet of flowers every month for a year. All three happily packed up and left with her not two hours ago. He knew he had a lot of work to catch up on, but for now he was meeting up with Rob and Cody, his two business partners, at Bilbo’s, the best place in town to kick back and have a beer.
Walking in, a cool blast of air and the smell of beer hit him in the face. The combination made his insides relax; muscles he didn’t even know were tense went slack, and a genuine smile played across his face. He was ready for some much needed down time.
The pretense of meeting Cody and Rob tonight was to walk through some old cases looking for clues on some current ones, but they all knew that the real order of business would be cold beer and talk of women. At least, that’s how it usually went down.
Bilbo’s was busy tonight, with a long line of people waiting for tables. That was to be expected, being Friday night and all, but tonight there seemed to be a bit more chaos than usual. Shane walked in past them all, glad not to be in that long line. As soon as he got within earshot of the bar, he knew his friends had arrived-he could hear their boisterous laughter.
“Well well, if it isn’t Adams himself.” Rob noticed him first and handed him a tall glass of amber liquid.
“Hey, you’ve been keeping yourself scarce these days.” Cody turned toward Shane, still leaning against the bar.
“Scared more like it. The kids are with me through the end of next week, get used to it.” Shane drank a third of his beer. “Ah. Now that’s more like it.”
Cody and Rob laughed, drinking from tall glasses of their own.
“Where’re the little rug rats now?” Rob asked.
“With my mother. Thank Fuck.” Shane leaned into the bar, “Those guys are exhausting.”
They laughed at him. He looked like hell and he knew it. It felt so good to just stand here and drink a beer-no fighting, no tickling, no worrying about why it was too damn quiet.
“So, what’s up?” Shane asked, hoping they would stop laughing at his domestic situation.
“We were watching a beautiful creature across the bar when you walked up and disturbed us,” Cody said, nodding his head toward a young woman. Shane almost spit out his beer when his eyes followed Cody’s nod. It was Rowan. She was sitting at the bar with what looked like five mixed drinks in front of her. What the hell?
“Shit. That’s my neighbor. She moved in a while ago, I just found out she works at the pool. What’s she doing?”
“No way, man. I call dibs. I was here first.” Cody put down his beer and straightened up to his full height.
“Bullshit.” Shane laughed back at him. “I’ve been chasing that chick for weeks.”
“You’re both pathetic, she’s too high class to go for either of you fucks,” Rob said, looking across the bar, watching her.
Shane turned his attention back to Rowan; she was sitting at the bar, taking tiny sips of each drink in front of her and writing down notes in her notebook. Just then, the bartender made eye contact.
“So, what’s up with the lady across the bar?” Shane asked him as he wiped down the counter in front of them.
“The lady says she wants to learn how to tend bar. She’s been here over an hour taking notes and drinking. She’s drinking more now than taking notes.”
“How many drinks she had?” Shane asked, concern in his voice.
“I think I’ve only cleared a couple away. You know her? She keeps going like this, she may need a ride.” The bartender moved away to the next customer.
Without thinking, Shane got up and walked over to her. He didn’t know her that well, but he knew where she lived and where she worked. He figured that was enough.
“Dude.” He heard Rob, but he kept going.
“Hey, Rowan. What’s up?” Shane casually idled up to the bar at her side.
Rowan turned her head around and smiled when she saw him. He could tell by her glassy eyes that she was pretty far gone-too far to drive for sure.
“Shane. What’re you doing here? Where are those kids you’re in charge of?” Rowan shook her head a little, as if to clear it.
“They’re with my mother and I’m having a drink with some frien
ds. We noticed your little experiment here.” Shane watched her closely.
Rowan’s eyebrows shot up in confusion only to relax as recognition set in. “Oh, this?” She indicated her drinks at the bar and laughed. “I need a new job. The pool gig is only going to last so long, and it stinks so bad back there! So I thought I’d check out bartending.” She almost slurred her words.
“A new job, huh?” Shane glanced around, taking in the room. He noticed Rob and Cody watching him. He also noticed several other men watching them as well. So much for that second beer. He was getting her the hell out of there. He made eye contact with Rob and nodded toward the other men. Rob nodded back.
Turning back to Rowan, he said, “So, you think bartending might be in your future?”
“Oh man. I don’t know. It’s all so complicated. And there’re so many drinks to remember. I’ve been watching these guys for a while now.” Rowan looked so serious, he almost laughed. She had that sexy cute thing going on, the way she tossed her head back to get her short hair away from her eyes, a move she had done almost ten times just since he sat down.
“Yeah, I can see that. It’s a lot easier if you’re not sampling the drinks, though.” He reached out and brought the nearest drink to his nose. Whoa! He didn’t know what it was, but it was strong. “How many of these have you had?”
She looked at him again, her eyes a little clearer this time. There was something in the way she looked at him that made him freeze. Was that fear that just crossed her face? It was too dark in the bar to see her eyes that clearly.
“Shane. I’m not drunk. Don’t even think about trying to take advantage of me. Never going to happen.” She sat up straighter and puffed out her shoulders. She also glanced around the room, taking in the men watching her, and Rob and Cody. “Friends of yours?” She asked, her eyes clearer still.
“Yeah, actually. I’m supposed to be having drinks with them. But I came over here to check on you. It’s not every day a beautiful young woman sits at the bar with five drinks in front of her.” Shane watched her take in the bar and noted how quickly she seemed to sober up. If he wasn’t mistaken, she might have checked the exits too. Interesting.
Passionate Kisses 2 Boxed Set: Love in Bloom Page 110