Naked Flame (3 page)

“I think she wanted one more chance to connect with Darren before she moved on, and I was it.”

Mike studied him. “And you, son? Have you moved on too?”

Liam turned away. “I'm doing okay, Dad. Leave it at that, okay?”

“For the moment.” He paused. “You know, it isn't as if I haven't been there myself. That I don't know what you're going through.”

“I know, I know. Just let it be for now, will you? Please?”

Liam watched as his father finished bussing the kitchen. He'd offer to help, but the one thing the old man had insisted on when Liam took over was the right to still work and futz around at the place when he wanted to. Liam could relate to that. Without Mike's Place to occupy his time and his mind, he had no idea what kind of shape he'd be in. The bar had been Mike's anchor when Liam's mother died, and now it was a haven for both of them.

But Mike had his handful of cronies that hung around, and the poker game that went on once a week. What did Liam have, except the nightmares and the painful memories? The damage to his body?

For no reason whatsoever, the image of the woman pumping gas flashed across his brain. His fingers itched to ruffle through the abundant curls on her head and he wondered if they felt as silky as they looked. Those jeans she wore hugged her fine, fine butt and long legs like a lover's caress, and the tee-shirt that topped them fell softly enough over her breasts to tantalize him with their shape. Unconsciously, his hands curled as if to cup her in his palms.

Shit, Liam! Fantasizing about a woman you saw for five seconds? Okay, maybe five minutes. But still.

She was the first woman who'd made his cock react in longer than he wanted to remember. Made him even think about sex, no matter how remotely. For the first year after he left the service, it was all he could do to get up in the morning, do his exercises and work at the bar. But today, he'd seen this woman and—and what? He'd never see her again, so he should quit fantasizing about her. Too much of that and he'd have to take himself in hand to get some relief. Of course, that would be better than nothing, right?

“Did you leave your mind someplace?”

“Huh?” His dad's words broke into his daydream.

“I've been talking to you for five minutes and you haven't said a word.”

“Sorry, Dad. Just thinking about Darren again, I guess.”

Mike looked at him, eyes narrowed as if he knew Liam was lying, but he just shook his head. “Whatever. I said you've done a good job with this place. I'm glad I had it. Sometimes I had a feeling it was the only thing that got you out of bed in the morning.”

Liam gave a short, humorless laugh. “Sometimes it was.” Then he dug up a grin. “Meanwhile, I'll flip you to see who takes the rest of the day shift and who closes tonight.”

“Not planning to use that double-sided coin, are you?”

Liam laughed. “Now would I do that?”

But as he dug the coin from his pocket, the image of the woman at the gas pump flashed in his mind again. He wondered where she was at the moment. Still in Dallas? Was she leaving to go somewhere? Was there even a chicken's chance in hell he'd see her again?

Buck pulled into a parking lot in front of a stone building at the far end of Main Street and Charity got her first look at the place. Cars and trucks were parked in front of it and to the side, a fair amount for a weekday night. A big neon sign flashed
Mike's
in bold script over the door and the usual beer signs hung in the window. This was where they came for girls' night out?

“It's not fancy but it's clean and friendly,” Amy said, as if reading her mind.

“It looks fine, Amy. As long as the beer's good, so am I.”

She slid out of the back seat, glad the big Ford F-150 had a running board to ease her descent. She closed the door and turned to wait for Amy. Her darkly handsome husband leaned across the console and caught Amy's hand just before she slipped out of the big dual-cab truck.

“Don't get these ladies into trouble, darlin'.”

She laughed. “We can't get into too much at Mike's. He and Liam are worse than you guys at keeping an eye on us.”

“A very good reason why us guys don't mind you cutting loose there once in a while.”

Amy pulled herself up into the cab again and leaned over to give her husband a kiss so hot Charity had to turn away. She tried to remember if any of her relationships had sizzled like that. Maybe Tom and the others were right. Her job had occupied so much of her brain as well as her time that she hadn't ever put it aside, even for a little while, to give herself completely to another human being. Now she wondered if she ever would, if she was just too burned out. If she'd ever find what Amy had.

“I'll text you when we're done, okay?” Amy backed onto the sidewalk and blew another kiss to Buck. She waved as the truck pulled away from the curb.

“You two make such an unlikely pair,” Charity commented. “But whatever you've got seems to really work for you.”

“In spades.” Amy grinned and then her face sobered. “You just wait, Charity Vance. You'll find yours when and where you least expect it.”

“Trust me, I'm not looking for anything. Certainly not right now.” And she meant it, despite the fact that the vision of the stranger flashed for a nanosecond across her brain.

“Let's go.” Amy headed for the door to the bar. “Come on. Everyone else is probably already here.”

The absence of sound was the first thing Charity noticed when they walked inside. At least the absences of very loud sound. She'd expected the blaring of a juke box and the raucous shouts of men. Instead, all she heard was the hum of conversation and the clacking of pool balls at the far end of the room. A bar of aged but polished wood ran the length of the wall opposite the door, the usual mirror behind it and shelves holding the call brands of liquor. Beer taps rose in one section like hands reaching out to touch someone.

Booths lined one wall and the central area was filled with tables and chairs, at least half of them filled. Four women sat at one directly in the center of the room. Charity recognized Reenie, who was also a college friend and was married to Amy's brother, Matt. But the other two women were strangers. She didn't even remember them from Amy's wedding. She started to hang back, but Amy grabbed her hand and tugged her forward.

“Come on. They don't bite.” She giggled. “Much.”

As they neared the table, Reenie jumped up and waved madly.

“Charity. I'm so glad you made it. Here.” She pulled out the chair next to hers. “Come sit by me.”

“Give her a chance to catch her breath.” Amy laughed. “I want to introduce her to everyone in our little group.”

“We can introduce ourselves,” a blonde across from Reenie joked. “We're not shy.” She looked at Charity with a warm smile. “Hi. I'm Georgie Hannigan. And I believe you're going to be staying with us in a couple of days.”

“The Butterfly.” Amy had filled her in on each of the women during dinner, so she had a good snapshot of who each of them were. Their stories were all so interesting, especially how they'd each ended up with their husbands. She wondered if it was something in the water at Saddle Wells and if it could help her too. If she'd meet someone with whom she meshed as perfectly as these couples did. If these women had even half of what she'd seen between Amy and Buck, she envied them.

Georgie nodded. “And I'm delighted we could wrestle you away from Amy. She threatened to chain you to her house.”

Charity laughed. “I think we'll all be happier if I'm at the Butterfly. And our friendship will be preserved.”

“Hi.” Charity shifted her gaze to the auburn-haired woman next to Georgie. “Jinx Cross. Publisher of the
Hill Country Record
. And no matter what these females tell you, I don't reveal everyone's secrets.”

“But she might get you arrested,” Reenie chimed in. “Her husband's the sheriff.” She smirked. “We call him Officer Hunky.”

“And I'm Cyn Orosco.” A slightly older woman with short blonde curls spoke up from beside Jinx. “I own the barbecue shop.”

“Barbecue shop?” Georgie repeated.

The women all hooted.

“You have to try Cyn's Cyn-Sational Rub.” Georgie rolled her eyes. “But you'd better get yourself a man first.”

Everyone burst out laughing again.

Charity frowned. “I saw the sign when I drove through town. What's the deal anyway? I guess that was you in front of your store. People were practically knocking you down for your free samples.”

Hilarity erupted again, Amy and Georgie laughing so hard tears rolled down their cheeks.

Charity looked at each of them. “Can someone tell me what's so funny?”

Cyn Orosco looked around the table. “You could at least have waited until she had a beer to drop this on her.” She turned to Charity. “I have a special recipe for a barbecue rub. Long story about it I'll tell you sometime. But the thing is, I fiddled with the recipe and added one more herb to spice it up.” She sighed. “I didn't realize it also spiced up a person's libido at the same time.”

Charity's jaw dropped. “Are you kidding me?”

Cyn shook her head and her mouth curved in a rueful smile. “Not even a bit. I discovered it when these ladies here—” she waved her hand at the others, “—ate my samples and had some amazing reactions.”

“Holy shit.”

“Uh huh. Exactly what I said.”

Georgie leaned forward and lowered her voice. “We were afraid the whole town would be fucking like bunnies.”

That set the women off in another round of raucous laughter.

“Okay, okay,” a husky male voice said. “Settle down or I'll have to eject you.”

Charity turned to look at the man who had suddenly appeared just to her left and nearly fell out of her chair. It was
him
. In the real living flesh. Mr. Hot and Sexy from the convenience store. She blinked her eyes, wondering if she'd just conjured him up.

But, no, there he was, pitcher of beer in one hand, a glass in the other, the look on his face conveying the same sense of shock she felt. For a long, intense moment, their gazes locked. Then Reenie's voice broke the spell.

“You know you love us, Liam. And is that more beer? We can't drink it while you're still holding it.”

He looked away and leaned over to set the pitcher on the table. When he did, his arm brushed against Charity's shoulder and electricity ran through her as if she'd been touched by a live wire. She had to force herself not to jerk away.

“You know we have to keep a lid on rowdy women.” His voice had a teasing quality to it. “Don't want to get a bad reputation here.”

“Come on, Liam.” Reenie lifted the pitcher, filled the empty glass and pushed it toward Charity. “We liven the place up.”

He took a step back from the table. “I see you have a new member of your little group here. Maybe you should introduce me so I can warn her about y'all.”

His gaze was fixed on her again, so intently she had the feeling he was mentally undressing her. A shiver danced along her spine at the same time that heat flushed through her veins. She took a quick sip of her beer, hoping no one noticed her hand wasn't quite steady.

“This is Charity Vance.” Amy turned in her chair. “She's a good friend from college, and you'd better be nice to her. Charity, say hello to Mr. Antisocial, Liam Douglas.”

Liam Douglas? The bar owner? Charity nearly choked on her beer. The very last thing she'd expected was to find the hunk from the convenience store running the place where Amy and her friends went for their girls' night out. In the very town she'd planned to make her escape from reality.

“Wow, Liam.” Cyn gave a low whistle. “Never saw anyone get so choked up at meeting you before. Charity, honey, it's okay. He may look and act like a big ugly bear, but he's harmless. Mostly, he hides behind the bar or in his man cave. We like to come in here and liven up his day. Or night.”

“Very funny.”

The rough huskiness of his voice flipped a switch in her body, waking up all her erogenous zones. Bad, bad, bad. She couldn't remember the last time a man had sparked this kind of reaction from her, including poor Tom. She grabbed a paper napkin to dab at her mouth. When she looked at Liam again, he was still watching her.

“Welcome to Saddle Wells, Charity Vance. Don't let these ladies lead you astray.”

“Nice to meet you, Liam Douglas.” She held out her hand for him to shake.

Big mistake. The minute his warm palm came into contact with hers, the heat was so intense she expected to see flames erupt from their skin. Was it her imagination, or did he give her a little squeeze, the tiniest pressure, before breaking the contact?

He gave a brief nod to the table. “Enjoy yourselves, ladies. And don't make me call Sheriff Cross to haul you in.”

“He's my husband,” Jinx reminded him. “He'll leave us alone if he knows what's good for him.”

“Or bad for him,” Cyn teased.

They burst out laughing again and a blush crept up Jinx's fair skin.

“Okay, okay.” Amy rapped her knuckles on the table. “Enough. We don't want to scare Charity away when she just got here.”

“You all have a long way to go being raucous to beat the cops I hang out with. Trust me. This is so much better.”

Georgie refilled everyone's glass and then lifted her own. “I think we should make a toast to Charity. May she have fun in Saddle Wells and stay for a good long time.”

“To Charity,” they all echoed and everyone took a long swallow.

Charity casually slid a glance to the bar. Liam Douglas was leaning against the bar top, ostensibly chatting with one of the patrons seated on a bar stool. But she noticed the moment she looked at him, as if he had some kind of radar, his glance met hers.