Tony entered the bar and looked around for familiar faces. The crowd was light at this hour; he didn’t recognize anyone but the owner, Rico Donati. The rest were probably vacationers—like the mother and toddler who’d fallen into the river. The county’s mountains were dotted with vacation rentals occupied by tourists who were unfamiliar with how quickly the waters could rise during flash-flooding conditions.
Don’t think about them anymore tonight.
A brunette at the end of the bar met his gaze and smiled. Yeah. She’d be the perfect distraction for a few hours until he was numb enough to go home to bed.
“Tony? What are you doing here?” Rico asked as he polished some bar glasses and gave Tony a piercing stare.
“Looking for a beer and some company.”
“One beer coming up.” Rico started to pull the tap lever on Tony’s usual light beer. “I don’t have to help you in the company territory, though.” Rico glanced at the woman at the end of the bar.
“Make it a G’Knight Imperial Red tonight.” Tony needed to break out of his routine.
Rico gave Tony an understanding nod.
Tony definitely had no intention of gabbing with Rico about what had happened today. But unable to stand being alone with his thoughts tonight, Tony gravitated toward the brunette who sat drinking an IPA from a local brewery. “Mind if I join you?”
“Help yourself,” she said, indicating the vacant stool next to her.
Soon after Tony sat down, Rico set his can of beer and a frosted pub glass on the bar beside him. “First one’s on me. Sorry about what happened on today’s run, Tony.”
Tony shrugged, immediately realizing that came across as uncaring but not ready to admit to himself that all hope was lost. Not until the bodies were recovered anyway. Of course, if the two were indeed dead, there would be no one to blame but himself as being the direct reason Rafe’s crew had been unable to rescue them.
Give it a rest for now.
The last thing Tony intended to talk about tonight was what had happened earlier, but he needed to give Rico some kind of response. “Fresh search teams are working through the night. I’ll be back up there at first light if they aren’t found by then.” He could volunteer with search and rescue all day if needed, because he wasn’t on duty at the station until Tuesday morning. “Thanks for the beer, but open a tab anyway.” He’d need several to reach the level of numbness he sought.
“You were involved in the drowning accident I’ve been hearing about?” the woman asked.
Tony sighed. Thanks a lot, Rico. “We don’t know that anyone drowned yet.”
Yes, we do.
She nodded. “So you’re with the local fire department,” she said, pointing to his T-shirt.
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry your community is going through this. My brother’s a firefighter, and I know how devastated he’d be if it happened to his folks.” The lines at the corners of her eyes softened, whether with sympathy or interest, he didn’t know. Maybe she was a badge bunny—turned on by first responders. “This has to be hard on all of you.” Definitely sympathy.
“It is.” And if I hadn’t butted in on the rescue, the mother and her daughter might have been saved already. Time to change the subject. “What brings you to Aspen Corners?”
She informed him she’d been a bridesmaid in a wedding in Kansas City Saturday and was passing through on her way home to Utah. “I took a little detour to see Breckenridge and decided to take backroads home.”
Mention of a wedding had him thinking about Angelina’s. Jesus, had that just been yesterday? Seemed like a year ago. She and Marc were probably somewhere over the Atlantic by now on their way to the Sicilian honeymoon Marc intended to surprise her with.
Anywhere but Aspen Corners sounded good to him right about now. His left leg started to shake, but he got it quickly back under control by shifting his position on the bar stool. He downed the rest of the first beer and signaled for Rico to bring him another, hoping for a quick buzz to take the edge off. He also ordered another Calypso for her.
When Rico set the beers in front of each of them, Tony asked the brunette—did she say what her name was?—if she’d like to shoot some pool.
“I’d love to.” She picked up her bottle.
Half an hour later, after finishing his third beer, Tony wasn’t ready to quit yet. As he thought about whether he’d order a fourth one, he waited for the woman to take her next shot. Had she undone another button on her blouse? Her cleavage practically spilled onto the table as she leaned down for the shot. And missed.
Thoughts of a one-night stand crossed his mind, because the only things that would take his mind off today would be booze or sex—and the booze clearly wasn’t working.
Testing the waters, he came around the table and offered to give her a pointer on how to make that missed shot. She bent over the table again, and he wrapped his arm around her belly and running his other hand lightly down her arm to the hand holding the cue stick. She shivered and ground her hip into him until his cock stirred. Definitely interested.
They brushed up against each other a few more times as the game progressed, each time the woman becoming more blatant. He wasn’t the only one giving off signals for something more to happen between them.
After the game ended and she had congratulated him on his win, she smiled at him. “I’m staying in Fairchance. If you’d rather not be alone tonight, maybe we could…” She shrugged as her words faded away then her gaze dropped to his bulging crotch.
Hell, yeah. As long as he managed a couple of hours of sleep between now and seven o’clock when he needed to get up and ready to rejoin the search. It hadn’t been deemed
