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I’d been so transfixed with this stranger that I was jolted out of my daze by the pump clicking off, the sound seeming louder than usual. I let out a startled yelp, accidentally squeezing the handle as I yanked it from my tank. “Shit!” I squeaked, dancing backward to avoid the spray of gasoline.
“You good?”
I jerked around to see both the sexy deputy and the old man looking right at me. I shoved the nozzle back into place and swiped the hair out of my face, trying to compose myself as I turned to face the men who were now staring at me. “Yeah. I’m really sorry about that.” I waved my hands at the puddle, “I’ll just, um...” I wasn’t sure how to finish that sentence. Should I offer to clean it up? I didn’t have the first clue how to handle a gas spill.
The old man, Frank, waved me off. “Bah, don’t worry about it. I’ll get that cleaned up for you.”
I offered Officer Delicious a tentative smile as the tiny hairs on my arms stood on end. Even though his gaze was covered by a pair of aviator style sunglasses that looked really good on him, I could sense his intense scrutiny, and it made my skin feel tight.
“You new to town?” he asked, and I had to suppress the urge to fidget.
My head cocked to the side, my brows pinched in confusion. “How did you—”
He tipped his chin up toward my car, specifically, the back seat. “It was just a guess. Either that, or you’re living out of your car.”
I let out a little chuckle as I looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, everything I owned was crammed into the backseat and trunk of my car. I didn’t know it if was sad or not that I had so little I didn’t even need a moving truck. “Good eye.”
One corner of his mouth quirked up in a smirk. “My job to notice those kinds of things.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess so.” I shifted from foot to foot. “I’m Lyric.”
That smirk grew into a full-blown grin, plump pink lips stretching to surround straight white teeth. “Nice to meet you, Lyric. Welcome to Redemption.”
Those last three words had sealed my decision. When I’d pulled into that gas station, I hadn’t quite decided if this would be my new home or not. I had a job interview at the public library, but after months and months of traveling, I hadn’t been sure if I was ready to settle or not. However, that single greeting had been all it took to cement me into my new life.
Forcing myself to the present, my feet came unglued from the floor, carrying me toward Holton before I could give it a second thought, or hell, even a first.
He sat just at the curve of the bar, his shoulders slumped inward, his frame hunched forward ever so slightly. He was giving off familiar vibes. They were currently screamingstay away,and I could only assumethat was why the stools on either side of him were vacant. People were giving him a wide berth. You’d have thought that since I’d walked in here feeling the exact same way, I’d have respected that invisible force field he currently had around himself. Not so much.
Instead, I lifted myself onto the stool directly to his right.
Just as soon as my butt fit itself to the cushion, Darla, the owner of Bad Alibi, along with her husband, stopped across the bar from me. “What can I get you, doll?”
“Lagavulin. Neat, please.”
There were two things in life I didn’t mess around with. My haircare products—curly-haired women had it rough, man. It took time, energy, and skill to find the right hair regimen—and scotch. Lagavulin was the only way to go, as far as I was concerned.
“You got it. Be right back.” She turned on her boot heel and moved down the bar to where they kept the top-shelf booze.
“Wow,” Holton said from beside me.
I looked in his direction just as his head twisted my way. His mossy green eyes landed on me and caused a flutter to erupt deep down in my belly as goosebumps broke out across my skin. It was the same reaction my body had every time he looked at me. “You came in here with determination, huh?”
I lifted the glass Darla had just placed in front of me and took a sip. I held it for a moment, letting the rich, smoky sweetness coat my tongue before swallowing it where it settled, nice and warm, in my belly.
“It’s been a long day,” I told him as I brought the glass back down and rested it on the bar.
His long, thick fingers were wrapped around the dark glass of his beer bottle, drops of condensation slipping down the smooth surface as he spun it in place. “I know the feeling.” The words were barely more than a grunt, but still packed a wallop of emotion. Looking at him just then was like looking into a mirror. Both of us were in miserably dark moods.
I lifted my glass his way. “Then cheers to us,” I said with a tight smile. “To shitty days and drinking to forget.”
He clinked his beer bottle against the lip of my glass. “Amen to that.”
We drank in silence, side by side but still alone, and despite my earlier desire for that very thing, whatever it was that had drawn me to Holton Clarke from the very moment I’d laid eyes on him tugged at my consciousness. I had the self-control of a toddler when it came to this man. I couldn’t seem to help myself.
The liquid in my glass got a little lower, his beer was emptied and a fresh one placed in front of him by Darla’s husband, Buck, when I could no longer keep quiet. “You want to talk about it?”
He’d been staring forward at a whole lot of nothing, but at my question, looked back at me with a curious arch of his brow. “Sorry?”
