Page 6

Sierra

“ A re you sure you will be okay with me staying with you guys for the night?” I ask Lilah as we walk out of the house, followed by Emmett. “It’s not a big deal. I could probably get a hotel in town.”

“Don’t be silly,” Lilah returns. “It’ll be fine.

” I look back at Emmett, who doesn’t say a word.

We just finished dinner, and Lilah brought up us hitting the bar for a drink.

I didn’t really pack anything to go out, so I’m wearing my tight blue jeans and a tight, long-sleeved light-beige shirt that goes off the shoulder.

I pair that with the only pair of heels I brought with me.

Heels I didn’t even know why I was packing, but luckily, I did.

“Is it okay with you?” I ask, and he sort of grunts, but not before he grabs her hand and brings it to his lips.

“Whatever she wants,” he states, opening her door as she gets on her tippy-toes and kisses his lips before touching her little baby bump that is barely visible.

“You say that now, but then I ask for something, and you say no.” She gets into the truck, and he gawks at her.

“Like what?” He practically screeches out, putting his hands on his hips.

“I asked if we could make me a library,” she retorts, and he rolls his eyes, “and you said no.”

“I did not. I said who is going to use that, and you never answered me.” He points to her, waiting for her to remember the conversation.

“It was a no.” She reaches out for the handle of the door and closes it in his face. He turns to look at me.

“I didn’t say no to her.” He holds up both hands as if he is surrendering to the fight.

“But you didn’t say yes.” I open the back door and get into the truck and slam the door.

Knowing that with me saying this, he’ll turn and give it to her to make her happy.

Fuck, it wouldn’t surprise me if he built her a whole new wing for it.

“You are going to get the best library anyone has ever gotten,” I mumble, putting on my seat belt.

“I know.” She claps her hands as she watches him walk around the front of the truck. I can see his mouth mumbling probably curse words. “And he’s going to get the best blow job of his life.”

“Eww.” I fake vomit. “It better not be tonight.”

She laughs as he gets into the truck and starts it.

I look out the window, seeing the trees as we pull away from his house.

From the moment I visited Lilah, something about this town just made me smile.

I don’t know if it’s because every place I went to it felt like I belonged there or the fact that everyone in the town seemed so friendly.

Whatever it was it felt like a big hug after a long day at work.

It could be because I liked the people so much.

It could be because it was new. It could be a thousand things.

All I knew is I felt somewhat settled here. It was the strangest experience.

I don’t have much more chance to think about it before he pulls in the parking lot.

The minute I get out, I can hear the music coming from inside the bar.

“This is going to be so much fun,” Lilah says again as she slides her arm in mine, and we walk into the bar.

The sound of my high heels on the paved parking lot mixed with the clunk of her boots fills the air.

Emmett is on her other side, holding her hand before she lets me go and disappears past the open black doors.

I look up and see the sign for Thatcher’s Bar before walking in and stopping dead in my tracks.

It’s utterly fucking gorgeous. As I walk into the bar area, the ceiling opens up, and I take a look around at how pretty this bar is.

The exposed red brick around the bar pops out against the dark metal cladding surrounding it.

It’s a rustic feel but almost modern at the same time.

The big brown square bar area is in the middle of the space, with the square metal rack suspended over it with different glasses all hanging in their place, ready to be used.

Old wooden barrels used over time also help with the decor. Dark brown leather stools surround the bar, while little round tables scatter against the outer wall area. “This is fabulous,” I admire, turning around as Lilah walks farther into the bar.

“Oh look, there is Brock and Everleigh,” she points out, grabbing my hand, and she follows Emmett as he zigzags through the tables. Stopping beside a table that seats about six but only two people are sitting there.

“Where is our daughter?” he asks the couple, seated beside each other. His hand is draped over the back of her chair, and her head is leaned close to his.

“She’s with my mother and Oliver,” Everleigh replies, ignoring the hissy fit that Emmett just pulled.

“Hi, Sierra.” She moves her head to the side, eyeing me.

“Excuse the brute,” she says, “I’m Everleigh.

” I smile. “We met when you came down last time.” She looks at Lilah.

“But there were so many new faces, you probably don’t remember. ”

“You brought the donuts,” I say, walking beside her.

I pull out the chair, sitting in it, and she smiles at me.

“I have to say, I’ve been dreaming about them since I left.

I brought six home with me and even my parents said they were amazing.

I had to ration out the leftover ones, and then one night I had a nightmare they would go bad, so I ate them all for breakfast the next morning. ”

The smile on her face is from ear to ear.

She tosses her long black hair over her shoulder.

“Tell me more,” she jokes. “I’m kidding.

Maybe.” She rolls her eyes. “This is my husband, Brock.” She motions to the man sitting next to her.

His black hair is pushed away from his face, his dark eyes looking at me as he nods and picks up his beer before he takes a pull of it. Not saying a word to me.

“Nice to see you again, Brock,” I tell him. “You have a little girl, right?” He nods. “Saige?”

“That would be her.” He turns to look at the server, who comes over to take our order.

“Excuse him,” Everleigh says. “He’s not fit for company.”

I give a short snort as I order myself a dirty martini. “I think it’s a common theme with the men in this area.” I pick up my hand and do a small circle of the table, making the girls laugh. Lilah sits beside me, with Emmett between her and Brock.

“What are you doing in town?” Everleigh asks me. “Are you visiting again?”

I smile as I look over at Lilah who sits down with the biggest grin on her face. “No. I just bought a house here.”

Everleigh gasps out while Lilah claps her hands soundlessly with glee. “No way. Where?”

“On Preston Street,” I tell them and I hope they know where it is, because I wouldn’t even know in what direction to tell them to go.

“Oh, that’s near Brady,” she says and I look over at Lilah.

“He owns this bar.” Lilah fills me in on who Brady is. “He’s Charlie’s brother-in-law.”

“Got it,” I say of the mention of him. I’m sure I met him the last time I was here but I can’t picture him.

“Well, that’s exciting. When do you move in?” Everleigh asks as the guys exchange about five words to each other.

“Next week,” I answer her as the server comes over and places the glass down in front of me.

At the same time, my eyes move to the door, and I see him walking in with four other men.

He is laughing at something one of them said, and my heart literally speeds up.

Caleb is wearing dark jeans and a light-gray hooded sweater, the sleeves pulled up to his elbows, showing off his thick, tanned arms. He lifts his left hand with his silver Rolex on it and runs it through his dark brown hair.

He must sense me staring at him because his eyes find mine, and the smile on his face gets even bigger.

His eyes go up as he nods his chin toward me.

“Oh, Caleb is here.” Brock pushes away from the table. “I have to speak to him about the crane he was looking for.” He gets up and makes his way to the bar where Caleb and his four friends are.

“I have no idea what they are going to talk about,” Emmett says, getting up and bending to kiss Lilah, “but I’m sure it will be better than listening to you girls gab.”

I can’t help but laugh at his directness before I bring my glass to my lips and take a sip. “So you guys know Caleb?” I ask the table and see Everleigh hide her smile as she reaches for her glass of whiskey, then she looks over at Lilah.

“Oh, she knows him more than anyone else does.” She motions to Lilah, who is blushing but shakes her head and looks down at her lap. The flutter I had in my stomach from seeing him literally plummets down to my feet. “Isn’t that right?”

“Oh, good lord, it’s not as interesting as it sounds. We dated,” she shares, and the dirty martini tastes like acid in my mouth. “How do you know him?”

“He is the one who is going to renovate the house.” I try not to say anything more. I especially don’t share that he handed me his business card and wrote his personal cell number on it.

“Oh, he does fantastic work,” Everleigh praises. “He rebuilt the bakery when it burned down.” I’m trying to listen to her, but my head is spinning that Lilah and Caleb dated. “He moved to town after that I think.” She takes a sip. “And then he dated Lilah.” Pointing over to her.

“Dated is a stretch,” Lilah now says. “It was a couple of dates, and it just…” She looks over at the bar, and I make the mistake of looking over to see Brock leaning on the bar with his elbows while he talks to Caleb, who is leaning with one elbow on the bar.

His body is turned toward our table. “Even kissing him felt weird.” Lilah shakes her head and takes a sip of her drink.

“That should have been my first clue to stop dating him.”

“How long did you date for?” I ask, but the sound of my breathing, or better yet panting, is now the only thing I can hear.

“It was a couple of months,” she says, and I feel like the air is taken from me.

“You never mentioned him,” I reply.

She shrugs. “It really wasn’t that big of a deal.

” I wait for her to ask me if I like him.

Or ask me why I’m so interested in knowing more about him.

But she doesn’t. She just takes a sip of her drink before looking over and pushing away from the table.

“I’ll be back,” Lilah says, getting up as I grab my martini glass and bring it to my lips.

My eyes go to the bar, straight to him, as his head goes back and he lets out a laugh that feels like it warms your soul on a cold day. Like the hug you need at the end of a shitty day. I exhale as I take a sip of my drink. “You’re into him?” I blink quickly and look back over at Everleigh.

“No.” I shake my head. “No.” I try to think of the words. “I just met him. Literally today less than three hours ago.”

“Well, that’s how it usually goes,” she quips. “By the way, he’s a thousand percent single.”

“Yeah, but…” I start to say, as my hand goes to the stem of my martini glass.

I turn it with my fingers and look down at it.

“There is a girl code that says you don’t date your best friend’s ex.

The whole bros before hos but hos before bros.

” I don’t even understand why I’m so bothered by this.

Fine, he was good-looking, he made me smile, and his humor made me laugh, but seriously, I’ve known him for a whole hour.

“I mean, for sure,” she counters, pushing away from the table, “but does it count if she was in love with someone else the entire time she was dating him?” She picks up her glass.

“Talk to her and tell her how you feel. I’m sure she’ll tell you it doesn’t go against the girl code.

” She walks away from the table, leaving me by myself.

I watch Everleigh walk over to Brock and wrap her arms around his back before he looks over, and she gets on her tippy-toes to kiss his neck.

I look over and see that Lilah is plastered to Emmett’s front as he looks at her, saying something, pushing her hair over her shoulder before smiling and kissing her through his laugh.

“Funny running into you here.” I hear his voice and blink once before looking over to see Caleb sitting next to me. His musky smell invades my senses as I fight to put my shield up.

“Why is that?” I ask.

“I didn’t know you and Lilah,” he says, and I smile tightly, “knew each other.”

“Yeah,” I reply, keeping the conversation short.

He puts his arm on the table, leaning forward. “Good news.” He looks at me with his golden-brown eyes. “We start work at the house tomorrow,” he informs me, and my eyes go big.

“I have a group of guys coming down, and we’re going to be finished by the time you move in.” My hand goes out, and I squeeze his bicep, feeling the softness of his sweater under my fingers and the tightness of his arm.

“Are you serious?” I ask, and he nods.

“Very serious.” He smiles at me, my hand feeling the heat from his arm. “We start tomorrow morning at eight o’clock. Someone has to be there to let me in.”

“Are you ready to go?” Lilah asks, and the minute I hear her voice, my hand flies away from him.

“Yeah.” I nod, pushing away from the table. Standing up, I pick up my glass and finish what’s in it before placing it back down. “Ready,” I confirm as I move away from Caleb, the palm of my hand itching to touch him again. “Thank you.” nodding to him and turn to walk away.

“Bye, Caleb,” Lilah says, and I look over my shoulder at him as I walk away.

His eyes are fixated on me as he does a chin up, and my mouth waters. “See you soon, Sierra.”