by LuAnn McLane
“Evidently, Madison has another surprise up her sleeve. I should get back in there.” A heartbeat of silence went by while neither of them moved.
Kiss her! He inched closer and her eyes widened a fraction, and he stopped just short of drawing her into his arms. “Okay, but remember what I said,” he reminded, surprised when she nodded instead of giving a short retort back.
“I will,” she replied softly. And when she turned away, Ty felt such a sense of loss that he almost reached for her again. He shoved his hands in his pockets instead. He watched her walk away, but she paused at the door, and when she looked over her shoulder, his damned heart lurched in his chest. “Oh, and, Ty?”
“Yeah?”
“That whole caveman thing about kicking somebody’s ass on my behalf?”
“Yeah?” he asked again, but with uncertainty. She was going to slam him for sure. He swallowed and braced himself.
“It was hot.”
Ty’s jaw dropped, and he watched her open the door with a quick whoosh. “Well, damn,” he murmured, and then stood there blinking like an idiot. “That was unexpected.” After a moment, he leaned against the railing and then smiled while shaking his head slowly. Jessica Robinson had him so tied in knots that he didn’t know what the hell to think.
Ty stood there and let the cool breeze clear his head. He couldn’t believe he had the nerve to stick his nose in and say the things he had just said to Jessica. Where she was concerned, his good sense took a flying leap out the window. But the thought of a young hotshot like Logan Lannigan taking advantage of her set his teeth on edge. Baseball and babes were all players Logan’s age thought about. He should know; he had seen enough of it.
But her comments hit home. He must have really looked like a jackass to her, coming into Chicago Blue with a different woman on his arm each time, most of them several years younger than he. His past was over, but would Jessica ever believe it?
Hearing the music thumping through the windows reminded him that Jessica had been going inside to dance with Lannigan, and Ty didn’t know how he would handle seeing her swaying in the young man’s arms. This jealousy thing was new territory for him, and it got his blood pumping. Should he beat Lannigan to the punch and ask Jessica to dance first? Cut in? Ask someone else in an effort to make her jealous? Would she even get jealous? He shook his head, unable to decide, and then chuckled softly. “Wow. Noah was right. I’ve got it bad for her.” Instead of the usual urge to retreat, Ty wanted to get closer, and not just physically. He really enjoyed talking to her about food when he ate at Wine and Diner. He loved the passion in her voice, because he understood. Baseball was like that for him—it was his world. But for the first time, he longed for something more in his life than just baseball.
With that in mind, he decided to go for it and snag Jessica for a dance before Lannigan got the chance. But just when he headed across the deck, he heard a car door slam, followed by a hot curse from a cool female voice. “Gravel parking lot? Are you kidding me?” she grumbled, and then leaned over and shook a rock from her shoe.
Ty halted in his tracks. Wait. Don’t I know that voice? He walked over and looked around the corner of the building into the parking lot and nodded. “Arabella Diamante . . . ,” he murmured when he spotted the young hostess from Chicago Blue Bistro. The little spitfire kept first and second seating running with smooth efficiency—no easy task in the popular, posh restaurant. Lucky for him, Bella loved baseball and always hooked him up with a good table. Ty grinned, remembering that Bella could be hell on wheels and didn’t take any guff from anyone, no matter who. Giving her attitude was sure to get you a seat next to the kitchen. He heard her curse again and chuckled. “Oh, boy. I do believe the extra surprise has arrived.”
5
Stayin’ Alive
Bella bent over and groaned when another pesky pebble slipped inside her peekaboo, studded sling-back sandal. When she shook the pebble out, her hair fell across her face. “Whoa!” She managed to lose her balance, landing her bare foot on a sharp rock. “Ouch! Damn!” She dropped the decorative pink bag holding Jessica’s birthday gift and glared down at the gray gravel as if it were to blame for all of the problems leading up to this very moment in her twenty-five years of life.
“Stupid rocks!” She blinked back hot tears and then tried to get her sorry-ass self under control. “Okay. O-kay. Just chill!” She swallowed hard. After all, the first twenty-four years were pretty darned good. It was only the past few months that had sucked, especially this past week.
Bella slipped her sandal back on, picked up her present once more, and flipped her hair over her shoulder. But instead of walking over to the front door, she stood there and contemplated getting into her Lexus and leaving. She glanced left and right without moving her head, not wanting anyone who might happen to be watching to think she was passing judgment, but come on. . . . Except for a sleek silver Audi, a white van with grammar’s bakery painted on the side, and a shiny red corvette, the rest of the parking lot was pretty much filled with pickup trucks and motorcycles. Not exactly her kind of place.
Bella looked down at her now-dusty sandals and sighed.
When Madison had said casual attire, Bella had chosen the plain black sheath and added a deep red shrug for a pop of color. The studded sling-backs added a bit of a funky flair and height to her mere five-foot-three-inch stature. By looking at the neon Budweiser beer sign, Bella guessed that she was way over-the-top for Sully’s Tavern, but she was already late, so digging through her suitcase for jeans wasn’t an option.
“Damn,” she grumbled, and swallowed hard. She was clearly overdressed and out of her element. It wasn’t that she was intimidated or scared. Bella was pretty much fearless when it came to handling herself, and even when she was afraid, she could put on a pretty good show of pretending otherwise. But she was tired from the five-hour drive from Chicago that had turned into more than six, due to getting lost twice, even with the GPS her mother had forced her to use. Ironically, it was her mother’s fault for calling her every single hour to ask how she was doing, causing her to miss a turn twice, causing the snooty, know-it-all GPS voice to implore, “If possible, make a legal U-turn.”
Oh, and how was she doing?
Well, she was doing crappy!
Discovering her sous-chef boyfriend was cheating right under her nose with a waitress at Chicago Blue had resulted in a dessert-tray food fight that had gotten Bella fired. Not that she cared. A cherry tart smashed in the face of her cheating ex held a certain amount of satisfying irony. Plus, the nut-job head chef who replaced Jessica Robinson had turned the menu into an overpriced, pretentious hot mess that created a very real hell’s kitchen. They could have seriously been a reality show. Oh, and since she lived with Dastardly Ex-boyfriend David, she was now officially jobless and homeless. Wasn’t that just peachy?
“Fun times,” Bella muttered under her breath while staring at the front door of Sully’s Tavern. Her mother, who’d never liked David anyway, said this was the perfect opportunity for Bella to use her marketing degree to help her mother take her online jewelry business, Designs by Diamante, to the next level and open a real brick-and-mortar store, but Bella was afraid that in this tough economy, the timing might be off.
“Well, hell.” She had thought of nothing other than her troubles for the past six hours, but she inhaled a deep breath and squared her shoulders. Lively dance music spilled out into the parking lot, and the neon Budweiser sign seemed to be winking at her in silent invitation. Plus, she dearly wanted to see Madison and meet this Jason Craig cowboy, or whatever he was, that she was engaged to. And, oh, how she missed strong and steady Jessica, who was like a mom and friend rolled into one sweet package. While Bella loved her mother, Nicolina Diamante tended to get emotional when Bella needed someone to just simply understand. Jessica Robinson was an amazingly levelheaded listener.
Although they hadn’t talked much in the past few months, Facebook had allowed Bella to keep in touch with Ma
dison, and she had followed the progress of Wine and Diner and the construction of the baseball complex. In truth, she would never in a million years have thought her friends would have ended up back in this small town to stay, but she had learned a hard lesson lately that life could take some unexpected twists and turns. She sighed again and stiffened her spine. Yes, she was going to have to buck up and head on into the party. And Madison had mentioned that the owner made a kick-ass martini, something she could really use right about now. But when she looked up at the rustic exterior, she had some serious doubts, and glanced longingly back at her car.
“Arabella Diamante? Are you coming in or not?” inquired a deep voice that Bella thought she recognized. Wait! Ty McKenna? She watched the tall figure come from the shadows of the building and walk toward her, and had to smile. Sure enough . . .
“Well, hello, Mr. Triple Threat. I thought that was you.” Even in her heels, she had to tilt her head back to gaze up at him. “Madison told me that you’re the new manager of the Cricket Creek Cowboys.”
“Cougars.”
“Right, Cougars. How’s life in a small town been treating you?” She gave her hair a flip and tried to muster up some sass.
He shrugged those spectacular shoulders of his. “Not too shabby.”
“So are you here for Jessica’s party?”
“I crashed it.”
“Wait.” Bella raised her palms in the air. “You weren’t on the A-list? Here?” She sliced one hand through the air. “What’s up with that?”
Ty leaned back against a fat tree trunk and crossed his arms over his chest. “The birthday girl isn’t exactly fond of me.”
“What? Everybody likes you. Um, especially women.” It was true. Ty McKenna had an easygoing, fun-loving personality. Like most pro ballplayers, he had a bit of an ego, but never seemed to take himself too seriously. And although Bella had seen him in Chicago Blue with lots of different arm candy, she had always thought he was selling himself short with shallow women instead of someone worthy of his time. Someone like Jessica Robinson . . . And then it hit her. “Ohmigod, you’re into Jess!”
“Guilty,” he admitted with a scowl.
“Hmmm.” Bella gave him a slow smile. “Jess always did get a little flustered when she knew you were eating at Chicago Blue.”
Ty snorted. “I think you’re mistaking flustered for pissed,” he commented, but seemed to be a little pleased at the notion.
Bella tapped her index finger against her cheek. “Maybe it’s kismet that you both ended up here.”
“Right. So, then, why is she in there dancing with a young-as-shit ballplayer? He’s been panting after her all night.”
“So what are you doing about the situation?” Bella tilted her head sideways and looked at him in challenge.
“Look, I already tried talking some sense into her, and she got pissed.” He glanced toward the tavern and sighed.
“Wait.” Bella frowned, and then her eyes widened. “You did what?”
“Let her know that the cocky kid was trying to score with an older, beautiful woman.”
“Older?” Bella added a wince to her frown. “No, you did not.”
“’Fraid so.” He sighed and then raked his fingers through his hair. “Hey, but I did call her beautiful. That should count for something. And I was genuinely concerned for her welfare.”
“You were jealous.”
“That too,” he admitted with a certain sense of wonder in his voice.
“Oh, wait. There’s more, isn’t there?”
Ty raked his hand down his face and then winced. “I kinda said that I would kick Lannigan’s ass if he got out of line.”
“What are you—twelve?”
“Hey, she said my badass attitude was hot,” he announced with some swagger.
“And you thought she was serious?”
“Oh . . . well, yeah. I mean, I guess,” he said with more than a little confusion. Had she been poking fun? “Hell, I don’t know.”
“Ah, a first for the mighty Ty McKenna. Well, stop your girly pouting.”
“I’m not pouting. I don’t pout.”
Bella rolled her eyes. “Okay. Glowering? Call it what you want, but I have some good news for you.”
“Really?” He appeared so hopeful that Bella knew he really was interested in Jessica.
“Yep. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”
“What are you getting at?”
“Come on, Triple Threat.” Bella crooked her French-tipped fingernail at him. “Let’s make Jessica jealous.”
Ty pushed away from the tree trunk. “Do you think it will work?”
“There’s only one way to find out.” She hefted her Coach purse over her shoulder and then slipped her arm through his.
“So, are you just here for the party?” Ty asked as they headed for the front door.
Her smile faded. “Why do you ask?” Had everyone heard about her now-notorious food fight?
“Well, Jessica is looking for an experienced hostess at Wine and Diner. I thought she might be trying to snag you away from Chicago Blue.”
Oh, thank God he didn’t know she had been fired during a fury of flying desserts. “Come on, Ty.” Bella looked up at him and shook her head. “Do you seriously think I could survive in this small town? I’d go stir-crazy. I honestly don’t know how you’re doing it.”
Ty shrugged. “It’s growing on me. Life does move at a slower pace here, but I’ve found that’s not such a bad thing.”
“Really?” Bella looped Jessica’s decorative gift bag over her wrist and pointed to the front door. “This little honky-tonk is your night life?”
“Hey, at one time, Cricket Creek was actually a pretty lively tourist town, with thriving shops and bed-and-breakfasts. I’m told that the marina was always packed with boaters. The community theater is top-notch too, but in this sluggish economy, everything has suffered.”
“And you hope the baseball complex will bring the town back to life? Isn’t that taking a pretty big chance, all things considered?”
He gave her a crooked grin, and Bella wondered how Jessica could resist his charm. “Isn’t that what life is all about? Taking chances?”
“No!” Bella pulled up short at the front door. “I told you I’m all about sure things, and I’m not at all sure about going in this bar. Ty, would you look at me? I’m way overdressed. I’m going to stick out like a sore thumb.”
“Oh, you’re going to stick out, but not like a sore thumb. You’re as pretty as ever, and those young ballplayers are going to be falling all over themselves to get a glance.”
His statement made her throat constrict. Apparently, not pretty enough. She swallowed hard and remained silent.
“Bella, look. You’ll make an entrance.”
“That’s my mother’s gig, not mine.”
Ty laughed. “Speaking of, how is Nicolina? I used to love it when she would hang out at the bar at Chicago Blue. She’s quite a character.”
“Driving me crazy, as usual.”
“Okay, enough stalling. Let’s go on in there. It will be fun. Trust me.”
Bella arched a carefully plucked eyebrow at him. “Oh, like you haven’t promised that before.” When he laughed again, Bella’s spirits lifted a little. It would be good to see her old friends and forget her woes for a while. “Let’s do this.”
“Don’t forget, we’re making Jessica jealous,” he reminded her, but then tilted his head in question. “Hey, wait. Don’t you have a boyfriend? A chef or something? Jessica would never buy into you cheating.”
Bella snorted.
“Oh . . .” He gave her a look of sympathy.
“Don’t even ask.”
“Take the hostess job at Wine and Diner. You know that Jessica would be thrilled to have you.”
“Ty, I can’t live here.”
“At least give it some thought. The change of atmosphere might do you some good, and you can always move back.”
“I’
ll think about it.” Her heart thudded. Maybe he was right. A change might do her a world of good. “I’ll go over there tomorrow and check it out.”
“Fair enough. Right now you need to come on in here with me, grab a drink, and kick up those ridiculous heels of yours,” he said, but when he put his hand on the door, she held back.
“Wait. Jessica is my friend, and it’s her party. I don’t want her to get pissed at me for fawning all over you.” She shook her head. “Maybe making her jealous wasn’t such a good plan after all. It seems I’m the queen of bad plans. Do yourself a favor and don’t listen to any more of my rotten ideas.”
Ty chuckled. “I thought you were all about sure things.”
“Yeah, but not sure-to-go-wrong things.”
“Well, at least look at me adoringly with those big brown eyes of yours, okay?”
“Oh, all right,” she relented with a slight nod. “No harm in that, I suppose.”
“Are you finally ready to go in there?”
Bella squared her shoulders. For some strange reason, she had a gut feeling that going through that door was somehow going to alter the course of her life. Crazy, she knew, and it was probably only due to her emotional state of mind, yet she couldn’t shake the feeling.
“Bella?” Ty raised his eyebrows.
“I’m ready. Let’s do this,” she finally answered.
He gave her a reassuring smile. “Here we go.”
When Ty pushed the door open, Bella braced herself for the stench of stale beer and cigarettes, but she was surprised by a pleasant, smoke-free atmosphere that smelled like fried food, bourbon, and beer and actually made her hungry. Although the interior was rustic, with wide-plank hardwood floors and sturdy-looking oak tables and chairs, the red-checkered tablecloths added a splash of color and the retro beer signs blinked with fun charm. Sully’s had an if-walls-could-talk kind of feeling and Bella felt a little of the nervous flutter in her stomach subside. Balloons and streamers created a festive, welcoming air.
Ty leaned over and said, “Not exactly Chicago Blue, is it?”