Second Chance (5 page)

Those jade green eyes didn’t waver
as they looked right back at him.  Her back was straight, that impressive bosom
pressed against a rather low-cut blouse.  Her posture might have been relaxed
but her gaze didn’t reflect it as she waited.  The coolness emanating from her
was evident to him - meant to be, no doubt.

“Okay.”  He nodded.  “Straight
down the line.”

She gave a little ‘come on’
gesture with her fingers.

Swivelling to face her, his jean-clad
knees brushing against hers due to his long legs, Grant leaned his elbow on the
bar.  “I know I came across as a total drongo this morning.  I didn’t recognise
you, but when you said your name I remembered.  Unfortunately my memory wasn’t
a pleasant one and my reaction was a knee-jerk.”

She nodded.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?  A bad memory?  Nothing
worse than your bad memory popping up in front of you.”

“It was a long time ago, we were
kids.”

“Must have been rankling deep
inside all this time.”

“I didn’t actually remember until
you mentioned the undies incident.”

“I thought it would jolt your
memory.”  She paused.  “Apparently it jolted a little more than I thought.”

“More than I thought, too.”  He
grinned.

Tam nodded.  “I understand.  Apology
given and accepted.  I apologise, too, for being the cause of bad memories.”

“No need for that.  We were kids.”

“And kids can be cruel.  So for
whatever I did to you, I’m sorry.  We good?”

He smiled.  “We’re good.”

“Great.”  She drained the glass of
drink and hopped off the bar stool.  “Goodnight, Grant.  Hope your clinic does
well and the fulltime vet works out for you.”

“What?”  Fully prepared to settle
in for a nice evening, he was stupefied.  “Where are you going?”

“Home.”  Picking up the little
purse from beside the glass on the bar, she smiled.  “Nice meeting you again,
Grant.”

What the hell…?
  He was so
stunned he could only gape after her as she wound her way through the crowd.

The lights caught the gold in the
wealth of brown hair that tumbled down her back, her buxom, generously curved
hour-glass figure moving with surprising dexterity between everyone.  People
smiled at her, people moved aside and regrouped, and then she was cut from
sight.

A movement caught Grant’s
bewildered attention.  Farris was making a beeline in her direction.

Not happening.

Recovering himself, Grant jumped
off the bar stool and headed into the crowd after her, intent on cutting off the
obviously smitten farmhand.  Breaking through a group, he almost trod right on
top of her.  He barely stopped himself from running her down, coming to a stop
directly behind her. 

Now he found himself looking over
her head - which only came to his shoulders anyway - into the amused gazes of
Ryder and Scott.  Shit, they were looking right at him while their wives
chatted to Tam.

“Hey.”  Scott’s grin grew wider.

“You’re in a hurry.” Ryder had a
wicked glint in his eyes.  “Lose something?”

“Not at all,” Grant replied.

At the sound of his voice, Tam
glanced over her shoulder.  Her eyes met his, her expression remained pleasant,
she dismissed him with a polite smile and turned back to resume her
conversation with Dee and Ash.

Dee looked from Tam to Grant, her
eyebrow arching in curiosity as she glanced up at Ryder.  Like that turd would
know anything.  Thought he did, the big lug, standing there with that
shit-eating grin on his face.  Not to mention Scott, who then announced loudly,
“Sorry to interrupt your date.”

“It’s not-” Tam began.

“-a problem,” Grant interrupted. 
“We were just on our way to sit outside.”

“We were?” Tam asked.

The woman didn’t have an ‘off’
switch apparently.

“Yep, we were.  Remember?”

“No.”

And obviously she lacked a ‘subtle’
switch as well.

Placing a hand in the small of her
back, he ignored her slight stiffening.  “Never mind.  I see you met some of
this mob already.”

“She did.”  Ryder slung his arm
around Dee’s shoulders.  “Hey, how about we get the others and join you both
outside?  We can really get to know each other.”

Hmm, probably not a bad idea. 
Ryder was doing it for his own amusement, but Grant was quite happy to take
complete advantage of it to get his own way - which was to prevent Tam from
disappearing.

He looked down at her.  “You don’t
mind, do you, Tam?”

“Oh,” she replied pleasantly, “not
at all, Grant.”

Her voice might have been
pleasant, but there was a definite glacier glint in the depths of those lovely
green eyes.

“Great.”  Ryder steered Dee away.  “We’ll get the others, top up our drinks, and be right out.”

No sooner had the two couples gone
in the direction of the table they’d been sitting at than Tam turned to look up
at Grant.

He’d expected anger.  It wasn’t
anger he got.

Instead, her gaze was searching.  “What
are you doing?”

He didn’t have to think twice. 
“I’d like to get to know you a little more.”

“Why?”  There was the expected
bluntness.

“No idea,” he replied, equally as
bluntly.  “But I do know I don’t want you to leave just yet.”

After a few seconds of just
looking at him - the woman definitely had a thing about looking directly at a man
like she was trying to see into his soul - she finally nodded.  “Okay.”

Relief relaxed him.  “Great.”

The group nearest them shifted
suddenly, someone bumping into Tam, pushing her forward so that she landed
against him.  Now all those lush curves were pressed against his harder frame. 
Those curves were soft and warm, that he registered almost immediately.  Not to
mention that she smelled good, the scent of apples rising to his nose from all
that soft, shiny hair that barely grazed his shoulder.  Involuntarily he
wrapped his arm around her waist, his hand flat in the small of her back,
holding her against him so that even when the person who’d bumped into them
apologised and moved away, he kept her pressed against him.

His gaze lifted from the generous
swell of her breasts that pressed so enticingly against his upper abdomen to
her face.  Those expressive eyes held a hint of uncertainty, a slight flush
spreading across those sweetly rounded cheeks.  Her hand came up to rest on his
forearm, fingers cool on his warm skin.

He was almost mesmerized, the
sensation of her against him, all soft and warm and sweet, catching him,
pulling at something deep inside him.

The sudden lowering of her
eyelashes  accompanied by the way she pulled back broke the small spell that
seemed to have wound itself around him, making him clear his throat and allow
her to ease back.  “All right?”

“Yes.  Sorry.”  Unexpectedly, she
gave a little laugh of embarrassment.  “Hope I didn’t hurt you.”

Puzzled, he repeated, “Hurt me? 
No.  Why would you hurt me?”

“You know…”  Her voice trailed
away and with an abrupt shrug of her shoulders, she turned away.  “Outside, you
said?”

“Yep.”  Wondering what she’d been
going to say, he followed her out.

The warm night held a slight cool
breeze, stirring the tendrils of her hair as she moved ahead of him.  Stopping,
she looked around.

“To the left.”  Moving up beside
her, he lightly placed his palm against her back, steering her over to the tables
and benches that stood to one side of the pub.  Outside lights cast a warm glow
on the seating area which was currently deserted.

As she slid onto one of the
benches, he leaned down solicitously.  “What are you drinking?”

“Diet Coke.  Thanks.”  She started
to undo the snap on the little purse.

“My treat.”  He straightened.

Abruptly, she looked up at him. 
“Grant?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you sure about this?”

The uncertainty in her voice
caught his attention.  Squatting down beside her chair, he studied her face,
seeing the unexpected vulnerability in her eyes.  It produced a surprising well
of protectiveness to come surging to the fore, the need to reassure her, to
wipe that vulnerability away and replace it with the assuredness she’d
previously shown.  “What’s wrong?” he asked gently.

“I just…”  She glanced away,
glanced back.  “Nothing.”

“Talk to me.”

“Do you really think this is a
good idea?”

He smiled slightly.  “Yeah, I do.”

“You really want to bury the
hatchet?”

“Yep.”

“Not in my back, I hope.”

“Revenge isn’t my thing.”

Before she could say anything
further, the sound of voices heralded the imminent arrival of his friends.

Clearing her throat, she smiled
brightly, the vulnerability of seconds ago banished.  “I would love a Diet
Coke, thank you.”

Okay, there was something going on
here.  He just knew it.  Just as he knew now was not the time or place to
pursue it.  Yet.

Pushing to his feet, he touched
her shoulder lightly.  “I’ll be back.”

“Famous last words,” she said
lightly.

“But true ones.”  Giving her a
shoulder a gentle squeeze, he left her at the table.

~*~

What was she doing?  And more to
the point, what was he doing?  He didn’t like her, he’d apologised for his
reaction, and now he wanted to share the evening with her?  Man was weird. 

Or up to something.

Tapping her fingers on the table
top, she pursed her lips.  Okay, she’d play along for now, get a feel for him -
not in the Biblical sense, either, though that was a tantalising thought, the
man was pretty hot after all - and see where he was trying to lead her.

If he was trying to lead her. 
Probably just trying to be nice.  Unless he’d heard something, who knew?

With a small roll of her head to
ease the tension in her neck, Tam welcomed the arrival of the group of friends. 
Scott and a redheaded man dragged another table over to join it up to the one
she sat at to make one long table, then everyone took a seat, conveniently
leaving a space opposite her for Grant.

“Do you know everyone?” Scott
queried.

“I’ve met you, Ryder, Dee and
Ash.”

“No worries.  Okay, everyone, this
is Tam.  Tam, the couple opposite you are Molly and Kirk.”

The golden-haired man, Kirk,
smiled.  Molly gave a little wave.  “We’re a plus four, but our plus four are
being babysat.”

Geez, they didn’t look old enough
to have four kids.  “Boys or girls?” Tam queried.

“Girl, Lily.  The other three are
Henny and Penny, the two hens, and Sparkles the rat.”  The woman actually said
it with a straight face, while her husband just kept smiling slightly like it
was perfectly natural.

Okay then
.  “Sweet.”  Tam
looked at the next couple.  The man was huge, muscles bulging under his shirt
sleeves, his width and height a little overpowering seated next to the slim
blonde.

“The Yeti is Moz,” Ryder informed
her.  “Del is his fiancée.  They’re a plus two - one normal black cat and a
freaky bare-arsed cat.”

“Mozart is not freaky,” Moz
rumbled.

“Any cat with a bare arse is
freaky.  It’s not normal.”

“You’re not normal and yet Dee still lets you out to play.”

“My arse isn’t bare.”

“It was this morning,” Dee said.

Ryder looked at her, a glint in
his eyes and a lecherous leer on his lips.  “Yeah, babe, it was, wasn’t it?”

“Spare us the details.”  The
redheaded man seated at the end of the table smiled at Tam.  “I’m Simon, I work
with Scott, and this is my wife, Elissa.  We’re a plus one - Arthur the cat.”

Amused, Tam nodded a greeting.

Elissa winked.  “We met at the vet
clinic this morning.”

Tam remembered.  “Oh yeah, the
romantic encounter between Tiny and -”

“The bitch?” Dee finished.

“I think her name was Morganna.”

“That’s the dog,” Dee said.  “The other one is called Yvonne.”

Del laughed outright.

“In case you don’t know, there’s a
hate/hate relationship between Dee and Yvonne,” Molly informed Tam.  “And Del will be trailing right behind Dee, ready to back her up.”

“That’s what cousins are for.”  Del took a modest sip of her drink.

“Right on, sister.”  Dee saluted her.

“Before you start to think we’re
all interbred out in these here hills,” Molly added, “Elissa and Moz are
brother and sister, Del and Dee are cousins, Scott and I are cousins.  The rest
of us are fresh blood.”  She paused.  “Though Scott and Ryder were born here
and so were their parents, so you never know.”  She peered across the table at
Scott and Ryder.  “Uhhh…there may be a similarity.  Do you see it, Moz?”

“I look nothing like Scott,” Ryder
denied.

“Nothing wrong with me,” Scott
said indignantly.

“I agree.”  Ash dimpled up at
Scott, who grinned and dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose.

“No one can say I look like him,”
Ryder insisted.  “I have my own unique look.”

“You’re right,” Moz agreed.  “You
have more of a resemblance to your knuckle-dragging relatives.”

“I was going to say I was more
handsome.”

“Sure, you go with that.”

“You know in a weird way we’re
kind of related?”

“Since when?”

“Del and Dee are cousins.  That
makes us cousins-in-law.”

“Easy fixed.  I divorce you.”

“You can’t divorce your cousin,
numb nuts.”

“Watch me.”  Moz turned to Kirk. 
“You’re the cop here.  Is there a law preventing me from divorcing my cousin-
in-law
?”

Sitting back, relaxed and at ease,
Kirk eyed him lazily.  “I think you’d need to divorce Del for that to work.”

Ryder smirked.  “Welcome to the
family, Yeti.”

Moz stared at him and cracked his
knuckles.

“You won’t shed blood here,” Ryder
said confidently.