5. Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Kora
D arlene, Summer, and I sat at a high-top table on the patio of Jerry’s Pub. The night was calm and a perfect sixty-five degrees. Mild for a late May night. We shared our typical pitcher of margaritas and a platter of nachos.
“So, finish telling us about this hunk who helped you with your tire.” Summer said as she took a large sip of her margarita and held my attention.
“I don’t think I said anything about him being a hunk.” I replied and raised a brow. Ever since Summer joined us, she kept finding ways to bring Kai into the conversation.
“Well, I used my amazing inferring skills.”
“Wow. Inferring. Fancy word,” Darlene answered.
Summer turned toward her. “I know. My teacher friends should be very impressed.”
“They are, and if you use a little alliteration, they might buy the next round of margs.” I shook the now empty pitcher in front of Summer’s face.
“Well since hunk didn’t do it for you, how about handsome, hot hunk?”
“Good alliteration.” Darlene held up her margarita glass.
Summer clinked hers against it. “See. I have been listening all the time you both get your teacher nerd on.”
“Whatever. I’ll be back.” I pushed my chair away from the table and went to the bar. Quicker service this way, and I really needed to have some space. Summer was being weird. Well, weirder than normal. I leaned on the bar and showed the empty margarita pitcher to Trevor.
He gave me a thumbs up, so I watched the baseball game on the flat screen television on the wall while I waited. It was getting crowded in the pub, and the bar was busy. Since it was before seven, everyone was taking advantage of the tail end of happy hour. Good business for the pub.
Finally, Trevor placed a fresh pitcher of margaritas in front of me. “Thanks, Trev.” He nodded and slapped the bar as he went to fill the order of one of the servers. I picked up the pitcher and made my way carefully through the maze of bodies.
The cornhole tournament must have started because the crowd got tighter as I got closer to the patio, making it more difficult to get through.
I stood tall and twisted and turned through the crowd, concentrating hard on keeping my pitcher of margaritas away from the onslaught of arms and people.
Suddenly a man backed up, and as he turned, he ran into me. “Dammit.” I seethed as half the beer from one of the glasses he was holding sloshed all down my front, and a good amount of the margarita as well.
“Shit. I’m so sorry,” he apologized.
I stood with my arms in the air, one open and the other with a now half-empty pitcher. The rest of the liquid seeped down my arms and through my shirt.
Damn, it was cold. Really cold. At least the drinks they served were the best—nothing but quality at Jerry’s.
No decent words came to my mind, so I bit my tongue to keep a string of curse words from flying.
A chuckle that sounded vaguely familiar entered my ears as my gaze slammed into the beer spiller’s. His disheveled black hair and amazing crystal gray eyes caused a rock to lodge in my stomach. “You again.” Fucking seriously? Why, of all the men I could have had spill their beer down the front of me, it was—what was his name—Kai from this morning?
Kai was still blocking my path. I passed my gaze over his body, his dark jeans, and his beige flannel. He really needed to get out of my way so I could grab Summer and borrow her sweater—she always had a cute cami under everything she wore. Just in case she got hot.
“Kora, right?”
“Kai.” I gave him a nod and squeezed by.
I really needed to get to the table and as far away from him as possible.
Bryson stood when I got closer to the table. That’s a bit much, even for Bryson. He wasn’t usually so kind as to give up his chair, especially when he was next to Darlene.
“Hey, you made it,” Bryson greeted Kai.
My mouth dropped open. How in the world could they know each other?
“Kai, this is Summer, Kora, and my wife, Darlene. Kai’s doing the addition to the hair salon.”
“Nice to meet all of you.”
He was right behind me. I could feel my insides churn with frustration. I couldn’t stay there any longer. “Sorry to interrupt,” I said, not even trying to keep the frustration from my voice. “Summer, I need to borrow you in the bathroom. I’m wearing quite a bit of margarita and beer and would really like to no longer smell like tequila and a brewery. I might have to borrow what you’re wearing.”
“Yeah, you look awful, but if I give you my sweater, what am I going to wear?”
“You always have on a T-shirt or cami. You can share.”
Summer glanced at Kai, then back to me. A look flashed in her eyes, but I couldn’t figure out why. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Thank God. I need to get away and get dry. “Darlene, finish what’s left in that pitcher, and maybe you could get us another since I’m wearing most of this one.” I needed a drink before; now I could really use one. I threw a hard gaze at Kai.
He touched my arm, and a shock ran from that spot up to my heart, causing it to skip a beat.
First, he tries to drown me, now kill me by stopping my heart. What a guy.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to bathe you in beer.”
The look he gave me was apologetic, almost like a sorry golden retriever—well, a golden retriever if they had striking gray eyes. Really striking gray eyes. A sigh escaped my lungs. “It’s not a big deal. I was on my way to the restroom, anyway. I’ll just clean up while I’m there.” Idiot! Frustration finally coursed through my veins. “Come on, Summer.”
I grabbed her and stepped around Kai. I really had to get to the bathroom, and soon. I smelled more like an old frat party by the second. It was disgusting.
I entered the restroom with Summer close behind and turned on the faucet. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror and shook my head. My T-shirt, which was white, was now see through and my bra was visible for all. No wonder Kai’s eyes were large and struggled to focus on my face. I thought it was because he was embarrassed, but it seemed as though it was other interests that kept him from looking up. “Men.”
“What’s wrong with men?” Summer asked. “He couldn’t keep his eyes off your boobs.”
I huffed and shook my head.
“It could be worse. Dude is hot.” Summer unbuttoned her sweater and handed it to me, and as I predicted, she had on a silky black tank top underneath.
“I would feel bad taking this sweater from you if I thought you’d be embarrassed to walk around in that all night.”
“Why would I be? With these jeans, maybe I’ll get the new dude to take notice of me.” She tucked her top into the waist. “Did you see those eyes?”
“Kai, not dude.” I peeled off my shirt, dried my bra the best I could, and slipped on Summer’s sweater. The knitting was large, which made it easy to see the bra underneath. I modeled in the mirror and shrugged. “Looks good. Just glad I’m wearing a cute bra.”
“It does.” Summer stepped from the stall and washed her hands. “So, Kai’s the one you had a thing with this morning.”
I entered a stall and said nothing until I finished peeing and was drying my hands. “He changed my tire this morning.”
“Amazing eyes is the hot, handsome hunk you were talking about earlier,” Summer stated.
“Correction—you were talking about. I told you about my shitty morning. He is now a bigger dumbass who wasn’t paying attention and spilled beer on me.”
“So, if he’s such a dumbass, you won’t mind if I hit on him, will you?”
“Really, Summer. You hit on everyone.”
“Not if you’re interested.”
“You know I’m not interested. I’m focused on my future, and men are no longer on the to-do list.”
“Well maybe you need to edit that to-do list. How long has it been since you stopped seeing Patrick? Time to move on to bigger and better things.” Summer put her arm around my shoulder. “And Kai is much bigger and much better.”
I shook my head, but I’d be blind if I couldn’t see she was right. I needed to move on. It’d been months since I had been with Patrick. We weren’t ever a big thing. When you grew up in a small town like Orlinda Valley, you tended to know everyone, and Patrick was on the newer side. At least he didn’t go to high school with us. He came to town to work for the police department and became friends with Bryson through Trevor.
But Kai. He was sexy in a reckless, not Kora sort of way. “Maybe. But he isn’t my type.”
“Really? Maybe you need to change your guy type. If hot guys with gorgeous eyes who don’t hesitate to stop and help stranded women on the side of the road aren’t your type, what is your type?”
Hmm. Good question. I dated a couple guys in high school, Trevor for one, but high school didn’t really count. I had one serious boyfriend in college, but that relationship only lasted a year, then just dates for formals. I dated Patrick for eight months; we were more friends than anything else. He was funny, focused, and ended up wanting more than I did which caught me off guard.
I shrugged. “Seems like I don’t have a type. Every guy I’ve ever dated was a friend first before we dated. I guess my type will be someone I’m attracted to. Luckily all the guy friends I have are taken or married, so I don’t need to worry about it right now.”
“Yep. I guess you’re right, but you can’t get married if you don’t date, and you’re not getting any younger.”
“Oh, please. I’m not interested in marriage. Anyway, why don’t you take your own advice?”
“Please. There’s no one in Orlinda Valley who can handle me. Not even that handsome, hot hunk. You, on the other hand, are perfect wife material.”
I rolled my eyes. Summer was too much. “Again, I’m not interested in marriage. I’d just like a guy to date occasionally so I’m not always a third wheel.”
“If you’re a third wheel, what’s that make me?”
“A colorful spoke.” I smirked.
Summer pushed me playfully and opened the door. “Gotta come clean. I met Kai at the salon when he stopped in about the addition.” Summer linked her arm through mine and weaved us through the crowd.
“Seriously? And you didn’t say anything? I thought you were acting weird.”
“What, weirder than normal?”
“Exactly.”
Summer laughed, then nudged me. “Looks like you may need to get used to H cubed. Looks like he’s making friends.”
“H cubed?” I tilted my head and raised a brow, then followed her gaze. I stopped abruptly and caused Summer to stumble. The crystal-blue-eyed-beer-klutz slash tire-knight-in-shining-armor, Kai, was still at our table and as I stood frozen to the spot, he turned his head and the corner of his mouth ticked up.