Because of Lila

  Lila Kate

  SEA BREEZE, ALABAMA was similar to Rosemary, but it was completely different. The beaches looked the same. Sea Breeze and Rosemary were on the same coast. However, the town of Sea Breeze was . . . well . . . less structured. There was no country club, and the stores weren’t high end. There were souvenir stores with large tacky floats outside and airbrushed t-shirts that you would never see along the streets of Rosemary Beach. I loved it. The realness. The neon yellow signs flashing Free Hermit Crabs and Twenty-Four-Hour Breakfast and All You Can Eat Shrimp made me feel like I was in another world already.

  My GPS was programmed to lead me to Nate’s, but they weren’t expecting me until later. I wanted to explore first. And to have some time to myself before I had to talk about my plans yet again. And Nate would ask. My actions were so out of character for me that I was expecting him to ask a lot of questions.

  I made a quick call to let Mom know I made it to Sea Breeze safely, was doing some shopping and exploring, and that I’d call when I got to Nate’s later. That way she’d relax and stop worrying. I decided to drive around until I saw another neon sign that said Live Music and Fresh Crab, so I turned in. It was almost six o’clock, and I had told Nate and Bliss I would eat dinner before I got there. This looked like a good place to stop. The building was crowded already, so I could just blend in.

  The music could be heard pouring from the speakers inside out into the parking lot. It wasn’t bad. Not my thing but then I was changing me so I should learn to enjoy this kind of thing. Walking inside, I realized this was a bar. I was second guessing my decision to eat here when I realized that was an old Lila Kate way of thinking. The new Lila Kate was good with bar food. She’d try it.

  The tables surrounding the place were tall with stools. They were also packed with girls in tiny shorts, halter tops and some wearing their bikini tops. Summer was over, but it was still hot outside. Fall didn’t arrive until late October here. Tourists still came to the area, but the way everyone seemed to know each other, I wondered if this was the local crowd.

  I decided to take one of the empty spots at the bar. The bartender was female which made me feel more relaxed. I sat down and turned back once to glance around. I watched the band on stage and took in the way the people acted. It was like some of the bars I’d gone to with friends when I was in college. I had never fit in there. But I would here. I was determined.

  “What can I get for you?” I swung my attention back around to see the stunning bartender smiling at me. Her hair was a shade of red people paid good money for, and her eyes were an icy green that made me envious.

  “Uh, yes. A menu perhaps?” I replied.

  That response got a large grin from her. “Yeah, okay.” She slid one over to me. “You look that over, and I’ll be back. Unless, you know, you want to order a drink right now?”

  “Oh, no, I need a moment. Thank you.”

  She started to walk off then paused. “You’re not from here, are you?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  She seemed amused. “Didn’t think so. If you’ve got any questions holler. My name’s Larissa.”

  “Yes, okay. Thank you, Larissa.”

  I studied the menu. Crab nachos—I’d never heard of that combination. Did they make nachos with crab on them? It sounded like an excellent idea. Fried pickles, I’d seen those at bars before, but I’d never tasted them. Dancers had to keep their weight in check. Fried foods were off limits. I thought about trying that. Redneck caviar, now that sounded intriguing. But I wasn’t a fan of black-eyed peas, and it didn’t seem anything like caviar to me.

  “Try the loaded potato skins with crab meat. Greasy as hell, and not at all healthy, but so damn good,” a male voice said close by, startling me. I jumped a little and dropped the menu.

  I turned my attention to him, and my breath caught a little. He was blonde, tall, tanned, well built and his smile was something. He also smelled good. Like soap and . . . whiskey. But it was a good combination.

  He picked up my menu and handed it back to me. “I’ve been eating at this bar since before it was legal for me to get inside. Trust me. Go with the potato skins.”

  I nodded. I should say something witty or flirty, but I had nothing. I was sucking at this new Lila Kate thing. “Okay,” was my wonderful response. Just “okay.” What was wrong with me? I had seen attractive men all my life. Why was this one making it hard for me to talk?

  “Larissa!” he called out, and the redhead turned to look at him with a frown that reached her forehead.

  “What, Eli?” She didn’t move from her position at the bar.

  He looked at me. “What’s your name?”

  That I could answer easily enough. “Lila,” I replied deciding that the new Lila Kate was going to drop that Kate. That name was silly and it made me sound ten years old. Lila was . . . sexier.

  He gave me a crooked grin. “Lila. I like that. Fits you.” Then he turned back to Larissa. “Lila here wants the potato skins loaded with crab.”

  Larissa walked over to us. “I see you’re making friends,” she said to Eli and then smiled at me. “He’s had a little too much tonight. I’d cut him off but trust me this is a rarity for him. Anyway, did he order for you because he’s planning on eating your food, or do you want the loaded potatoes?”

  Everyone knew each other here. How nice. It was like a television show. “Yes, he has sold me on them. They sound delicious.”

  Larissa chuckled. “Don’t set your hopes too high. They’re good but delicious may be pushing it. What about a drink?”

  Normally, I’d order bottled water. Instead, I said, “Dirty martini please.”

  “Got ID?”

  I reached for my purse and took out my license then handed it to her. She glanced at it and nodded then looked at the guy beside me. “Behave,” she said before walking off behind the bar.

  He sat down on the stool beside me and leaned back against the bar looking out over the crowd. “I’ve never seen you here before. Where are you from Lila?”

  I started to say Rosemary Beach but stopped myself. I didn’t know this guy. He was a stranger. I wanted to live free and wild, but I needed to be careful to a certain degree.

  “Florida,” I replied instead. It was a big state. I could be vague.

  He nodded. “Florida, huh? I was assuming you were on vacation, but if you’re from Florida, I doubt that. Why vacation at this beach when you have beautiful ones there? What brings you to Alabama?”

  I liked his voice. It was soothing. It paired nicely with the way he smelled—very appealing. “I’m traveling west. Going on an adventure of sorts.”

  He turned to look at me then. “An adventure? Alone?”

  Okay, that was a bad idea. I shouldn’t tell a strange guy I was alone. “No, I’m traveling with friends,” I lied quickly.

  He didn’t look convinced. “Really?”

  I nodded. “Yes, really.”

  “Dirty martini,” Larissa said placing the drink I ordered in front of me. It had the ice slivers in it that I loved.

  “Thank you. This looks wonderful.”

  “She’s the best,” Eli agreed. “Now how about another Jack?” he asked her.

  “How about a glass of water first,” she said sliding a glass of water in front of him.

  “You’re killing my buzz, Larissa,” he said looking unhappily at his glass of water.

  “I’m saving your ass,” she told him. Then she turned and said to me over the music that was growing louder, “Eli’s a nice guy. Better when he’s sober. And your food will be out in five,” she said holding up her hand with her five fingers spread.

  I figured he had the approval of the bartender who seemed nice enough. I wasn’t going to be abducted or raped tonight. That was a relief.

  Eli Hardy

  TOO MUCH ALCOHOL was never a good thing. Unless you were home alone with pizza, or even better, Chinese food and the box set of Rocky DVDs. Then you were safe. But I’d been swor
n off women for three weeks. The last women I had dated had made a wedding planner by the sixth date and proceeded to show it to me. That had been our last date.

  I missed women. I’ll admit it. The one sitting next to me was gorgeous, and she reminded me of that etiquette book my grandmother made Larissa read when we were kids. Grandma tried to make me read that book, but I wasn’t doing it. I pretended. The picture of the girl on the front of the book was so polished and polite—that look hadn’t been attractive until now. Wrapped up in this package beside me, it was a complete turn on.

  Watching her attempt to eat a potato skin with a fork and knife was priceless. Larissa’s face when she asked for “flatware” had been even better. We had grown up around my grandmother, so we were used to proper people. But in a place like Live Bay, you didn’t run into this sort of girl.

  I was positive Larissa was as entertained as me. Probably not as fascinated, but fucking entertained. Larissa was giving me the “be good” glare every time she came over to get our drinks.

  She was my aunt, but she was only a couple of years older than me. We’d grown up more like cousins. She had lived with us for a time, but I was too young to remember.

  It had taken some acting to pretend I wasn’t as drunk as I actually was to get her to give me another whiskey.

  Finally, I reached over and picked up one of the potato skins and held it to her little pink perfect mouth. She frowned immediately. “Eat it with your hands. Try it. The grease gets on your fingers, but somehow that makes it all better.”

  I wasn’t a junk food guy. I was a runner and very careful about the food I ate until I got drunk. Then I ate all the bad shit. However, Lila was keeping me from eating the greasy bar food. I was too enthralled with her to care about anything else.

  She took a dainty bite, and then cover her mouth as she chewed, grinning as if she had done something completely wicked. Damn, that was hot. There was no way she was as perfect as I saw her. She had to have something wrong with her. I just couldn’t see clearly through the drunken haze. I needed to tread carefully.

  I tried to focus harder to see if her teeth were bucked or if there was a gap big enough for food to fit through. Maybe she had bad breath? Or was married? I began checking those for evidence of those intently.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  I wasn’t about to tell her I was trying to focus enough to find her flaws. There had to be a reason I was the only guy in this bar hitting on her. If she was, in fact, as fucking perfect as my mind was telling me she was, then she should have several guys hovering around her. That was my first clue. I could ask Larissa, but then she’d stop giving me drinks, and possibly slap me across the face for being so shallow.

  I went with the best excuse. “I was trying to figure out if you were married or engaged.”

  She laughed then. Out loud. A musical sound that made me feel nice all over. “Married? Why would you think I was married? And why were you studying my mouth like it was a science experiment? Was it going to tell you I was married?”

  I wasn’t very smooth. Maybe I should drink some water.

  “Just checking to see if those green onions were sticking in your teeth. They always get in mine.”

  She laughed again. Damn, I liked that laugh. I liked that she thought my lie was funny.

  “Thanks, I think. I assume I passed the inspection.”

  I nodded because she still looked perfect, and fuck me if it was the drunk goggles talking. If it was, I had a better imagination than I realized.

  “Dance with me,” I said standing up, thankful I didn’t fall over. I could still balance. That was good.

  “Drink this water first, Romeo,” Larissa interrupted me. Her serious expression told me maybe I wasn’t hiding my drunk that well. So, I took the glass and downed it.

  She cut her eyes to Lila. “I’m trusting you,” were her final words to me before she walked back to help other customers. It sucked when your aunt was the bartender at the only place in town that was worth going to. Well, it didn’t always suck, but tonight it was getting in my way.

  I smirked and blew it off. “Larissa is my aunt. You’ll have to ignore her.”

  Lila’s stunning eyes widened in surprise. “Oh. She looks so young.”

  “She is. Only a few years older than me. The story is long, full of intrigue and lies. Very daytime soap opera. I’ll tell you all about it if you dance with me. I swear it’s better than a romance novel.” That much was true. Larissa’s story was intense.

  Lila looked down at her uneaten food. “I can’t eat any more anyway. You were right they are delicious but heavy. I’m full.” She stood up and gave me that smile that I hoped I remembered tomorrow.

  I placed a hand on her lower back and led her out to the dance floor. Glancing at the table I had been at when she walked in, I saw Micah Falco and Jimmy Taylor give me the nod. They were both smiling. Either they were smiling because she was as smoking hot as I thought she was, or because they were going to harass me about this for years to come. I just didn’t care anymore. And I was fucking thrilled Saffron’s crazy ass wasn’t here tonight to cause trouble. She’d ruin this just for the hell of it.

  Even if I did forget fragments of tonight, Micah and Jimmy would surely give me a complete recap. Once we were on the packed dance floor, I pulled her to me and inhaled. Jesus, she smelled like heaven. She wasn’t wearing some heavy perfume or body lotion. It was light and smelled like almonds or cinnamon. Fuck if I knew. It was just intoxicating. I pulled her closer and took a deep breath.

  “I’m sure you hear this a lot, but you smell amazing.”

  She tilted her head back just enough to look up at me. “Thanks. And no, I don’t actually.”

  That caused me to pause. Did she live in a convent? “How is that possible?”

  She gave me a small shrug. “I don’t get close to guys often.” She hesitated, then she looked serious like she was unsure she should have said that. “I mean I didn’t for a long time, but I do now. I’m different. It’s time for a change.”

  A change? What was she a lesbian trying out the other side? I decided against asking that figuring if it was the case she might be offended. Didn’t matter to me either way.

  “What all does this change of yours consist of?” I asked her.

  “Adventure.”

  Just that one word. Interesting. She had eaten her bar food with a knife and fork with her paper napkin in her lap and she wanted an adventure. I wasn’t sure that was safe. She seemed too innocent for an adventure. Or maybe I was reading her completely wrong?

  “What is this adventure?”

  “I’m not sure yet. But I am on it now. Bars, random guys, bar food—that’s all part of it.”

  “Am I the beginning of your adventure?”

  She smiled and then nodded. “Yes, Eli, you are.”

  Lila Kate

  DANCING WITH ELI at this bar wasn’t my first time to dance at a bar. I had once before while in college. A friend on the dance team had her twenty-first birthday party at the local haunt. I went. I danced. I left early and arrived home before midnight sober. But that was the old me.

  “I think I’d like another drink,” I told Eli after our dance.

  He smiled as if I was amusing. “Anything in particular?”

  I almost said a martini and stopped myself. “Whatever.”

  He chuckled and I watched as he held his hand up signaling a waitress who was carrying a tray of little shot glasses filled with Jell-O. She came over and he took two glasses off her tray. “Thanks.”

  Then he handed one to me.

  “What’s this?” I asked holding the cup of Jell-O in front of me.

  “A Jell-O shot. It’s even better than a bar drink. It’s a club drink.”

  The club he was referring to was different than the club I had grown up in and I knew that. I figured why not. I tasted it slowly.

  “It’s a shot, Lila. Don’t savor it. Just down it.”

  Not w
anting to disappoint him or me, so I did as Eli said.

  When I was done, I thought it tasted yummy like strawberry Jell-O.

  “What did you think?”

  “I liked it.”

  He handed me the shot glass he was holding. “I never was one to think a guy looked right doing a Jell-O shot. Take this one.”

  And I did.

  I wasn’t sure what liquor was in them, but my head felt lighter, and I felt happy. Eli took both cups, held his hand up again and placed them on the tray the waitress was carried over to us.

  “Ready for another dance?” he asked.

  I stepped back into his arms and we danced. This time I wasn’t aware of anyone around us, and I wasn’t concerned. I enjoyed myself. Moved by the music, I let go of my inhibitions. I laughed. I heard my own laughter and it felt right.

  It wasn’t until three dances later when Eli took a drink off a tray and drank it that I wondered what time it was. I should call my mom. I should call Nate.