Chapter 16 #2
Cole’s brows lifted. “Ah. The coffee and book place. My daughter drags me in there for hot cocoa. Good spot. Sometimes they run specials for the kids or games. My kid loves it there. Normally, I see the girl with the pink hair.”
“It’s a good place. She makes a decent cinnamon roll,” I said tightly, trying to figure out why I was irritated that he was even bringing Lila up. He hadn’t even recognized her, so why should I care? Decent cinnamon roll? What the hell. More than decent.
Cole’s smile deepened. “Noted.”
Something about the easy way he said it made me want to plant myself right between him and Lila before the night got any further. I drained the rest of my beer, jaw clenched.
“I’ll grab one more round,” Wade said, clapping Cole’s back as he moved toward the bartender.
Cole tipped his glass to me. “It’s good to meet you finally, Easton. I know Wade has been missing you. Kipp, too, although I don’t see much of him outside of a few incidents that cross over with work. Hope you’re planning on sticking around for a while.”
“Looks that way,” I said. “My family needs me home, and maybe this is where I was supposed to be all along.”
Wade and Cole struck up a conversation about a recent search-and-rescue incident they had volunteered for, but I tuned them out.
I wanted to get more information from Wade about his contact with Rhodes and Redhawk, but I didn’t want to ask in front of Cole.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like him, but I didn’t know him well enough yet.
I stayed put, but my eyes tracked the dance floor. Lila laughed, spinning with Sage, then stumbled into Chloe. She caught herself on the back of a chair, her gaze flicking up and finding me.
For a beat, everything else blurred. The music, the dancers, the clatter of glasses. Just me and her across the crowded room. Her lips parted, surprise flashing in her eyes, quickly followed by something sharper. Curiosity. Maybe annoyance.
Hell if I knew.
My boots were already moving before my brain caught up. She’d fallen for a second against the old post that was in the middle of the floor, her back pressed against it, her head back as she caught her breath.
I cut across the floor, weaving past tables and the line of men waiting their turn for darts.
The closer I got, the harder it was to convince myself this was a bad idea.
I should let her have her night, let her laugh with her friends, but every time she tilted her head back and smiled, I felt that pull like a rope around my chest.
She saw me coming. I knew because her spine straightened and her laughter softened into something smaller, more careful. By the time I reached her, Sage had noticed too; her mouth twitched as if she wanted to say something, but she decided not to.
“Didn’t figure you for the line dancing type,” Lila said, her eyes scanning me up and down in a way that made my pulse stumble.
Her tone was light and teasing, but her shoulders squared up as if she were bracing for impact.
“You have your Wranglers on. And your boots. Maybe I’m wrong. ” She gave me a speculative look.
“Not here to dance,” I answered, voice low. “Came for a beer. Wade dragged me.”
Her brows lifted, curls bouncing as she tilted her head. “So you just happened to wander onto the dance floor with your dancing boots? You don’t know how to line dance?”
I shrugged, ignoring the heat crawling up the back of my neck. “These are my working boots. Not prepared with my dancing boots. But I didn’t happen to wander.” I let that hang for a minute. “You’re hard to miss.”
Her lips quirked, that half-smile that always looked like it carried a challenge. “Flattery from you, Holt? Careful. Might faint.”
I leaned a hand on the post where she’d just been resting against, caging her in so I could lean as close as possible. “Not flattery. Just a fact. Everyone’s looking at you. Might have well been wearing your special suit.”
That got her. Her eyes flicked sideways, toward the bar where a couple of guys from the mill were already eyeing her group.
One had been bold enough to wave earlier.
She rolled her eyes and looked back at me, fire sparking there.
“Then maybe I should get back out on the dance floor so I don’t waste anyone’s time. Give them their show.”
My jaw tightened. The idea of her spinning around for some stranger’s pleasure made me itch all over. “Maybe,” I said, tone sharper than I meant.
“Unless you’re volunteering to be my partner? Maybe I’ll give you a show.” Her chin lifted, testing me.
The answer sat on my tongue, dangerous and reckless.
I wanted to. God, I wanted to feel her body against mine, to see if the spark that lit up with every glance between us would burn hotter up close.
But I wasn’t about to step onto a dance floor with half the town watching and confirm what I wasn’t ready to admit even to myself.
“No,” I said finally. “Not tonight.”
Her smile was quick, edged. “Didn’t think so. Didn’t think you were rhythmically inclined.”
Sage coughed into her drink, badly disguising a laugh. Chloe outright snorted. Mia was busy scanning the dance floor, but the twitch of her mouth gave her away, too.
“Oh, sugar. Is that a challenge?” I ignored them all, keeping my eyes on her as her breathing picked up.
“What do you want then? If you don’t want to dance?”
“I wanted to see how you are.” The words came out rougher than I intended. “Mia’s been coming in early so I haven’t been able to talk to you.”
She blinked, taken off guard. “What do you mean? I’m fine.”
“Fine,” I repeated, not bothering to hide the disbelief in my tone. “Your house gets broken into. You get shoved around by some asshole, and you’re not fine.”
Her shoulders stiffened. “What do you want me to say, East?” My heart jumped at the nickname.
My family called me that, but it was something different to hear her say it.
“That I’m terrified? That I can’t sleep in my own bed?
That every noise in the dark makes me jump?
Congratulations. You got it. But what can I do about it? ”
The words hit me like a punch, knocking the wind right out.
Her voice didn’t shake. Her eyes didn’t waver.
She was stronger than I had given her credit for, and I sounded like a jerk asking her like that.
I’d known that she was doing the best she could by getting on with things.
That’s what people did every day. Got on with life.
Unless I was willing to step up and help her out, I should shut my pie hole.
I dragged in a breath, letting it out slowly.
“Good. Stay that way. Just… don’t be stupid about it.
” I was an asshole, but I preferred her to be afraid and on guard rather than be dumb.
There was a part of me that wanted to rush in and offer that I’d sleep on her couch, curl up with her in her bed, and protect her from all the bad things that might happen, but I tamped that down.
My sister was already shaking her head at me in disappointment.
Lila’s laugh was sharp and humorless. “Coming from you, that almost sounds like advice.” The eye roll told me what she thought about my suggestion.
I leaned closer, the music swelling and wrapping us in its beat, so close that I could smell the citrus in her shampoo and the faint trace of vanilla from her lotion. Close enough that my fingers would brush the soft skin of her wrist, where it rested against her hip, if I reached out.
“It is advice,” I said quietly. “Don’t make me regret caring whether or not you’re safe.”
Her eyes narrowed, just for a second, before she hid it with a scoff. “Grumpy Holt with a soft streak. Who knew? The town is going to get all sorts of ideas.” The pulse in her throat fluttered wildly, and it was all I could do not to bend down and take her mouth. I’ll bet she tasted like sugar.
I straightened before I could do something stupid, like reach for her.
I pushed off the post before she could say anything else.
The music shifted, the dance floor filling with a new set of couples.
The air was thick with sawdust and perfume and the low hum of conversation.
I needed to breathe something other than her.
Wade caught my eye from across the bar, one brow raised in silent question. I shook my head. No way I was sticking around to unravel myself in front of half the town. Apparently, I’d need to call him later and get the information I wanted about Redhawk and their progress on Lila’s break-in.
“Enjoy your night, Merrick,” I said, voice even. Too even.
Her head tilted, curls brushing her shoulder. “That sounded dangerously close to polite.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
The flicker in her eyes told me she’d heard the rough edge under my words, the thing I hadn’t said out loud. I wasn’t sure if it was disappointment or triumph I saw there, but either way, it made me want to stay and tear it all apart to see what would happen.
Instead, I stepped back, tipping my chin in Sage’s direction. “Keep her out of trouble.”
Sage smirked. “She keeps herself out of trouble. Mostly.”
I left them laughing, though Lila wasn’t laughing as hard as before. Her smile lingered, but it was thinner now, her eyes tracking me as I made my way through the crowd.
By the time I stepped out into the night air, the cool mist hit my skin like a bucket of water. Better than another beer. Better than the fire in her eyes that was going to keep me awake tonight, no matter how hard I tried to shut it out.