Chapter Twenty-Nine
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
AUDREY
I walk into the Chicken Head Saloon and let my eyes adjust to the dark. With a name like the Chicken Head I have no idea what kind of decorative kitsch is going to greet me, though I figure there will be at least one “Eggs for Sale” sign somewhere on the walls. Instead, the walls are covered with antique climbing gear and black-and-white photos of people in Victorian clothes posing on glaciers and next to makeshift flags stuck into rocky outcroppings on top of a mountain.
I’m sure there’s a connection between the chicken head on the sign and all of this, but I have no idea what it is and, frankly, I don’t care. I scan the bar, which looks like a British pub and smells like stale beer and patchouli, looking for Toni. It’s almost deserted, not surprising for a Monday night at the end of February. There are a couple of men sitting with a barstool open between them, not talking but obviously together, an abandoned beer at the end of the bar in the back, and two couples playing darts on the other side of the bar. No one else.
I exhale. It was a shot in the dark anyway. But after the comment Toni made in the break room, it was a shot I had to take, especially when I learned Toni is leaving the country tomorrow for at least two weeks.
Might as well have a drink while I’m here. I pick a stool at the short end of the U-shaped bar and order a gin and tonic.
“Do you have cucumber? For the drink?” I ask.
He’s old and grizzled with a beard that looks like it hasn’t been trimmed since this building was built in the nineteenth century. He looks at me through narrowed blue eyes and doesn’t answer.
“Lime is fine. Thanks.”
I look around while I wait for my drink. So, this is Toni’s regular bar. Huh. I suppose she feels at home here surrounded by all the climbing stuff and it does have a certain charm if you don’t mind the sticky bar, uneven barstools, and overly chatty bartender.
He lays a napkin down on the bar and puts my drink on it.
I thank him and take a sip. I swallow and cough, my eyes watering. “Oh wow,” I croak. “That’s strong.”
“She told me to use the good stuff and double it. That’ll be eighteen dollars.”
I cough again, and rifle through my purse for cash. “That’s a little rich considering the atmosphere.” I pull a twenty out of my wallet and put it on the counter. “Wait, who told you to use the good stuff?”
The bartender turns and points to the end of the bar that had the abandoned beer bottle five minutes ago. Toni is there, and she raises her beer bottle to me. A flurry of butterflies take flight in my stomach. She slides off her stool and strolls over.
“Hi.” She leans against the bar, all relaxed charm.
My hello comes out breathy and my blush feels like the heat of a thousand suns on my face and neck.
Toni pushes the twenty back to me. “I’ve never seen you here before. New to town?” She drinks from her beer bottle, eyes on mine.
So, we’re doing this.
“No, here for business.”
“What do you do?”
“Import/export.”
She looks me up and down with a wry smile. “You don’t look like a mobster, so that must mean you’re with the CIA.”
I lean forward and whisper. “I’ll never tell.” I very quietly, subtly, inhale, hoping to catch a whiff of the scent that hides in the hollow behind Toni’s ear. It’s faint but enough to activate a stirring deep inside me. I pull back. “What do you do?”
She’s smirking, and I know I’ve been busted, but don’t give a damn. I stare right into her eyes and dare her to go all in. The change in her demeanor is slight. When her tongue licks her bottom lip, I know exactly where this will end.
“I’m the vice president of Fourteener Sports.”
Her answer oozes confidence, and my heart swells with pride for Toni. No matter what happens in the future between us, that week we worked together, what we accomplished, set her on this new path. We were a great team.
“Impressive,” I say. I swallow down the emotions that clog my throat.
“I had a good mentor,” she replies.
“Good mentors are hard to find.”
Toni’s eyes search my face, linger on my lips. “Yes, they are.” Her eyes find mine and there’s a tiny spark I haven’t seen lately. “I don’t know your name.”
Do it, Audrey. Go all in.
“Roxanne.”
Toni grins. She’s surprised and loves it. “Roxanne? I hope you aren’t the Roxanne that picked up my best friend on Saturday night.”
I laugh. “No, I’m not.”
“It’s not a common name. Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“Hmm.” Toni looks me up and down openly now that the game is on. “Too bad. My friend has been walking around in a daze for the last couple of days. I’m Max.”
“Max.”
I take my time surveying Toni from head to toe, seeing beneath the hiking pants and flannel to the smooth hard body beneath. I linger on her breasts, my heart racing, my tongue desperate to feel her hardened nipple scrape against it. When our eyes finally meet, her pupils are blown with desire, the electric blue of her irises smaller than I’ve ever seen them. I raise an eyebrow. Time to slow it down a bit.
“Is that short for anything?”
Her voice is strangled when she answers. “I’m sorry?”
“Max. What is it short for?”
“Oh, nothing. A childhood nickname.” Toni moves closer and rests her arm on the back of my barstool. “I have an early flight tomorrow.”
“Oh?”
“I was going to grab something to eat.” She pauses, her gaze going to my lips. “Then go to bed.”
“Early night, huh?”
“Yes. Are you hungry, Roxanne?”
“Starving. Do you know somewhere nearby I can get something to eat?”
Toni’s voice is low. “My place is around the corner.”
“Are you a good cook?”
“I am.” She’s so close I can see tiny orange flecks in her eyes that I’ve never seen before. “I’m especially good at making sure my guests are fully satisfied by the time they leave.”
I bite the corner of my lower lip and Toni’s breath catches.
“With an offer like that, how can I refuse?”
“Audrey?”
“Hmm?”
“I have to leave. I have a plane to catch.”
I’m on my stomach; a warm hand gently strokes my bare back. I open my eyes and see Toni looking down at me, a strange expression on her face. It wakes me up a little. I didn’t realize I’d fallen asleep.
“What?”
“I have to go.”
Right. Toni has a plane to catch. “Oh.” I try to sit up, but I think my bones have dissolved. “I need to go, too.”
“No, no. It’s before five. Go back to sleep. Lock the doorknob behind you when you leave. I’ll have Max come over and lock the deadbolt later.”
“Oh, OK.”
My God I’m so tired I can hardly think; I barely understand what Toni is saying.
“I’ll be gone a couple of weeks,” Toni says. “Um, maybe we can talk when I get back. Or you can call me if you want to. Or…or not.” She pauses, opens her mouth, closes it. She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “This was…fun. Bye.”
She pats me on the shoulder, and is gone.