Page 27

Ellie turns to Sadie, shaking her head vigorously.

“Nope. Not happening, Sadie. Not in a million years.”

I have no idea what the hell is even going on right now.

First, Sadie screeches like a damn dying pig, and now Ellie is freaking out while Sadie begs and pleads with her for something.

“What the hell are you two going on about?” I ask while taking a pull of my beer.

I could really use a three finger pour of whiskey right now, because the way Ellie has been looking at me tonight has me extremely close to pulling her into the bathroom and fucking her brains out.

Which is exactly why I’m sticking to beer.

Beer is safe.

I can slowly sip my beer and keep my wits about me.

Hunter taps my shoulder and nods to the far corner behind me.

I take a look over my shoulder and see that they’re setting up a stage for karaoke.

Ah, hell.

“I’m with Ellie on this one. There’s no way I’m getting my ass up there and singing.”

Flashbacks to college and drunken karaoke nights play through my mind.

It’s the hangovers that follow those nights that I remember the most.

You’d have to get me blackout drunk for me to willingly go up on stage and sing in front of people.

The thought of Ellie singing to me the day I had my panic attack flashes through my mind.

“Besides, I’ve already had to suffer through Ellie’s singing once before. That was more than enough for me.”

Ellie’s eyes bulge, and Hunter looks between the two of us, clearly confused.

Sadie sits back in her chair and crosses her arms, clearly pouting over our absolute refusal to participate.

She even sticks her bottom lip out like a small child.

“You two are such buzzkills.” Then, she must remember we’re not the only two at the table and turns to Hunter with an evil glint in her eye.

“What do you say, Hunter? Wanna sing some terrible Garth Brooks karaoke with me?”

To my utter surprise, Hunter chugs the rest of his beer, shakes his arms out then cracks his neck like he’s preparing to go to battle.

“Hell yeah, I do! Let’s go sign up!”

Hunter and Sadie take off to go chat with the karaoke DJ and I realize I’m now alone with Ellie.

This is either a magnificent gift or a very, very bad thing.

I silently watch Ellie as I try to determine which one it is.

Ellie is pouring herself a glass of water from the pitcher the waitress left us when she catches me staring.

“What?” she asks as she sets the pitcher back down on the table.

I lean back in my chair, savoring this moment alone with her.

“I know why I’m so against karaoke, but I’m wondering what wild stories you’re hiding over there that make you hate it as much as I do.”

She takes a drink of water, probably contemplating how much she wants to tell me.

God knows I’d rather not share my college horror stories with her but I am dying to know anything about her.

It’s becoming clearer to me each day that she is nothing like the monster I made her out to be in my head.

Ellie puts her arms on the table and clasps her hands in front of her before looking at me seriously.

“If I tell you this story, you have to promise not to tell a single soul. I mean it, Lincoln. Not even Hunter. Only Sadie knows about this and I’d like to keep it that way.”

A piece of her hair falls in front of her face and I have to clench my fists tight to fight the urge to push it back behind her ear myself.

I’m not sure why she’s choosing this moment to trust me but I’m not about to complain.

I mirror her seriousness and lean down against the table and clasp my hands together as well.

“You have my word, Coach.”

“Let’s go to the bar. I’m going to need a shot before I tell you this story.”

She stands before I can respond and I’m out of my chair at record speed.

I’d follow this woman anywhere.

We take the two empty spots at the far end of the bar, as far from the karaoke as we can get.

The bartender makes his way down to us after cashing out the lone patron at the opposite end of the bar.

“Back so soon?” he asks as he throws a towel over his shoulder.

“We need shots,” Ellie blurts out.

I let out a small chuckle and she responds by giving me a dirty look.

I love that she is so straightforward and blunt in every aspect of her life.

No small talk.

Straight to the point every time.

The bartender seems to find her outburst as charming as I do because he smiles at her in a way that has me grinding my teeth.

Okay, dude.

You’re not allowed to look at her like that.

He leans down in front of her.

“What can I get you, gorgeous?”

Yeah, I totally hate this guy .

Ellie seems completely oblivious to him, which has me mentally fist pumping.

“Two shots of tequila. Salt. No lime.”

Tequila?

I know she likes her margaritas based on how fast she downed hers at the table, but tequila and me are definitely not friends.

“Whoa. I can’t do tequila.”

She raises her eyebrow at me.

“Who said one was for you?”

This fucking woman.

I’m irrationally turned on by her and the fire she is constantly spitting at me.

I wonder if she brings that fire into the bedroom.

I bet she's a damn minx in bed.

Fighting the semi that is slowly growing in my pants, I turn to look at the bartender who seems to be even more enraptured by Ellie and her attitude. “I’ll take a double of Basil Hayden,” I say to him, trying to break his damn stare on Ellie. “On the rocks,” I add with a bit of venom.

So much for sticking to beer.

Both the bartender and Ellie turn to look at me. The drop of venom in my voice does its job because he is no longer looking at her, and now she is looking at me.

“Put it on my tab,” I say, dismissing the bartender but holding Ellie’s stare.

I’m not sure where this caveman personality of mine came from but Ellie doesn’t seem to mind it at all. No, her eyes and smile tell me that she likes it.

I can’t help myself. I grab her barstool and pull her closer to me so she’s nestled in between my legs. Ellie gulps. I stare at her throat as it bobs and practically invites me to bite it.

She must be able to read my mind because the next thing she does is flick her hair over her shoulder and tilt her head to the side. She’s fucking begging for it.

I lean in closer, but stop a few inches away, giving her a chance to pull back .

“Two shots of tequila and a double Basil Hayden on the rocks.”

We both jump back, the moment broken as he pushes our drinks closer to us. Ellie doesn’t hesitate, she grabs a shot of tequila, throwing it back without any salt. She doesn’t even flinch before she grabs the second and throws that one back too.

I’m not sure if I should be impressed or concerned with how unaffected she is by straight tequila.

I slowly bring my glass to my lips and stare at this woman before me, trying like hell to figure out where we go after another almost kiss I wish we would’ve fucking connected on.

Before she can freak out over our stolen moment, I try to think of something, anything, to keep her here with me instead of fleeing. I let the bourbon warm my chest and I say the only thing that comes to mind. “So, about that karaoke story…”

Ellie looks relieved that I’ve decided to ignore our heated moment and change the subject. She tucks the stray piece of hair I’ve been itching to touch behind her ear before breaking out into a grin. Damn, I could stare at that smile all day.

“It’s probably the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me,” she says before diving into a full-blown story about how she fell off the stage in Nashville while singing Eric Church. At one point she even stands to reenact how her foot got tangled up in the speaker cords, before performing a ballerina-esque twirl and pretending to fall face first off the stage.

She sits back down in her barstool, and I’m both surprised and elated that she doesn’t scoot it back to its original position. She’s still sitting snug between my legs, close enough for me to smell the tequila on her breath.

My aversion to tequila seems to be a distant memory at this point, because there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to taste it off her tongue right now .

“But imagine me falling three feet off the stage into a pile of drunk bachelorettes.” She smiles at me. “I’ll never show my face at Alan Jackson’s bar ever again.” She’s laughing as she says it, and I can’t help but join in.

Feeding off the energy between us, I take a chance and rest my hand on the top of her knee while sipping my bourbon with the other. Ellie glances down to look at the connection. I’m about to pull away when she rests her hand on my opposite knee and then looks up at me.

We sit like that for the next twenty minutes, lost in our own little bubble, telling embarrassing stories from college. Ellie sounds like someone I would’ve gotten into a lot of trouble with in my twenties.

Hell, she’s someone I’d like to get into a lot of trouble with in my thirties.

I can’t believe the girl who tainted my childhood is sitting across from me, stealing my breath one smile at a time. It’s like I’m in an alternate universe, and I’ve forgotten everything we’ve ever done to each other in the past. I’ve struggled with separating Ellie from my father’s manipulation and abuse. All I had were horrible memories of us being cruel together as kids and teens, and my father comparing me to her every single day of my life. But now that she’s here sitting in front of me, coaching and rebuilding a team next to me, I’m starting to see that Ellie is so much more than my mind made her out to be.

The apology works its way up my throat and is sitting on the tip of my tongue. I go to open my mouth but am interrupted by a southern, twangy voice.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another rowdy night of karaoke at The Cracked Mug.”

Ellie’s attention is immediately pulled away from me as she turns in her seat to watch the DJ. I’m not sure what I did to deserve it, but she keeps her hand on my knee while waiting to see who is singing first. I mean, there’s only about eight of us in this entire bar, so that leaves about six options.

She turns her head to me. “Wait until you hear Sadie sing. She’s going to blow your mind.”

Ellie turns back to the stage but I don’t take my eyes off of her. That is until I hear the next words out of the DJ’s mouth.

“And to start us off tonight singing ‘You Look Like You Love Me’ is Ellie and Lincoln!”