Jesus, his clothes felt itchy. Kelly paced. “Maybe for you. But to a guy like me those three rings are a death sentence. First the engagement ring, then the wedding ring, and last the suffering. No. Thank you.”
Sheilagh laughed. “Don’t forget the chastity ring. I still say you punch her v card… Wonder what sort of wedding you’ll have.”
He smacked her in the back of the head. “Shut it, Shei-devil.”
His brother’s burst out laughing. “You’re supposed to be the gambler here, Shei.” Finn chuckled. “Might as well wipe your ass with that twenty, because you just signed it away. Kelly’s never getting married.”
“We’ll see,” his sister said, jotting down her bet. “Kelly, did you want to play?”
He scowled at the group. “No. I think you’re all a bunch of drunken arseholes. I’m going to bed.”
As he walked out of the den, his sister yelled, “I’m sober as a nun, big brother, and I’m gonna win. You’ll see!”
He slammed his bedroom door, cutting off their teasing remarks. Sheilagh just added another reason for him to stay as far away from Ashlynn Fisher as possible. He only hoped Josh would keep his distance from her as well.
It wasn’t that he really believed marriage was a prison. Colin and Finn were blissfully happy. So were his parents after decades of monogamy. Sometimes Kelly envied the security of marriage, but that wasn’t something he allowed himself to think of very often.
The truth was, he wasn’t marriage material. He’d made his bed in several willing women’s beds, and now he had to live with his reputation. He wasn’t complaining. There was something fun about the versatility of his evenings when he changed his women like socks.
However, there was also something lonely about the lack of intimacy. He had the ability to make a woman purr like a kitten, but in the morning it was always the same. Thanks. I’ll see you around.
They never tried for more and why would they? Everyone assumed he was just a bartender, holding the same job he’d had since high school. No one looked hard enough to see he’d taken over the bar nor did they have a clue how much money he’d made over the years. He wasn’t the type to brag and since no one was asking, the information remained private.
No man should have to convince a woman he was worth her heart. Love wasn’t a persuasive matter. It was potent and driving without thought. There was no doubt in his mind that eventually all his siblings would be married and he’d still be Kelly, good for a whiskey, a joke, and a fun screw, but nothing more. There was no point on dwelling on the things he didn’t have. After all, he never hurt for company.
But there were some moments he imagined it would be nice to simply come home to a woman and see adoration in her eyes, know what it is to whisper intimate secrets in her ear and hear hers as well. There was so much he kept hidden about himself, because when everyone assumed they had him figured out it only seemed to distress the masses if he did something out of character and proved them wrong.
Maybe they knew him better than he knew himself. Marriage was the real deal. It was bills and family and responsibility. No one seemed to peg him as the type that had what it took and he certainly didn’t want to be the man that let down those dependent on him. That was why he was satisfied depending solely on himself. No disappointment, no blame.
* * * *
The Friday night rush was in full swing when Kelly nearly spilled the tray of shots he’d been carrying over to a table of college kids home for spring break. His head practically twisted off his neck the moment Ashlynn walked in to the bar.
If not for her telltale, blond choppy hair and those cat-eye glasses, he’d never have recognized her. Gone were her baggy jeans and flannel. As his gaze traveled over her bare legs past her knee length jean skirt, to her fitted white V-neck T-shirt, he nearly choked. He’d never seen so much flawless ivory skin. Even her feet were exposed, if in a pair of no nonsense flip-flops.
He handed off the shots and quickly weaved his way through the crowd to greet her. “Hey. Ashlynn.”
She stopped and blinked at him. Just blinked.
“Kelly,” he reminded.
“I know who you are.”
She was probably wondering what he was doing greeting her.
What are you doing?
He frowned at himself, not really sure. “How’s your truck?”
Her full lips pressed together in a rueful smile telling him the vehicle wasn’t good. “The transmission’s shot, like I suspected. I’m thinking about getting a new truck. It’s only a matter of time before something else goes on this one.”
“That sucks. You look nice tonight.” His words took him by surprise, but they were nonetheless true.
Her narrow brows lowered behind her glasses as she stared at him. “Thanks?”
Jeeze, he’d never been one to get tongue tied with the lassies. “I mean…” What the bloody fuck was wrong with him?
“Ashlynn?”
They each turned and Kelly found Josh standing to his right holding a bouquet of wild flowers.
“Josh?”
Kelly scowled at the way her face lit up as she greeted the other man. Washed away was the confusion he’d put there and in its place was a smile of pure innocence. Over flowers? Like getting flowers was as special as seeing a rocking horse shit. They were flowers!
He frowned. Was he losing his charm? Girls went nuts when he paid them compliments. If he were Peter Parker he’d be checking his wrists right about now. His spidey sense was off.
“Wow,” Josh said, holding out the stems. “You’re even prettier than your picture.”
Arse kisser.
She flushed a soft shade of pink and tugged on her shirt as though she were nervous. “Thank you. Are those for me?”
That voice. Smooth like heated honey laced with something dark, it cut right through Kelly. Someone called his name from the bar, which was slammed. He needed to get back, but couldn’t stop watching the byplay.
“Would you like to find a seat?” Josh asked.
Ashlynn nodded and took the flowers. She looked at them as though she’d never seen daisies before. “It was nice talking to you, Kelly.”
He frowned. That was it?
Turning, they disappeared toward the back. Was he losing his touch? There was a sharp whistle from the bar.
“Kelly, you mind giving me a hand?” Sue yelled as she bustled around trying to get everyone’s order straight.
Glancing back one last time, he spotted the couple settling into a booth toward the back. Why did he care? He didn’t, really. He could admit he was still a bit twitchy over her comment the other day regarding the sort of women he passed his time with, but everyone made assumptions about his philandering ways. Yet, when Ashlynn made reference to the company he kept, he didn’t like it. Maybe because, to his memory, Ashlynn Fisher never said a bad thing about anybody. Apparently he was the exception and that grated on him.
As the night went on, Kelly found himself preoccupied with the date going on twenty-feet away. This wasn’t the usual Ashlynn. Sure, she had her diet cola, but she wasn’t all huddled in the corner and she definitely wasn’t watching him.
Tonight, she sat with her legs crossed, smiling and laughing, and actually ordered dinner. It pissed him off. Josh was a good man, but Ashlynn was a better woman. Ah, fuck it. Josh was a tosser and Ashlynn was a good girl to the extreme from what he’d learned over the years. Normally Kelly would be tempted to make a good girl do all sorts of naughty sinful things, but not Ashlynn. She was too good and likely the high maintenance sort.
That’s when it occurred to him that everyone was off. She didn’t want him. Maybe she wanted to look at him, but the proof was in the pudding. Like so many others she’d never look below the surface. Staring the facts in the face stung more than he wanted to admit.
He didn’t like having his inadequacies thrown into the light, which was why he spent most of his free time in the dark between long legs. So long as he chose his path he wasn?
??t measuring up short. The second someone even hinted at rejection he bailed. But Ashlynn Fisher wasn’t supposed to reject him. She was supposed to bat her eyes and get all tongue-tied, and be a fixture in his bar.
He wasn’t trying hard enough. That had to be it. It wouldn’t be right to dial up the charm and knock Josh out of the game. Josh had good intentions. Kelly was merely suffering a crisis of ego. Shoving down the disgruntled sensation inside of him, he went back to work and let the two carry on with their date.
However, there was something about the curve of her calf catching the dim bar light as it bounced under the table that kept distracting him. Her posture was straight, yet turned, like the first fine line an artist draws when he sketches a beautiful woman. And then there was that laugh. Jesus, why did that laugh cut through him like a knife through butter on a hot day?
Irritated, he shoved all thoughts of the girl away, yet his eyes continued to return to their little booth. Damn it! It was like their roles reversed. She was normally the stalker. Not him! He was Kelly McCullough and he needed to knock this shit off right now.
He made sure to deliver all of their drinks and take care of serving their meal, which wasn’t his job. Every time he approached the table, he came from a direction so that Josh saw him first and every time Kelly sent the other man the same threatening scowl. He was losing it.
Josh had worked with the family for about five years and had been playing cards with the McCulloughs for almost two. He was quiet, harmless, and polite. Tosser. So why the fuck did it bother Kelly so much that he was going out with Ashlynn Fisher? They’d probably make sense together if Kelly let them carry on their date.
“Looking a little green there, boss,” Sue said as she put the glasses through the wash cycle.
He scowled at his employee. “What’s it to you?”
“Should’ve asked her out when you had the chance,” she sang as she piled the clean glasses into the crate to dry.
“I don’t ask girls out. They ask me. And I don’t date. I do.”
She rolled her eyes. “Looks like Josh’s gonna be doing some doing soon.”
His head snapped back to the lovebirds. The music had gotten louder and Ashlynn moved to his side of the booth. Her blond head nodded as Josh told a story, animating with his hands. When she laughed it was a sweet tinkling of sound that didn’t get lost in the chatter filling the bar and it cut right to his groin.
“He’s lucky if he even kisses her,” he mumbled, closing out a tab.
“I don’t know…they’re looking pretty cozy over there.”
“Will you stop talking like that!”
“Like what?”
“All sing-songie and shit.”
Sue chuckled. As she walked away to clear a table she mumbled, “Jealous, jealous, jealous….”
By the end of the night, Josh and Ashlynn were still seated next to each other in their booth. Kelly wondered how she’d gotten to the bar if her truck was still out of commission. Maybe she hadn’t left yet because she needed a ride home. His jaw locked as he imagined Josh driving her home and putting the moves on her.
“Hey, Kelly…”
Kelly turned and found Katie, a local girl who could do amazingly flexible things with her body because she’d taken yoga. When he was a wee lad they called it Twister, but now a days lassies refereed to it as yoga and it made for quite interesting bed sport. “Hey, Katie. How you doin’, love?”
He usually enjoyed the nights she popped in. They played well together. Always shared Olympic gold medalist sex, multiple orgasms, and never required any excuses in the morning, but tonight his head was elsewhere.
“You got plans tonight?”
His gaze pulled from Ashlynn and Josh. “What? Oh. I have some shit I have to stay late and take care of. How about a rain check?”
What shit? His cock called him a liar and forced a barrage of memories into his head of all the lovely contortionist things Katie could do.
She pouted. “Suit yourself. If you get done early, you know my number.”
Tell her you’ll meet her after closing!
He nodded. “Next time, love.”
Once Katie turned to walk away he returned his gaze to the booth at the back. Josh was standing and offering Ashlynn a hand as she slid out of the seat. Kelly had the strangest urge to do something, but didn’t have the first bloody clue what.
Jesus, he was like an incompetent teenager. What the fuck was happening to him? He was Kelly McCullough for God’s sake!
“See ya, Kelly,” Josh said as he walked past, his arm around Ashlynn’s shoulders.
Kelly’s eyes narrowed as Sue snuck behind him and whispered, “Kissy, kissy, kissy.”
“You’re fired, wench,” he mumbled, his gaze glued to the door as it closed behind the couple.
Chapter Three
Ashlynn awoke with a smile and stretched. The birds were chirping and Kelly McCullough had said she looked pretty.
She frowned. Why had he said that? All this time and he waited until she found a nice guy to date to tell her she was pretty. It was probably because she bought new girlie clothes, which had been an ordeal and a half. Shopping was not an activity she enjoyed.
She played over her date from the night before. Josh had given her flowers. Turning her head on the crisp pillowcase, she admired the wild blooms from where they sat in her mother’s vase on the nightstand.
No one had ever given her flowers before. She never went to dances when she was a teenager. It was pretty sad that she only had her first date at age twenty-four, but from what she could tell it went pretty well.
Josh was nice and easy to talk to. Everything went pretty good until he walked her out to her father’s truck. She didn’t know how to end a date so she’d wound up standing there, looking stupid, and fidgeting like a moron. Then he leaned in and she panicked and started rapidly spouting out words like she had some form of Tourette’s.
The date had been fun and beyond flattering. Her belly tightened at the thought of doing it again, but she was afraid if he kissed her she’d scare him away. Twenty-four-years-old and never been kissed.
Sighing, she threw herself back on her pillows and moaned. You’re pathetic.
Her mind played a slideshow of every kiss she’d ever seen in person or on television. Kissing shouldn’t be that difficult. Josh said he wanted to take her out again and she wanted to be kissed. Really, really, really wanted to be kissed.
Her gaze flashed to her door—stupid—but she glanced anyway. Slowly, she lifted her hand and made a fist. Raising it slowly to her face, her lips pressed to the back of her palm and she made a small smooching sound. Was that it?
Puckering her lips again, she turned her wrist and smooched some more. When a sudden honking sound broke the silence she jumped and shoved her hand under the covers. What the heck was that?
Realizing she was still alone in what was likely the most pitiable moment of her ignorant life, she jumped out of bed and grabbed her robe. The horn honked again and continued to blast.
Who’s here?
It was barely past seven in the morning. Running down the steps, she unlocked the front door as a truck pulled in her long driveway, kicking up a cloud of dust. Stepping onto the wraparound porch, she shaded her eyes, and squinted.
She didn’t recognize the truck. Her breath sucked in a sharp gasp. Yes, she did!
Her mouth opened as a smile broke across her face. It was the beautiful, four door, pearly truck she’d been admiring the week before. Her dad leaned an elbow out the window. “Morning, sug. How’d your date go?”
“Where did you get that?” she shouted as she ran down the porch steps.
“Jenkins loaned it to me. Go get dressed so we can take it for a test drive.”
She bounced and ran back into the house. In a minute flat she had her teeth brushed and a tank top and overalls thrown on over sensible underwear. Bursting back out the front door with her shoulder bag trailing behind her like a runaway kite, she spri
nted to the pretty truck.
Her dad slid into the passenger seat as she hit the floorboard and climbed in. Everything smelled of new car and leather. “This is so cool!”
He smiled and said, “I thought you’d like this. Fix your mirrors and buckle up so we can see how she drives.”
She adjusted the seat and played with all the fancy dials her old truck didn’t have. “I feel like I’m in a spaceship.”
“Well, let’s keep her below light speed, sug. Give her a go.”
She carefully put the truck in reverse and backed out of the drive. “It handles so smooth. And look. I don’t need to turn the wheel over and over.”
“That’s the power steering. I gotta say it’s a lot nicer than I thought it would be. And look at all this room in the backseat. You and your friends could go all kinds of places and still have room for cargo.”
She didn’t see the point in mentioning she didn’t have friends, but it was a nice fantasy. Maybe she’d get a dog.
They drove all over town and down the back roads that circled the farm. The truck handled like a dream and she’d decided after ten minutes she was going to buy it. She didn’t care if Mr. Jenkins wouldn’t budge on the cost. It was well worth the sticker price.
When she pulled up at her house about an hour later she turned the key and petted the dashboard.
“What do you think, sug?”
She smiled. “I think I love it.”
He smiled and removed the key. They dangled from his work-roughened fingers as he held his arm out to her. “Then enjoy it. It’s yours. I signed the papers last night.”
“What?”
“It’s yours. I bought it for you.”
Her vision blurred and her throat constricted. “You…bought it? Really?”
“Of course. I saw the way you were ogling it last week. I knew you wanted it. There’re a lot of things in this world I’m not equipped to give you, sug, but a truck I can do.”
“Dad…” She shook her head, overwhelmed with gratitude. “How much was it? I’ll give you the money.”
“Don’t insult me, Ashlynn Rose. The truck’s a gift. Now take it gracefully and give your old dad a kiss.” He pointed to his cheek.