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One
Aria
Mammoth,thebartender,slidesthe brightly colored mocktail with a cherry on top to me. “A Cinderella for my favorite princess.”
I toy with the stem and grumble. “What did I say about calling me that?”
“Fine, you’re not myfavoriteprincess, just a regular princess.”
“Ha! The F-word isn’t the problem, it’s the P-word, and you know it.” I roll my eyes at my long-time friend.
“You’re the closest thing we’ve got to royalty, Aria.”
“My dad’s the mayor, not a king. That hardly makes me royalty, besides, I come here to get away from all of that.”
He winks at me. “You’re always welcome to hide out in my bar.”
Sipping my drink, I scan the room while Mammoth tends to other customers.
My heart flutters when a guy at the other end of the bar catches my attention. Our eyes lock. He’s not a local, I’d remember someone as staggeringly handsome as him. A few years older than me if I had to guess. His button-up shirt and styled hair, slightly longer on top, set him apart from the bikers who frequent The Bottom Bar.
The stranger smiles slowly as if pulling himself out of the same stupor I was caught in. Do I actually have a chance of scoring a date? Our eyes stay locked and I swear there’s a pull, an actual attraction.
Then, oblivious to my breath-stealing encounter, a group of customers destroys the moment, invading the space between us.
I take the reprieve from the stranger’s intense gaze to breathe. Did we have amoment? The tingles between my legs indicate we did. I’ve never had that happen before.
Maybe I can make progress on my ‘Aria needs to have some fun’ plan, AKA, Aria wants to have sex—for the first time. It’s on my calendar to do before turning twenty-one, but with a month and a half to spare, I was giving up hope.
I’d started to think my standards were too high. Or that any perks of being so-called local royalty were overridden by my dad not only being the mayor but the most strait-laced guy in town. It doesn’t help that he’s been mayor since I was little so I’ve grown up in the public eye.
I’m the town’s untouchable sweetheart. The mayor’s daughter. The valedictorian who graduated with a boatload of college credits. The hardest-working nurse in town. And soon to be the last remaining virgin if I’m to trust how rapidly all of my peers seem to be finding boyfriends…lots of boyfriends…at the same time.
I’d happily settle for one.
Not that I cave in to peer pressure. It’s just that life seems to be passing me by while I do all of therightthings. This week has been ripe with keeping secrets for doctors and friends. Secrets about their relationships that defy societal norms. If only I was so lucky as to have any secrets.
I need to unwind. My dad wants to tell me something in the morning. I’m sure it has to do with the new mayoral race since his position is contested for the first time in a long time. Even if it’s not, news that my dad considers exciting rarely plays out well in my personal life.
I need to do something…not right…tonight. The stranger might be my answer.
Guzzling my drink, I casually lean forward to get Mammoth’s attention. He nods that he’ll bring me another, but my ulterior motive is a bust. The stranger isn’t at the bar anymore, and I lock eyes with a different stranger. One that looks shady, not my type. I don’t recognize the patch on his vest.
Leaning back, I’m out of his line of sight again. It takes a second to shake off the weight of his gaze.
Back to living vicariously through the naughty relationships I’m watching unfold at the hospital and the stories on SmorgasSmut, the local social media group where the gossip is too wild to believe.
“Hey princess,” A gruff, familiar voice says before a giant hand lands on my shoulder. It’s Torch, one of the bikers who hangs out here.
I spin around on my barstool to greet him and there’s the handsome stranger, a few feet away, heading straight toward me. Or at least he is until his eyes shift to Torch and he stops dead in his tracks. The stranger’s jaw flexes and his eyes narrow.
“You know him?” Torch asks, alerting me that I’d been staring long enough he’d turned around to see why.
“I was hoping to.” If I’m serious about becoming something other than the town’s untouched princess, I have to go for it. The stranger retreats. Dang it.
“I can check him out for you.” Torch and the rest of the motorcycle club are great guys. Not everything they do is legal, but it’s always for a good cause. And for all of their kindness, I now see that they’re part of my problem. They coddle me just like the rest of the town.
“Thanks, but I’ve got this.”
