by Devney Perry
“Poker,” she grumbled under her breath.
“Not a fan?”
“My ex was a professional poker player.”
“Ah. Well, this was small stakes. One day this guy came in and sat at my table. It was a quiet night so it was just the two of us for a couple hours. We got to talking. Hit it off. He worked at a dude ranch, and before he left, he told me if I ever wanted to try something different to give him a call.”
The business card he’d tossed on the felt table was still in my wallet.
Because of that man and that card, I’d taken a risk. I’d left the reservation despite my family’s protests. I’d taken a job that paid three times what I’d been making at the casino plus free room and board. And I’d had the chance to meet people who lived a different life.
All of the guests at the dude ranch had money. The ones I found the most interesting were those who’d started small. The men and women who’d come from humble beginnings, like mine, and made it big.
Maybe I wouldn’t be a self-made millionaire. But at thirty-two years old, I was working my ass off to hit that goal. And it had all started on that dude ranch, where I’d squirreled away a stash of money that I’d put to work for me these last five years.
“I called him the next day,” I told Sofia. “He got me hooked up with the ranch manager and they hired me to work at the main lodge. Started off washing dishes during the day and dealing cards to the guests at night. The bartender had me help him whenever I didn’t have a game. When he quit about six months later, I took over.”
“How long did you work there?”
“Three years. I was one of the few year-round employees. Most of the ranch’s crew worked in the summer only. So I took on other jobs in the winter besides bartending. Clearing snow. Taking care of animals. Whatever needed to be done.”
It was an awesome job for a guy my age, but once I’d turned twenty-one, I’d been ready to live somewhere on my own. I’d been sick of bunk beds and communal showers.
“Then what?” Sofia propped her elbow on the bar, her chin in her palm. Her attention was locked on me as she soaked up my every word.
It was unsettling to have a woman so refined give me her fullest attention. So much so that I nearly forgot her question.
“I, uh, went back home.”
What was wrong with me? I’d been around rich women before. They’d rotated in and out of the dude ranch week after week, and we got a lot of wealthy out-of-towners in Lark Cove. But unless a woman wanted me for something more than to mix her a drink, I only got the normal courtesies people paid their bartender.
Sofia’s attention made me nervous. The last time I’d felt like this had been for my job interview with Thea and Jackson five years ago.
“What did you do at home?” she asked.
“Took another bartending job.” I busied myself by filling a glass with some ice and soda as I spoke, hoping it would keep me calm. “Worked there until I decided it was time for another change.”
“What kind of change?”
“Location mostly. My uncle Xavier had been living here for years, so I called him up to see if I could crash with him until I figured out what I wanted to do.”
“But you stayed?”
I nodded. “I stayed.”
I had planned to make Lark Cove just a temporary home base until I found a town where real estate was on the rise. I hadn’t considered staying here for the long term. But then I’d started watching the housing and rental markets in Kalispell out of sheer curiosity.
They were perfect for a guy like me.
This area had a heavy influence of out-of-state money, which brought growth and development to this corner of the world. There were other places in the country I could have gone, towns expanding so fast it made your head spin. But why leave when opportunity was just thirty minutes away?
Buying in Montana wasn’t as risky as the oil-boom towns in North Dakota that could dry up at a moment’s notice. My money went further here than it would in California or Florida.
And the truth was, I liked it here. The cost of living was damn cheap, and for a guy with no higher education, I made good money working at the bar.
“How’d you end up working here?” Sofia asked.
I shrugged. “Thea and Jackson were looking for some help, and it was a no-brainer.”
Because of Xavier’s relationship with Thea and Jackson, the pair had hired me based on his referral alone. The fact that I’d known how to serve a drink had been a bonus.
They’d been the only ones happy about my move.
Five years later, my family was still upset I’d left the reservation. The fact that I’d moved in with Xavier, my dad’s older brother who had also left the reservation behind when he was young, had been like pouring salt on an open wound.
My family didn’t understand my ambition. They didn’t see the end goal where I retired early and had the flexibility to travel the world. To them, there was no better place than amongst our people.
It wasn’t like I didn’t value my heritage. It had always been an important part of me, which was another reason I hadn’t moved out of Montana. I admired my culture, my family traditions. But I wanted more. I wanted freedom.
And freedom cost money. A lot of money.
I wanted to explore a Mayan ruin and tour the Colosseum in Rome. I wanted to walk along the Great Wall of China and snorkel in the Caribbean. I could spend months just exploring my own country, seeing as much of America as possible.
I didn’t want to live in the same neighborhood where I’d been born. I didn’t want to go to work with the same guys I’d met in grade school. I didn’t want to marry a woman just because she had an acceptable genealogy and could ensure our children had the appropriate blood quantum.
I wanted to live the life of my choosing.
Right now, that meant working here in Lark Cove, biding my time and forcing myself to keep that wanderlust in check so I didn’t spend my savings on frivolous travel before it was the right time.
That was the plan.
The only person in my family who’d bought into it was Xavier.
“I owe my uncle a lot.” I took the gun and refilled Sofia’s water. “He set me up when I moved here. Helped me get this job. He even sold me his house when he and Hazel got married. Have you ever met him?”
She nodded. “Just once. He and Hazel spent Christmas Eve with us one year when all of us Kendricks came to Montana. It was the year they got married, I think. Two years ago?”
“Sounds about right.”
That was the Christmas Hazel and Xavier had invited me to join them at the Kendricks’ place. Instead, I’d driven home to spend it with my family. When I’d arrived, I’d found my ex-girlfriend sitting at the dinner table between my two sisters. They’d tried to pair me up with her again, spending the entire night talking about how great we’d been as a couple.
After a few hours, I’d had enough of the not-so-subtle hints to return home, get married and have a dozen kids to carry on the family line. I’d left, taking the icy roads back to Lark Cove in the middle of the night.
I’d toasted Christmas at midnight, alone on the dark and empty highway. Then I’d celebrated the holiday by gutting the basement bathroom in my house.
When I’d told Xavier about the unrelenting pressure from my family, he’d gotten furious and called my father. That argument had been the last time they’d spoken, to my knowledge. I wasn’t sure if they’d ever speak again.
Hazel had been so fired up that she’d made it a requirement to spend all holidays at their cottage. My name had been on gifts under the Christmas tree ever since.
“So what else?” Sofia reached into the tray and plucked out another lime.
“What else what?”
“What else about you? What do you like to do for fun?”
Fun? I was too busy working and managing my investments for fun. Thea had told me once that the Kendricks had made their fortune in real estate. If I was
even a fraction as successful in my ventures as they were in theirs, I’d call it a win.
I worked my ass off to make sure that happened.
“I don’t have a lot of time for fun.”
“Now you sound like my dad.” She rolled her eyes. “There’s got to be something you do for fun. What is it?”
Her eyes pleaded for an answer, like she didn’t want my life to be filled with only work. There was desperation on her face as the silence dragged on. Her frame deflated as I racked my brain for something to say.
If I didn’t come up with something, anything, she’d shove me into the same category as her dad, and I’d crush her hopes along the way.
“I play basketball.”
Her shoulders perked up. “That’s fun.”
“Not a lot of games this time of year, but once a week I’ll meet some guys at the school gym and shoot around. In the summer, we have a game going every day at a park.”
“I’m glad you have that.”
“Me too.” I hadn’t really thought about my basketball games, but they were something I looked forward to every time.
“It’s important to not just work all the time.” She slid off her stool, bringing her water glass with her. “It consumes my dad’s life. My sister’s too. Though I probably shouldn’t criticize since I’ve never worked. I’m guessing you agree with them.”
“You’re working now.”
She came around the bar, stopping next to me and shrugged. “Does this really count, though? I’m not really working. I’m not even getting paid.”
“Hey. Look at me.” I took her glass from her hand. “This counts. And whatever tips you make while you’re here are yours. You’ll have earned them on your own.”
To emphasize my point, I put down her water glass and walked over to a cabinet down the bar. It was full of a bunch of junk that we’d tossed into one place so it was out of the way. Every few months, that cabinet would annoy Thea so she’d spend an afternoon cleaning it out. Then she’d tell me and Jackson if we piled it full again, we had to clean it ourselves.
We never did.
The cycle just went on and on. Lucky for me, it was overdue for a clean out, but Thea hadn’t done it yet.
I riffled through one of the shelves and found an empty olive jar. I took it over to Sofia, grabbed a Sharpie from the can of pens by the cash register and handed them both over. “That’s your tip jar. Write your name on it.”
She hesitated, her eyes locked on the marker. I was just asking her to write her name on glass, but she looked at it like I was asking her to doodle on the Mona Lisa.
Finally, she took the marker and carefully wrote out Sofia in swirly, flowing letters.
When she was done, I took it and set it on the bar, making sure that it was front and center. My tip jar was next to Thea’s and Jackson’s by the register, but I wanted hers to be visible.
Because she was visible.
She had more potential than she knew. She had more intelligence than most—in spades.
If I did anything in the next nine days, I hoped to show her that at least one person believed in her, that one person didn’t expect her to conform to a certain role because of her heritage or last name or birth order.
Like Xavier had for me.
The Lark Cove Bar wasn’t glamorous, but I was starting to see why Thea had pushed for Sofia to work here. Not because she needed to be taught a life lesson. Not because she needed to learn about hard work and blue-collar life.
But because she needed to find a purpose.
There was something to be said for serving others. A good day’s work in this bar made me feel valuable. It made me feel like I had something to offer.
Sofia needed to feel those things too.
“Ready for another lesson?” I asked.
“Yes.” She inhaled a fortifying breath and picked up a tumbler from the mat next to the dishwasher. Then she set it out on the rubber spill mat.
She looked up to me, waiting for my instruction.
But the drink recipe I’d made a thousand times escaped me. The ingredients got lost in her rich, brown eyes.
With her chin tipped up, her breath wafted between us, the citrus from her water lingering in the air. The scent grew stronger as the heat between us kicked up a notch.
When had we gotten so close? Her chest was just inches from mine. The tips of our shoes were nearly touching beneath us. And her lips . . . with just one tug, I’d have her breasts smashed against my chest and my mouth on hers. One tug and I’d find out exactly how that lime tasted on her tongue.
Sofia’s breath hitched, her eyes locked on my mouth. Her eyes were hooded as she silently begged me to give in.
I leaned in, a split second away from ruining her lipstick. My fingers were hovering beside her cheek, ready to dive into her thick hair, when a voice filled the air.
“If you’re pouring, I’ll have a whiskey ditch.”
We flinched, breaking apart. I spun around as Xavier led the way in from the back door, down the hallway, Hazel and the Kendrick kids trailing behind. His hair hung long over his shoulders. His black Stetson, the one he always wore, covered the gray strands.
“Sofia!” Charlie shoved past Xavier, running straight for her aunt’s legs. The younger two plowed by too, all three children dressed in snow bibs, boots and puffy coats.
“Hey! You guys all have red noses.” She touched Camila’s tiny nose. “Were you playing in the snow?”
“Yep.” Charlie pulled off her gloves. “We went sledding.”
“That sounds like fun.” Sofia smiled at them then looked up at Hazel and Xavier. “Nice to see you both again.”
“Yeah. Didn’t hear you come in.” I shook Xavier’s hand. “What’s up?”
“Nothing much, bud. We were just out and about with the kids and thought we’d say hello.”
Hazel made her way past the kids to give Sofia a hug. “How’s this place treating you so far?”
“Well, I haven’t broken anything today, so that’s a plus. And Dakota’s been teaching me how to make drinks.”
“He has, has he?” Hazel turned to me, her eyes narrowing as she looked me up and down.
Fuck my life. She was worse than a damn bloodhound when it came to sniffing things out—gossip, trouble or romance. If not for my uncle’s interruption, there was no doubt in my mind I would have kissed Sofia.
Hazel knew it too.
“Can we have some pizza, Dakota?” Collin groaned. “I’m starving.”
“You got it.”
The kids ate here enough I knew exactly what kind of pizza they all liked. Collin loved ham and pineapple. And since he’d interrupted Hazel’s inspection, he’d be getting extra of both.
“Sofia, you’re the bartender,” I announced as I walked away from the group and toward the kitchen.
“What?” she gasped. “O-okay.”
I retreated to the kitchen, hoping for a second alone to shake off that heated moment, but my uncle’s footsteps followed me.
“How goes it?” he asked.
“Good. Slow today.” I opened the fridge and took out some pizza dough. “Tomorrow will be a shit show.”
He hummed. “Call the station if anything bad goes down. Don’t try to handle it yourself.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll call.”
As the town’s former sheriff, Xavier had spent many New Year’s Eves out patrolling the streets and making sure everyone made it home safely. But I had no doubt that if trouble did break out, there would be no need for a phone call. This was Lark Cove’s one and only bar. The deputies would be hanging around anyway.
“Hey, um, sorry.” Sofia appeared in the doorway, giving Xavier a wary glance as she walked my way. She crossed into my space, practically standing on my toes as she motioned me lower.
“What?” I asked.
She waved me even closer until my ear was next to her lips. “What’s a ditch?”
“Huh?” I leaned back, taking in the flush of her c
heeks.
“A ditch?” She angled her head to the side, hiding her face from Xavier as she spoke. “Hazel told me to make Xavier a whiskey ditch. I didn’t want to ask her what that meant.”
“Oh.” I should have known what she’d meant, but the woman had scrambled my brain. “It’s water. One shot Crown Royal in a highball. The rest ice and water.”
She nodded, backing out of the kitchen as quickly as she’d approached, hurrying out to the bar to make my uncle his favorite cocktail.
Xavier watched her leave, giving her a few moments to disappear. Then he crossed his arms over his chest. “She’s beautiful.”
“I know that.” I went to the fridge and took out various tubs of pizza toppings, cheese and sauce.
“She lives in New York.”
“Know that too.”
“What are you thinking here, bud?”
“I don’t know.” I closed the refrigerator door. “She’s . . .”
Sexy. Enchanting. Rich as hell and way the fuck out of my league. But there was so much heat between us, it could level this whole place to the ground.
“Just make sure you do right by the both of you.”
I nodded. “Got it.”
Without another word, Xavier walked out of the kitchen and left me to make the kids’ pizza.
My uncle was my confidant. He was the man I’d looked up to ever since my father and I had gotten into a fight the day before I’d left home for the dude ranch.
Normally, I’d tell him everything about how I was feeling. But women wasn’t a topic we delved into much, mostly because I hadn’t had a girlfriend in a decade. I had no idea what he’d say, especially since he was in love with Hazel.
The last thing I needed was for him to push me into a relationship because he’d found one of his own. I didn’t need him telling me to settle down and find someone to share my life with.
I’d dealt with that shit from my parents for years. Though their “advice” had always come with the understanding that the woman I chose shared our heritage.
Christ. If my parents saw me and Sofia together, they’d be crushed.
Which meant if something did happen between us, it needed to stay quiet. I didn’t have the energy to deal with my family if they found out I was hooked up with a woman like Sofia.