But Jake did promise that he’d make an effort to get out of the house more, to engage in social interaction and meet people. Which was how he’d ended up at Diggers’ Bar & Grill that first Wednesday night in early May.
It had been a test, and though he wasn’t entirely sure when he left the bar again whether he’d passed or failed, he’d at least had the satisfaction of knowing that he’d completed it. The next week, it was a little bit easier. And the week after that, easier still.
By the fifth week, he was thinking that he might be ready for a bigger challenge—and when he left the community center, he’d intended to head straight home. Yet for some inexplicable reason, he found himself driving toward Diggers’ instead.
Or maybe the reason wasn’t so inexplicable.
Maybe the reason was as simple—and complicated—as the incredibly appealing woman who worked behind the bar.
Her name was Skylar Gilmore, but most of the regulars referred to her simply as Sky. She had long dark hair that she usually wore tied back in a loose ponytail and eyes that were a unique mix of gray and blue, not unlike a stormy sky, outlined by a sweep of ridiculously long lashes. Her brows were delicately arched, her cheekbones high and sharp and her mouth looked as if it was meant to be kissed.
The unwelcome observation made him scowl.
She was about average height, but there was absolutely nothing average about her curves, shown to advantage by the scoop-necked white T-shirt that hugged the swell of her breasts and the slim-fitting black jeans that molded to her sweetly rounded bottom and long, shapely legs.
The first time he saw her, he’d felt a stir of something low in his belly. It wasn’t a familiar or comfortable feeling. But maybe that was because, for the better part of two years, he’d focused on tamping down his emotions so that he wouldn’t have to feel pain or loss or longing.
So yes, it had taken Jake a moment to recognize the feeling as attraction, and less than that to dismiss it. Not only because it was uncomfortable and unfamiliar, but because he wasn’t foolish enough to let the attraction lead to anything else. He had no intention of making a move on the pretty bartender, because he knew no woman would want to deal with the issues that he was only beginning to deal with himself. And anyway, he had no wish to open himself up to rejection again.
But Sky greeted him tonight, as she always did, with an easy smile.
He didn’t smile back.
He had no reason or desire to encourage her.
“Pint of Sam Adams?” she prompted, when he remained silent, scowling at the taps.
He only had to nod, and the beer would be poured and set in front of him. Instead, he heard himself say, “Actually, I think I’ll try a pint of Wild Horse tonight.”
She moved the mug to the appropriate tap and tilted it under the spout. “Eleven whole words,” she remarked. “I think that’s a new record, John.”
He lifted his gaze to hers, saw the teasing light in her eyes, and felt that uncomfortable tug again. “My name’s not John.”
“But as you haven’t told me what it is, I can only guess,” she said.
“So you decided on John...as in John Doe?” he surmised.
She nodded. “And because it rolls off the tongue more easily than the-sullen-stranger-who-drinks-Sam-Adams, or, after tonight, the-sullen-stranger-who-usually-drinks-Sam-Adams-but-one-time-ordered-a-Wild-Horse.” She set the mug on a paper coaster in front of him. “And I think that’s a smile tugging at the lips of the sullen stranger.”
“I was just thinking that next time I’ll order a Ruby Mountain Angel Creek Amber Ale,” Jake said.
“Careful,” she cautioned, with a playful wink. “This exchange of words is starting to resemble an actual conversation.”
He lifted the mug to his mouth and Sky moved down the bar to serve a couple of newcomers, leaving him alone with his beer.
Which was what he wanted...and yet, when she came back again, he heard himself say, “My name’s Jake.”
The sweet curve of her lips warmed something deep inside him. “You got a last name, Jake?”
“Let’s not rush into anything,” he said. “We only just met.”
She chuckled at that. “Maybe you’ll tell me next week?”
“How do you know I’ll be here next week?”
“Wild guess,” she said.
“You really don’t know my last name?”
“I didn’t know your first name until a few seconds ago,” she pointed out to him.
“And I thought there weren’t any secrets in small towns.”
“They are few and far between,” she said. “But, in the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you that I know you’re staying at Ross and Anna Ferguson’s house.”
“How do you know that?”
“The G in Circle G is for Gilmore,” she said, naming the ranch property that was situated behind his uncle’s land. “Which makes us neighbors.”
He considered that as he tipped his glass to his lips and swallowed the last mouthful of beer.
“Well, maybe I will see you next week, neighbor,” he decided aloud, as he took a ten-dollar bill out of his wallet and tucked it under the mug. “But right now, I need to get home. Molly’s waiting for me.”
Copyright © 2020 by Brenda Harlen
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ISBN-13: 9781488069949
Lawfully Unwed
Copyright © 2020 by Allison Lee Johnson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
