Book Boyfriends Wanted 3: His Curvy Treat

Colin

I stared at my phone for longer than felt sane. The text didn’t change. It didn’t rearrange itself into something that made sense. It just sat there, begging me to reply.

I double-checked the number and wondered if I was losing it. He was my lawyer. Yeah, MacKellar Cove was a small town, but was it small enough that you socialized with your lawyer?

He seemed like a nice enough guy. I’d met his kid and wife, and they were nice. But all that was basically work. I invited him out to the farm to make sure he knew what we were fighting for. He suggested a grand opening and it was only right he was there since it was his idea. But we didn’t hang out.

Hell, I didn’t even know what or where O’Kelley’s was. Maybe that was a sign I needed to get out more. Or maybe it was a sign my business was going to be a success.

Then again, did socializing with my lawyer help with that?

Hell, I had no idea what I was doing. All I knew was I was exhausted and not really in the mood for small talk with a bunch of strangers.

I pocketed my phone without another glance. He was my lawyer. You didn’t hang out with a guy you paid to work for you.

“What are you up to?” Nicky Holbrook asked as he set a beer on the desk for me.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

He sat down and raised an eyebrow, silently asking what I found so damn funny.

I shook my head. “My lawyer just invited me out for a drink.”

“So?”

I shrugged. “I said no because I don’t think it’s a good idea to hang out with someone you pay.”

Nicky gave me a wry smile and shook his head. “Then I guess this other beer is for me, too.”

I laughed and grabbed the bottle before he could take it back. Nicky worked for my grandmother for years. Forever if you believed him. They became friends, and Nicky stayed on even after she was sick and stopped maintaining the Jones Family Maple Farm. When she passed, Nicky still stayed, to make sure nothing happened. He didn’t get paid. He didn’t have instructions. He just stayed because he was that kind of man.

“Things here aren’t the same as where you grew up, Colin. People here look out for each other. They care. And your lawyer invites you out for a drink sometimes. It doesn’t mean you have to be friends, but it means you can be if you want to be.”

I twisted off the bottle top and tossed it in the bin under my desk. One of the many projects I hoped to get to one day. I didn’t know what I was going to do with all of the bottle tops, but eventually I’d come up with something.

“I don’t have time for friends,” I told Nicky. “I work eighty hours a week. When I’m done, I’m barely able to stand let alone go out and drink a beer.”

“But you can stay in and drink one?”

I rolled my eyes at him.

“Listen, kid, I get it. You’ve only been here a few months. It’s tough to meet new people. But hanging out with me all the time isn’t going to be good for you. I’m old and crotchety and too damn stubborn. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up like me.”

“I don’t know if that would be so bad.”

Nicky laughed, a rough, weathered laugh. He’d never been a smoker, but he sounded like it. He liked his whiskey as much as his beer, and he spent more than his fair share of hours outside in the cold. He blamed the cold instead of the whiskey for his rough sound.

“Trust me, you don’t want to end up like me. Life is better when you have a woman by your side and some friends to grab a beer with once in a while.”

I shook my head. “Maybe one day, but things are too busy right now. I need to focus on the farm for the first few years. Get things settled. Then I’ll think about it.”

Nicky shook his head. “You’ll regret it. You’re already getting old.”

“Hey! Thirty-nine isn’t old.”

Nicky grinned and tipped his beer to me. “Forty is, though. You only have two months.”

“Forty still isn’t old. And if the woman isn’t the right one, she’s not worth it.”

“Speaking from some experience?” Nicky asked.

I shrugged. We were still getting to know each other, and I wasn’t a big talker. I didn’t share a lot about my past, and especially about my past mistakes.

“I haven’t been a monk for thirty-nine years.”

“That either means you’re too picky to be willing to let the right one in or you know exactly what you want in a woman. Or a man? I never asked.”

“I know what I want in a woman. If I thought I’d met the right one, I’d let her in.”

My mind went to Ramsey’s friend. Elise. She was at the grand opening, but we only met for a moment. Barely a moment. She was stunning in a way that most men overlooked. I saw her from behind before I saw her face, and I admit it was an asshole move, but shit, her curves had me salivating before I walked over. When she turned and smiled at me, it was tentative, but I felt like I’d been hit with a lightning bolt.

I hadn’t seen her since, but I also hadn’t ventured far from the farm. I wasn’t lying when I said work took up all my time.

Nicky stood and slid his empty bottle into the bin by the door. “I still think you should go meet your lawyer for a drink. Maybe he has a cute friend he can hook you up with.”

I chuckled and shook my head but couldn’t deny he had a point. If I wanted to meet Elise and maybe get to know her, Ramsey was a connection to her.

“Think about it. And get some sleep tonight. You don’t need to be in here when I arrive in the morning.”

I nodded even though we both knew it was likely I would be. Nicky knocked on the door frame and left, leaving me to my quiet, lonely office.

My grandmother worked out of the barn, but I decided I needed to spread out more. I moved the office to one of the bedrooms in the main house, and had plans to knock down the office walls in the barn so we could do more in there. It was another One Day project. I really needed to write some of them down.

I dug out my phone to look for a list app and clicked to the text app instead. It had been an hour since Ramsey texted me. How long did people hang out at a bar, if O’Kelley’s was a bar?

I searched the place and found an address. It wasn’t far, and while I second-guessed myself again, I grabbed my sweatshirt and headed to my truck.

The town was quiet, but I didn’t expect much on a Tuesday night. I listened to the directions as my phone read them to me and found the place right on the waterfront. It was definitely in a great location, and judging by the cars parked out front, it was popular.

I found a spot a block away and walked back to the bar. Inside was a little dark, but not so dark I couldn’t see. I scanned the place quickly and didn’t think I saw Ramsey.

The bartender met my gaze and nodded once, whether in invitation or acknowledging that he was watching me, I wasn’t sure. Depending on the person, it definitely could go either way.

I walked over to the bar and took a stool in the middle.

“What can I get you?” the bartender asked.

He was a big guy, close to my height, with dark eyes and a dark beard. His baseball hat displayed the local high school logo, and his white tee stretched across his chest, making sure everyone knew he could kick their asses if they got out of line.

“A beer. Whatever you have on tap.”

He gestured to the list. “I could guess for you or you could pick one. Up to you.”

“Bud sounds good,” I told him.

He nodded and pulled the lever. “You’re Cleotha’s grandson, aren’t you?”

I nodded, curious that the man in front of me knew my grandmother.

“She was a damn good lady. I’m sorry for your loss.”

I nodded again. “Thank you.”

My grandmother was a good woman, but she was also a little of a mystery to me. My parents met on Jones Family Maple Farm, and when my mother died, my father couldn’t stay in the area. It reminded him of my mother, and he chose to leave so he could focus on me instead of letting his grief drown him.

But that meant I grew up without my grandmother or my mother. My father was wonderful, and we were still close, but there was a part of me that knew I was too gruff at times.

“I’m Hudson. This is my place,” the bartender said. “First drink’s on me since you’ve never been here. Hopefully you’ll come back.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I was actually supposed to meet someone here.”

“Don’t tell me it’s someone from that dating app,” Hudson said with a groan.

“Dating app?”

He rolled his eyes. “One of the locals is a tech genius or something and she made an app. All the women around here are going crazy for it, but since they know I won’t take shit from anyone, they’re meeting their dates here. Who are you supposed to meet?”

I shook my head. “No one from the app. My lawyer actually. Ramsey Holland. He suggested I stop by.”

Hudson relaxed. “Sorry. You missed them by about ten minutes.”

I shrugged. “Maybe next time.”

Hudson nodded. “Hey, nice to meet you. If you need anything else, let me know. The kitchen closes at nine tonight, so if you’re hungry, we need to get an order in soon.”

I grabbed the menu and thanked him, realizing I was a little hungry. It didn’t take long to decide on something to eat and put in my order. I also asked for another beer and checked out the bar around me.

There was a dance floor to the side. Bathrooms ran down the hallway. An old jukebox sat in the front corner and pool tables made a square in the back. Booths lined the front and side of the space with tables scattered in the middle. Waitresses worked their way around with trays of food and drinks and smiles for all the people.

It wasn’t insanely busy, but it was busier than I expected for a small town bar on a weeknight.

“Hudson, I’m getting a refill,” I heard a woman shout from a few stools over.

I turned and watched as she reached over the bar and grabbed the soda gun. Her breasts flattened on the top, her ass in the air. She stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth as she watched, completely focused on the liquid filling her glass.

She stopped halfway to the top and put the soda gun back, then set the glass on the top and pushed herself off the bar.

Elise.

It made no sense that I was so mesmerized by her. She had her purple hair up in a messy bun. A black sweatshirt hid her upper body. Jeans hugged her legs. She even had on shoes that looked like slippers. Hair slid into her face, and she blew out the side of her mouth to push it back then took a sip of her drink.

She defined cute. And with those curves, she defined sexy.

She turned her head and met my gaze. Almost as quickly as she saw me, she looked away, her eyes sliding right past mine like I was no one important. Then again, I wasn’t. We met once, and it wasn’t for long. She might not even remember me.

I opened my mouth to say something to her, but she hopped down and turned away. I watched her walk through the crowd, smiling at people as she moved. When she stopped, she sat at a table of other women, women I didn’t know but recognized.

I guessed saying hi was out of the question. I hadn’t even wanted to meet my lawyer, and I definitely wasn’t intruding on a bunch of women I didn’t know so I could say hello to one.

“Do you know Elise?” Hudson asked.

I hadn’t heard him come back, but I wasn’t surprised. He made it clear he wasn’t going to let me, or anyone else, mess with his bar.

I shook my head. “Not really. She came to the grand opening and we met, but that’s it. She’s friends with Ramsey’s wife.”

Hudson nodded. “Yeah. All of them are friends.”

I glanced at the table again, just in time to see Elise tip her head back and laugh at something someone said.

When I finally looked away, Hudson was gone, but I knew he noticed. I wasn’t exactly being subtle. My dinner showed up, delivered by one of the servers, not Hudson. I ate and finished my beer and stuffed a few dollars into the tip jar. I nodded at Hudson and thanked him for the beer.

Just before I reached the door, Elise and one of her friends did.

“Hey, aren’t you the guy from the maple farm?” her friend asked me.

I nodded. “I am. I’m Colin.”

“That’s right. We met at the grand opening. Nice to see you again, Colin. I’m Trinity. And this is Elise.”

I shook hands with Trinity then offered my hand to Elise. She stared at it for a long moment until her friend nudged her. Elise forced a smile and stuck her hand in mine for the briefest of moments. That one quick touch was enough to send a spark through me, but Elise clearly didn’t feel the same.

“We haven’t seen you here before,” Trinity continued.

“Oh, um, yeah, I’ve been working like crazy. I was actually here to meet someone. Uh, Ramsey. I think you know him.”

Trinity laughed and nodded. “We do. I thought you were going to say you were meeting someone from Book Boyfriends Wanted.”

“What’s that?” I asked her.

“It’s a dating app. No judgment if you were,” Trinity said.

“No, I…quite honestly, I don’t have time to date.”

“Really? Well, that’s a shame,” Trinity said. “Maybe things will slow down for you at some point. But a lot of people are busy in the summer, right, Elise?”

She nudged Elise, and she nodded.

“Elise works for Tours from the Cove boat tours. They’re starting up soon, and she’s going to be crazy busy. That’s what happens when you live in an area that shuts down for the winter.”

I nodded and tried to figure out what was going on.

“Well, we should go,” Trinity said. “It was nice seeing you again.”

“You, too,” I told her. I smiled at them both, but Elise barely acknowledged me. I tried to tell myself it was for the best.

I went outside behind them, but they were walking the opposite direction from where I parked my truck. I got in and turned on the heat, needing a little warmth to fight off the chill of the spring night.

On my drive home I tried to decide if Trinity was flirting with me or if she was trying to get me to ask Elise out. By the time I got home, I realized it didn’t really matter because I didn’t have time to date. I didn’t have time to do anything.

But I did want to see Elise again.

Even though I knew better, I looked up the dating app Trinity mentioned. Before I could convince myself not to, I downloaded the app. I didn’t open it, but it was there. If nothing else, maybe when I was ready to date, I could meet someone.

Maybe Elise was on it.