Chapter Two
At seven on Friday, Maeve had been ready for a good thirty minutes for Doc to pick her up.
It wasn’t officially Valentine’s Day. That had been a few days ago, but the bar was celebrating it on Friday, for all the couples who worked or couldn’t enjoy a special day.
It was also a day for fun, and to enjoy dressing up, which is what she did.
Only this year, she wasn’t wearing a costume, just a lovely red dress that shaped around her breasts toward her waist and flared out at the hips.
The dress finished at her knees, and she refused to wear tights.
Instead, she settled on some cute red heels that went with the dress.
She curled her long hair and put on minimal makeup as she was sporting red lips. To make her lips pop, she couldn’t go full on with her eye makeup. Everything had to be subtle, including her blush. She felt pretty.
Eden messaged her early in the day, asking how she had been. Her sister didn’t know she wasn’t at work. She didn’t want her cutting her honeymoon early to spend time with her. She was fine and happy.
There was still plenty of work for her to do, but she knew it was getting too much.
All she did was work. Over Christmas, when Razor and Eden had been wrapped up in each other, she focused on new products.
Her life was nothing but work—something she promised herself it wouldn’t become.
This is what happened to her parents, and she didn’t want to be the same.
The door rang, and she got to her feet, as she’d sat on the sofa waiting for Doc to arrive.
He stood on the doorstep, and he didn’t disappoint.
Leather jacket, black pants, white shirt, hair slicked back.
He looked dangerous. She tried not to notice him.
Doc was older than her by a good ten years, at least. It could be even longer, but she didn’t care.
Young boys or men her own age did not appeal.
In her thirty-two years of life, she had two boyfriends. That was it. The first had been a disaster. The moment he lost his virginity to her, he’d cut and run. She had been an easy lay for him, which irritated her.
She met her second boyfriend on one of her jobs.
They were together for over five years, and in all that time, he made so many excuses to never visit her.
They didn’t spend holidays together. When they did meet up, it was always in a hotel room.
She was busy, so was he, and yeah, she’d been young and hadn’t put it all together.
She was the mistress and he had a wife and five kids.
Yep, that one sucked—and she discovered that when she went to visit him one Christmas, only to find him putting up decorations with his kids and kissing his wife.
She felt like she’d been sucker punched.
She did not make a scene. Instead, she blocked him and refused to continue all contact. When he finally did get to her, she simply asked him how his wife was. That was it. She was not a man’s mistress or a home-wrecker.
After that, she decided she had the worst taste in men, and she was going to die alone, possibly with cats.
She hated cats and was more of a dog person.
However, her busy work made it impossible to own a dog.
There was no way she’d leave her dog at home while she went and did her work.
Dogs came with families. A family she didn’t have.
“You look amazing,” he said.
She glanced down at herself and nibbled her lip. “It’s not too much?”
“No, you look stunning.” He held his hand. “I didn’t bring my bike. I think the first time you ride my bike, you should be wearing jeans.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t think this is going to offer me much protection.” She felt nervous. This was not a date. They were two friends going to the same dance. That was all.
Nancy called her earlier and told her to have fun, and there were no hard feelings. Maeve didn’t like that her friend didn’t seem to mind her dancing with her ex. It seemed strange to her.
She took a deep breath, then stepped out of her home, closing and locking the door, and following him to the car.
“How is Charlotte?” she asked. His daughter was the safest topic.
“Enrolled in a beginner makeup course, and currently loving it.”
Maeve smiled. “I’m glad she’s loving it. Don’t worry. I didn’t try to paint a picture or anything. I told her what it was like and that it can be quite intense, and it can be. Trust me, it is a lot to take in.”
“Did you always want to be a makeup artist?” Doc asked.
“Yeah, I did. I used to love watching my mom put her makeup on. By the time I was ten I already had a lot of makeup, and I loved going to the beauty counters when I was a kid, looking at all the pretty lipsticks and eye shadows.” She couldn’t help but feel happy about the memories.
“Eden was not one for makeup. She loved computers and they were always her thing.” She shrugged.
“It didn’t stop her from letting me play with her face, though.
” She wrinkled her nose. “That makes me sound like a serial killer, and I promise you, I’m not. I’m an ordinary person.”
Doc laughed.
“Did you want to be a biker?” she asked.
“You can say I gravitated to the role.”
He didn’t talk about his biking life, and that was fine with her.
She knew they both had different paths.
“So, uh, do you like Valentine’s Day?” She didn’t know the first thing about small talk.
“We don’t have to have this awkward conversation.” He held his hand out toward her, and she climbed into the car.
“I didn’t mean for it to be awkward.”
He laughed. “It’s Valentine’s day, and my ex put us both together.”
“You know, I noticed, does that bother you?”
“It doesn’t. Nancy has a good heart.”
“So, you two are as close as you seem?” Maeve settled into the car as Doc moved around toward the driver’s side and climbed in.
“We’re as close as two exes can be, and we do everything we can for Charlotte. She’s my only daughter. My everything.”
“I heard about your son. I am so sorry for your loss.”
Doc looked at her. “As I am about your parents.”
“Loss sucks.”
“It certainly does.” He turned over the ignition, pulled away from the curb of her house, and took off toward the bar.
“It’s a good night. Nice weather.” She never had a hard time talking to anyone. She was quite happy to talk to anyone and just enjoy their company.
This was different. This was Doc. She had no idea why Nancy would even put the two of them together.
The drive to the bar was not long, and she noticed he did park quite a bit away from the main bar. She imagined that was down to getting out at the end of the night, which made a lot more sense.
Maeve climbed out of his car, and he was there, holding out his hand for her to take, which she did.
“Thank you.”
Doc didn’t move toward the bar, though, he pressed her up against the car.
“This doesn’t have to be awkward between us,” he said.
“It doesn’t?”
“No, forget Nancy and everything else that has put us together. Let’s just have some fun tonight. You and me. Treat it like a date between friends.”
Maeve didn’t know if she was going to be able to forget that he was Nancy’s ex. She tightened her grip on his arm. “Agreed.” But it would be nice to remove this awkwardness.
They walked to the bar, and there was already loud music coming inside. She noticed people moved out of Doc’s way as they made their way toward the bar. It felt somewhat refreshing as they did that.
Within minutes a couple of beers were placed in front of them, and Doc moved them to a corner of the bar. There were a lot of couples as well as singles enjoying the Valentine’s Day rituals.
She tilted her head back as she watched Doc take a swig of his beer.
For a long time, she had silently believed him to be one of the sexiest men in town.
She loved an older man, and her type had not changed in the last thirteen years, or even longer.
Since she was a teenager, she was always more attracted to older, mature men.
She took a long swig of her beer, and since she had noticed Doc a few years ago, there had been a lot of moments where she’d just watched him. Kind of like a ridiculous crush. Not for a second did she imagine she’d be spending a Valentine’s Day with him.
****
Doc didn’t mind the bar, or a party, or having fun for some lame-ass event.
He’d have gladly taken Maeve wherever she wanted to go.
She was absolutely stunning in the dress she wore that clung to her body, enhancing the curves she possessed, making it impossible for him to even think straight. She was a stunner, no doubt about it.
Tipping his beer to his lips, he watched Maeve as she watched the bar. It was a little crazy as he stood in front of her, with her back against the wall. He had a hand on her waist, and he couldn’t take his gaze away from her. For several months now, he’d been drawn to her.
At the Easter Fair last year, he’d been able to spend quite a bit of time just watching her as she painted kids’ faces in any form they wanted. She took her time, which made some of the parents irritable, as they wanted it to be slapped on as quickly as possible.
She was an artist. Of course, he knew she was a makeup artist, but this was different. She took pride in her work, even at a silly town event where no one cared. He noticed her attention to detail.
All he had to do was think about her sister, Eden, to know that Maeve always gave her all in everything she did. She had taken care of her sister, because there had been no one to step up for the two of them.
“Do you want to dance?” he asked.
“Hell, yeah, I thought you would never ask.”
She put her beer bottle down, and he placed his beside hers. They wouldn’t be drinking out of them again.