Dangerous (10 page)

I searched for my wallet, realizing I had left it in the jeans that I had worn the previous night. I scooped them up off my chair and fished the wallet from the back pocket. Then I remembered. I stuffed my hand in the front pocket of the jeans and pulled out the note that had been left on my motorcycle last night. It angered me that Chance had the audacity to step foot on my property. I’d have to pay him a little visit later and tell him what he could do with his note. If he thought I would stay away from Dara because he had left me a note, he was incapable of properly assessing the situation. If anything, it would only make me want to prove to him that his words had no effect on me.

I tossed last night’s jeans back on the chair and unfurled the note to reveal another typewritten message.
Dara doesn’t belong with you.

I laughed. What a freaking stalker! Who was Chance Murray to say whether Dara belonged with me or not?

I never liked Chance, but I wouldn’t have taken him to be such a
wuss
. What self-respecting guy ran around leaving notes? I couldn’t fathom why he wouldn’t just say it to my face. Or better yet, why didn’t he tell Dara?
Now that I’d like to see.
Dara wasn’t the confrontational type, but in my experience, females didn’t typically like it when a guy tried to tell them what to do.

I tossed the curled piece of paper on my dresser. I’d already spent way too much time entertaining Chance’s I’m-too-chicken-to-say-it-to-your-face note. I had to get to work.

When I arrived at the bookstore, Dara was dusting the shelves, and I found Tom working on spreadsheets at the front counter. “Got the sales numbers for last week?” I asked over his shoulder.

“Yeah.
They’re slightly better, but still weak.”

I ran my hands through my hair. That wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear.

Dara approached us from the opposite side of the counter with a dust cloth in her hand. “Hey, Stone. How’re you this morning?”

I glanced up to see her eyes locked on me. Crap. I knew it’d be coming. Her question sounded innocent enough, but I had a feeling it was geared more towards how I felt this morning after our conversation led to a rather touchy subject last night. Girls like Dara always wanted to talk about feelings and peek into a guy’s brain. I wanted no part of that. She waited for an answer. “If I was any better, the girls wouldn’t be able to keep their hands off me. Oh, wait…they can’t.”

“Conceited much?”

“Very much.”
I leaned over the counter and whispered, “You can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

I turned my attention back to Tom who was watching us with interest. “We need to work on the Fourth of July promotion. It would be nice to start the month off with a bang.” I paused. “Pun intended.”

“Speaking of bangs.
I’ve been thinking about the promotion,” Dara said.

“Have you?” I asked, studying her lips and then forcing myself to focus on her eyes and await her answer.

“What do you think about a
Beauty with a Bang
promotion?”

“Go on.”

She glanced from me to Tom and continued. “Customers can have their nails painted for ninety-nine cents with any twenty-dollar purchase, and they get a free box of snap ‘n pops.”

“Painting nails is fine for the female customers, but what do the guys get?” I asked, not sure how many customers could be enticed with that promotion.

“Did you hear me say customers get a free box of snap ‘n pops? Like grown men don’t get into those just as much as kids do?” She rolled her eyes as if I had asked a silly question. “Besides, I could also line up the reigning Miss Quail Mountain for an appearance. She always draws in a crowd. Most of them are males.

“We could also have face painting for the kids, and we could put a grill out front and sell a hot dog combo meal for about a dollar and a half.”

I had to admit that she had given it a lot of thought, and her ideas were just as good, if not better, than any of the ones that I had come up with. “Tom, what do you think?”

“Sounds better than any ideas I could come up with. I’ll take a look at the budget and let y’all know how much we should spend.” He turned back to the computer and began pulling up spreadsheets.

“Dara, do you want to handle the whole promotion?”

“Me?”

“Well, it sounds like you already have it planned out in your head. Tom can give you the numbers. Just call Quail Mountain News and place an ad in the paper and have some flyers printed up. Tom can give you the name of the printer that we normally use. When you have everything in place, we can go over the details. In the meantime, if you need any help, just let me know.”

“Sure,” she answered, shaking her head in agreement, her golden locks brushing across her shoulders with the movement. “I can handle that.”

“Great.” I went to grab boxes of inventory that needed to be shelved, leaving her with Tom.

This would work out well for my own purposes. The promotion should keep Dara busy, which would put some space between us. And just to make sure that I kept with the plan, I would text Jess and see if she wanted to hang out tonight.

***

During the following week, I made a point to avoid Dara at all costs. Other than going over the final plans for the promotion, we hadn’t spoken ten words to each other.

I had picked up either Jess or one of my other female friends every night to ensure that I wouldn’t screw up and ask Dara out again.

As Jess and I waited for our check in a booth tucked in the back of Awesome Sauce, Jess nibbled on my earlobe. Her long fingers stroked the back of my neck, and her perfume hung heavy in the air, like a vapor cloud. It had never bothered me before, but now it poisoned the environment, and I had the overwhelming urge to cover my mouth and nose with the palm of my hand. Dara usually wore a delicate fragrance, just enough scent to make my mouth water, and I caught myself closing my eyes and trying to remember the way it smelled.

I hadn’t received any new notes, so I assumed that Chance was satisfied with the current arrangements and the fact that I hadn’t been out socially with Dara. He certainly had nothing to do with my decision, and it wouldn’t take much for me to stand nose to nose with him and tell him so.

Jess bit my ear a little too hard, bringing my attention back to her.

“What is it, Stone?” she asked, cooing softly in my ear.

“I’m just ready to get out of here.” As if the stars had finally aligned, the server dropped the check on our table, smiled, and thanked us for eating at Awesome Sauce. I snatched it up and helped Jess out of the booth, wanting nothing more than to be cruising on my bike underneath a warm, moonlit sky.

I paid the check and as I was leaving, I saw Dara at a booth with Chance. He had her full attention, and she was laughing as if she were deliriously happy. Good for her. Maybe I could make her happy, but sooner or later, she’d see the real me, the self-centered me, who watched out only for himself.

“Come on, Stone. Let’s go back to your place.” Jess tugged on my hand, her dark eyes assessing me, her mouth turned down in a frown. “What are you
waitin
’ for?”

“Nothin’,” I said, motioning her toward the glass door that would lead us out of the crowded building and away from the shimmering-pink lips that were smiling at Chance.

Twenty minutes later, we were standing on the back patio behind my house, staring down at the valley below. It made me think of the night that Dara was here.

Jess brushed against me and kissed my lips. When I was with her, there was no one to probe in my past, no questions to answer, no expectations. Jess couldn’t care less. She was exactly what I needed, and I fervently returned her kiss.

As we made out in the moonlight, I was relieved that I had returned to my senses.

I vowed never to stray away from bad girls again.

Chapter 5

Dara

While relaxing in the shade on my front porch, a gentle breeze jingled the wind chimes, their high-pitched tinkling taking flight like the laughter of a thousand fairies. An ancient, knotted oak spread its branches across the entire yard, making the front of the house a good ten degrees cooler than the backyard. The front porch had always been one of Granny’s favorite places, and like her, I found it to be a comforting place to rest, a safe haven from the rest of the world.

We were in our usual spots, rocking on each side of the front door, watching tall shoots of grass sway in the wind. Each of us was talking about the guys in our lives, and Granny chattered excitedly about her upcoming luncheon date with Mr. Milton. Her happiness made me smile, and it even offered me a small comfort from the entangled mess my own emotions had created. Stone had been avoiding me, and it was painfully obvious.

I had no one to blame but myself. I should’ve known to keep my guard up. Stone wasn’t known for being in serious relationships. He and Jess hung out a lot, but it was evident that they had never dated exclusively. It seemed more like their relationship was one of convenience, like they were each the fail-safe for the other.

“You haven’t heard a word I’ve said, have you?” Granny asked.

I glanced at her and smiled, realizing I had been lost in my own thoughts.
“Sorry, Granny.”

“It’s him, isn’t it? That handsome, hunk-of-a-devil at the bookstore?” she asked.

“Busted.”

“Dara, honey, when you meet a guy you like, you just have to go for it. Don’t overthink it.”

“He’s been avoiding me, and well, Chance wants to get back together.” I twiddled my thumbs in my lap. “I don’t know what to do.”

“What’s your heart telling you to do?”

“I have no idea.” I cracked a smile. “My heart is just as confused as my head.”

“You know what you need to do, don’t you?”

I grunted. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t be in this predicament.”

“You need to administer the kissing test,” she advised

“The kissing test?”
I repeated, knowing that I would never be able to predict what words might come out of her mouth.

“Trust me,” she said. “Whichever one makes you weak in the knees, whichever one makes your heart beat faster, whichever one makes you swoon with adoration…that’s the one you need to choose.

“But…,” she continued, “you also need to test his reaction to you.”

“And how do I do that?”

“See if he touches your face.”

“See if he touches my face?” Where the devil was she going with this? Or did I really want to know? I supposed I should be relieved that she hadn’t told me to see who would touch my butt.

“Well, not just if he touches it, but if he touches it like he cherishes you, like he would trust you with his life, with his soul.”

I rubbed my palm across my face. Stone definitely made my heart beat faster, but in all fairness to Chance, he and I had been together a long time. We were comfortable around each other. Surely that counted for something. But the face-touching test? They had both already touched my face. I didn’t know whether I should tell Granny that. She was trying to be helpful, and it was going to take more than that tidbit of advice to help me.

Mr. Martin pulled into the driveway, the loud crunching noise from the gravels snapping me out of my thoughts.

“There he is,” Granny whispered with enthusiasm. “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck.”

She rose from the rocker and rushed toward the porch steps.

“Granny,” I said, bringing her to a halt as she turned to look at me. “Let me know if he passes the test.”

She winked. “He already has.”

I grinned at her, and she turned and hurried toward his car in a swirl of polyester and the faint scent of cheap perfume.

The lazy afternoon cajoled me into relaxing on the porch a while longer. I needed to work on the promotion for the bookstore. The new project coupled with my first check being transferred into my savings account at the local credit union had motivated me, and I wanted to prove that I could pull this off and increase sales.

Crimson and
Scarlet
had already agreed to paint fingernails and to help with the face painting. Sophie Murray, Chance’s cousin, was the current and absolutely gorgeous Miss Quail Mountain, and she had agreed to make an appearance.

I had ordered the advertising and the ads had already hit in the local paper this week. I had picked up the flyers and distributed them at some of the local stores. I still needed to pass the rest out. Several cases of snap ‘n pops would arrive in the next couple of days, and the day before the promotion started, I would need to pick up the groceries for the hot dog combo meals.

Panic welled in my chest, and I began to question whether I would be able to pull this off without something going terribly wrong. I had horrible thoughts of running out of food and having angry customers waving their fists at me or stabbing me with plastic forks. One decision made. No utensils. I’d keep it simple with hot dogs, chips, and a drink. That way, I could eliminate at least one of my horrific visions.

The crunch of gravels alerted me to Crimson and Scarlet pulling into the driveway. I scooped up my messenger bag and jogged to the car.