Big Bear Mountain - The Complete Series (29 page)

O
h
shit! This could be awkward …

As soon as he
saw the look on her face, Declan knew what was up. His chin rested on his
injured hand as he enjoyed watching her do her ‘sexy sway’ thing behind the
counter. But his hand wasn’t injured any longer and he’d forgotten to cover it
with another bandage after he shifted back to human form after sorting out the
local wannabe drug lords.

When she
returned with his order, she almost threw it down in front of him before
glaring at him, without saying a word.

“Did I do
something wrong?” he asked plaintively.

“You could start
by being honest with me. That would be a refreshing change, coming from a man.”

“You mean this?”
He held up his scar free hand and admired his perfect knuckles as he opened
then clenched his fist.

“You know
exactly what I mean. Last night, you looked like you’d taken on Mike Tyson in a
bare knuckle bar fight and this morning, there’s not a mark on you. You sat at
this very diner, only hours ago and patched yourself up with
my
first
aid kit. Care to explain?” She placed her hands on her hips and assumed a
stance more becoming of a school mistress than a waitress.

She nodded
slowly, and then waited for his explanation.

“OK, I’ll tell
you, but not here. Can we have dinner tonight? I’ll tell you everything.
Promise.”

“I’m working
tonight. And your promise isn’t worth squat to me. Not until I know you
actually mean it.”

“Working? When
do you sleep?” he asked, surprised that she was working two shifts on the same
day.

“Plenty of time
to sleep when my loans are paid off. Or when I’m dead. Whichever comes first.
I’m more likely to die, though, before my debts are clear.”

“What time do
you finish this shift?”

She hesitated,
still unsure how much to trust him. “When the lunch girl comes on. Around
noon.”

“I’ll be here to
take you to lunch,” he stated, as if it were a given. He started eating his
griddle special without waiting for her reply.

“I
’m not going anywhere on
that
,”
Olivia said quite firmly as soon as she saw the motorcycle.

“Scared?”

“No. Not scared. Just too smart to end up
in the orthopedic wing of the local hospital.”

“You’ll be fine. It’s too far to walk and
we’re not going to find a cab.” He looked around. “Not in this neighborhood,
anyway.” He handed her a helmet, threw his leg over the bike and waited for her
to follow.

“Where are we going?” she asked, hesitantly
sliding the helmet over her head as he started the engine and revved it.

“It’s a surprise.”

As soon as she was seated behind him, with
her arms wrapped tightly around his sleek waist, they were off. It had been a
while since Olivia had been on a bike and she had forgotten that feeling of
exhilaration. The sensation of freedom. Within moments, her financial problems,
overwhelming fatigue and aching feet ceased to exist.

A
s soon as they stopped out front of his
building, she knew he wasn’t planning a restaurant date. There wasn’t a single restaurant
anywhere on the trendy block. Just rows of stunning brownstone’s, all well
maintained and very, very expensive.

“Where are we?” she said, looking up and
down the street at the exquisite display of architecture.

“My place,” he answered as he removed his
helmet.

“
Your
place. Are you serious?”

“Well, us ‘dope peddling bikers’ got to
live somewhere, right?” He winked at her and she blushed at having her own
words thrown back at her.

“Yeah, about that … maybe I was being a
little judgmental.”

“A little?” he quipped, smiling at her.

“Fine, then. Very judgmental. Happy now?”

Climbing the stoop to his front door,
Declan unlocked and held open the door for Olivia, gesturing for her to enter
first.

“My, my. Such a gentleman,” she commented
as she walked past him and into the opulent, faithfully restored entry hall.
“Wow! How much does this set you back each month? More than I make in a year,
I’m guessing.”

“I bought it a little over a year ago and
have been restoring it, room by room, ever since. It had a hard life in the
seventies and eighties, when it had a lot of its character stripped to make it
‘modern’. I’ve put in a lot of hard work and money reinstating the original
features and give it some charm. Want the fifty-cent tour?”

“Why not,” Olivia replied, still in awe at
the splendid finish to the restoration.

“Did you do much of the work yourself?” she
asked, clearly impressed.

“Everything you don’t need a license for,”
Declan replied with great pride as he gestured around the room.

Her eyes were drawn to one feature that was
plainly not original — a disproportionately large door set in the under stair
space. She was curious because anything large enough to fit through such a door
would be too large to fit inside the angled storage cupboard under the stairs.

Pointing to the unusual doorway, she
started to ask, “What’s —”

Taking her by the elbow, Declan quickly cut
her off and guided her in the opposite direction, toward an adjacent room.
“Let’s start the tour, shall we?”

O
livia had started to see Declan in a
different light. He wasn’t the ‘bad boy’ biker he made out to be. There was a
lot more to him than he let people see, she decided as they concluded the tour
in the spacious and well-appointed kitchen.

“This is amazing.” She looked stunned.
“This is better than some restaurant kitchens. Tell me you don’t use all this
stuff when you cook?”

“Would you be impressed if I did? Would you
be more interested in me if I said I was a brilliant cook?”

“OK, let’s get one thing straight, right
now. I didn’t say I was or wasn’t interested in you. I’m not interested in a
relationship with you or anyone else right now. And when I say
right now
,
I mean
never
.”

“We’ll see,” Declan said noncommittally as
he directed her to take a seat at the table.

A
fter carefully blending the ingredients for
the salad dressing, Declan set it aside and took the marinating steaks from the
fridge before pre heating the grill.

“You really do look like you know what
you’re doing,” Olivia commented as she admired his confidence in the kitchen.
“I can hardly boil an egg.”

“So, you don’t cook much, then?”

“I’m at the diner for two shifts a day,
most days a week, so Mal fusses over me and always prepares something so I
don’t starve.”

“Tell me why you’re always working … you
mentioned something about being dead before you pay off your debts?” he asked.

“You don’t want to hear about all that. I’d
rather find out about the mysterious secrets you promised to tell me.”

“I will, promise. But you go first. Then
I’ll tell you everything.”

Well, nearly everything
. His lips cracked a hint of a smile at that thought.

“You think I’m going to open up and tell
you what an idiot I was and how I let a good for nothing, lying prick rob me
blind and leave me with a ton of debt?” She shook her head adamantly.

Declan didn’t say a word as he threw the
steaks on the grill and began to toss the freshly dressed salad. Sometimes,
saying nothing was what it took to draw someone out of their shell. Declan was
betting that this was one of those times. As he set the salad down on the
table, he simply looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

“Alright. Whatever.” Olivia sighed and her
shoulders sagged. “I’ll tell you, but you better go flip those steaks.”

As he got up to attend to the steaks, she
added “And make mine well done. You have yours anyway you like, but I want mine
actually
cooked
, thanks.”

“OK, I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest
version … A few years ago, I met this guy who seemed pretty keen on me. Now,
you might not have noticed,” her eyes widened in mock disbelief, “but I’m no
stick thin cover girl, so when a hot guy on a cool motorcycle starts getting
interested, well, it kind of makes a girls hormones go into overdrive.”

“Skinny girls are overrated —”

“Do you want to hear the story or not?” she
interrupted.

Declan lowered his gaze apologetically.
“Sorry. Go on.”

“So, like I was saying, it messes with your
head when a guy like that flirts with you and starts making you feel normal and
well, kinda sexy.” Her cheeks reddened slightly. Declan thought she looked
cuter than ever like that, but he knew better than to say anything. He just
waited for her to continue her story.

“And one thing led to another and before
long he’d moved in with me and we were a couple. He told me he was from Chicago
and had moved to New York for
business
.” She made air quotes.

“Let me guess,” Declan ventured an
interjection, “there was no business. He was a loser with a slick mouth, a big
smile and an even bigger …” He left it there.

“Yes, Mr. Smarty-Pants, he was more than
just a loser. He was a big loser. He’d gambled himself into all kinds of
trouble in Chicago before he skipped town, made his way to New York, changed
his name and looked for a big curvy girl to bail him out of trouble.

“It started off with me cosigning a loan for
his new motorcycle, then, there were other papers he had me sign. They looked
like insurance papers. He told me he wanted me to be taken care of in case
anything happened to him. I was so caught up with being treated like a little
princess and having someone find me attractive that I didn’t really care. I was
stupid. I know that now. I knew it then, too, if I’m totally honest.”

“And he skipped town again and left you
with a bunch of loans you knew nothing about, right?” Declan said as he took
his steak of the grill, leaving hers to cook the way humans like them.

“Worse than that, even. At least the banks
and finance companies called during office hours. He had gambling debts and
when those guys tracked down where he lived, or used to live, they decided I was
responsible for his debts if I couldn’t tell them where he was. It was awful …”
Tears welled in her eyes as she sobbed, struggling to continue. “I was such an
idiot. Guys like that don’t fall for girls like me.”

Taking her steak off the grill, Declan brought
both steaks over to the table and covered them in foil to rest them before
serving. Then he stepped behind Olivia and put his hand on her shoulder. His
human almost wept in sympathy for how she must have felt at being conned like
that. His dragon seethed with fury deep inside. He wanted to tell her she was
beautiful and he loved her curves, but something held him back. The time wasn’t
right.

Olivia was crying in earnest now.

“Y
ou’re a great cook,” Olivia commented as
she cut into her tender, perfectly seasoned steak. “And this salad dressing …
I’ve never tasted anything quite like it. It’s delicious.”

“Not a bad effort for a drug dealing
biker?”

“Are we ever going to let that go?” She
rolled her eyes.

“No. Not yet, anyway.” He smiled. The kind
of smile designed to make her heart melt.

And it did. But she didn’t want it to. Too
many painful memories. It was safer and far less painful just to be alone and
not get involved. It wasn’t worth it for another failed relationship. She wasn’t
a one night stand kind of girl, never had been, either, but who wouldn’t be
tempted to share a night of unashamedly wild sex with a fit, toned, gorgeous
guy. With dimples to die for. With stunning, ‘come-to-bed-and-let-me-fuck-you’
eyes. Not to mention the abs that felt like they’d been chiseled from solid
granite that she had clung to during their ride on his bike. The ride she felt
ended way too soon.

Don’t even think about it. Abort the
mission, girl! Now, before you get hurt. Again.

Looking for a distraction, she changed
tack. “You promised to tell me your story. Like, how you managed to heal the
injuries from one of your bar fights in a matter of a few hours.”

“It’s a long story,” he countered.

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me
the truth.” There was a tone of defiance in her voice.

“It’s complicated.”

“I’m not stupid. And you did promise,
unless that was a lie just to get me here, in your cozy little bachelor lair.”

He held up his hands in capitulation. “No,
it was nothing like that. Besides, I’ve been nothing but honest with you.”

She quirked her eyebrow at him.

“You think I’m bullshitting you now? You’re
going to have a hard time with what I’m about to tell you.”

She stared at him intently, daring him to
continue.

“OK, then … I have a gift. I’m not like
you. Or any other normal human. I heal fast. Really, really fast. You’ve seen
it yourself; your mind just can’t deal with something it can’t explain
rationally.”

“So you can go around picking fights and
getting into trouble and no matter how badly you get hurt, you heal in record
time, is that what you’re telling me?”

“No! Well … yes, but not about the fights.
I’m not a street fighter or bar brawler.” He looked around. “Do I look like
some kind of degenerate to you?”

“How do I even know this is your place?”

“You’re not going to make this easy for me,
are you?” He slumped in his chair as he picked at his food.

She shook her head slowly from side to
side.

“The other night, when I saved you from
those guys?
That’s
what I do. I don’t run around getting into fights
just because I want to be the alpha in the bar or club. I help people. People
like you. It’s what I do. I help people who can’t always help themselves.”

“So now you’re telling me you’re Batman?”
she mocked.

“Not exactly. I don’t wear a cape and I’m
not exactly a
bat
.”

“And who pays you to run around ‘saving
people’? It looks like it pays nicely. A lot more than I earn at the diner,
that’s for sure.” She gestured toward his kitchen with its finely crafted shaker
cabinets and granite counter tops.

“I have investments. I don’t get paid for
what I do.” He braced for the next round from her.

“So, you really are Batman. A trust fund
brat with too much time on his hands and a need to prove himself.”

“Look,” he growled, “ we could do this all
day, but if you’re going to just pour crap on everything I say, then what’s the
point of that? I’m trying to open up to you, but you just don’t want that, do
you?”

Yet, she did. Very much so. More than she
would ever have thought possible. She sensed his attraction to her and that
made her afraid and filled her with longing at the same time. She was drawn to
him in a way she felt more powerless by the second to fight.

“No I don’t. I can’t even think why I
thought I cared enough to ask in the first place.” She pushed her plate aside
and stood abruptly.