Page 28 of Will Bark for Pizza (Bluebell Springs #1)

Kat Hayes broke the tension, arriving at the table with a tray of drinks—iced tea for Luke, who was in uniform, a water for me, and a lager for Thoren. She dropped a fully tattooed arm around Thoren’s shoulders and squeezed him in a half hug. “You boys need an appetizer?”

“Surprise us?” Thoren said to his aunt.

“I got something I think you’ll like.”

“No jalapenos,” Luke pleaded.

“I’ll go easy on you. This time.”

“I appreciate that. Say, you going soft, Kat?” Luke asked, nodding to the women in the corner by the dartboard .

“Don’t you worry about me,” she said to Luke. “Your sister’s on probation, and I refuse to serve her any alcohol, even if she’s on her best behavior.”

“If she gives you any trouble?—”

“I’ll let you do the honors.”

Thoren looked at me. “Luke put Kira in the back of his patrol car last summer, in the cage, and drove out of here with lights flashing.”

“Seems excessive,” I said.

Luke’s expression soured, but before he could explain himself, Thoren chimed in.

“You should have heard what Kira said about him.”

“Cut her some slack,” Kat said, her firm tone hinting at gentleness.

Kat Hayes had a reputation for being a hard-ass. You had to be, to run a bar and grill in a small tourist town. But underneath that armor, I suspected she was a big softy.

“She was going through a rough time,” she said.

“Still doesn’t excuse the way she acted.”

“Luke Mason, get off your damned high horse, or I’ll put jalapeno seeds in everything I serve you tonight, iced tea included.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I hid my smile behind my sweating glass of water. Thoren didn’t bother hiding his at all.

I scanned the crowded bar and grill as Kat wove through the tables back to the kitchen, my gaze landing once again on Kira.

She held a dart, her arm bent at the elbow as she lined it up, and fired.

It hit somewhere on the inner circle. I didn’t have to wonder if she was good.

The confident smirk she wore when she pulled her darts from the board and spun around said she knew what she was doing.

I bet she was competitive. An idea was taking form in my brain—a really stupid idea involving darts and side bets.

“So, Alyssa’s in town,” Luke said, effectively wiping the cheeky grin right off Thoren’s face.

“She’s just here for Mom’s party,” Thoren said flatly, downing half his lager in a single long swallow.

“Is it really out at the cabin?” Luke asked.

“Shocker, right?” Thoren said.

“The cabin on Ghost Lake?” I asked.

Luke nodded.

“I thought—” I cut myself off before I sounded like a fucking gossip, too.

Guess that meant Karl wasn’t selling the cabin after all.

Probably why he didn’t return my voicemail.

I could survive a few more days staying across the hall from Kira.

Especially since she was doing everything in her power to avoid me.

“Fixed you boys up a sampler platter,” Kat said, dropping a massive plate filled with nachos, quesadillas, poppers, wings, and three different types of dip in the middle. “If you still want burgers, I can get those going.”

Luke ordered his usual to-go.

“Extra jalapenos,” Thoren said to Kat.

“Not funny.”

“It’s a little funny,” I added, remembering the jalapeno hoax we pulled on him in Afghanistan. He’d probably hold a grudge about that for the rest of our lives. But fuck, it was worth it.

Luke grumbled .

I helped myself to some nachos.

“I forgot how fucking good this food is,” Thoren moaned.

Kat served bar food, but she had to have a few special ingredients up her sleeve. Like crack, because it was that addictive. Much better than any typical bar food I tried anywhere in the country.

“You reenlisting, then?” Luke asked Thoren, the question throwing me.

“It’s what I do,” he said on a shrug.

“Where you headed next?”

“Trying to get Alaska.”

“You still like it?” I asked. When we all served together, we were Blackhawk mechanics. Some of us had also been crew chiefs. But I got out when they made me a platoon sergeant and told me I couldn’t work on helicopters anymore.

“It’s something to do,” Thoren answered noncommittally, his head swiveling over his shoulder for another look at Alyssa.

I searched my memories but couldn’t recall her name coming up in conversations when we served. But with the way they kept sneaking glances at one another, neither wanting to be caught by the other, I’d bet there was history there.

“And if I get Alaska, I don’t care what they make me do.”

Kat returned with Luke’s to-go burger just as his phone buzzed on the table. A call, I suspected. She waited for him to stand before handing him the bag .

“You’ll be there tomorrow?” Kat asked him about the surprise party.

“I will.”

She patted him on the arm, probably because she couldn’t easily reach his shoulder with them both standing. Luke towered over most people, me included. “Be safe out there.”

Luke nodded on his way out the door.

“You boys good?” Kat asked, taking Thoren’s empty bottle. “I can bring you another.”

“Bring it to the table over there,” Thoren said, pointing to an empty high-top near the dartboard. “And a round of drinks for the ladies.”

“Play nice, Thoren,” Kat warned.

“I always play nice,” he said, sporting a mischievous smile that suggested I should talk him out of this.

But the truth was, I’d been thinking the same thing. Maybe Nana was right to get on a plane and come straighten me out. Because the draw to Red was too damn enticing, and even if she was pissed at me right now, tonight I didn’t feel much like fighting the pull.

I felt like taking a risk.