by Allie Kay
Hanging out at the bar, however, meant ignoring my friends and siblings. Zane came over and tried to entice me back to the party. I balked. Sean was over here and I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could.
Sean overheard. "Go on. Hang out with your friends."
"But I was enjoying talking to you."
"And I'm not going anywhere." He waved an arm out toward the bar. "You know where to find me."
I turned to my brother. "Zane, I'll only come back to the party if you can convince Sean to take my number."
Sean chuckled. "You know I'm too damn old for you."
Zane tapped his fingers on the bar. "Well, she seems to think otherwise. Come on, man. It's just a number. You don't have to use it."
I slugged Zane for that one. Doesn't have to use it? The hell he doesn't!
Sean didn't say anything else, but he did slide a napkin across the bar.
I smiled at him and wrote my number down with the pen he handed me. When I held it out to him, he folded it with care and slipped the napkin into the front pocket of those well-worn jeans—faded denim that hugged all the right spots.
"Now go on back over there and have some fun. Celebrate with your sister. Let me work, you little distraction," he told me in mock seriousness. When I sent him a cheeky wink, he burst into laughter once more. "Go on now, get."
When I rejoined Karly’s party, I fully expected to be teased over the amount of time I’d spent at the bar talking to Sean. Not even Karly, who never passed up an opportunity to pick on me, made a single comment. She only smirked at me in a knowing manner. I relaxed and let myself enjoy the evening with my siblings and friends.
I couldn't help but notice the extra attention Zane was paying Claire. After some blatantly obvious flirting on Zane’s part, I kicked him under the table. "So, Zane, where's Brittany?"
He looked at me in confusion. "We broke up. Didn't I tell you?"
"Nope." That was total news to me. I wonder if his crush on Claire had anything to do with that.
Claire seemed to perk up a bit at that news, but the aloofness she always showed around Zane quickly returned. When some random guy stopped by and asked her to dance, she nearly fell over in her hurry to get up.
Zane sighed.
"It's my party. No one is allowed to be sad. Zane, I think you need to dance. Show Anna some of your moves." Anna rolled her eyes, but she smiled at Zane and nodded. The two of them joined Claire and her partner out of the dance floor.
Karly seemed a little pensive, despite her earlier comments. She kept her eyes on the entrance and sighed. "Garrett should hopefully get here soon. He had to work late tonight."
"Well, at least he is coming. Work is a legit reason to be late, don't you think?"
Karly interrupted me with a squeal. She ran away from the table and jumped into her boyfriend's arms. They returned to the table and snuggled close to each other. The couple spoke softly to each other, unintentionally excluding me from their conversation.
While happy for my sister, I couldn't help but feel utterly alone at that moment. I glanced up at the bar, Sean had his back to me talking to the other bartender. I pulled out my phone and opened a word game.
A shadow crossed my screen. "That's not the kind of fun I meant for you to have."
Looking up, my evening got better. Sean stood next to the table, smiling down at me. My heart started pounding when he held out a hand.
"Dance with me?"
Slipping my hand into his, I let him lead me out onto the hardwood. The last beats of an upbeat song died down and a slower song began to play. Sean drew me close.
"Did you plan this slow song?"
He chuckled. "Of course. I set the playlist."
The crowd around us faded from my consciousness. Sean's embrace became my entire world in that moment. Eyes closed, I pressed my cheek into his chest. Spicy aftershave filled my nose. The steady thump of his heart called to mine. His hands settled on my hips and held me tight as we swayed to the music while the flannel of his shirt soft against my face contrasted with the firmness of his muscles beneath the fabric.
His warm breath tickled my forehead as he dipped his head. I tilted my face up toward his. When he brought a hand up to cup my cheek, I leaned in to his gentle touch. His thumb grazed my lower lip. I shuddered at the intensity in his eyes. I’d seen lust. This was something more than that. Deeper. Hungrier. I should have been afraid of what I might be getting myself into with this man, unknown as he was. But fear wasn’t an emotion left in my body just then. Total desire had taken over. My hands clutched at his shirt, breath catching in anticipation of his lips on mine.
Then the song ended.
Another couple jostled into us on their way to their table and killed the moment entirely.
Sean dropped his hand and stepped away. He led me back to the table and kissed my wrist before releasing my hand and heading back to the bar without a word.
What the heck had just happened?
Sean had almost kissed me, again. That I was sure of. If only that song hadn't ended so soon… Still, I left Garden in high spirits. The line of shot glasses lined up in front of Sean made me hesitate to interrupt him, but after nearly kissing, I didn’t want to leave without a word. So I stopped by the bar to say goodbye. He pulled me in for a quick hug before grabbing a bottle of whiskey and turning away. It took a good bit of effort, but I managed to restrain myself from skipping when I left the club.
Maybe I had a chance with him after all.
But then several days passed without a single word from Sean. Then a full week. Not a call, not even a text. As time went on, I began to lose hope. Perhaps I’d misread him? I’d been certain he'd nearly kissed me on the dance floor. And the beach too. So, why hadn't he called?
9
Sean
One week later
“Will you go home already? Get out of my hair.” Jack crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. “I can handle this. I promise.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but in his defiance, I could also see worry. He didn’t think I trusted him enough to leave him alone for the day. Damn it. I was going to have to actually leave. I had to help him restock the bar first though. I grabbed a case of whiskey and carried it to the front.
“Go home.” Jack snatched the bottle from my hand as I pulled it from the box.
“The fuck am I going to do with a Saturday off?” I grumbled.
“Go work out. Take a nap. See a movie. Make nice with that pretty redhead I saw you flirting with last week. I know she gave you her number.” He narrowed his eyes. “If you threw that number away, so help me I will break this bottle over your head and tell the cops you tripped over those skis you call feet.”
I laughed. “Nah, I still have her number.”
“So, use it, dumbass. Girl spends half the night ignoring her friends and family to half-ass talk to you, she’s interested.”
Interest wasn’t a problem. Not on either side… Talia had made her interest clear, and I damn sure was interested. I shouldn’t be. I didn’t need the distraction or complications that came with dating. But maybe spending a little time with a beautiful woman would help me relax.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Think too long and you’ll lose your shot.” He elbowed me away from the whiskey. “Go. Call her. She may already have plans. But at least you’ll know.”
“Yeah.”
“What are you going to do if she’s free?”
“Hell if I know.” I shrugged. I hadn’t had a Saturday off since I’d bought this club. I ran my hand down the bar. This place had become my entire life. “Maybe I’ll go up to Garden Falls. Haven’t been up there in a while.”
“All right then. Now you have a plan, so call her.”
I leaned back against the bar and pulled my phone from my jean pocket. Pulling up the phone app, I typed in her number and hit call.
“Memorized… you are already whipped.” Jack mock-whispered. “This is going to
be fun to watch.”
Flipping him off, I walked back to the office. I’d just stepped in the door when she answered.
She greeted me with a quivering, "Hello?"
"Uh, Talia?" The shake in her voice bugged me.
"Sean! I didn't think you would call."
"I nearly didn't. I'm still not sure us spending time together is a great idea. But," I trailed off for a second, "I want to. I thought I'd go hiking today, up at the state park north of town. I wondered maybe if you were interested in going."
"I'd love to go with you. When did you want to leave?"
I considered backing out for a minute.
No.
I wasn’t going to be that guy. And Jack needed me to show him trust and let him run this shift. Even if the thought of leaving my club on a Saturday night physically hurt. "Could you be ready to leave in, uh…” I glanced down at my watch. “Say half an hour?"
She agreed and I hung up the phone.
I let Jack know I was leaving and he damn near pushed me out the door. After years locked up, he seemed to have something to prove. I was the same way a few years ago. A familiar ball formed in my throat. Hell, still was. Who was I trying to kid? I hadn’t passed that stage myself yet.
After several years on the outside, a successful business that was making me more money than I’d ever expected, and a growing group of solid friends I could count on, those insecurities still popped their ugly heads up. That little voice that said, “You’re not good enough,” still followed me around. Maybe the little fucker was an ingrained part of my personality now, I don’t know.
I’d spent years smothering him beneath a heroin haze, but now that I was clean, I had to deal with him, day by day. One moment at a time. Right now, that insecure voice was telling me that I shouldn’t be within ten feet of Talia Richmond. Girls like her didn’t date former addicts with a criminal record.
Talia sat on the front steps waiting when I drove up. Her smile set my heart into a weird flutter, but it also shut the stupid insecurity off for the moment. Clearly, that part of me was as taken with her as the rest.
Spending time with her was walking a dangerous line, but I was already too far gone to turn back.
We headed north to the state park. “Have you ever been up here before?”
She looked out the window as we drove. “We came once when I was little on a field trip and it started pouring rain so I only saw the giftshop and the event room. And my parents brought us up here once and my mom managed to sprain her ankle ten feet down the trail so we had to leave almost immediately. And I guess I’ve been too lazy to drive the hour up here to see it since I’ve been capable of coming alone. Sad, huh?”
“You’d be surprised how often people don’t see things that are right in front of them.”
She murmured an agreement and returned her focus to the window. Just how much would it take to really draw her out of her shell? To get her to open up all the time like she seemed to want to do?
"Which trail do you want to try?" I asked after we’d arrived, looking at a map of the trails. The main trail head started close to the parking area and split into three separate trails. The first looped quickly around the visitors' center while the other two were longer.
"The one to Garden Falls? I know it's the longest of the trails, but I've never seen the falls and I've heard that it's beautiful."
I chuckled. "That's my favorite trail. I hoped you'd pick that one. It's where the name of my club came from."
"You own the club?"
"Yeah. Bought it almost three years ago.”
“It wasn’t called Garden before, was it? Or maybe it only caught on then?”
“I changed the name. The old owner had it set up as a rough joint that catered to an even rougher crowd. I wanted a place where teenagers and even older people would be able to come have a good time and be safe. Cut out the riff-raff, ya know?”
“I think you might have succeeded. It’s been crazy busy when I’ve been in.” She smiled. “I think it’s beautiful. Which is a weird thing to think about a bar.”
“Who says a club can’t be pretty. I restored the brick, uncovered all the stained glass. I built all the planters myself. You've seen all the plants we have. I wanted it to live up to its name and feel like you were in a garden. You know that it used to be a church originally? Who'd have thought someone would put a bar in an old church, but it works." Grinning at her, I shrugged.
"And you named it after a waterfall?" Her eyebrow raised.
Everyone was a skeptic. "Yeah. Wait until you see it, then you'll understand. It's tranquil. Peaceful. The area around it is all lush and green, plants everywhere. The sound of the waterfall rushing over the rocks makes me never want to leave. I come up here a lot to just sit and think."
The trail proved more difficult for her than I’d thought. Talia fell behind a couple times before I motioned her ahead of me so that she could set the pace. She stepped on a branch and her foot slid down the packed earth path. “Oh shit!” she squealed.
I grabbed her and kept her from falling on her ass. Clutching her waist, I hauled her back against my chest. My hand had bunched up the cotton of her T-shirt and now laid on her bare stomach. I held her close until she regained her footing. My hand caressed her waist when I withdrew it. Fuck! Being just friends might be the death of me.
10
Talia
When we reached the waterfall, his zealous love for the area made sense. I’d never seen anything more beautiful in my life. From high above the trail, the water fell through a canopy of trees into a small pool. The trail skirted around the edges of the pool and led to a large outcropping of rocks. Beneath the massive old trees, smaller plants filled the understory. Even this late in the year, wildflowers were everywhere and ferns spilled over the path, softening the edges. In awe, I spun slowly, taking it all in.
After admiring the scenery, I turned toward Sean. He looked like he belonged there. Leaning against a large boulder, he seemed to be taking in my every movement. His stance brought him down closer to my height. The smile on his face set something fluttering in my chest. Caught off-guard, I simply reacted. I stepped close and slipped between his legs, tugging his head down toward mine for a kiss. For a moment, he stood as still as the stone he leaned against. Then he growled deeply and wrapped his arms around me.
His lips pressed hard against mine; his tongue slipped into my mouth and battled mine for control. Tangling a hand in my hair, Sean adjusted the tilt of my head and deepened the kiss. He hadn't shaved that morning and the rough stubble on his chin rubbed against my face.
Clutching at the soft cotton encasing his powerful shoulders, I moaned into his mouth. He pulled his lips from mine and kissed his way down my cheek. Burying his face against my throat, Sean nipped and kissed. My knees gave way, but Sean's strong arms kept me upright. He flicked his tongue against a sensitive spot and my toes curled. Tugging his hair, I directed him back up and captured his lips with my own once more. And then, as fast as it began, it was over.
Sean pushed me away and put some distance between us. His voice was gruff, but he refused to make eye contact. "We can't do this. Talia, I'm not the guy you want. I can't be what you need. What you deserve. You have no fucking clue what you would be getting into with me."
“Don't I get a say? What if I want you?" I argued. I grabbed his arm trying to get him to look at me. He shook free of my grasp and turned to head toward the car. "Sean, what the hell? You set me on fire with that scorching kiss and then reject me? I don't understand.”
"Let's head back. I'll take you home." He spoke in such a serious tone. A tone I’d heard from my dad a lot. We always called it Dad's no-arguing voice.
Was it really too much to ask to just get to know him?
He started back up the trail. I was reluctant to follow, but I needed him to drive me home. I’d ruined everything with a single kiss. The best kiss ever, my traitorous libido hissed. My lips still tingled from the power in his ki
ss which only confused me more. I wanted him more than anything right now, but it seemed like he didn't feel the same. Yet if he wasn't interested, why did he kiss me back? Sean was sending out so many mixed messages I doubt he even knew what he wanted.
Sean stomped back to the car, and while he held the door for me, he didn't say a word. The tense car ride brought tears to my eyes. He spoke as few words as possible for the entire drive. I’d clearly made him mad. I was so good at making guys mad. And if Sean decided to act even a little bit like Caleb had, I was in for it. By the time he pulled up at my house, I’d given up on holding back the tears now running down my face. Sobs were now fighting to explode out. I couldn't even look at him. Sean tried to help me out of the car and moved to walk me inside.
"Leave me alone," I shouted at him on the sidewalk in front of my house and shoved against his broad chest. He took a step back, hands outstretched, and I flinched before hurrying up on the porch and slamming the door shut.
Sean got back in his car and I watched him drive out of my life, unable to stop him, then ran upstairs to my room and bawled into my pillow.
11
Talia
A firm knock pulled me out of my self-pity. I swiped at my eyes and went downstairs to answer the door. I peeked out before opening the door. The next-door neighbor stood on the front porch. My voice rasped when I spoke. "Hi, Jess. Mom's not here right now."
"Well, I came to talk to you, actually." Jess paused to take a deep breath. Her eyes scanned me and I flinched back under the intense scrutiny from the off-duty police officer. "I watched you enter the house crying after shouting at Sean Turner to leave you alone. I wanted to make sure you were okay, honey."