“Are you serious?”
“As serious as a rodeo clown in a red speedo.”
He laughed. “Not very serious then.”
“Oh, I think once that bull came chargin’ out of the shute that clown would be pretty serious. Life can be serious and funny. Yes, I’m serious, Kelly. If you want the job, it’s yours.”
This was unbelievable. O’Malley’s was legend. It was the number one place to be in their town. He couldn’t believe she was actually offering it to him. “I’ll take it.”
“Good. This weekend you can start by cleaning the toilets, because no doubt my sister will punish you when she finds out you skipped school again.”
He nodded, glad to clean to toilets. Holy shit, he’d just been handed a future.
“And, Kelly?”
“Yeah.”
“Whatever that lassie said to you, she was wrong. Just because you aren’t running off to college with the rest of them, doesn’t mean your future’s any less bright. The trick is to find someone who sees the light in you even during life’s darkest moments. That’s what real love is.”
He didn’t want love. He just wanted to know someone saw potential in him. It hurt being told he wasn’t good enough. If he could, he’d rewind the day and go back to when he thought everyone loved him. But that would mean missing out on the opportunity his aunt just presented.
It had started as an ordinary day, but changed the rest of his life. He finally knew what he was doing with his future. He also learned a valuable lesson about girls. If he never expected anything more and gave them exactly what they expected from him, everyone wound up happy. That was the trick, wasn’t it? Find happiness and the success and everything else would eventually come.
Chapter One
“Your girlfriend’s stalking you again.”
Kelly tipped the bottle of Patron over the highball packed with ice and glanced across the bar. Ashlynn Fisher sat in the shadows nursing a diet cola. Behind the pointed corners of her black rimmed glasses her eyes followed his every move.
“Not my girlfriend,” Kelly commented over his shoulder to Sue, the other bartender at O’Malley’s.
Sue chuckled, a teasing ring to her voice. “She’s showing up more and more. Why don’t you go talk to her?”
Kelly delivered the tequila sunrise to his customer and took the money to the register. “Ashlynn Fisher is not the kind of girl I diddle.”
“Why, because she isn’t all done up like the rest of the bar flies you take home? I think she’s pretty.”
Kelly returned the change to the patron and took an order from a group of preening women who were freshly twenty-one and offering him more than tips. As he lined up their shots he told Sue, “You haven’t lived around here long enough to understand. There are certain women a guy like me doesn’t do.”
Sue’s full mouth formed a lopsided smirk, her dark eyes taking on a sarcastic glint. “Oh, and here I thought you’d do a hole in the ground if it let you.”
He deserved that. Over the past ten years he’d earned the reputation of Center County’s man whore. Getting his stones broken was part of the shtick. “You’re just pissy, because you’re also on the do not diddle list.”
Sue laughed, her head tipping back as she twisted the cap of a longneck. “Oh, please! You were on my do not diddle list way before I was on yours. Boy, you couldn’t handle all this Latin spice. I’d burn your tongue right off.”
He waggled his brows suggestively. There was no denying Sue was beautiful. Long legs, tapered waist, tight African curls clipped close to her face in a way that outlined her wide Latino eyes, she was definitely a novel species of beauty in these parts, but she was also his employee and treating the help to some Kelly McCullough naked goodness was a definite no-no.
Ashlynn Fisher was a no-no for other reasons. He and Ashlynn attended high school together and she was in several of his classes back in the day. Those big brown eyes had watched him then too. Of course, back then she looked nothing like the striking blonde she was now.
In high school, Ashlynn wore plain clothes, no makeup, and always had her face hidden behind wide framed glasses. Her hair had been long and she was the type to keep her head down, hiding her features behind a curtain of unkempt flaxen waves.
She reminded him of the church mouse sort, pure and innocent in more ways than one. In a small town like theirs, everyone knew everyone down to the color underwear a person chose each morning. Ashlynn’s mom had passed away when she was only in grade school. She and her dad, Roy Fisher, went to the same Catholic church his family belonged to. Kelly hadn’t been to church in years, so he’d missed a great deal of her post-ugly-duckling stage. It was always a little jarring running into her in town and realizing the mouse had turned into a fox.
Not that she had ever been ugly. Ashlynn Fisher possessed one of those deep throaty voices that cut right to a guy’s libido. He’d never forget the day she asked him for a pencil in Trig class. His cock did cartwheels the moment that bluesy voice touched his ears and he’d done a double take, sure it hadn’t come from the straggly blonde mouse.
For weeks he’d entertained fantasies of those big brown eyes staring up at him, mouth full, as he fisted all that messy hair—but that’s all it ever was, a teenage fantasy. The voice, much like the innocuous reality of the girl herself, didn’t mesh with the kind of man Kelly was, even back then.
She was the type of girl everyone overlooked, quiet and disheveled in an odd appealing way that remained feminine. He assumed it was due to having a farmer for a father and no mother to teach her all the beauty tricks women used. But sometime in the past few years Ashlynn outgrew that stage—outgrew it like a caterpillar outgrew its resting place. Now she was stunning in her own unique way, but that didn’t negate her virtuousness, which was somehow evident in every shy glance he caught her sending his way.
Gone were those long, white-blonde waves and big glasses. Now her hair was cropped shorter than his. Natural shades of platinum framed her heart shaped face like a pixie. Her lily-white skin still showed no signs of makeup, but she didn’t need it. Gone were those hideous Sally Jessie glasses and in their place sat trendy, narrow black frames.
She didn’t dress like the other women in town. Most girls rocked skintight jeans and shirts meant to accentuate the goods in the colder months and FM pumps and sexy shirts in the warmer seasons. Not Ashlynn though. She wore men’s flannel and baggy pants that gave nothing away. All. Year. Long.
All of that, however, had nothing to do with why Kelly wouldn’t touch her. It had to do with the secrets she kept that seemed to whisper through those soft brown eyes when she stared at him. Ashlynn Fisher was one hundred percent, without a doubt, virgin.
He didn’t know the details. Didn’t need to. Didn’t know if it was a choice or circumstance sort of thing. All he knew was that he liked it rough, dirty, and hard and she was not that type of girl.
So as flattered as he was to have her show up every week or so and shyly ogle him from afar, he wouldn’t be entertaining any fantasies where Ashlynn Fisher was concerned. Not now, not ever.
Keeping his head down, he hustled past her table and shot behind the bar. Happy hour was ending and O’Malley’s was getting crowded. Rushing to fill another order, he met Sue at the ice pit.
She bumped him with her hip. “You should go talk to her.”
He filled his shaker and reached for the 151. “Drop it, Sue.”
* * * *
Ashlynn sipped her diet soda and stared through the crowd as Kelly McCullough hurried to meet his customers’ demands. Her heart tightened as he flirted with a brunette ordering a round of shots. Why couldn’t he look at her like that, with those piercing blue eyes that accented the blue tips of his unruly black hair?
Kelly McCullough was one of seven siblings, each one beautiful in their own right. Kelly, however, was different. He was the black sheep, the tattooed rogue that put any woman in his path under a spell. He cursed and slept around like a to
mcat in a scrapyard and she’d been obsessed with watching him since the moment he sat next to her in American Literature 101 ten years ago.
However, it wasn’t until later that year that she’d fallen hopelessly in love with him. No matter how much he played at that careless façade he wore so well, she knew there was an honorable guy beneath all the sex appeal and humor.
After losing her mother she’d lost a lot of direction. No one was there to teach her how to be a teenage girl and there were moments she felt so out of the loop, even as an adult, she tried not to dwell on what she didn’t have and focus more on the blessings she did have.
She’d been rushing off to the nurse’s office, fighting back tears with everything she possessed. It hadn’t happened at home or somewhere safe. No. She’d gotten her period right in the middle of Algebra and hadn’t realized something was wrong until she’d stood and heard everyone laughing.
Mortified, she rushed to the bathroom and nearly had a panic attack. It took her a minute to understand what was happening, her grasp on the things to come as a female so slight and stunted from being raised on a farm by her dad. However, living on a farm had taught her the basics of life cycles and she’d pieced it together.
She waited in that bathroom stall, terrified, for the entire third period. When the bell rang she listened to the roar of student voices moving through the hall. The second the corridors quieted she bolted to the nurse. Her eyes pinched with the effort to contain her tears of humiliation. She was almost there when she turned the corner at breakneck speed and crashed into a gaggle of girls who never talked to her.
They did talk to her that day, calling her things like Mary, Mary quite contrary and Dina. No one really saw Ashlynn. She’d perfected the art of being a wallflower. Rumors had flown that morning and those girls wouldn’t let her pass without getting in their digs.
Blinking back her tears, she tried to press by, but there were too many. Her heart raced like a caged sparrow, frantic and trapped. Then he showed up out of nowhere, a true knight in shining armor.
“Hey, Amber, Cara.” His typically easy going mannerism shifted as those sharp blue eyes took in the scene, understanding that of the six girls loitering in the hall, one desperately wanted to escape. His smile faltered. “What’s going on?”
“Hey, Kelly,” one of the girls purred. Every female at the school, even some of the teachers, seemed to perk up whenever Kelly tossed a glance their way.
Kelly ignored the girl and tilted his head curiously at Ashlynn. Her back was to the lockers, hiding the mark of her shame. Never in her life had she been so desperate to escape a situation.
“You going somewhere, love?”
Too afraid to speak, she merely trembled and prayed the moment would be over soon. He didn’t know who she was, but he was her one reason for liking school.
“Haven’t you heard, Kelly?” One of the vipers said, her voice syrupy and cruel. “Little Ms. Heehaw here got—”
His head snapped around and he cut the girl’s words off with a look so cold even Ashlynn shivered. “Shut up, Cara. She’s upset.” He turned back to Ashlynn, eyes softening. “Did you have somewhere to go?”
Unable to speak, she nodded.
He smiled softly and something inside of her broke open, warmth filling her as her soul recognized an ally. “I’ll take you, love.”
His hand barely touched her arm, but he somehow directed her away from the lockers and away from those horrid girls. She made sure to match his strides, so sure and confident, so that he wouldn’t see her backside.
Once they turned the corner he said, as if they were old friends, “Where are we going?”
“The nurse,” she muttered. “I don’t feel well.”
She’d made it so close before she was stopped. They were only a few rooms away. He paused outside the office door. “Well, you’re here.” He met her gaze, those soft eyes staring into hers curiously. “What’s your name, love?”
Barely able to speak, she swallowed and—
“Yo, Kel!” Some guy she didn’t know called.
Kelly turned and she took that moment to slip into the nurse’s office and escape. He never learned her name and that was for the best. That was one of the most humiliating days of her life and that night she’d cried in her bed, unable to explain to her father why she was so quiet after returning home. Her life was made up of secret moments like that, moments when a girl needed a mother or a friend and realized just how blessed those who had such things were.
Ashlynn sipped her diet cola. She was certain Kelly still had no idea who she was, even ten years after that hideous encounter. Shy beyond measure, Ashlynn was never one to keep up with the popular crowd. Kelly was the popular crowd. He wasn’t a jock. He wasn’t trendy. He wasn’t even overly intelligent from what she could see. But he was a god to women and she—no matter how stunted and uncultured—was not immune to his charms.
Her dad, a good Christian man, did his best to raise her properly. She never wanted for anything and always did as she was told, but there was a part of her that longed for a mother’s presence, even as an adult. Perhaps having a mother could’ve eliminated some of the awkwardness that was her existence.
Ashlynn sighed as yet another girl approached the bar and drew Kelly’s attention. He’d never smiled at her the way he smiled at other women, eyes set in a seductive promise, lips curled with sensual intent. God, those lashes…they were thicker than feathers.
Pursing her lips, she picked at the soil still under her fingernails. She’d cleaned up before she left, but as she was walking out the door she’d chased a rabbit from her lettuce patch. The little bugger had uprooted a few crops and she’d quickly righted them on the way to her truck to drive to the bar.
The bar grew crowded and Ashlynn figured she should get going. It hurt too much to stay and watch Kelly set his sights on a new woman. She was developing a sort of masochistic obsession with him.
Each night he chose a new victim. The women never seemed to mind and Ashlynn assumed that was because whatever he did during those late night hours was enough to leave them satisfied for weeks to come.
She rolled her eyes. Maybe “victim” was the wrong word.
“Can I get you another drink?”
Ashlynn glanced up at the new bartender at O’Malley’s. Kelly had probably already conquered her. She was stunning, with wild black corkscrew curls and full lips. She thought her name was Sue, but wasn’t sure.
“No, thank you. I think I’m done.”
The bartender slash waitress eyed her for a long moment. “Why don’t you go talk to him?”
Ashlynn’s cheeks drooped as her smile faltered. Was she that obvious? “Who?”
The woman gave her a pointed look. “Kelly. You come in here at least once a week and stare at him. Why not just ask him out?”
Heat rushed to her cheeks. “I come here to unwind. I’m not even sure which one Kelly is,” she lied.
The bartender’s lips pulled tight at the corner of her mouth. “Uh-huh. You really seem to be unwinding with that diet cola. How about a real drink—on me? I’m Sue, by the way.”
Ashlynn hesitated past what was probably normal. Her palms sweating as everything inside of her reminded her she didn’t measure up to pretty girls. She was so awkward when meeting new people, especially women. She held out her hand, a trait she’d picked up from her father. “Ashlynn Fisher. It’s nice to meet you, Sue.”
“So how about that drink, Ash?”
“Oh, I shouldn’t. I don’t really drink alcohol and I have to drive my truck home.”
The waitress relented. “Okay, but next time you come in I’m gonna throw a little rum in that Coke, so be prepared to hang for a while.”
Knowing that the other bartender picked up on her not so stealthy, lurking habits, Ashlynn probably wouldn’t return for a while, but she nodded anyway. “Deal.” She reached in her pocket for a tip. “It was nice meeting you.”
“You too, Ash. Don’t be a str
anger.”
* * * *
Kelly’s vision narrowed as he spotted Sue chatting it up with Ashlynn. He’d told her to let it go, but the minx had gone ahead and made friends with the sexy little church mouse. He studied them as he filled a few drafts.
A soft shade of natural pink tinted Ashlynn’s cheeks and she looked uncomfortable with whatever Sue was saying. His molars clamped down. While Sue might think playing cupid was cute, what with the way the girl stared all starry-eyed at him, Kelly didn’t want to worsen the situation.
A sense of relief flooded him the moment Sue sashayed away from Ashlynn’s table. As she returned behind the bar, he asked, “What the hell was that?”
“Just making nice with the customers.”
“I’m sure that’s all you were doing,” he mumbled, sliding a beer to one of the locals and taking the ten from the counter.
“What?” Sue asked, innocently raising her shoulder. “I was introducing myself. She’s leaving anyway.”
“Good.”
Kelly bagged up the garbage and headed out the back to toss it in the dumpster. The girl didn’t even drink. O’Malley’s was the most popular watering hole for locals in their twenties and thirties.
Week after week Ashlynn came around to sit alone and drink soda. Her life had to be pretty empty if that sort of isolated socialness was what she considered entertainment. Especially when he’d never done anything to make her think he was interested in her as more than a customer. She couldn’t be there just for him.
As the back door slammed he hoisted the bag of rubbish into the dumpster and brushed off his palms. The dark lot lit with twin headlights as a truck roared to life. He squinted at the jalopy. It was a monster of a truck, at least three decades old.