Help Wanted (8 page)

“I’m not interested in dating a woman who thinks I might ask her to marry me in the future. One bad marriage is enough for me in the lifetime. I want to focus my attention on making
Choppers
over and raising Trevor. Any woman who enters my life would have to understand those two things come first.”

Keira couldn’t blame Jim wanting to give most of his attention to work and his little boy.  Those two things would keep him from getting his heart broken. She had heard Charisma and Jenisha talking about how nasty his ex-wife Kathy was, but she never got involved in the conversation about her.

“How is Trevor doing? He’s a very cute little boy.”

“My son is getting smarter every day. Sometimes I forget that he’s only seven because he acts so much older. I don’t know what I would do without him in my life.”

“I can tell that you love him a lot.”

“I do. He’s a wonderful kid.” Jim grinned like the proud father he was.

“Jim, I thought you might not show up this week,” a female voice gushed over Keira’s shoulder. Instead of turning around, she waited for the woman to come to them. Keira didn’t have to wait too long, because a second or two later a statuesque red-head with huge robin’s egg blue eyes wearing a black waitress uniform stopped at their table.

Chapter Thirteen

“Where have you been keeping that gorgeous body of yours? You know that my day hasn’t been made until I’ve seen you.”

Jim looked at Keira and then back at the overly friendly waitress. “I’ve been busy with the motorcycle shop I bought. I haven’t had the time to come here until now,” he answered.

Keira didn’t know what to say about what was going on in front of her. The waitress was flirting with Jim like she wasn’t even at the same booth as him let alone in the same building. If this was a real date she wouldn’t stand for getting disrespected like this.

Hell, wait a second!
She wasn’t going to let it happen even if she wasn’t on a real date with Jim. She was with him right at this moment and this chick shouldn’t treat her like she was invisible.

“Excuse, me, miss.,” Keira interrupted. “Do you mind taking our order instead of gushing over Jim? Yes, he’s a nice looking man, but I came here to eat not to see you come on to him.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were so hungry for something to eat,” the waitress exclaimed giving her a hateful look.

“Bambi, be nice. Keira wasn’t being nasty to you,” Jim chastised.

Bambi…Jim had to be kidding. No one named their child after a Disney cartoon deer. It had to be a nickname, but she was going to keep her opinion to herself.

Blue eyes flashed with anger as Bambi glared at her. Keira was dying for her to say something so she would be able to respond. Bambi had already pissed her off and she was ready to give her a piece of her mind.

“Jim, would you and your date like to order now? Or are the two of you still looking over the menus?”

“We’re ready,” Jim answered. “We both want a plate of hot wings and a pitcher of beer.”

“Thanks.” Bambi wrote down the order without even glancing in her direction. “I’ll be back in a minute or two with your food.” Spinning away from the booth, Bambi left without even giving her another look.

“Did I step on her territory or something?” Keira asked as soon as the waitress was out of hearing range.

“No, Bambi isn’t anyone important to me,” Jim replied. “She’s just a waitress I talk to when I come here.”

Leaning across the table, Keira got closer to Jim enjoying the hint of cologne as it filled her nose. “I think she wants to be more than your friend. Hell, I’d even go so far to say that she’s jealous that I’m having hot wings and beer with you tonight. She doesn’t understand there isn’t anything going on between us.”

“Don’t pay any attention to Bambi.  She gets off on pushing people’s buttons, but she is a lot of hot air and nothing will come of it. However, I want to know why you think that we wouldn’t be on a real date with each other?”

Keira let several thoughts run through her mind. She wondered if Jim was pulling her leg. He couldn’t be serious. They were barely out of the enemies’ level when it came to the two of them. How in the world would he think they could ever go out on a real date? It just wasn’t a possibility in her book. Jim scared her. He was the type of man she stayed away from because he could make her tell him all of her secrets.

“We aren’t two people who would ever hook up with each other. You have this hint of wildness in your personality that I usually avoid in guys. I try to get involved with men who are more like me.”

“I think you are a very self-assured woman, so you are bound to clash with any man who isn’t as set in their ways as you are.”

“I’m not set in my ways,” Keira snapped insulted that Jim could read her so well. “I know how to do stuff in the heat of the moment.”

“Sometimes I hop on my bike and go for a ride at two o’clock in the morning.  I don’t see you doing anything like that at all. I think you need to stop being so controlled. Learn to let go a little more.”

“I told you that I’m not…”

“Jim, what are you doing insulting such a beautiful woman?  I’ve never known you to do something like that before.”

Keira stopped talking as a deep rich male voice broke into her conversation with Jim just before a platter of hot wings, two glasses and a pitcher of beer was placed on the table between them. Her stomach started growling at the delicious smell of the hot and greasy food that she almost missed the handsome man standing next to her.

Eyes that were a startling gray-green were fixed on her, long black hair rested on wide shoulders and a slight smile pulled at the corner of full, firm lips.  If Jim didn’t already have her interest captivated this hunk wouldn’t have had a problem pulling her into him. He was totally the kind of man women would stop in their tracks to look at.

“I see why Bambi didn’t want to bring your food back out to you. Your date is beautiful.” He winked at Keira.

“Dante, can you stop flirting long enough to at least acknowledge me?” Jim laughed looking at his friend Dante then back at her.

“I never miss the opportunity to know a pretty woman,” Dante said still looking at her instead of Jim. “Hello, I’m Dante Braden. Can I get your name?”

Keira would usually blow someone like Dante off because he was too cocky, but tonight she was enjoying the attention. “Hi, I’m Keira Winters. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too. How did you meet my old friend here?” Dante asked finally glancing away from her over at Jim.

She noticed how the smile slipped from Jim’s face at Dante’s term of ‘old friend.’

“Do I have to remind you that you’re older than me by two years? I think Keira would rather date me being forty-one instead of a forty-three year old. Now, why don’t you leave her alone? I brought her here to have a little fun, not to get hit on by you.”

Keira observed how Jim’s personality changed the second Dante came to the table. There was a hint of tension in the room. She was surprised that he was taking what Dante said to her so seriously. It was just a lot of harmless fun.  Did Jim not just tell her less than five minutes ago that she needed to open up more?

“Hey, sorry I didn’t know there was something going on between the two of you. I wasn’t trying to get involved with your woman. Please enjoy your meal and it’s on the house.” Dante winked at her before walking away.

“I wouldn’t take Dante’s flirting too seriously. He’s more of a bachelor than I am,” Jim told her as he poured beer into their glasses and then grabbed a hot wing off the platter.

She wasn’t positive, but Jim was coming across like he was jealous of the attention Dante had given to her. “Thanks for the warning, but I think Dante is very attractive. I was quite flattered by his compliments.”

Jim finished off his hot wing and tossed the bone back on the plate. “Would you feel the same way if I gave you the same compliments?”

“I would have a hard time believing you because of everything that has already happened between us.” Keira picked up a wing and took a bite out of it.

The spicy tanginess from the hot sauce filled her mouth making her remember how much she loved eating hot wings. They had to be hands down her favorite appetizer in the entire world.

“Keira, you have to know you’re super hot. I didn’t think I would have to state the obvious to you.” Jim grabbed another wing and took a bite out of it.

Keira’s heart sped up at the off-handed compliment that Jim gave to her. She couldn’t let herself become attracted to Jim because she had too much going on in her life right now. Too many personal issues had to be dealt with first before she even thought about being in a relationship with anyone.

“How about we stop talking about me and get onto a new topic?” she suggested.

“Like what?” Jim asked before taking a sip of his beer.

“I was wondering why you got a divorce.”

Chapter Fourteen

Jim slowly placed his glass back on the table. He was surprised that Keira didn’t ask a softer question. Most people didn’t ask him out right about his divorce. Even Dave had waited for a while before asking what the final straw had been that sent him running to the divorce attorney.

“I thought someone else would have already told you the reason for my divorce.”

“I’ve heard different reasons, but I want to hear it from you.  Isn’t the best way to get the truth to get it from the source?” Keira asked.

He had to admit Keira did have a point, but he wasn’t ready to tell the entire story of his horrendous marriage to Kathy. If Trevor hadn’t come out of it, he would think that he wasted almost six years of his life.

“I’d rather not get into my messy divorce tonight. I brought you here to
Dante’s
as a thank you dinner for feeding me the other night. How about we just leave the conversation off the heavy stuff and enjoy the rest of our night?”

“I think I like the way your mind works,” Keira said then picked up another mouth-watering hot wing off the plate.

For the rest of the night, Jim talked to Keira about a variety of topics from sports, television shows and their favorite meal besides hot wings. He couldn’t get over what a good time he was having and it surprised him that he didn’t want it to end, but he had to get Keira back home. It was almost ten o’clock and the ride from the bar back to Keira’s house was close to an hour.

“Are you ready to go?” Jim asked as Keira wiped her hands on a napkin. 

“Yes, I’m ready.” She tossed the napkin on the empty plate in front of them. “The food was delicious. You have to tell Dante how much I enjoyed it.  Do you think that you’re okay to drive your bike?” Keira got out of the booth and stood by the side of the table.

“Yeah, I’ve been eating and I didn’t even finish my beer. You’re safe in my hands. I promise you will get back home all in one piece,” Jim said as he slid out of the booth.

Taking her by the elbow, he led her towards the front entrance. “Thank you for coming with me. I had a good time.”

“Did you really?” Keira was surprised by his confession. “I didn’t think we talked about a lot of stuff over dinner.”

“That’s why I had such a nice time. The whole evening is what I need from all of the problems I have going on around me.” Jim pushed opened the door, escorted her outside and over to his motorcycle. “This is the first time in a very long time I didn’t mind eating dinner with someone else at
Dante’s
. I thought when we had such a great time at your house it had to be a fluke, but I’m beginning to see that it wasn’t.”

Keira wondered what Jim was talking about. Why was he thinking about her in a different way now?  Was she hearing what she thought she was? Or was she reading more into the situation than Jim was giving to her? Since she really wasn’t sure about what was going on she pushed the wandering thoughts from her head.

There was nothing going on between the two of them. She was allowing Charisma and the rest of them to get into her mind way too much. Jim and she would never have anything romantic between them.

“Keira, here’s your helmet.” Jim touched her on the arm making her look at him. “Are you listening to me?”

“Yes, I hear you,” she answered placing the helmet on her head. “We should be hitting the road. I have an early morning appointment tomorrow.”

Climbing on the bike, Jim put on his black helmet and waited while she got on the back. “I can’t let the princess miss her beauty sleep now can I?”

Jim started the motorcycle and sped off before Keira could even say a word, but she had more important subjects on her mind. So she allowed Jim’s comment to go right over her head. She would deal with him later when she had more time.

Chapter Fifteen

“Do you really think that Jim and Keira will end up together?” True asked as she joined the other couples at the picnic table. “The two of them are so strong-willed.”

“I have faith that the more time Jim spends around Keira and gets to know her, the attraction between them will only get hotter and hotter until the love will appear without them knowing it,” Dave added.

“Is that how you fell for me?” Charisma folded her arms over her breasts and stared at him

 “No, I’m saying that is how you fell in love with me.” Dave grinned back at his wife.

“I can’t believe you.” Charisma rolled her eyes, but everyone at the table heard the love in her voice.

“I think if we push them too much it will back fire in our faces. I would hate for the two of them to resent us later if there is no chemistry between them.  Maybe we shouldn’t force something that might not be there,” Jenisha said.

“Sweetheart, I know that Jim is attracted to Keira,” Clinton said. “I know the look when I see it. I saw it with Hayward when he looked at True and Dave had the same expression when he used to watch Charisma. We just need to let them move at their own pace,”

“Clinton, I only want Keira to be like her old self. I’m sure that Jim can bring it out of her,” Charisma added, concern in her soft voice.  She missed her outgoing best friend and wanted her back more than anything in the world. “Is there something wrong with that?”