I Got Lucky (Gunns Blazing #1)

Chapter One

The bar was packed, the music loud, but not so much that you couldn’t hear the person next to you.

It wasn’t a club, though there was a small dancefloor.

Couples moved together, their bodies close, while a group of ladies danced their hearts out, a lot of men watching, a couple even sliding in close to test the waters with the tipsy women.

Lucky tried to make herself as small as possible, so no one touched her as she followed her best friend Desiree to a high top table for two.

This was the last place she should be.

Gunn Brothers was a place where everyone went to be seen, to hang out with friends, have a cocktail to unwind after a hard day at work, bring a date for some conversation and fun, or maybe find someone.

She was the opposite of a social butterfly.

Crowds made her anxious.

Getting lost in a book was more her speed.

But this was his bar. Any chance to see him made her heart long. Even though she’d more than likely hide so he didn’t catch her staring.

I’m so awkward. And a coward.

Not that he’d know her in a crowd. She’d only met him once in person about two years ago, but since then, she’d had a mad crush on him.

He didn’t know that of course. To him she was just his housekeeper.

She showed up once a week to clean his place, do his laundry, and sometimes leave him something to brighten his day.

It wasn’t personal, really, because Hawk Gunn wasn’t just out of her league, he was the definition of tall, dark, and broody.

Handsome as sin. Quiet. Deliberate. Strong.

Protective of those he loved and strangers alike.

A hero. He’d saved twelve people from near death the past two years working with the search and rescue team.

And he was broken. Like her.

How did she know?

Town gossip, mostly. Though that was a mix of truth and speculation.

She mostly relied on the signs all over his home.

Things she recognized about herself that she saw in him.

The sweat soaked sheets that told her he suffered nightmares from his time in the military.

The bottle of booze and dirty glass next to the bed.

The stack of books that told her more often than not he couldn’t sleep at all.

The lack of food in the fridge that said he wasn’t eating well enough for a man his size, who was always on the go, working at the Gunn Brothers distillery attached to the bar and for the local search and rescue team, doing anything and everything not to have time to think.

Thinking was overrated. Sometimes all you did was awaken your demons and let them feast on your self-worth while you second-guessed every decision you’ve ever made.

She might not really know Hawk, but she knew enough to worry about him. To care.

His dark moods, past trauma…she could relate.

She’d been through some stuff herself. Things that left her afraid to trust anyone, let alone allow them close enough to hurt her.

Except for the one person who’d stood beside her through everything.

Even if their relationship was sometimes… all about Desiree.

Her best friend clasped her arm and tugged. “Do you see who’s behind the bar?”

The Gunn Brothers bar had only been open a couple of months and already it was the place to be and be seen. Desiree had begged her to come tonight.

Lucky pulled her arm free, took a tiny step away before they could have the same conversation again about her aversion to being touched, and glanced over, hoping to see Hawk, but found his older brother Lincoln instead.

“He is so hot.” Desiree practically drooled.

All three of the Gunn brothers were gorgeous. Lincoln and Hawk were probably the most driven and serious, while Damon seemed the life of the party. He wasn’t around as much. He traveled for Gunn Brothers Distillery, making connections and drumming up business.

And Hawk…well, he’d obviously seen and done some dark shit and carried it on his back like the black cape of a broken hero.

“Don’t start.” She held her breath, knowing Desiree wouldn’t let it go.

“What?” Desiree tried to come off innocent, but Lucky knew any minute the questions and digging about Hawk would start.

Lucky kept her mouth shut about her clients and respected their privacy. And her strange…friendship with Hawk. “If you think you’ve got a shot with Lincoln, go for it.” She encouraged her friend with a shooing wave of her hands to get her moving.

Desiree’s eyes narrowed. “It sounds like you don’t think I’m good enough for him.” Of course she took offense where none was meant. She did it all the time.

And, yes, sometimes Lucky said the wrong thing. “I didn’t mean it that way. I certainly don’t think it. You’re my best friend. You could have any guy in the room.”

It was true. Desiree had an hourglass figure that men couldn’t help drool over.

If that wasn’t enough, she was wearing a tiny black dress that showed off those curves to perfection.

She’d left her chestnut hair to its wild waves, used a light touch of makeup on her gorgeous brown eyes, and painted her pouty lips red to match her heels.

She looked smoking hot compared to Lucky in her basic navy blue maxi dress.

Pink shadow, mascara, and tinted lip balm were about all the makeup she could handle.

Her thick golden hair hung stick-straight down her back.

Nude wedge sandals completed her I-tried look.

There was no doubt who the guys in the room were staring at.

“Lincoln seems so…intense.” Not in the way Hawk came off with his don’t talk or fuck with me face. “He just doesn’t seem like the kind of guy you’d date.”

Desiree liked guys who were all about having fun and getting it on. For Desiree that worked.

If Lucky ever put herself out there, she’d want something more intimate.

A real connection. Someone she could let her guard down with and have a real conversation.

Like she did with Hawk, even if she was too skittish to dare to ask for more than the letters they left for each other at his house when she cleaned for him.

Never going to happen, but a girl could dream.

Desiree’s lips dropped into a pout. “All the guys I’ve dated suck. So why not go for someone different? He’s older, more mature, rich, handsome, owns multiple businesses, and drives a new Range Rover. He built that amazing house on his family’s land.”

Town gossip said it was stunning. All stone and wood with towering windows to take in the breathtaking Montana views.

But nowhere in Desiree’s list of things that Lincoln brought to the table did she say anything about his personality.

Because she didn’t know him. She knew his reputation as a ladies’ man and business owner, most of which was just gossip from the rumor mill and heavily embellished stories from his exes.

Those Gunn guys couldn’t be as good in bed as the stories proclaimed.

Or maybe they were, because those stories were really flattering.

What did she know about really great sex? Her last boyfriend took her virginity at seventeen with kindness and care, then drugged her family, killed them, and went to jail where he killed another man. The only orgasm she’d ever had came from her own hand or her buzzy little friend.

She didn’t want to think about how sad and pathetic that was right now.

Or the fact that Neil was out of prison already because of police mishandling evidence, leading to Neil only serving time for lesser drug charges.

He’d plead self-defense in the death of a fellow inmate who Neil claimed attacked him first. He’d gotten off on that, too.

The asshole was living with his family one town over. Way too close for comfort.

The justice system let her down again and again.

“You’ve got that look on your face again. We are not going down Memory Lane. Stop thinking about the past and get drunk. Be a normal twenty-something. It’s Friday night. We’re supposed to be having fun.” Desiree waved a waitress over. “Two double shots of vodka.”

The waitress nodded and headed to the bar to retrieve some of the best of what Gunn Brothers Distillery had to offer.

She tried to distract Desiree. “Aren’t you going to take your shot with Lincoln?”

Desiree glanced up at the bar where Lincoln was entertaining three ladies as he poured their drinks. “He looks a little busy.”

“You could distract him.” She winked at her friend, trying to be encouraging and not the Scrooge at the party.

She’d seen Desiree stop men in their tracks just by walking past them.

She had the kind of sex appeal that turned heads, for both men and women.

“You’re so…sultry. He won’t be able to take his eyes off you.

” She hoped pumping her friend up would keep her in a good mood.

At first, Desiree eyed her. “And all the guys in here with protective streaks take one look at your sweet, angelic, little broken bird face and all they want to do is wrap you in their arms and take care of you.” Strange how it sounded like pity coming out of Desiree’s mouth, with a hint of anger and…

jealousy? No. Couldn’t be. Next to Desiree, Lucky was just… plain.

Everyone saw it.

Lucky, despite her name, did not lead a charmed life.

Anything but. After her family was murdered, she’d taken over her mother’s house cleaning business so she had an income and the women her mother employed didn’t lose their jobs.

Traumatized by what happened, she’d decided to stay in town instead of going off to college alone.

But you feel alone here, too.

She was so busy just getting through each day that she’d forgotten to ask herself what more she wanted.