Chapter 11 #2
Nancy’s smile was sharp, predatory. “Oh, I think I understand just fine.” She looked me over lazily. “A friend , is she?”
I stared at Nancy as I spoke. “Heather, we’re not going to be needing Nancy’s help around here anymore. Unless she reports a crime or commits one, she has no reason to be in this building. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Chief,” Heather answered.
“Wait just a minute. You’re making a mistake. I have been helping you for a year. Now she’s back and I’m out?” Nancy’s voice had become strident.
“No. It’s got nothing to do with Katie. It has everything to do with my realizing exactly who it is that’s been coming in and out of this station. If I can’t trust you, I can’t have you here. It’s as simple as that.”
“Well—”
I held up my hand. “Stop. Not interested.” I pointed. “There’s the door, Nancy.” I stared at her, waiting. She sputtered a moment before giving up. Good to know my hard stare still worked. A moment later, she spun, her heels clicking on the floor as she made her way out.
I shook my head. “Heather, I’m running up the block to talk with Bear. If you need me, call.”
She wore a secret smile that was all Bear’s. “Tell him I said hello.”
I said I would and then rolled my eyes as I walked out. Fucking Bear .
A few minutes later, I walked into the diner and headed back to the kitchen. The door to the cold storage room was open, so I ducked my head in. Sure enough, Bear was standing on a ladder, his head through an opened panel in the ceiling.
“Bear.”
“Just a minute.” His voice was muffled. “I’ve almost got it.”
I leaned against the wall and waited. He came down the ladder a couple of minutes later, wiping his hands off on a rag before stuffing the grease-stained cloth into his back pocket.
I motioned up. “What’s the problem?”
“Not sure yet. Motor’s working fine. Now I need to check each of the cooling units to see if there’s a short.” He looked me over. “I don’t see a bouquet of porn.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I was such an asshole last night.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what the hell that was.”
“Don’t you? I never thought you were stupid, Aiden.” He just stood there and waited for me to explain myself. Bastard.
I shrugged. “It was just residual adolescent crap. I had a huge crush on her when I was a kid. She’s back now, and my brain is responding to her like it used to. It’s stupid and doesn’t mean anything. I haven’t seen her in fifteen years, and it’s not like we were ever friends or anything.”
I shook my head, trying to dislodge the image of her looking so sorrowful over that baby raccoon. “Seriously, it was just a weird chemical reaction, and it’s out of my system now.” Except that it wasn’t. The small room was making me claustrophobic, so I walked back out to the main kitchen.
Bear followed me, leaning against the cold storage doorframe. Nodding slowly, he studied me. “I see. So, you’re not interested in her anymore, is that right?”
I shook my head. “No, not interested. Not interested in dating. Period.” If I said it enough times, maybe it would be true.
Bear grinned. “So, if I was to continue seeing her, you wouldn’t have a problem with that?”
I shook my head again.
Bear stepped forward and put out his hand to shake. I took it. “Well, that makes me really happy, because I got to tell you, Aiden, that is one fine woman. You know how redheaded women get my engine revving. And her ass!”
My hand jerked involuntarily.
“Ow!” He pulled out of the handshake.
“Sorry.”
Bear shook out his hand. “No problem. Listen, I’m really glad this isn’t going to be a problem for you because I am in serious lust.”
“You know she’s still married, right?”
“I can work with that. She’s in the process of a divorce, so I’m in the clear, ethically speaking.
Hell, this works to my advantage. If he’s been an asshole, she’ll be more receptive to kindness and compliments.
I can work with that, too. I kissed her goodnight, and she all but melted in my arms. Trust me, I’ll be hitting that very soon. ”
I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t thinking. One minute, I was standing there, listening to Bear, and the next, my fist was in his face. I never made a conscious decision to punch him. My fist was working on its own.
Bear staggered back a couple of steps— tough bastard —rubbing his jaw. “What the?—”
“Leave her alone.” Enraged, it took all my self-control not to punch him again.
“What is with you? I’m supposed to keep my hands off her just because you had a crush on her when you were ten? Screw that. You don’t date. I do. And I cannot wait to sink into that one.”
I was very close to beating him. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this angry. I shook out my arms and turned my back on him, leaving before I did something that’d get me arrested. “Don’t talk about her like that. And leave her alone!”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen, but thanks for stopping by, Chief.”
As I slammed the front door, I heard him laughing. Bastard.
It was a testament to how much Katie messed with my head that it wasn’t until I made it back to my office and slammed the door that I realized Bear had just been baiting me. Damn. I had it bad. And Bear knew.
I tried to put Bear, Katie, and that punch out of my mind so I could work, but I kept hitting a wall, a Katie-shaped wall. The attraction was still there, but that was all it was. I barely knew Katie, then or now.
I needed to get my head screwed back on right.
I wouldn’t go down that road again. All I had to do was think about those people who’d come to town for the wedding, staring at me with sympathetic eyes, to put it back in perspective.
No more damn rings and caterers, designer dresses and reception halls.
It was bullshit, and I’d already been burned once.
Katie wasn’t mine and never would be. If it wasn’t Bear, it would be someone else, and as much as I hated to admit it, Bear was a good man who would treat her well.
Until I could think about dating a woman without breaking out in a cold sweat, I had no business starting anything.
Maybe someday I’d be ready for another woman in my life, but it wasn’t now.
Of course, by the time I was ready, Katie would probably be married to Bear, with a couple of kids. The thought made my chest ache.