Chapter Seven
CHAPTER SEVEN
Owen glanced at his watch. It wasn’t like he was worried about her. Keeley could take care of herself. She was competent, smart, and as much as he gave her a hard time, she didn’t take unnecessary risks.
But his time in the military, and then as a cop, had taught him to respect his gut. It’d saved his life more than once, and he’d learned not to dismiss the instinct. And right now it was telling him something was going on with Keeley.
He and Bruce had walked the property. There were footprints here and there, but it was impossible to say they weren’t from the family or people who’d visited in the recent past.
Same with the fresh tread marks in front of Abby and Bruce’s home. The couple’s cars were parked in the garage, and Keeley’s was in the spot to the right of her cottage.
Maybe the tire tracks were from a delivery van or the postal carrier, or the paint guy Abby’d called to get a quote for painting the exterior. Or maybe they’d been made in the middle of the night by someone scoping out where Keeley Montaigne lived.
Another glance at his watch. Five minutes until she was due to start her shift so it wasn’t like she was late. He picked up the remote and turned the channel on the TV over the bar to distract himself with the Kings basketball game. The effort at distraction didn’t work because spending the day together meant his head was filled with images of her.
Her cottage had a small one-car garage with no room for a car because Keeley was storing furniture and boxes from the apartment in Sacramento she’d moved out of months ago. They’d worked together to make room and then unloaded the contents of the CRV.
He’d known helping her was a bad idea. Like hiring her to work at Easy Money was a bad idea. Sure, he needed staff, but being in her orbit messed with him.
Case in point, she sang under her breath while she’d worked unloading shit from her car. He didn’t think she was even aware of it. It was fucking adorable.
Then she’d found this huge envelope made from pink construction paper and sealed with a smiling heart sticker. Her students had made going away cards liberally decorated with glitter and crap, and her guy friend Yousef had stashed them in her car for her to find.
She’d sat right down on the garage floor and read every one of those cards. And cried. Sure, he realized now she happy cried, but it still gutted him to see her with tears on her face.
It made him think he had to do something, fix something, make it all better. Anything to stop the tears.
Did he need to know she sang while she worked or had a soft heart? Hell no, because it was one more thing that made her too damn appealing.
The other thing that made her too damn appealing? Finding her asleep in her bed that morning, soft, warm, and desirable as hell.
But finding out she’d had a sex dream? Featuring him? Holy fucking shit. He’d never in his life wanted something as badly as he’d wanted her. He’d managed only a shaky hold on his sense of self-preservation, which had kept him from climbing into that bed and giving them both what they wanted.
And now he was getting worked up all over again. He needed to get his shit together.
He pulled the tap to fill tall glasses with Cider Mill Hard and set them on a tray for Dion to deliver to the trio of college-age bros at a high-top table in the corner. They were barely old enough to drink. He knew that because he’d checked their IDs .
He resisted looking at his watch again and restocked the well, then checked the contents of the underbar refrigerator: pickled onions, maraschino cherries, juices, and syrups. All good.
Another minute and she’d be late. A movement in the hall had him jerking up his head, and he saw it was Josie. She gave him a cool look before heading through the swinging door to the hall with the employee lockers.
She could be pissed at him all she wanted because he was damn pissed at her. She’d asked for a ride home. He’d given her a ride home. No big deal. But he sure as hell hadn’t expected her to reach across the center console to grab his crotch before they were even out of the parking lot. He’d removed her hand, and she’d followed up with an offer of a blow job. He’d made it clear if she tried something like that again he’d fire her ass. She could deal with the rejection if she wanted to remain employed.
The memory put him in a sour mood all over again. He’d give Keeley one more minute and then he was calling her. She’d think he was overstepping, but that was too bad. His watch showed exactly four o’clock. He was reaching for his phone when she walked in. He immediately felt that something coiled tight in his gut relax.
She was with him and she was safe.
He sighed in resignation. He was truly fucked.
Business was good for a Sunday night, mostly couples having an early dinner with a few solo drinkers sprinkled in. Once he realized Keeley didn’t need to work up to waiting tables, he’d scheduled her as waitstaff. He listened to her patter. She knew drinks and wasn’t shy about pushing the Cider Mill Farm line.
As he’d expected, she charmed customers with her sunny smile and talent for chatting with sincere interest even when keeping an eye on her other tables.
It was because he was paying attention that he noticed her freezing mid-stride. Owen followed her line of sight to the man who’d come in through the front door .
“ Keeley, baby.” A guy with a waxed handlebar mustache and a stupid man-bun rushed across the floor. Were man-buns still a thing? Were handlebar mustaches ever a thing?
Keeley had a tray tucked under her arm and was backing up when he grabbed her shoulders and brought her in for a hug. “Long time, no see, sweet thing. I can’t believe you’re working at a bar. It’s cool, but not what I’d have chosen for you.”
Keeley pushed back from the embrace, turning her face away so the kiss the asshole aimed for her lips ended up on her cheek instead.
Oh hell no.
Owen rounded the end of the bar, only stopping when Keeley flashed him a warning look.
“ Jaxon, what are you doing here?”
“ Why, I’m visiting you, of course. I couldn’t believe it when I heard you’d moved back to your little hometown. I’ve looked around a bit. I’ll give you that it’s quaint but, honey, you’ll be bored out of your gourd in weeks. There’s nothing to do here.” He spoke in an overly loud voice, glancing around like he was checking that he had an audience. Man-bun’s scan of the room checked when he caught sight of Owen, eyes narrowed and with his arms crossed over his chest.
“ Hands off, pal.” The guy jumped at the growled words.
“ No worries, dude.” He gave a nervous laugh. “Keeley’s my girl.”
Owen stepped forward. “The hell she is. Get your hands off her.”
“ Owen, it’s fine. I’ll take care of it.” She looked pointedly at the guy’s hand still on her arm and he had the sense to release her. “You’re my ex- boyfriend, Jaxon, and hardly even that. We casually dated, and only for a couple months.”
“ They were a good couple months though, right, sweet thing? Take a break and have a drink with me. I’ll pay if you can get us a discount.” He winked. Owen had a hard-and-fast rule never to trust a dude who winked, and when this douche did it, he had to fight the urge to mess up his mustache with a punch in the face .
Keeley must’ve sensed Owen was close to violence because she gave him a narrow-eyed look. “I’m taking my break.” She pointed to a table in a quiet corner and told man-bun, “Go sit down. I’ll be there in a minute.”
The asshole had the temerity to give Owen a two-finger salute as he sauntered off.
“ I don’t like assholes in my place,” Owen growled.
“ Kind of hard to filter out all the assholes.” She circled the bar and grabbed a couple glasses and filled them with ice, water, and lemon slices. It made him feel marginally better she wasn’t drinking with the guy.
Owen returned behind the bar and began filling orders to get caught up. He also paid attention to the two in the corner.
Keeley appeared to be giving it to him with both barrels, talking emphatically and gesturing, while man-bun’s body language went from cocky and open to insolent and surly, his movements jerky as he emphasized whatever he was saying.
Finally, he shoved up from the table, bending to say something in Keeley’s ear. What she said back had him whirling around to stare daggers at Owen. He was all attitude as he sauntered toward the door, flipping Owen the bird over his shoulder before pushing through.
Keeley took their glasses through to the kitchen. Owen caught up with her as she stood at the sink, eyes closed, breathing through her nose like it would somehow settle her. “Take your break. Go sit in my office.”
Her eyes flared open. “I already had my break. I’m fine. I need to get back to work.”
“ You’re not fine, princess. You had a run-in with an asshole with a fucking stupid man-bun. My office is quiet. Go sit in there.” When it didn’t look like she was moving, he added, “That’s an order.”
She scowled, and he thought she’d blast him. But then her shoulders sagged and she gave a terse nod and crossed to his office, shutting the door firmly behind her .
He gave her five minutes before checking on her.
She looked better, sitting tilted back in his chair, though he’d caught her rubbing her forehead. He closed the door behind him, using his foot to roll her chair over so he had room to lean back against the edge of his desk. His office was claustrophobic to begin with, and with both of them in the space it was damned cramped.
“ What’d he want?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. He kept his eyes determinedly on hers when the move pushed up her breasts.
“ First, you can’t give me orders. Even as my boss, you can ask, but you can’t order.”
He rubbed a hand over his face. “Here’s the thing, princess. Sometimes I’ll give you an order and you’ll have to obey it. I was a Marine, I was a cop. That’s how I operate. If it’s important, I’ll give an order and you’ll follow it.”
“ Baloney. It’s not like me taking a break in your office was a life-or-death situation. If you want me to do something, ask nicely.”
“ It was for your own good.”
“ I’ll decide what’s for my own good.”
He shook his head. “We’ll come back to this later. What’d he want?”
“ Nothing. I took care of it.”
“ If you took care of it, then he didn’t want nothing.”
“ It’s none of your business.” She stared up at the ceiling for a second then back at him. He had the feeling she was weighing how much to tell him. “At least it wasn’t your business until he said something stupid, and I said something stupid back. I shouldn’t have said it but I did and now I’m regretting it.”
“ Sounds interesting.”
She gave him a withering glare.
“ What’d you say that’s got you upset?”
This time she looked down, tugging on the hem of her polo shirt, then let out a noisy breath.
“ Spit it out. ”
“ This is dumb, especially after I was mad you let Lou think the same thing.” She fidgeted and began tapping her fingers on her thigh. “Okay, here it is. Jaxon wants to get back together. I don’t know why because, like I said, we weren’t together that long, and it wasn’t great. But he’s unhappy I broke up with him and says he misses me and he wants to get back together.”
“ Asshole doesn’t deserve you, but I’m not seeing where I come in.” He had an inkling, but wanted to hear her say it.
She put her hands over her face and spoke through her fingers. “I’m sorry, but I told him we’re together.”
Satisfaction rolled over the flash of panic. Fake was fine. It was the real deal that he didn’t do. “Good. He’ll leave you alone then.”
She peeked through her fingers. “You’re not angry?”
“ Hell no. If it makes you feel safer, tell whoever you want we’re together.”
She dropped her hands. “No, I won’t do that. I actually want a real boyfriend. Obviously, not him. But thanks. Jaxon has trouble understanding ‘no’ and it seemed simplest to say I was with someone else.”
Owen wasn’t boyfriend material, he was out of the running for that, but her comment made him want to punch his fist through the wall. She should be able to tell the guy no without having to bring in backup.
“ Why do you need to find a real boyfriend?”
He must’ve telegraphed his irritation because she suddenly righted the chair. “Break’s over,” she said in an overly bright voice.
She rose to her feet, but she’d miscalculated because the space was so tight the only place for her to stand was between his legs. He stood too. They were so close her scent filled his head. Sunshine and blossoms.
They glared at each other. It felt like all the oxygen had been sucked from the room. Pink tinged her cheeks and her breathing quickened .
All he could think about was how he wanted to take her mouth. How he’d hitch her up onto the desk, step between her parted thighs, and slide his fingers into that silky fall of honey-brown hair. Then he’d dive in for a taste of that mouth, a taste he wanted more than his next breath.
But he couldn’t do that. Couldn’t let her know he wanted her with a yearning that made him insane. Because if he had her, theirs would never be a casual hookup.
He’d want more, she’d want more, then they’d be in a relationship. And that’s precisely when he’d screw it up and end up hurting her.
Been there, done that, had the scars and ruined lives to prove it.
Whatever it was that had him thinking he couldn’t live another day without the taste of her had to be caged in a corner of his brain with a chain and a padlock, never to be set free.
She stepped back. “This isn’t a good idea.”
She’d gotten that right, because even with the self-imposed restraints, he was afraid he wasn’t strong enough to continue his resistance.
Basic truth?
He wanted Keeley Montaigne.
He wasn’t good for her.
She wasn’t good for him.
But he fucking wanted her.
***
Keeley stepped out of the office with the feeling she’d barely escaped the lion’s den with her life. She pushed through the swinging door to the bar area. Of course, Josie was right there, looking suspicious. “Where’ve you been?”
“ On break.”
“ You take a long-ass break, that means more work for me. You’re in the wrong line of work if you want to be a diva. ”
Owen stepped through the door right after her. The expression on Josie’s face would’ve been comical, except she’d obviously jumped to all the wrong conclusions. Keeley figured nothing she said would make the situation better so she ignored the comment and went to check on her tables.
The rest of her shift passed slowly. A headache had started with a dull throbbing behind her left eye, and by the time the last customer had paid their tab, all she wanted to do was get through the shutdown routine and go home to bed.
Plus, the headache made her short-tempered, and didn’t help her deal with Josie, who’d been borderline abusive all night. Keeley gritted her teeth and ignored the snide comments. That plan worked until she headed for the restroom with the caddy of cleaning supplies. Josie passed her with a fake stumble and jabbed Keeley with her elbow. The second time that night.
Keeley felt the last fraying thread on her temper finally snap and she let loose. “Cut the mean-girl crap, Josie. No more throwing elbows. You don’t have to like me, but you don’t have to be so darned aggressive. Ignore me and I’ll ignore you. But you jab me like that again, and I’ll jab you right back.” The words came out in a rapid stream of irritation.
“ What are you talking about?” Josie had the aggrieved look down pat. “You bumped into me, and now you act like I assaulted you? Get real.”
Owen had the chairs up and was mopping the floor. He paused, glowering at them as he leaned against the mop handle.
Keeley didn’t care if Owen or Jen, who was at a booth writing on a clipboard, heard their argument. One of the cooks popped his head out the swinging door, looked alarmed, then retreated.
“ Here’s real for you.” Keeley seethed, pulling up her shirt to show her lower rib cage. She pointed to the red mark that was already turning purple. “This is from the first time you elbowed me tonight.”
“ I tripped and accidentally brushed against you. ”
Owen was at Keeley’s side in an instant, his expression furious as he scrutinized the bruise. He turned to Josie. “What the fuck, Josie? You did this to her?”
Josie morphed from self-righteously indignant to a teary victim in a heartbeat. “It was an accident, Owen. Keeley’s slow and keeps getting in my way. I only want to do my job.” Her eyes welled with tears.
“ Either you’re incredibly clumsy to be tripping and accidentally elbowing me while doing your job, or you’re lying.” The pain spiked in Keeley’s head. “Given that this is the same mean-girl crap you tried fifteen years ago in high school, I’m going with lying.”
Josie turned drenched eyes to Owen. “It’s so unfair. I’ve worked here longer, but you treat her special, and then she acts like a diva to the rest of us. She’s always been like that. Lots of girls hated her in high school because she thought she was better than everybody.”
“ This isn’t fucking high school. Get over it.”
“ But it’s not fair, Owen.”
“ I don’t give a shit about fair. This is how it’s going to be. You’re to work with Keeley like you work with any other employee here, and that means you don’t make comments, you don’t bully, and you don’t fucking jab them with your elbow. If you can’t handle that, then you let me know and we can terminate your employment right now.”
Keeley gave in and rubbed her thumb over her temple, where it felt like an icepick was skewering her brain.
Tears had Josie’s mascara running down her cheeks. “You’re so mean. It used to be fun working here. Now it’s not.”
“ Don’t give a shit about that either. We need to get this place closed down. Keeley, you’re going home. Josie, if you want to keep your job, you’re on refills.”
“ It’s my job to do the bathrooms tonight,” Keeley said.
“ I’ll do them. Get your stuff. I’ll walk you out. Go home and deal with that headache. ”
Keeley groaned because the look in Josie’s eyes told her Owen had confirmed everything she’d said about being treated differently.
Too tired to deal with it, she got her things from her locker, giving Owen a quiet thank you when he walked her out to her car.