Dirt: A Sexy Small Town Romance (Copperwood Book 1) (8 page)

We spent the rest rest of the night in a daze. Busy nights didn’t only mean good tips, they also meant the shift went by faster than normal. Before I realized it, Kirstin shouted out ‘Last Call’ to the teeming mass of bodies and we got slammed again.

It was going to take forever to get everyone out the door, but Jack would be happy with the till. He’d also feel guilty he wasn’t here to help. We ended up wiping down the counter and cleaning up the bar before the last customer walked out the door. Mike and Shane sat at the end of the bar. Waiting.

I wasn’t sure what had transpired between the two of them, but Mike didn’t seem as cool towards Shane and I wasn’t about to bring up our earlier conversation. It could wait until Shane left town and I was a crying mess.

Kirstin popped two beers down in front of the boys and handed one to me before taking her own. We deserved shift drinks and even though the bar was technically closed, we sat down next to the guys and enjoyed the quiet.

“I’m Kirstin.” The little blond bartender reached her hand out to Shane. “And you must be the famous Shane Crawford.”

“I’m not famous.” Shane took a long drink from his bottle of beer and rested his arm around the back of the stool I sat in.

“You were born here and left town. That’s reason enough for celebrity status in Copperwood.”

Kirstin said, “Transplants aren’t celebrities?”

“She knows the lingo?” Shane gave her an appreciative look.

“Naw. Transplants always leave,” Mike muttered around his beer bottle.

“Unless they have a reason to stay,” Kirstin amended his statement.

I sat back and watched the conversation. Something about it felt right and I wanted to imprint the image into my memory so when I couldn’t experience it in real life any longer, I could at least see it in my dreams.

Shane’s fingers brushed against my shoulder as he finished his beer. A subtle cue I took as him letting me know he wanted to leave. I assumed he intended to leave with me. I drove to work, but the Dart could stay at Pick’s as far as I was concerned.

“I’ll lock up.” Kirstin winked at me. I was going to have to owe her.

I slipped from the stool and grabbed my things from the back office. By the time I came out front, Shane and Mike stood by the front door talking. I stopped for a moment and contemplated the sight and what it meant for me.

But I was a grown up, so I pulled up my big girl panties and pushed my shoulders back before striding across the floor, fully intent on ignoring them. The car keys jangled in my hand and Mike glanced at them for a moment before stepping away.

“I’m staying to make sure Kirstin gets out safely.”

I looked between the two men. Mike never announced his concern about our safety and never mentioned Kirstin before. It all seemed a bit easier than I expected.

Shane held the door open for me and I walked past, deliberately not looking at Mike just in case he transmitted one of his looks of disappointment and ruined whatever good feelings tamped down the usual swells of disappointment.

As soon as the door closed, Shane grabbed my hand and pulled me against him. “I’m driving you home.”

“I have my car here.”

“And it will be safe.” His tone left no room for argument and to be honest, I really didn’t want to argue. But I had to protest, even if it was half–hearted at best.

He slipped his arm around my waist as he led me to his car. But before he opened the door, he pushed me back against it and stepped closer to me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I hoped he would pick up from where we left off when he dropped me at home after lunch, but I wasn’t sure a parking lot was the best place for it.

Shane’s fingers brushed a few stray wisps of hair back from my face and I opened my eyes. I had to tilt my head back in order to see him, but that just pushed my hips against his. Not that I minded the feel of his body against mine. Quite the opposite. I wanted more of it, but I wasn’t the kind of girl to just grind up against someone. Besides, what if I did it all wrong?

Shane bent down and pressed his lips against my forehead and memories of the first time he left Copperwood resurfaced, but I shoved them away. I didn’t want to think about that. Or tomorrow.

He pulled his lips away and held me tight against his chest with his arms wrapped around my shoulders. My face pressed against his neck and I breathed in, adding the scent of his cologne to my memories. Shane’s breath floated over my neck and cheek and I realized he lowered his head again.

I wanted to turn my face and kiss him. But I didn’t. He needed to kiss me first. I didn’t want to add another rejection to the wealth of inspiration for my fantasies. The ball was entirely in Shane Crawford’s court, but I would gladly catch it when and if he decided to throw it to me.

His hand moved up my back, his strong fingers lightly brushing my spine, almost tickling me through the thin t–shirt, until they found the loose strands of my ponytail. We stood there together for several moments. His fingers combing through my hair, my body pressed against his, and his arm holding me close.

If this was all he could give me, I would take it. The comfortable feeling of just being with someone, without any expectations, was the best thing about any relationship. If only all of my past attempts at relationships led to the easy comfort I experienced with Shane.

His mouth found my ear and his teeth pulled at my earlobe. Shane was throwing the ball. He laughed softly into my ear and I realized I was pressing my hips against his. Apparently, I was the kind of girl who ground up against a man.

He spent a few more moments teasing my ear before his lips moved to my neck.

I groaned. I couldn’t help it. I was turned on and I wanted everything Shane was giving me and more. I felt burst of warmth between my legs and blushed with the realization that I was obviously aroused. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, wanting his mouth to find mine.

Shane moaned and turned his face, brushing his whiskered cheek against mine, until our mouths met. His face tickled me in the rough manner of stubble and my skin heated from the mere brush with his skin. His tongue pushed its way between my lips and danced against mine. My arms tightened around him and I happily met each gentle thrust of his tongue.

And then his hands held my face and the kiss turned from a gentle dance into a hungry claiming. Instead of pulling away, I returned his kiss with as much ferocity, if not more. Shane Crawford might have been claiming my mouth with his kiss, but I was doing the same. I was going to make sure that Shane didn’t forget our kiss because there was no way in hell it would ever fade from my memories.

I felt his erection against my stomach and moaned into the kiss. Shane was as turned on as I was.

But before anything went any further, Shane pulled away and I thought I saw a look of reluctance on his face.

“Not here, Mya.” His lips moved along my jaw in a line of gentle kisses and I
heard
the reluctance in his voice.

He stepped away from me and opened the car door. Before I realized it, we were driving through town and he pulled the car up in front of my house. The last place I wanted to be.

Shane leaned across the front seat of the car and kissed me. This time there wasn’t any hunger. It was just a gentle good night kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I nodded my head slowly and got out of the car. Wondering the entire time what had happened. Shane wanted me. I knew he wanted me. I felt his arousal pressing against me for Christ’s sake. But instead of taking me back to his motel, he was dropping me off at home.

I didn’t know who was the bigger asshole. Him for leaving me hot and bothered or me for thinking anything more than a kiss would happen.

15

Shane

A
cold shower. I needed a nice long cold shower. I sped back to my motel berating myself for leaving Mya. It would have been so easy to bring her back with me, but she deserved something better than a seedy motel in the middle of town where someone would see her. And then she’d become the center of gossip.

Unfortunately, it didn’t stop my dick from pushing uncomfortably up against the zipper of my pants. What did stop my dick from getting any harder was finding Alene standing at my motel room door.

I noticed her absence from the bar, but hadn’t thought anything of it. In retrospect, I probably should have.

I got out of the car and walked past her. “I’ll let you know what I decide tomorrow.”

“But, Shane…”

I pushed past her. Her voice grated against my ears and the last person I wanted to see before I went to bed was Alene. She tried to follow me into the room, but I closed the door on her. Her fists pounded against hollow metal blocking her entry, but I ignored it.

Instead, I headed for the bathroom and the cold shower.

* * * *

Standing in front of the aging house reminded me of the passing time and just how long I’d been gone. Before I left, Rich Sydony took care of his house. They never had much, but they never really seemed to need it. I’m sure after Lily passed, Rich didn’t think he had a reason to keep going, but what about Mya? She didn’t deserve this. She never deserved this.

Mike shared some of what happened with Mya and guilt punched me in the stomach. Leaving was the best thing for me. I hated thinking about what I would have been like if I had stayed. I just wished I hadn’t severed ties so completely.

I could have dropped Mya an email. I could have picked up the phone and called her. It would have been easy to blame my dad for why I stayed away for so long, and he was a huge part, but he wasn’t the whole part. I stayed away because I didn’t need any more images of Mya haunting my future. I’d have only hurt her back then.

But things were different now. So here I was, standing at her door first thing in the morning. God, I was an asshole.

“Are you going to stand at the door all day or are you going to knock?”

I jumped at the sound of the deep male voice. Rich Sydony always frightened me in the way fathers of attractive young women frightened teenaged boys. At least
that
hadn’t changed.

I turned around to look at the man who had been one of my father’s best friends and wondered if he knew what my dad had done. How my dad sold out the town just to pad a bank account he never used because he didn’t want to be found out.

Well, that was not entirely true. I didn’t know it until later, but he helped finance school for me. What I thought was a scholarship was actually financial aid provided for by the men who greased my father’s palm to make their entry into Copperwood easier.

“I was going to knock.”

Rich moved past me and opened the door. “Well come on in. You can help me work on the water heater.”

I had a feeling ‘working on the water heater’ was code for talking about my intentions with his daughter, but stepped through the door anyway. I managed to survive Mike’s interrogation the day before and after we talked at the bar we came to an quasi–understanding. He could beat the shit out of me if I hurt Mya.

“What’s wrong with the water heater?” I followed him down the stairs.

“It decided it had enough and quit.”

Mya didn’t have hot water?

Why hadn’t she told me?

The better question was why did I think she
would
tell me?

I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt and crouched down next to Rich. I hadn’t needed to actually fix things on my own in a while, always calling in someone else to repair what was broken, and it felt good to get my hands on something other than a computer keyboard.

“You aren’t your father.”

I dropped the wrench and the clattering sound of the heavy metal hitting the cement floor sounded much louder in the silence than it was. Or at least I hoped as much. I picked the wrench back up and resumed tightening the bolts back into place.

“I never thought I was.” I kept my focus on the tool in my hand.

“No one would blame you.”

“For what?” I set the wrench down on the floor — quietly this time — and looked over at Rich. “Why would anyone blame me?”

“We aren’t stupid. Well, some of us aren’t at least.”

I blinked at him. Was he telling me he knew what my dad did? Damn, he could have done what I did. Hinting at what he knew, or maybe just suspected, without actually showing his hand.

“Your dad, he wasn’t a very good man. He was a crappy father and a horrible husband. Hell, he wasn’t even a good friend. But the worst thing he was, was greedy. There are a lot worse men out there.”

Shit, he did know. I stayed away, torturing myself, and Mya as well. But I didn’t need to. I could have come back sooner and Rich was letting me know that, without coming right out and saying it.

“Now you? I don’t know what kind of man you are. But from what I remember, you were a good friend and I imagine you might even be a decent husband and father someday.” Richard reached into the tool box and pulled out some plumbers’ tape to seal off the nut he was fixing onto the pipe. “But I also imagine you might think this is just a temporary stop before you get back to your life?”

Mya might have thought he checked out when her mom died, but her dad was still her dad. And I was still the punk kid who might hurt his little girl.

The least I could do was be honest with the man. He had every right to hate me. The sins of the father and all that, but he didn’t. Or at least he didn’t act like he did. “I don’t know what this is.”

“Well, then you need to figure it out.” He looked up at me and smiled. “Mike will kill you if he has to sit through another round of movies where the girl magically fixes the guy.”

I sat back against the wall and rested my arms on my knees. I already figured it out. I just didn’t want to say it out loud. And I really didn’t want to say it Mya’s father. Rich went back to work, humming quietly while he tightened the nuts and bolts into place.

When I stood up, he glanced up at me, but didn’t say anything.