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Blue-eyed Ash, whose bobbed hair was the color of copper, smiled and nodded. “I’m off duty.”
“And being a museum curator is thirsty work,” Kayla said and laughed. “Although I’ll be stopping at one drink. But we got you a glass.”
Lucy chuckled and stared at her friend, who was easily the most beautiful woman she’d ever known. Kayla’s long blond hair and dark brown eyes stopped most men in their tracks.
She lifted the half-filled glass and took a small sip. “Thanks. Are we staying for dinner?”
“Not me,” Brooke said. “I have a foal due within days and with this weather coming in...” She sighed and grinned. “You know how it is.”
Yes, they all knew Brooke lived and breathed for her horses.
“Nor me. I only have a sitter until seven thirty,” Ash replied and inclined a thumb toward Kayla. “And this one has a date.”
Lucy’s gaze widened. “Really? With whom?”
Kayla laughed again. “Assignments. Marking papers for the online class I’m teaching through the community college.”
“Gosh, we’re a boring group,” Lucy said and smiled. “Just as well I have a cat to get home to.”
“You could always ask Hot Stuff over there to take you to dinner,” Kayla suggested and laughed again.
Lucy’s eyes popped wide. Hot Stuff? There was no mistaking who she meant. Her friend had been calling Brant that name for years, ever since Lucy had admitted she was crushing on him when she was a teenager.
“He’s here?”
“Yep,” Kayla replied. “Over by the bar, talking to Liam O’Sullivan.”
Lucy looked toward Ash for confirmation. “She’s right. He was here when we arrived. Looks like he’s not too happy about it, either. I don’t think he’s cracked a smile in that time.”
Nothing unusual about that, Lucy thought. She itched to turn around and see for herself, but didn’t want to appear obvious. But she was curious as to why he was with Liam O’Sullivan, considering the family history.
“You know, he’s not a complete killjoy,” Brooke said about her cousin and gave a little grin. “And if you like, I could ask him for you?”
Lucy almost spat out her sangria. “Don’t you dare,” she warned. “You know how I feel about—”
“Yes,” Brooke assured her and chuckled. “We’ve known how you feel about him for well over a decade.”
God, how foolish that sounded. And, if she were being completely honest with herself, a little pathetic. She certainly didn’t want friends thinking she was still pining for Brant Parker after so many years. “Well, I won’t be asking him to take me to dinner,” Lucy assured them.
“Pity,” Kayla said and chuckled. “Because he hasn’t taken his eyes off you since you’ve been here.”
Lucy’s cheeks heated. So, he watched her. It didn’t mean anything. She might be unkissed, untouched and naive, but she was savvy enough to know when a man wasn’t interested. Even though there were times...well, occasionally she had thought that she’d seen interest in his blue eyes. But mostly she thought it simply wishful thinking and then got on with knowing he’d never look at her in that way.
She turned her head a little and spotted him. Handsome as ever, he was talking to Liam and she experienced the usual flutter in her belly. His dark hair, strong jaw and blue eyes never failed to affect her on a kind of primal level.
“You’re imagining things,” she said dismissively and poured another quarter of a glass of sangria to keep her hands busy.
“I know what I saw,” Kayla said, still smiling. “I wonder what he’s doing talking with Liam.”
“I’m sure you’ll find out,” Lucy said with a grin.
Kayla sighed heavily. “For the last time, I am not interested in Liam O’Sullivan.”
Ash and Brooke both laughed. “Sure you aren’t,” Ash said.
“We’re just working together on the gallery extension plans, that’s all,” Kayla insisted.
Lucy was pretty sure there was more to it, but didn’t press the issue. She was more interested in knowing why Brant was consorting with his brother’s mortal enemy. But since neither things were any of her business, she concentrated on the cocktails and enjoying her friend’s company.
Except, Brooke didn’t drop the topic. “At least he hasn’t wrecked his bike again.”
“Not for a couple of months,” Lucy said and frowned. “He was lucky he wasn’t seriously injured,” she added with quiet emphasis.
His last visit to the ER was his third in seven months and had landed him with a dislocated shoulder and cuts and scrapes. The first was another flip from his motorbike. The second was when he’d climbed Kegg’s Mountain and taken a tumble that also could have killed him. Why he’d risk his life so carelessly after surviving three tours of the Middle East, Lucy had no idea.
“I guess he’s just adventurous,” Brooke said, and Lucy saw a shadow of concern in her friend’s expression. This was Brant’s cousin. Family. Brooke knew him. And clearly she was worried.
“Maybe,” Lucy replied and smiled fractionally, eager to change the subject.
Ash bailed at seven fifteen to get home to her eleven-year-old son, Jaye. Lucy hung out with Kayla and Brooke for another ten minutes before they all grabbed their bags and headed out. Brant had left half an hour earlier, without looking at her, without even acknowledging her presence. Kayla managed a vague wave to Liam O’Sullivan before they walked through the doors and into the cold night air.
Lucy grabbed her coat and flipped it over her shoulders. “It’s still snowing. Weird for this time of year. Remind me again why I didn’t accept the offer to join the hospital in San Francisco?”
“Because you don’t like California,” Kayla said, shivering. “And you said you’d miss us and this town too much.”
“True,” Lucy said and grinned. “I’ll talk to you both over the weekend.”
They hugged goodbye and headed in opposite directions. People were still coming into the hotel and the street out front was getting busy, so she took some time to maneuver her car from its space and drive off.
The main street of Cedar River was typical of countless others in small towns: a mix of old and new buildings, cedar and stucco, some tenanted, some not. There were two sets of traffic lights and one main intersection. Take a left and the road headed toward Rapid City. Go right and there was Nebraska. Over three and a half thousand people called Cedar River home. It sat peacefully in the shadow of the Black Hills and was as picturesque as a scene from a postcard. She loved the town and never imagined living anywhere else. Even while she was away at college, medical school and working at the hospital in Sioux Falls for three years, her heart had always called her home.
Up until recently the town had been two towns—Cedar Creek and Riverbend—separated by a narrow river and a bridge. But after years of negotiating, the townships had formed one larger town called Cedar River. Lucy had supported the merger... It meant more funding for the hospital and the promise of a unified, economically sound community.
Lucy was just about to flick on the radio for the chance to hear the weather report when her car spluttered and slowed, quickly easing to little more than a roll. She steered left and pulled to the curb as the engine coughed and died.
Great...
A few cars passed, all clearly intent on getting home before the snow worsened. Lucy grabbed her bag and pulled out her cell. She could call her automobile club for assistance, but that meant she’d be dragging mechanic Joss Culhane out to give her a tow home. And Joss was a single dad with two little girls to look after and had better things to do than come to her rescue because she’d forgotten about the battery light that had been flashing intermittently all week.
Better she didn’t. She was just about to call Kayla to come and get her when she spotted something attached to one of the old buildings flapping in the breeze. A shingle. Recognition coursed through her.
The Loose Moose. Brant’s place.
A light shone through one of the front windows. He was home. She knew he lived in the apartment above the tavern. Of course she’d never been up there. But Colleen Parker had told her how he was renovating the tavern while residing in the upstairs rooms.
Lucy got out of the car and wrapped herself in her red woolen coat. Surely, Brant would help her, given the circumstances?
She grabbed her bag and locked the car before she headed toward the old tavern. The old adobe front was boarded up, apart from the two windows, and the heavy double doors were still blackened in spots from the damage caused by the fire eight months before.
Lucy knocked once and waited. She could hear music coming from inside and discreetly peered through one of the windows. There were trestle tables scattered with power tools and neat stacks of timber on the floor near the long bar, and the wall between the remaining booth seats and the back room that had once housed pool tables had been pulled down. She knocked again, louder this time, and then again. The music stopped. By the time the door swung back she was shivering with cold, her knuckles were pink and her patience a little frayed.
Until she saw him. Then her mouth turned dry and her knees knocked for an altogether different reason.
He wore jeans and a navy sweater that molded to his shoulders and chest like a second skin. His dark hair was ruffled, as though he’d just run a hand through it, and the very idea made her palms tingle. His blue eyes shimmered and his jaw was set tightly. He looked surprised to see her on his doorstep. And not one bit welcoming.
But, dear heaven, he is gorgeous.
She forced some words out. “Um, hi.”
“Dr. Monero,” he said, frowning. “It’s a little late for a house call, don’t you think?”
She swallowed hard, suddenly nervous. There was no welcome in his words. She jutted her chin. “Oh, call me Lucy,” she insisted and then waved a backward hand. “My car has stopped just outside. I think it’s the battery. And I didn’t want to call for a tow because my mechanic has two little kids and I thought it was too much to ask for him to come out in this weather and I was wondering if... I thought you might...”
“You thought I might what?”
Lucy wanted to turn and run. But she stayed where she was and took a deep breath. “I thought you might be able to help. Or give me a lift home.”
His brows shot up. “You did?”
She shrugged. “Well, I know it’s only a few blocks away, but the paths are slippery and the snow doesn’t seem to be easing anytime soon.”
His gaze flicked upward for a second toward the falling snow and then to her car. “Give me your keys,” he instructed and held out his hand.
Lucy dropped the keys into his palm and watched as he strode past her and to her car. He was in the car and had the hood up in seconds. Lucy tucked her coat collar around her neck and joined him by the vehicle. He closed the driver’s door and moved around the front, bending over the engine block. Lucy watched, captivated and suddenly breathless over the sheer masculine image he evoked. There was something elementally attractive about him...something heady and fascinating. Being around him felt as decadent as being behind the counter in a candy store. He had a narcotic power that physically affected her from the roots of her hair to the soles of her feet. And she’d never responded to a man in that way before.
Not even close.
Sure, she’d crushed on several of the O’Sullivan or Culhane brothers back in high school. But Brant Parker had never been far from her thoughts. Returning to Cedar River had only amplified the feeling over the years. Being around him made her realize how real that attraction still was. She liked him. She wanted him. It was that simple. It was that complicated.
“Battery’s dead,” he said, closing the hood.
Lucy smiled. “Well, at least that means I remembered to put gas in the tank.”
He didn’t respond. He simply looked at her. Deeply. Intently. As if, in that moment, there was nothing else. No one else. Just the two of them, standing in the evening snow, with the streetlight casting shadows across the sidewalk.
“I’ll take you home,” he said and walked back toward the Loose Moose.
Lucy followed and stood by the doors. “I’ll wait here if you like.”
Brant turned and frowned. “I have to get my jacket and keys, and my truck is parked out back. So you might as well come inside.”
He didn’t sound like he wanted her in his home. In fact, he sounded like it was the last thing he wanted. But, undeterred, she followed him across the threshold and waited as he shut the door.
“You’ve been busy,” she said as she walked through the room and dropped her bag on the bar. “The renovations are coming along.”
“That was the idea when I bought the place.”
Lucy turned and stared at him. He really was a disagreeable ass. She wondered for the thousandth time why she wasted her energy being attracted to him when he made no effort to even be nice to her.
Not one to back down, she propped her hands on her hips. “You know, I was wondering something... Is it simply me you dislike or people in general?”
His jaw tightened. Hallelujah. Connection. Something to convince her he wasn’t a cold fish incapable of response. His gaze was unwavering, blistering and so intense she could barely take a breath.
“I don’t dislike you, Dr. Monero.”
She shook her head. “My case in point. I’ve asked you half a dozen times to call me Lucy. The very fact you don’t speaks louder than words. I know you can be nice because I’ve seen you with your mom and brother and nieces. At least when we were kids you were mostly civil...but now all I get from you is—”
“You talk too much.”
Lucy was silenced immediately. She looked at him and a heavy heat swirled between them. She wasn’t imagining it. It was there...real and palpable. And mutual. As inexperienced as she was, Lucy recognized the awareness that suddenly throbbed between them.
Attraction. Chemistry. Sex.
All of the above. All very mutual.
And she had no real clue what to do about it.
Chapter Two (#u4f77e72b-8abb-519b-8efc-f5c1ccbb05f3)
Lucy Monero was a walking, talking temptation. And Brant wanted her. It took all of his willpower to not take her in his arms and kiss her like crazy.
But he stayed where he was, watching her, noticing how her hair shone from the light beaming from above. Her dazzling green eyes were vivid and suggestive, but also filled with a kind of uncertainty that quickly captivated him. Lucy had a way of stopping him in his tracks with only a look. So he didn’t dare touch her. Didn’t dare kiss her. Didn’t dare talk to her, even though there were times when he thought he’d like nothing else than to listen to her voice or to hear her breathless laughter.
When they were kids she’d hung around the ranch, often watching him and his brother break and train the horses from the sidelines, her head always tucked into a book. She’d been quiet and reserved back then, not trying to grow up before her time by wearing makeup or trendy clothes. When her dad died, her mom had sold the small ranch and they’d moved into town, so he hadn’t seen her as much. His own dad had died around that time, too, and with twenty-year-old Grady taking over the reins at their family ranch and Brant deciding on a military career midway through senior year, there wasn’t any time to spend thinking about the shy, studious girl who never seemed to be able to meet his gaze.
Not so now, he thought. She’d grown up and gained a kind of mesmerizing poise along the way. Oh, she’d always been pretty—but now she was beautiful and tempting and had firmly set her sights on what she wanted.
Which appeared to be him.
Brant wasn’t egotistical. But he recognized the look in her eyes every time they met. And he wasn’t about to get drawn into anything with Lucy Monero. She was pure hometown. A nice girl who wanted romance, a wedding and a white picket fence. He’d heard enough about it and her virtues from his mom and Brooke. Well, it wasn’t for him. He didn’t do romance. And he wasn’t about to get involved with a woman who had marriage on her mind.
“You’re staring at me.”
Her words got his thoughts on track and Brant felt heat quickly creep up his back and neck. His jaw clenched and he straightened his shoulders. “So, I’ll just get my jacket and take you home.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked quietly.
“What?”
She tilted her head a little and regarded him with her usual intensity. “You seem...tense.”
It irritated him to no end that she could see through him like that. “I’m fine,” he lied.
Her brows came up. “I’m pretty sure you’re not.”
“Is there a point you’re trying to make?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “You know, most times we meet, you barely acknowledge me. At first I thought it was because you were just settling back in to civilian life and that small talk was really not your thing. But then I’ve seen you with your family and you seem relaxed and friendly enough around them. And you were with Liam O’Sullivan earlier and didn’t end up punching him in the face, so that interaction must have turned out okay. So maybe it’s just me.”
