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Earl didn’t even stir from his dog bed.
I asked her where she was and I tore out of the driveway. When Melly admitted she was a virgin, I almost drove off the road. No way would she have told me that if she wasn’t drunk. Or tipsy. In a bar full of horny men, she wasn’t safe. I hurt her, so I needed to protect her so I told her to stay right where she was and hung up. Focused on staying on the road and not getting pulled over.
A few minutes later, I burst through the front doors of Kincaids and searched for her fiery red hair and only took a breath when I saw her sitting at a high-top table with two other women.
Three sets of eyes widened at my approach, but I only focused on one.
Wide, expressive green ones. No glasses this time.
“Daniel,” she breathed as I stood directly across the table. “What are you–
“You called.”
“You called him?” the dark-haired woman said. “When?”
“Um, in the bathroom line. You said to confront him, and the wine told me to do it on the phone while I was waiting to pee. Daniel Pearson, this is Mallory Mornay and Bridget Beckett.”
The blonde was Mallory. She was on my left. Bridget on my right.
Beckett… Beckett… “I took a tree out of your house last summer.”
The brunette nodded, pushing her glasses up. Laughed. “You did. Thanks for taking care of that.”
I gave her a small smile and tried hard to keep my eyes on hers instead of drifting to Melly, who looked a little out of sorts. Obviously she was reconsidering her phone call and never imagined I’d show up here.
“That’s my job.” I winced. “Or was.”
She frowned. “The business closed?”
I couldn’t resist, I flicked my gaze at Melly. Without glasses, her eyes seemed wider. Lashes longer. Were those freckles on her nose? I wanted to get even closer and find out, but I had to answer Bridget Beckett’s question.
“No. Um… no. I retired and my brothers run it now.”
I gave up the fight and stared at Melly. She stared right back.
“Wow, congratulations,” Mallory said.
“What are you going to do now?” Bridget asked.
They were pushing small talk, but I wasn’t interested. Yet I had no choice. I crashed their girls’ night and I had to play by their rules.
“I’m going to Scotland to compete in the Highland Games,” I said.
Melly’s eyes widened and dropped to my chest, then arms.
Mallory laughed and out of the corner of my eye, I could see she was looking me over, too. It wasn’t an appreciative once-over, but more like data collecting. “You’re a lumberjack going to… hammer throw–”
“Caber toss,” I corrected.
“–caber toss, which means throwing logs, right?”
I nodded and kept right on staring at Melly. In her front yard earlier, I didn’t notice the small studs in her ears. Or the way her upper lip bowed. Or–
“Recap,” Mallory said. “You. Beard. Throwing Logs. Highland Games. In a kilt?”
“Yes.”
“Holy shit. Okay, well…” Mallory climbed from her stool. “Time to go.”
