Something to Prove

by Shannyn Schroeder

  Back at the table, she grabbed her purse. She looked at Lori. “Tell Janie I said good-bye. I’m heading home. I have an early day tomorrow.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Just tired.” She turned and headed toward the door. Outside the cool night air brushed against her heated skin as she dug through her bag for her car keys.

  “Hey.”

  She didn’t have to turn to know it was Colin.

  “What?”

  “Why are you leaving?”

  “I’m tired. We have a lot to do tomorrow.” She pulled her keys out and allowed her purse to hang on her shoulder.

  He wrapped his fingers around her wrist again and her pulse jumped. She turned to face him.

  “I thought you wanted to have a good time.”

  “I was until you showed up.”

  “Really? I think your life vastly improved the moment I entered it.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself.”

  “Why are you running away?”

  “I’m not running anywhere.”

  He stepped closer, the heat from his body pressing against her, the scent of his cologne calling her close. She took a step back, afraid the air would run out and she wouldn’t be able to breathe. It was a ridiculous thought; they were outside.

  “See?”

  “See what?”

  “You’re afraid of being attracted to me.”

  “How much have you had to drink?” She’d thought she had managed to not reveal anything to him.

  “Not enough to stop me from doing this.” He tugged her arm until her body collided with his. He lowered his head and his lips brushed hers. The moist heat of his mouth made her gasp and as soon as she did, his tongue moved in, stroking the inside of her mouth.

  He wasn’t rushed. Like everything Colin did, he moved slowly, drawing out every minute shift and swipe. His arms held her in place, as if he knew she would run. The strength in them made her lean in.

  He felt so damn good. Smelled even better. Her blood warmed, but like Colin’s movements, it didn’t race. Muscles grew heavy and relaxed. The man’s mouth was pure bliss.

  A moan escaped her throat, and the sound helped her regain her senses.

  As much as she didn’t want to, she pushed him away. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Something we’ve both wanted to do for a long time.”

  She swiped a finger across her lip, as if she could remove the effect he had on her. “This is not going to happen. Good night, Colin.”

  His eyes stared widely, then he shrugged as though her rejection meant nothing, and he stepped away. His reaction affirmed her belief that she couldn’t get involved with him.

  She turned too quickly and lost her grasp on her keys. He bent to pick them up.

  “See you tomorrow,” he said and placed the keys firmly in her palm.

  She backed up a step and stumbled on her heel. She would not let him make her nervous. She didn’t have to be nervous around Colin because they weren’t going to sleep together.

  The following morning, Elizabeth pushed through the door of the bar and sniffed. The nasty smell had finally been eradicated. The place was clean and the finishing touches had been added to the décor. Bears jerseys on one wall, hockey stick and puck on another; a basketball net and framed picture of Michael Jordan hung near the door.

  She flipped on the lights and looked around. A little more than a week and it was a brand-new place. Hope surged in her chest. This would work. Behind the bar, bottles of alcohol glinted in the lights. The smooth surface of the bar gleamed.

  Who wouldn’t want to come in here to drink?

  Colin had had his five TVs installed yesterday along with whatever satellite system he needed to get the sports channels. It had felt good to relinquish that to him. They had been working somewhat like a team, which was a strange experience for her. She hadn’t worked that closely with anyone since she and Keith had stopped turning properties together.

  If she could only get past Colin’s constant flirting. It had been hard to refuse his advances, and their kiss last night would only make it more difficult. Her body desperately wanted to say yes to sleeping with him, but she knew better. Regardless of his careless attitude, everything about Colin O’Leary screamed permanence. He had a stable, close-knit family.

  She didn’t want to get roped into that.

  Right now, her only priority was to turn a profit and get back to Florida. She made a pot of coffee and tapped her fingers on the counter while it brewed. Why she didn’t grab a coffee on her way in, she didn’t know. Her stomach grumbled, and she considered her options for breakfast. They had cleared out all the stale snacks, but she had a delivery of fresh stuff coming in today.

  In the meantime, however, it looked like coffee would be her meal. Her stomach hadn’t gotten better, and she feared if she didn’t get it under control, she’d land in bed again. One cup. She could afford one cup to get moving.

  Tomorrow. For sure, I will cut back on the caffeine tomorrow.

  As she sipped the first bit of coffee, someone began pounding on the front door. She glanced up. It wasn’t Colin; she’d given him a key. She hesitated to answer because although they hadn’t had any more issues with bikers showing up and wanting to drink, that first time put enough of a scare into her.

  The pounding got louder, then her phone rang. Keith. Crap. She moved toward the back and answered the phone. “Hi, Keith. What’s up?”

  “You changed the lock on my bar. Open up.”

  Crapcrapcrap. She wasn’t ready for this. Her stomach clenched and her muscles followed suit. She’d known this confrontation would happen; why didn’t she prepare for it?

  She set her coffee down and moved to the front door. She unlocked it and stared at Keith. He didn’t look as mad as he’d sounded.

  “You broke the rules,” he said and pushed past her into the bar.

  She closed the door behind him and leaned against it. “No, I didn’t. I did an audit of Dad’s properties and this one stuck out. I came to Chicago to check it out and found a mess.”

  “If this is on the up-and-up, why lie about being here on vacation?”

  She crossed her arms. “I didn’t lie. I told Dad I was visiting Janie and that I was feeling burned out. It’s all true. I just didn’t tell him that I had begun working on this. I wanted to surprise him. I took some initiative. So sue me.” Christ, now she was sounding like Colin.

  “I could. This is my bar and you know it.”

  He continued as if he wanted to fight, but his heart wasn’t in it. There was something there she couldn’t catch.

  “The bar is Dad’s.”

  “Which you know he bought for me.”

  “How would I know that?”

  “I know you. You always do your homework.” His voice held no anger. He walked the room, running his hand along the bar, and then eyed the TVs mounted on the walls. “I have to admit, it looks good.”

  Her cheeks grew warm. “Thanks. I think so too.”

  He slid onto a stool. “So what was your plan? Turn this into a moneymaker and then what? Convince Dad you should take over the company?”

  She shrugged. “More or less.”

  “Not gonna happen.”

  The tension in her muscles and the burning in her gut returned full force. “Just because you have a Y chromosome doesn’t make you the best candidate for the job. I’m every bit as qualified as you to run the company.”

  He narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips together for a moment, and she thought he would actually argue the point, which would be ridiculous. “You’re right, in theory. But Dad wants you to have more than a name on the door or a title. You’ll let this consume you, and we all know it. You already do.”

  She snorted, which felt juvenile. Keith always managed to make her feel that way. “So now you’re telling me what? Dad thinks I can’t run the company because I don’t have a hobby?”

  Keith’s sigh was heavy as he sh
ook his head. “He said you wouldn’t get it.”

  “Get what?”

  “Nothing. When do you reopen?”

  The tension in her head forced her brows down. “Tomorrow.”

  “Good luck. I’ll stop by and check it out.”

  “You’re going to let me finish?” She couldn’t hide her shock.

  “Regardless of what you think, I really only want you to be happy. If turning this bar will make you happy, go for it.” He cocked an eyebrow, and that unsettled feeling returned. Keith was hiding something, but right now she didn’t care. She no longer had to worry about Keith’s or her father’s interference on this job. She had the green light to create her own success.

  “Thank you. It means a lot that you won’t try to stop this. It’s going to be really good. I can feel it. You know what I mean, how sometimes, you just know?”

  His smile spread slowly. “Yeah, I know. Those are the best jobs to work. Anything I can do to help?”

  She shook her head. It was a nice offer, but she couldn’t accept even if she wanted to. It might blur the lines of whose success it would be. “How long are you going to be in town?”

  “A few days, I think. I want to see what happens here.”

  “I’ll call you later. Maybe we can have dinner together. How’s Melissa?”

  “She can’t wait for summer break. A few weeks and school’s out. Maybe she can come visit you.”

  “I’ll be home by then.”

  “Sure?” His skepticism fueled the uncertainty.

  “I don’t see why not. Everything’s right on target here.”

  His eyes shifted and he wouldn’t meet her gaze. “I’ll call you later about dinner.”

  She nodded and he walked out the door. Elizabeth sat, stunned. The confrontation that she thought would explode hadn’t, but Keith had left her with a feeling that was much worse. He was up to something, but she had no idea what.

  An hour later, she had received the last of the deliveries they had been expecting, and Colin still hadn’t shown up. Her frustration grew. Although she’d been glad he wasn’t there to witness Keith’s arrival, she had expected him to come in. They still had quite a bit of work to accomplish before they opened.

  A different kind of burn swam in her stomach. She popped another antacid. He’d said he was looking to get laid last night. Maybe he did after she left. She thought of Janie and Lori, but she knew they wouldn’t after she’d asked them not to. Golden rule of girlfriends. But it’s not like Colin would have a problem finding someone else.

  She sighed. It shouldn’t matter. It didn’t matter. His personal life was his business, unless it interfered with work. This was interfering, all right.

  She continued to bustle around, setting up the new, freshly washed drink ware, lining up the bottles of alcohol to draw the eye to the most expensive liquor, while constantly watching the clock. Lunchtime came and went with not so much as a phone call from Colin letting her know when he’d be arriving.

  She finally gave in and dialed his cell phone. It rang four times then went to voice mail. Her teeth clicked while she listened to his snappy little message. “Colin, Elizabeth. We have a lot to accomplish before we reopen in approximately twenty-four hours. Where are you?”

  Leaving the message didn’t ease her anxiety. She had two new waitresses coming in to get used to things before tomorrow. Colin had hired them, and he’d assured her that they were experienced.

  The bar hadn’t been this quiet since her first morning there. And even then she had the crappy, staticky radio as background noise. She realized part of her unease was the silence. She’d become not only accustomed to Colin’s rambling and random singing, but she’d begun to rely on it as part of the atmosphere.

  Determined to move forward without Colin’s help, she grabbed a remote and turned on a TV. The volume blared and she jabbed at buttons to lower it. “Who the hell needs the volume that loud?”

  “It won’t seem so loud when there are fifty people milling around and talking.”

  Colin’s voice startled her. The volume of the TV must’ve drowned out him opening the back door. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been here all morning trying to get everything together.”

  “I had an important errand to take care of. It wasn’t ready, so I had to wait.” He dropped a box on the nearest table. “I hope you like it. I know I didn’t run it past you first, but I figured at this point you could trust me to show a little initiative.”

  He opened the flaps on the nondescript brown box and grabbed what was inside. T-shirts.

  “That was your all-important mission that took more than half the day?”

  “Yeah. One of the things that helps the employees at O’Leary’s stand out is that they all wear bar T-shirts.” He paused with one shirt balled in his hand. “I know we didn’t talk about this, but I know how much you dislike the name The Irish Pub, and really, if we’re reinventing the bar, it should have a new name.”

  “What did you do?” Suspicion crept back up her spine.

  “I just ordered a few, so if you don’t like it, it’s no big deal.” He grasped the shirt in both hands and opened it. Bright orange letters on the left breast read BRANNIGAN’S SPORTS BAR.

  An uncharacteristic surge of pride filled her chest. “Brannigan’s, huh?”

  “Well, I figured you’d really flip if I called it O’Leary’s, especially since the name is already taken.” He turned and dug through the box.

  A litany of problems rose in her brain. There had been no legal name change, the business license and everything was listed as The Irish Pub. No advertising with a new name had been done.

  Even with the problems that this would cause, part of her didn’t care. She liked seeing her name on the business. She’d never experienced that pride before and it felt good.

  “When I sell, the new owner might not like my name all over the place. Not to mention that paperwork has to be done to make it official. And the sign outside still says The Irish.” She shook her head. “Now was probably not the best time for a name change.”

  “Don’t stress. You worry about the paperwork crap, and I’ve got the word of mouth covered. While I got the shirts, I ordered a temporary banner we can hang outside until we decide on a permanent sign.”

  Word of mouth? How was he going to make that happen in less than a day? While she realistically planned for a slow build of customers throughout the week, she didn’t want their opening day to be a flop.

  Their Web presence was still being built. She began to tick off a mental list of what needed to be changed: Facebook, Web site . . . had they set up a Twitter account yet?

  Something smacked into her face, and she blinked and looked to see what had hit her. A black T-shirt sat on her shoes.

  “Wake up. We have work to do.”

  “I’m plenty awake. I’ve been here for hours. If I had known about your planned name change, I could’ve gotten other things taken care of, things that I’m now adding to my to-do list.” She grabbed the shirt from the floor and tossed it back to him.

  He caught it in his left hand. “This is yours. You can’t possibly plan on wearing a suit to our grand opening.”

  “What is wrong with my suit? I’m the owner, not a barmaid.”

  He slung the shirt on his shoulder. “If you want to be successful here, you either need to blend in or be gone. People in this neighborhood are middle class, blue collar. They don’t want to look at a suit when they’re trying to enjoy some downtime.”

  “And by putting on a T-shirt, I’ll blend in?”

  He walked closer and slid the shirt from his shoulder and placed it on hers. “Not a chance, but you can at least fake it. You also need to get rid of the Benz.”

  “What’s wrong with my car?”

  “The only Mercedes these people come across is in a Janis Joplin song. Rent something more inconspicuous. Like a regular person.”

  “You’re awfully bossy today. Any other demands?” She yanked
the T-shirt from her shoulder and gripped it tightly in her fist.

  His gaze didn’t return to hers. He continued to dig through the box, sorting shirts. “I’m sure you’ll do whatever you want, but you brought me in because I know people. Jeans and that T-shirt. Although you look really hot in heels, I would suggest gym shoes. The floors will get slippery, and I’d hate to see you fall and break your neck.”

  A little jolt of pleasure ran through her. He thought she looked hot in heels. His opinion shouldn’t matter, she reminded herself. “Fine. I’ll dress to fit in with regular people.”

  She turned to go into the office, but stopped. It bothered her that he assumed she’d always had money. Before she could stop herself, she said, “I’ll have you know that just because I have money now, I didn’t grow up that way. I am a regular person.”

  His head whipped up and his gaze bore into her. “Sweetheart, there’s nothing regular about you.”

  “Shows what you know,” she mumbled and turned back to the office.

  Colin couldn’t remember a time when he’d ever been this nervous. They had less than an hour until their official reopening. Elizabeth had been scarce all day. Although she’d agreed to dump the stuffy suit, she arrived in dark gray pinstripes, like any other day. He didn’t comment, knowing it wouldn’t matter. Every time he looked at her, he no longer saw the stiff businesswoman. He only thought of the pliant, sensual woman pressed against his body during their kiss.

  His mind continued to wander back to the other night. After he’d kissed Elizabeth, he wanted more, but knew she wouldn’t go for it. He probably shouldn’t have touched her at all, but he wanted to know. Needed to have another taste of her, especially after seeing her dance with all those strangers.

  He had no claim to her, and his fantasies were getting out of hand. The previous day, he’d intentionally come to the bar late, knowing he couldn’t ignore their kiss. He made sure he’d had other things to occupy his brain when he did arrive. He shook his head now to force himself to focus on the work at hand.