by Marla Monroe
“I’m starved. I think I’ll eat breakfast while I’m there then see about getting some things to clean with.” Celeste snapped her eyes from his chest to his face when he started talking. “Won’t be able to carry much on my bike.”
He took the last step down, watching the way her eyes darkened when that last step put him closer to her. He heard the little catch in her breath even before she put some distance between them. Was he imagining it or was she panting? Maybe just breathing a little fast.
“I need to get my things out of my saddlebags so I can put on clean clothes. Don’t want to go to town in dirty ones.” He winked at her and started walking down the hall to the front of the bar.
“You’re riding a bike? You won’t be able to get everything you need.”
He stopped and turned around, arching his brow and waiting to see if she’d offer to take him.
Celeste hesitated then sighed. “Look I have errands to run in town anyway. Why don’t you ride with me, that way you can pick up whatever you need all at one time. Save you more than one trip.”
“That’s really nice of you. I’ll buy you breakfast at the diner.”
“I’ve already eaten, so there’s no need.” Her smile appeared a little forced.
“So, have a cup of coffee and watch me eat. We should get to know each other a little better if I’m going to be working for you. For one thing, I need to know the rules in order to know when someone breaks one, and what I should do about it,” Tyler pointed out.
He watched her think it over with a calculating look in her eye before nodding. “Sounds good to me. I’ll get my stuff while you unload your bike, then we can go.”
Celeste disappeared into the office and he continued down the hall. When he made it to the doors leading out into the parking lot, it hit him that she didn’t have any sort of alarm system. Living out here all alone, she needed one. He had no doubt she had at least a shotgun upstairs, but an alarm system was necessary. He’d talk to her about it sooner rather than later.
It didn’t take him more than about three minutes to gather his things, deposit them on the bed, and change into clean clothes. He met Celeste as she closed the office door behind her carrying a bank bag, her purse, and a piece of paper. She dug around in her purse and pulled out a keyring. She rotated a key off the ring and handed to him.
“That’s a key to the front door. You’ll need it for when the bar is closed and you need to come and go. Plus, I’ll probably let you lock up most nights. That way I can get a head start on the paperwork,” Celeste told him.
“Got you.” Tyler shoved the key down into his jeans pocket then followed her to the door.
He liked watching her ass sway as she walked down the dim hallway and out into the bar proper. He could tell that it wasn’t contrived. He knew when a woman put on a show and this wasn’t a show. It was all natural, and he loved it.
Celeste unlocked the only one he’d relocked, then opened it to the early morning sun complete with birds singing. The glaring rays of the sun hit him full in the eyes. Funny, he hadn’t heard those birds when he’d run out to get his things. Tyler pulled out his sunglasses and put them on. He’d left his helmet and gloves on one of the tables earlier but he’d been smart enough to grab the glasses.
After locking the bar back up, she crossed to an old truck and unlocked the doors. She had to scoot across the bench seat to yank up the lock. No electric locks. And when he climbed inside, he noticed the windows were hand powered. He liked it.
Inside, the truck looked nice and clean despite it looking a bit worn on the outside. He figured the dirt and gravel roads weren’t kind on the exterior. He could vouch for that after riding down them on his bike.
Celeste swung out of the parking lot as soon as he had his seatbelt on. They cruised down the gravel road to take a left onto the blacktop. He’d come in from the right the night before. He knew what was in that direction.
They rode in companionable silence for several minutes. He didn’t feel he need to fill it with conversation and evidently she didn’t either. He thought about it and she didn’t really talk a lot anyway. He was used to women who talked nonstop unless they had their mouths around his dick. He wasn’t used to a woman who seemed as tough as some of his army buddies. She didn’t take shit and could hang with the best of them from what he saw last night. Yet she looked all woman.
Maybe he’d spent too much time around the wrong type of women. Maybe that was why Amanda had appealed to him in the first place. She’d been nothing like the girls he’d dated before. It was something to think about.
Cleary proved to be a small town with the three major stores lining either side of the street with the diner at one end and the bank at the other. What he assumed from the old world stonework across the front of the building was the courthouse created a dead end street so that in order to leave town you had to use the circular drive in front. Several men stood together talking out in front of the elaborate building. When Celeste parked across from the bank, the men stopped talking and stared at them.
“They don’t appear real friendly,” Tyler observed.
“They aren’t. My bar is outside the city limits, so there’s nothing they can do about controlling it or taxing it. But they try,” she said opening the truck door and sliding out.
She settled the bank bag under one arm as she situated a key in her other hand. He got out and walked around the truck to follow her.
She stopped and stared at him. “What?”
“I’m just making sure you get that deposit in the night box without anyone bothering you.”
Celeste shook her head but didn’t say anything more as they walked up to the bank. She shoved her key into the locked box and pulled it open. After dropping the bag in, Celeste closed the drawer and removed her key. She had it done in less than thirty seconds.
They walked down the sidewalk to the diner where Tyler opened and held the door for her to go in ahead of him. When he followed her inside, the quiet conversations hushed. He could feel the eyes of everyone in the diner watching them.
There were plenty of empty tables and booths, but Celeste ignored the rest of the clientele and located a booth in the back against the wall. She slid into the side that would keep her back to the wall. It was normally his side of choice, as well, but he sucked it up and allowed her that comfort. After all, she seemed to be the one who had the most to lose here.
A waitress walked over with a smile on her face. Her name tag identified her as Velma.
“Hi, Celeste. Good to have you in today.” She looked pointedly at Tyler.
Celeste grinned and rolled her eyes. “Velma, this is Tyler. He’s going to be working at the bar for me. Tyler, Velma Anderson. She and her husband run the diner.”
“Nice to meet you, Velma.”
“Back at ya’. My you’re a big boy. I bet you could use our big breakfast,” she said with a wink.
“Sounds good to me.”
“How do you want your eggs?” she asked.
“Over well and coffee please.” Tyler smiled since she didn’t seem to hold the same opinion of Celeste as everyone else in the place.
Velma turned to Celeste next. “What about you, honey?”
“I’ll just have coffee. I already had breakfast this morning.”
“Got you.” Velma walked over to the pass through to the kitchen and yelled Tyler’s order back then returned with two mugs and a coffee carafe. When she’d finished pouring, he thanked her and watched her walk away.
“She seems friendly enough. How long has she and her husband had the place?” he asked.
“Long as I’ve been here, and that’s been a good eight years.”
Tyler cocked his head. “You really don’t look old enough to have been running a bar for that long.”
“Looks can be deceiving. Believe me, I’m older than you think.” She didn’t elaborate.
He watched her take a swallow of coffee. She didn’t take anything in it and didn’t s
ip like women tended to do. She drank it like someone who was used to drinking it for more than waking up.
Watching her throat move as she swallowed tightened his groin to an almost painful level. Of course, most everything about her so far had his cock’s attention. All those luscious curves begged for a man’s hands to map them.
“I’ll pull the truck over to the other side next to the grocery store, then you only have to walk across the street between the two stores. You can leave your stuff in the back. No one will bother it. I’ve got business to tend to that will take a little while. No need for you to rush,” she told him.
Velma returned with his breakfast. She hadn’t been kidding. It was one damn big breakfast. He ate while Celeste drank coffee and talked about the bar.
“I don’t allow drugs or prostitution in my bar, so watch for that and get them out. If it looks like there are more than a couple, let me know, and I’ll call the sheriff to deal with it. We take care of most of our fights without calling the sheriff in. They tend to take their own sweet time responding anyway, so I handle them if I can. If a weapon is involved, your main job is getting my waitresses out of harm’s way and I’ll call the sheriff. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
“I can handle myself, Celeste. I was in the army. Don’t think I can’t.”
“Still, I prefer you not get hurt.”
He just grunted and continued eating.
“Okay, I’m going to run. You finish your breakfast and I’ll see you in say…” She checked her watch. “Couple of hours give you enough time?” she asked.
“Plenty of time. I’ll wait for you in the truck,” he said. Tyler stood up when she did, which obviously surprised her. He watched her walk out the door then sat back down and finished his meal.
Velma came over to refill his coffee, but he put his hand over his cup and smiled. No more for me. I have some shopping to do.”
“Well, don’t be a stranger. You’re always welcome here.” She tore off a ticket and smiled at him. “I’ll take care of that up front.”
Tyler figured up the tip and left it on the table before settling up at the cash register.
“What are your hours?” he asked thinking he might want dinner some night.
“We’re open from six till ten except on Sunday. We open at seven and close at six.
Thanking her again, Tyler walked outside and looked around. The men were no longer standing outside the courthouse. He walked over to the general store where Celeste had parked her truck. He quickly selected what he needed to clean the apartment and added a few other items. He stowed them in the back of the truck and did a little grocery shopping. He could make the ride there for small things on his bike. After adding his groceries to the other things in back, he pulled down the tailgate and climbed up to lean back against the side of the truck and wait on Celeste.
He checked his watch. She should be back in the next fifteen or twenty minutes. While he sat there, a few people came and went but no one said anything to him. He decided either it wasn’t a friendly town or the town’s folks didn’t much like Celeste and recognized her truck.
While he was waiting, he noticed a commotion at the courthouse. What was the courthouse doing open on a Sunday? Someone had walked outside with several others around them blocking the path. He cursed and jumped down from the truck when he recognized Celeste as the one being detained. Once he got within hearing distance, he grew even angrier.
“Look, bitch, we’ve told you to pack up your stuff and leave. This town don’t need two bars and yours needs to go,” one man said as she attempted to push past him.
Another man reached for her arm to stop her, but Tyler got there first and grabbed the man’s wrist and jerked it back.
“Don’t touch the lady,” was all he said. He glared at each of the men in turn.
They were mostly older men and stepped back, but one man stepped forward. He stood a good six-foot-three inches and though he sported a small potbelly, he was full of muscles, as well. He had a mustache that was in danger of taking over his mouth.
“Who the hell are you?” he demanded.
“I’m her bodyguard, so lay off.”
Celeste started to say something but he put a hand to her lower back and steered her away from the now dispersing crowd.
“Let’s go, Celeste.”
Thankfully, she didn’t say anything, just walked fast to keep up with him.
“This isn’t over, Celeste. You aren’t welcome here,” the man with the overgrown mustache yelled behind them.
“I take it you don’t get along with very many people around here,” he murmured as they reached the truck.
“Unfortunately not. It’s a long story,” she said.
“I’ve got plenty of time.” He climbed into the driver’s side and reached out for the key as she climbed in on the other side.
She handed him the keys and then sighed. He could tell it wasn’t something she really wanted to talk about.
“It all started when I shot Lyle Johnson’s son several years back.”
Chapter Three
“You shot a man?” Tyler stared at her with his hand halfway to the ignition, his mouth remained open, giving him a comical look.
“It was in self-defense. I don’t go around shooting people for the hell of it.”
“Well, I would hope not. If it was in self-defense, then why is he all pissy with you? And what was that about the town only needing one bar?” He started the truck and laid his hand across the back of the seat as he checked behind him before backing out of the parking slot.
“Small town politics. He couldn’t control the county prosecutor’s refusal to charge me with anything. The local judge is related to Lyle, but without a case sent to trial, there wasn’t much he could do. On top of that, he knew I could get it thrown out if Lyle’s relative presided over the trial. I was lucky the prosecutor was a fair man or I’d be in county lock up until the cows came home.” She hated going over all of it. It had been a dark time in her life.
“Why would he hold a grudge about something he didn’t have a case against in the first place? His son did live, right?” Tyler negotiated the turn out of town without looking over at her.
Celeste drew in a deep breath and turned to look out the passenger window. It wasn’t that she was interested in the bland scenery as it passed by. She didn’t want to see Tyler’s expression when she admitted she’d killed a man.
Several long seconds passed before she could get the words out. Even after five years it was hard to admit despite it having been justified.
“No. He didn’t live. I killed him.”
There, she’d said it. Celeste couldn’t turn to look at Tyler without offering up a piece of her soul if she did. For years now, she’d had to endure the looks of the townspeople without letting them see how much it hurt to know that many of them thought she was guilty. What they didn’t know was slowly killing her.
“If the prosecutor wouldn’t press charges then it was justifiable homicide and self-defense. Not much else it could be these days. Sometimes a man needs killing.”
Celeste’s mouth fell open in shock. She had been sure he wouldn’t see it that way. But maybe he did because he lived on the road. He knew the truth about people, that they all harbored a tendency toward violence. Some just hid it better than others. Some didn’t try to hide it at all.
“Well, thanks for the vote of confidence. Most of the town’s inhabitants don’t see it that way.”
“Yet they come and drink at Celestial Nights instead of the other place, right?” He turned and lifted a brow even as the corners of his mouth turned upward.
“Yeah. They come and drink to see if I’ll kill anyone else. They want to be there when it happens so they can testify against me this time.” She held no illusions where they stood.
All Tyler had to say on the subject now was a grunt. Well, at least it didn’t look like he was moving on—yet. Maybe he wanted to stick around and see if she did it aga
in, too. He didn’t talk much and that suited her just fine. She wasn’t one to talk much either, only he was so easy to talk to. That’s what had gotten her into trouble in the first place.
Burt, short for Robert, had been easy to talk to, as well. He’d strode into Celestial Nights not long after she’d reopened it after she’d bought it from the first owner. His bright blue eyes and dark good looks had instantly set her heart to thumping. She waited for him to screw up over the next few weeks as he courted her at the bar most nights. When he didn’t, Celest had begun to think that maybe he just might be worth loosening her rules on no dating the clientele.
When he finally asked her out on the only night she was closed, Sunday night, she accepted. For the first time since she’d been a teenager, Celeste had butterflies bumping around inside her belly. Someone her age shouldn’t get so riled up over a simple first date. But she was and it excited her to be able to have such a thrill.
Looking back, she wondered why she hadn’t seen how controlling he’d been, how jealous and suspicious. She hadn’t wanted to, that was why. Celeste had wanted the illusion to last. She’d dreamed of a family someday, but that wasn’t in the cards for her.
“Do you really believe that?” Tyler’s voice startled her. She’d forgotten he was driving or that she was even in the truck to begin with.
“Yeah.” She sighed and rubbed both hands over her face. “I don’t know. Yes, I think some of them do, but probably not all of them. I’m just tired of the whole damn thing.”
“So someone else has a bar around here, and they don’t like that you’ve opened yours. The old man is using the bar as cover for wanting revenge over his son’s death. Is that about the lot of it?” he asked.
“Pretty much. The bar is his brother’s, and it’s within the city limits, so he has to pay city and county taxes. I only pay county taxes. County taxes are a whole lot less than the city ones are. He can’t very well complain about it since he and the city council set them.” She smiled to herself at his predicament.
“I guess he can’t. Seems like they should have thought about that before setting up a bar. Not a good reason to be mad at you, though. They’re the ones who fucked that up.” Tyler turned down her road, careful of the groceries in the back.