Take Me To The Beach

by K. L. Grayson, Karina Halle, A. L. Jackson, Marni Mann, Monica Murphy, Devney Perry, Kristen Proby, Rachel Van Dyken

  “I know you do, sweetheart. We all deserve a warm meal every now and then, not those microwave meals you eat.” She gives me a pointed look.

  There’s a soft knock on the front door, and when it opens, Claire walks in. Duke lets out a hefty bark and almost plows her over as she walks into the kitchen.

  “Hey, Dukey,” she purrs, scratching the top of his head. “I heard Rhett came home today. I’m surprised he didn’t come pick up the dogs.”

  “He tried.” I pull out a chair and sit down.

  Sharon is a damn good cook, and I don’t waste any time plopping a big helping of shepherd’s pie onto my plate. When Sharon and Claire make no move to sit down, I look up to find them both staring at me.

  “What?”

  “You saw him?” Sharon asks, pulling out a chair.

  I nod and shovel a bite into my mouth.

  “And you talked to him?” Claire asks.

  I nod again.

  “Without crying or throwing a punch?” Claire asks. “Because if you cried or threw a punch, no one would blame you, but I’ll definitely need to break out a bottle of wine.”

  Claire and her mother know a little of what happened between Rhett and me, but they don’t know the whole story, and it’s going to stay that way. Some secrets are better left tucked away in a dark closet.

  “I assure you, there were no tears or violence involved, which is a good thing because I don’t have a bottle of wine. And don’t look so surprised. We broke up years ago.”

  Claire sits down across from her mother and grabs a plate from the center of the table. “And you still have the dogs?”

  “No, they went with him,” I reply dryly.

  Rolling her eyes, Claire sticks out her tongue and fills her plate.

  “To be honest, it was nice to see him. I might have some ill feelings toward him, but he was my friend before he was my boyfriend, and I want nothing but the best for him. He looked good.”

  Claire wags her eyebrows. “How good?”

  “That’s my cue to leave,” Sharon says. “You two chat while I go check on Phil.” She disappears down the hall.

  Once she’s out of earshot, Claire scoots her chair closer to mine. “Tell me everything.”

  “There isn’t much to tell.” I shrug. “You know…he looked good.”

  “I want details,” she demands.

  “Details. Let’s see. His left arm was in a sling. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and he looked tired.”

  “Really. That’s it?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “You’re horrible at this. I want to know if he’s gained muscle or fifty pounds of fat. What did his hair look like? Is his ass still as tight as it used to be, because that man had one hell of an ass back in the day,” she says, leaning back in the seat and fanning her face.

  Sharon walks back into the kitchen. “Would you leave her alone? If she doesn’t want to talk about it, don’t make her.”

  “Oh, she wants to talk about it. She’s just making me work for it.”

  “Fine.” Dropping my fork, I prop my elbows on the table. Not the most ladylike thing to do, but I moved way past ladylike a long time ago. “He gained muscle. Lots and lots of muscle. I don’t think the man has an ounce of fat on his body. His hair is longer than it used to be, and it curls around the tops of his ears. And I didn’t get a good look at his ass, but based on the rest of his body, I’d bet just about anything it’s still a work of art.”

  “Yes!” Claire hollers, slamming her hand on the table. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”

  “Shhhh,” Sharon scolds. “You’re going to wake up Phil, and he needs to rest.”

  “But I need details,” she whines.

  “Then go somewhere else and talk about it.”

  Claire smiles and gives me a mischievous look. “Want to go to Dirty Dicks and grab a beer? My treat.”

  I would love to. “No, I shouldn’t. Your mom has been here all day and—”

  “I don’t mind, sweetie,” Sharon replies. “You deserve some me time too. Lord knows if I go home I’ll just plop down in front of the TV, and I can do that here. Phil’s out for the night. You should go.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t sure. Now, finish your food and go.”

  “Thank you.” I look at Claire. “But can we go somewhere other than Dirty Dicks? Now that I work there, I really don’t want to go in on my day off.”

  “Done.” She scarfs down the rest of her food. “We can go to Red’s.”

  Rhett

  “You could’ve told me Mo was going to be there today. Better yet, you could’ve told me she was the one who had my dogs.”

  Cooper points his beer toward me and smiles. “If you remember correctly, I tried to tell you, but you didn’t want to hear it. In fact, I think your exact words were ‘What did I tell you about saying her name?’”

  I hate it when he’s right.

  “Asshole.” I take a pull from my beer and look around the bar in time to see my baby sister, Adley, bust through the front door.

  “Hey! Sorry I’m late.” Adley tosses her purse on the table and drops into a chair. “Class got out late, and my car was parked on the other side of campus. I’m exhausted and crabby and hungry. Oooh! Are those wings?” She reaches across the table and grabs one. “What were you guys talking about?”

  “Rhett was about to tell me how his conversation with Mo went today.”

  Adley’s mouth drops open. She watches me for a second and then pops the wing inside. “You talked to Mo?” she asks around her food.

  “Yes. And I would’ve been prepared to see her if this asshole would’ve told me she had my dogs.”

  “I told you they were at Animal Haven,” Coop argues.

  “Yes, and I assumed they were with Phil.”

  Adley frowns. “Well, that would be difficult considering Phil’s in a—”

  Coop shoots Adley a sharp look, and she snaps her mouth shut.

  I glance between them. “Considering Phil’s in a what?”

  “Nothing.” Coop shakes his head and grabs a wing.

  I snag it out of his hand.

  “Hey! I was going to eat that.” He tries for another, but I slide the plate out of his reach.

  “Tell me what Adley was going to say, and you can have the wings.”

  “Come on, Rhett, you know Phil had a stroke,” Coop says.

  My heart clenches tight in my chest. I’ll never forget the day Coop called me. I was in the middle of training—something I’d been doing nonstop for weeks—when they pulled me out of the arena. My manager, Bill, told me my brother was on the phone, demanding to talk to me. I nearly lost my shit when he told me everyone had been trying to get a hold of me to let me know Phil had had a stroke. I hung up, grabbed my stuff, and raced for my truck. Mo answered on the third ring, and when I told her I was heading home, she ripped my heart out.

  “I know, but what was Adley going to say?”

  Adley clears her throat. “He’s paralyzed on one side and has been in a wheelchair ever since.”

  Son of a bitch. “What?”

  Coop looks annoyed. Good, so am I.

  “What did you think happened to him when I told you he had a stroke?” he asks.

  “I don’t know, Coop. I’m not a doctor. Grandma Allen had a stroke, and she wasn’t paralyzed.”

  “You really didn’t know?” Adley asks.

  I shake my head, and she frowns.

  “It was awful,” she says, lowering her voice. “Mo was a mess, but everyone rallied around her to help her get through it.”

  “Except you,” Coop replies, reading my mind.

  I shoot him a glare. “Don’t sit there and act like I did something wrong. You don’t know shit about what happened between Mo and me.”

  Coop raises his hands in surrender and doesn’t say another word.

  “What about Ruff Time?” I ask, looking at Adley. “Who’s been
running it? She should be taking it over soon, right?”

  Adley and Coop share a look that pisses me off even more. It’s clear they know something I don’t.

  “You need to talk to Mo,” Adley says, resting her hand on top of mine. “This is her story to tell, not ours. I’m sorry you didn’t know about Phil’s condition. I wish one of us would’ve told you sooner, but we were only trying to follow your wishes—even if we didn’t understand them.”

  “I wish you would’ve told me too.” I pull my hand out from under Adley’s and finish off my beer.

  “Speak of the devil.” Adley nods toward the front of the bar. “Look who just walked in.”

  I feel Mo before I see her. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, my heart kicks up a couple of notches, and my cock twitches before I even turn around. If I thought Mo and I were over, today has shown me I was sorely mistaken. Whatever we had is still alive and strong and growing inside of me by the second.

  My chair scratches against the hardwood as I turn to look. With ease and grace, she glides across the floor and props her elbow on the edge of the bar. She’s talking with Claire Daniels all the while. I’m not surprised to see her with Claire; they’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember. I am, however, surprised to see her at Red’s. This was never her hangout.

  Things change; people change. I wonder what else has changed with Mo. I wonder if she still sings when she cooks or shifts on her feet when she’s nervous. Does she still prefer to eat dessert first when she goes out to dinner? Does she still leave a mess wherever she goes? Most of all, I wonder if she still makes that sweet little moan right before she—

  Son of a bitch, I have to stop. I can’t think about that. Not right now, and certainly not after what she did.

  “Did you know she would be here?” I ask, turning toward Coop.

  When he talked me into a beer, we purposely chose to stay away from Dirty Dicks. He said it was because he’s there all the damn time and needed a change of scenery, but I’m wondering if he had ulterior motives.

  “Nope.”

  I grunt noncommittally, unsure whether I believe him or not.

  “Is she dating anyone?”

  Coop frowns.

  Adley lifts a brow. “I thought we weren’t supposed to talk about that sort of thing.”

  “Answer the damn question.”

  “She’s single. And don’t look now, but we’ve been spotted,” Adley whispers, trying to be discreet as she glances over my shoulder.

  I can’t help it; I follow her gaze.

  Mo’s breath hitches the second we make eye contact. She doesn’t look pissed, but she also doesn’t look happy. She looks…unsure. My eyes drop, drinking in the sight of her. She switched out her flannel for a concert T-shirt, and the cowboy boots I love have been replaced by a pair of tattered Chucks. But she’s still wearing those tight-ass jeans that showcase her mile-long legs, and I can’t help but remember what it’s like to have them wrapped tight around my body.

  When I look up, Mo’s eyes are smoldering. Yup, I’ve still got that control over you, sweetheart. My lips curve in a smile. She blushes and looks down at her feet. Claire must say something because Mo looks up and then over at me and nods. Here they come.

  “Family dinner night?” Claire asks as they draw near. “You’re missing a few. Where’s Trevor?”

  “He’s on shift tonight, and I’m sure Beau is floating around the world somewhere. We don’t hear from him much,” Adley says.

  Trevor is my younger brother. He’s a full-time firefighter and helps Dad out on the ranch. Beau, my oldest brother, is a freelance photographer, and we only hear from him when he breezes through Texas on an assignment. Much like the rest of the Allen crew, Trevor and Beau are married to their jobs.

  Claire’s cheeks turn red, and she smiles. “He’s always working.”

  If I were a betting man, I’d bet she has a thing for my baby brother. I look at Adley, and she must notice it too, because she grins.

  “How’s work going, Claire? You’re still teaching at the elementary school, right?”

  “I am. It’s good. I like it, although I can’t wait for summer break.”

  I frown. “It’s only August. Didn’t school just start?”

  Mo laughs, the husky sound wrapping itself around me like a warm breeze on a southern summer night. “She’ll spend the entire school year waiting for summer break.”

  Mo, Claire, Coop, and Adley fall into easy conversation about all the gossip that’s new in our town. I signal our server for another beer, because I need something else to focus on—anything to keep from thinking about Mo and how goddamn beautiful she is. Her hair is still in a messy knot, and I want to take it down and run my fingers through it to see if it’s as soft as I remember. And don’t even get me started on her clothes. Mo has more curves than County Line Road, and I want to strip her out of those jeans, toss her shirt to the side, and spend hours exploring every dip and turn.

  The waitress drops off my beer, and I take a long pull from the bottle. Coming back to Heaven was a huge mistake. I was never able to control myself around Mo, and I see that’s still the case. Not even one day back, and I’m already trying to figure out how I can get her alone, strip her naked, and fuck her senseless.

  We’re explosive between the sheets. I’ve pulled up many a memory from back in the day to get me through lonely nights on the road. Mo was wild in bed and it kills me that I have to keep my hands to myself when they itch to reach out to her. It also kills me that I’m still this attracted to her after the shit she pulled. What I need is to talk to her, find out these secrets Coop and Adley are talking about, and then find a way to get her back in my bed. I’ll be in town for a few more weeks while I rehab my shoulder, and what better way to spend them than with a warm and sated Mo Gallagher?

  I’ll work her out of my system, and in a few weeks, I’ll move on—for good this time, leaving Mo and a lifetime of memories behind me.

  Adley kicks my chair, and I blink. “Move over so Claire and Mo can pull up a chair.”

  “Thanks, but we’re not staying.” Claire tips her head back, drains the rest of her beer, and sets the bottle on the table.

  “Oh, come one, one more beer,” Adley begs. “I can’t remember the last time I hung out with girls, and I’ve enjoyed catching up with you two.”

  Mo smiles. It’s genuine and gorgeous. “If I didn’t have an eight-hour workday followed by a sixteen-hour workday ahead of me, I would. I really need to get home and get some sleep, but we should plan a girls’ night.”

  Adley squeals in delight. “That would be so much fun—”

  “Sixteen hours? What kind of job do you have that requires you to work sixteen hours?” I ask, my voice holding more bite than I intended.

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ll put in eight hours at Animal Haven and then I have a shift at Dirty Dicks.”

  “Dirty Dicks?” I glance at Coop, who suddenly won’t make eye contact with me. “I didn’t know you worked at Dirty Dicks.”

  I don’t know why that pisses me off so much, but it does. It’s my own damn fault I didn’t know—I realize that—but it doesn’t stop the flash of jealousy I get knowing Coop gets to spend so much time with her.

  “I was working over in Brighton at Broadway Bar and Grill, but the drive was wearing on me, and Coop was always on my case about taking better care of myself.”

  She smiles at Coop, and I see red.

  “He offered me a job at Dirty Dicks, and I couldn’t turn it down. I started last weekend.”

  I lift a brow at Coop. “What else have you kept from me?”

  He rolls his eyes, but I’m jealous and pissed, and that is not a good combination.

  “First you tell me about her dad—what are you going to tell me next? That you’re in love with her? Are you sleeping with my girl, Coop?”

  I regret the words as soon as they leave my mouth, because not only would Coop never do that to me
, Mo wouldn’t either, and I sure as hell don’t have the right to call her my girl. I lost that privilege a long time ago.

  Mo lets out a strangled noise, and I turn to see her wide, furious eyes staring back me. “Fuck you, Rhett Allen. I’m not your girl—you made sure of that—and if you think I’d sleep with any of your brothers then you never knew me at all.”

  Slamming her beer down on the table, she turns to Claire. “Let’s go.”

  “If the shoe fits…” I can’t stop myself.

  Her lips part.

  If Claire’s eyes could kill, I’d be dead and buried.

  “Mo, wait.” I grab her wrist, but she wrenches it away. What does she mean I made sure of that?

  “No,” she shouts. “You’re a dick, Rhett. It’s something I learned the hard way six years ago. Sadly enough, I let myself believe maybe we had both changed, grown up a bit, and could move on from the past. But I can see you’re still a selfish prick, and I refuse to waste another minute worrying about you.”

  I push up from my chair and step toward her. “You worry about me? Really, Mo? Were you worried about me when Char—”

  She closes the distance and gives a nice solid shove to the center of my chest, knocking me off balance. “Don’t you dare throw that in my face.”

  We’re both breathing heavily. Frustrated that I lost my cool, I run my fingers through my hair.

  Mo blinks and then blinks again. “Everything was fine until you came back. Whatever this is, I can’t do it,” she says, her voice breaking.

  Her eyes grow suspiciously glossy, and I swallow past a lump in my throat because the last thing I want to do is make Mo cry.

  “No more, Rhett. I’ll drop the dogs off at Coop’s sometime after lunch tomorrow. I don’t want to see you again.”

  One minute she’s here, and the next she’s walking out the door—and out my life for the second time.

  Monroe

  The last thing I expected to see this morning is Rhett sitting outside Animal Haven with a steaming cup of coffee. And there’s a white bag next to him with a familiar donut logo on the front, guaranteeing that whatever is in there will taste as delicious as he looks.