Chapter 4
4
MASON
“Show-off.”
Beck shot me a “no shit” look from behind the bar. He knew full well his bottle-flip antics were impressing the girl sitting in front of him. I’d never seen her before, which meant she and her friends were probably tourists.
“Anyway,” I continued to Parker, “they said I’ll know about my leave request in a day or two.”
O’Malley’s Pub sat on the east corner of Cedar Falls town square. Although Heritage Hill had been built well before the town of Cedar Falls was established, the location couldn’t be any better, within walking distance. Since O’Malley’s was one of only two bars in town, even during the off season it was pretty much packed most days of the week.
“That seems quick,” Parker said, taking a swing of beer.
“Captain called my situation an extenuating circumstance.”
“By ‘situation’ you mean Papa Bennett?”
“Apparently.”
My father loved coming to O’Malley’s and meeting new people. He really was tailor-made for the service industry, unlike me. He had also enjoyed busting Beck’s ass. More often than not, my friend would text me things like, Papa Bennett is at the bar tonight. He just told a woman who I had a 100 percent chance of taking home to stay clear of me. You’ve got to do something about him, dude .
So of course I’d text my father, who’d gotten a good laugh over his cock-blocking success. That time, he’d said the woman was too young for Beck anyway.
“What is it?” Parker was watching me.
“Just remembering the time Dad warned away that blonde tourist Beck tried to take home.”
“The twenty-one-year-old?”
“Yeah, that one.”
“Your dad was something else.”
That was an understatement. “I can’t believe he’s fucking gone.”
“Wild Turkey, neat,” Beck said, sliding a glass toward me. I hadn’t even noticed my first drink was gone. “On the house.”
I lifted the glass in thanks to him and took a sip, the rich whiskey sliding down my throat.
“Isn’t that the woman from earlier today?” Parker nudged me in the arm. “Pia?”
Sure enough, the stunning brunette was pulling out a seat at the opposite end of the bar from us. She hadn’t seen us yet, but it was impossible not to notice her. I’d never met anyone in my life before with such clear blue eyes. Coupled with dark hair and the fullest fucking lips on the planet, Pia Russo had made one hell of an entrance earlier that day. Having just buried my father, I had no business imagining tearing the woman’s clothes off, clearing the kitchen island with my hand and laying her down atop it. But that was exactly what I’d been thinking the entire time we talked. She was sexy as fucking hell. No wonder Beck had been panting after her all day and was in full-blown stalking mode now as he served her.
The guy was an absolute manwhore. We all loved women, but Beck simply couldn’t stay away from them.
“Beck isn’t wasting any time,” I said.
“She doesn’t seem to be into him.” Parker’s surprise mirrored my own. Most women loved Beck. Like Parker, he could charm the habit off a nun with his sense of humor and good looks, but that didn’t seem to be working. Part of my Ranger training showed me how to read body language, which in the field could be the difference between life or death. In this particular instance, it signaled the difference between interest and non-interest.
And she was about as interested in him as I was in hiring a manager for the inn. No one had run Heritage Hill but my dad, with the exception of my mother, when she was alive.
Pia finally looked our way, our eyes locking.
As expected, she didn’t seem pleased. Just the opposite, in fact. I could tell she wanted to be nice, probably because of my dad, but her anger was as palpable now as it had been this afternoon. The woman should really stay away from poker.
“She’s not starting a Mason fan club anytime soon.”
“Agreed,” I said without looking at Parker. Damned if I would break eye contact first.
“Man, did you see those eyes of hers?”
I was looking into them right now. “I did.”
“I still can’t believe you tossed her onto the street.”
Finally, Pia looked away. She’d lasted longer than expected.
“She’s not a street urchin. The woman is clearly capable and will be fine. I already talked to Paul and got her deposit returned and rent cleared for the month.”
“Yeah, but still. She quit her damn job and moved from Oregon.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Which is clear across the country.”
“And what’s so funny about that?”
“Never mind.”
“I still think you should reconsider. Seems to me the perfect solution. You’re about as personable as this coaster.” He lifted up the coaster from under his glass as evidence.
Unlike a lot of people, Parker wasn’t intimidated by my frown.
“What? It’s true and you know it.”
“Fuck off,” I said, as lovingly as possible.
“Suit yourself. But I think you’re nuts. Clearly Papa Bennett thought it was a good idea, and if you decide to go back to work but keep the inn open, boom. Problem solved.”
“If I go back to work, I’m selling it.”
“Okay, genius, let’s think this through. You sell it. And the new owner runs it. Either way, someone other than you will be the new innkeeper.”
I fucking hated that. “You mean someone other than my dad.”
“That too.”
“Stop making fucking sense, will you?”
Parker smiled. “Someone has to have two brain cells to rub together in this group. And it’s obviously not that one.” He nodded to Beck, who’d moved on from wooing Pia and was back to his original target.
Poor woman. She didn’t stand a chance.
“At least we know he’ll never break the pact.”
My gaze shifted back to Pia. “I never worried about him breaking it.”
“I never worried about any of us breaking it. You’re a mean bastard. Cole wouldn’t get married if you paid him ten million dollars to do it. And Beck and I like variety too much.”
All true.
I watched as Pia sipped her red wine. She didn’t glance my way, but instead sat alone and looked really fucking miserable. My doing, unfortunately.
“I never thought we’d actually do it,” I said, going back to the pact we’d made in college never to marry. It had been Cole’s idea—not surprising, since his parents had a pretty shitty marriage. Everyone, including Cole and his sister, agreed they should have gotten divorced years ago, but they stayed unhappily married for convenience’s sake. And for appearances too.
“I did.”
I looked at Parker. His characteristic smile was gone.
“If my dad could cheat, anyone is capable of it. Marriage just doesn’t work.”
“Or it works too well,” I said quietly.
That was the one thing about Dad’s death I wasn’t sad about. Finally, after all these years, he was back with the woman he loved. The one whose death he never recovered from.
“Or that.”
We fell into a companionable silence until Parker blurted out, “You should keep her.”
Pia.
Truth was, it did make sense. But I wasn’t sure about working so closely with a woman as beautiful as that. I’d been able to keep up my end of the pact by dating women who I couldn’t see myself with for more than a night. Pia did not fall into that category. My attraction to her was so fucking strong, the second she started talking I knew I was in trouble.
“I should. But I won’t,” I said with a finality that Parker accepted.
She finally met my gaze.
And stood up.