Page 3 of Raised On It (Between the Pines #1)

The obvious charm Katie warned me about. Check.

Dangerous to my heart. Without a doubt. Check. Check. Check.

When he tilts his head just so and hits me with a casually sexy smile, my mouth hangs open as if my jaw has fallen off its hinges, bewildered by the mere presence of the man.

The words I had planned to put together letting him know I wasn’t interested float away like the dust particles illuminated by the neon on the walls. Leaving me looking like an idiot.

As his smile grows, the heat I feel on my cheeks burns hotter.

Get it together, woman. He’s just a man, nothing more.

Get. A. Grip.

“No thanks, already have one on the way. Along with my check.” I say that last part a little louder so Beau hears me. I take a glance in the bartender's direction to make sure he heard me and to get my eyes off the man next to me.

Beau shoots me a wink, and I watch him fill my pint with care refusing to look back at the Greek god next to me.

“Go ahead and close your tab. I’ll take it from here.”

Wow, Katie wasn’t kidding. He's already living up to his reputation. At least his arrogant attitude will make it easier to resist his charm.

Choosing not to look at him when I reply, I instead stare at the same baseball game I couldn't care less about. Feels safer that way.

“Thank you, but I’m fine. Don’t need you to take anything from here.”

“Consider me the welcome wagon. I know everyone in this town, and I don’t know you. I think we need to change that.”

“Nah, I think we’ll both be fine if we don’t.”

“Come on now, don’t be that way.”

Beau interrupts and saves me from having to reply .

“One EBC and the check. The burger is on me. Welcome to town.”

“Thank you, but you don’t need to do that.”

“I know, but considering you have to drink your beer with this idiot bugging you, it’s the least I can do.”

I giggle another thank you and take a sip of the ice-cold perfection in front of me.

“I thought we were friends, Beau. Don’t do me like that,” Miles says from his barstool.

“You want anything, asshole?” Beau says with obvious affection. These two clearly know each other well, and I can’t help but play along with their playful banter.

“So, Beau, you seem to know Mr. Montgomery well. On a scale of one to ten, one being a virginal Boy Scout and ten being a psycho killer, where would you rate this guy?” I still don’t look in the farm boy’s direction, simply aiming my thumb toward him.

“The truth?” Beau questions.

“Nothing but,” I reply firmly.

Beau throws a glance at Miles before the prematurely salt and pepper bartender replies. “I’d trust him with my life but not my sister.”

His answer hits me in the gut. Of course he’s a good guy. He just can’t keep it in his pants.

“Is that right?” I question Beau but finally get the guts to face the man in question.

He just shakes his head and whispers, “Don’t believe a word he says. Well, except the good parts.” He makes a motion that says Beau is crazy and then gives me a wink, only his wink does something to me that the others I’ve gotten from my new friend behind the bar haven’t.

His wink gets me all hot and bothered, and I guzzle half my pint in the hopes it will cool me down.

It doesn’t .

“Listen, he’s good people—” Beau elaborates but is quickly interrupted by the topic of conversation.

“You know, I’m sitting right here, right?”

Beau ignores him and continues. “As I was saying, our boy here is good people, the best actually. Just hang on to your panties because he’ll be in them before you know what hit ya.”

A peanut hits Beau between the eyes. He picks it up and throws it right back to where it came from.

“You’re just envious of my devilishly handsome good looks. I can’t help that I was born with the face of an angel. We all have our lot in life.”

“Oh, please. I saw those devil horns peeking out the moment you said hello. I’ve seen your type before. Big cities…small towns…they all have them,” I chime in.

“Them?” He looks at me confused, but I know his game.

“Those charming playboys we all know better than to fall for. The kind your family always falls in love with but are always too good to be true. I know your type all too well, Mr. Montgomery.”

“Miles. Please call me Miles.”

“Damn, she’s got your number already. I think I’ll leave you to dig yourself out of this one all on your own. Nice to meet you and let me know if you need anything at all. You know where to find me,” Beau says leaving me to school Miles on my own.

“So, if I’m the charming playboy, then who are you?”

“I’m the girl who thinks she’s different than the rest. The one who’ll be able to change you, but I think we all know how that story ends.”

“So cynical.”

“Nah, just wise. Trying to learn from my mistakes instead of repeating them over and over again.”

Chugging back the rest of my beer, I make a show of slamming the glass onto the bar and then standing. “So good.”

“You like EBC, do ya? ”

“It’s my favorite. It’s hard to find on tap on the East Coast. I’m gonna get spoiled.”

“How long are you here?”

Taking my purse off the little hook under the bar—the hook all bars should be required to have—I throw it over my shoulder, ready to take my leave and simply ignore his question.

“I didn’t catch your name,” he says.

“That’s because I didn’t give it to you.”

“What brings you to Eastlyn?”

Go! Don’t answer him, just go!

I’m trying to be cool. You know, ice in the veins and all that, but something in those eyes of his warms me right to my core and turns my insides to goo. God, he’s good. My mouth starts explaining how Katie and I met and how we came about switching houses.

“Just like that movie. So, are you Kate Winslet or Cameron Diaz?”

“Ha-ha! Katie and I said the same thing. We both love that movie, but I’m surprised you’ve seen it. I didn’t take you for a rom-com kind of guy.”

“Darlin’, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.” He says this like this fact is going to change. “So, you’re a writer? That’s really cool. Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?”

Without giving it a second thought, I sit back down on my stool and tell him about what a voracious reader I was as a child and how much I loved my creative writing classes in school.

I tell him about my intentions to self-publish while working a day job, but before I even got the opportunity, I met the right person who became my agent and got me a book deal right out of the gate.

I’m one of the lucky few whose first book sold well, and after ten books in the same series, it’s time to start something new.

“Wow, we’ve got a celebrity in our midst.”

“Hardly. I use a pen name. Nobody knows who I really am.”

“Well, if you need a tour guide to show you all the ins and outs of our little town here I’d be more than happy to slap on a name tag and be that guy.”

“Thank you, but I think I’ll manage.”

“Let me walk you home. I know Katie’s place is on the other side of town.”

“I’m just parked outside, but thanks.” He’s holding my gaze so fiercely the warmth I felt from his wink is now warming me all the way to my nether regions, and his ridiculous start to our conversation is all but forgotten.

Or so I thought.

“Okay, well have a good night, and I’ll see you soon.”

My eyes roll on their own volition, but he doesn’t quit.

“What? How are we going to plan the wedding if we don’t get to know each other?”

Oh.

My.

God.

This man is insane, and I’m speechless.

Turning on my heels, I speed walk across the bar, fleeing like a frightened animal. Pulling the door open, I’m screaming at myself not to do it, but of course, I look back, and just as I thought they would be, his eyes are still trained on me.

He yells at me from across the bar. “I’m in your head. You won’t be able to stop thinking about me now.” I can see his perfect white teeth shining through his Cheshire cat grin all the way over here.

I am in so much trouble.