Romancing the Wallflower
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Michelle Major
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Harlequin
HarlequinChapter One
“Stop staring at the hottie brewmaster’s butt.”
Erin MacDonald choked on the gulp of strawberry daiquiri she’d just swallowed. “I’m not staring at anyone’s butt,” she said as she grabbed a wad of napkins and dabbed at her chin and shirtfront. “And don’t talk so loud.”
Melody Cross, one of the second-grade teachers at Crimson Elementary, snorted. “It’s a crowded bar on a busy Thursday night. No one can hear me.”
But Melody had the kind of booming voice that could quiet a room full of squirming eight-year-olds the afternoon before summer break. The tall table they stood at was a good five feet from the bar, but Erin swore she saw the man’s broad shoulders stiffen.
“Want me to take a picture of him?” Suzie Vitale, her fellow kindergarten teacher, offered with a tipsy smile. “It lasts longer.”
Before Erin could stop her, the curvy blonde aimed her phone at the backside of the gorgeous guy who not only worked the bar but also owned Elevation Brewery. The brewpub had opened a little over a year ago and had become a popular hangout for both locals and tourists in the quaint mountain town of Crimson, Colorado.
Erin had noticed David McCay, the brewery’s owner, the first time she’d stepped into the nouveau rustic—and very on-trend for Colorado—space. He was tall and lean, with dark blond hair that curled around the collars of the flannel shirts he favored. David McCay was as handsome as a movie star and built like he spent endless hours tossing huge sacks of barley—or whatever it was beer brewers did.
Erin, who was built like she spent her days sitting cross-legged on a reading rug, had surreptitiously watched him each time she came into the bar with friends or coworkers for a random happy hour or birthday celebration. He was often tending bar or sometimes she’d spot him coming out from the back, wearing the heavy rubber boots and backward ball cap that she’d quickly learned were his uniform when actually brewing beer.
Colorado was known for its craft brews, and the fact that Elevation had made a name for itself so quickly was a testament to his hard work and talent at running a business.
At least that’s what Erin wanted to believe. Her mother liked to remind Erin that she too often assumed the best about people, which allowed them to regularly take advantage of her.
But David McCay hadn’t taken advantage of her, even though it was the stuff of her fantasies. Even though his nephew, Rhett, was now in her kindergarten class and David had been with the boy and his mother for back-to-school night. Erin had barely been able to put a sentence together with David towering over the other adults in the back of her classroom, but he hadn’t bothered to acknowledge her. Heck, it was doubtful he even knew she existed.
Except when she blinked and looked up, he was staring straight at her. Sparks of awareness flamed through her body, setting every inch of her skin on fire. He lifted one thick brow as if he could read her thoughts. Which might be impossible since it felt like all of her brain cells had spontaneously combusted under the weight of his stare.
She heard Melody giggle behind her, and Suzie gave her a little shove forward. David now stood at the edge of the bar, only a short distance from her, with movement all around him. Customers in groups laughed and talked. A waitress set her tray on the rich wood bar top. A group of women near the edge of the bar vied for his attention. But his focus remained on Erin.
Then something—someone—suddenly blocked her vision. Cole Bennett, Crimson’s recently elected sheriff, was talking to David. Cole was also tall and broad, and to use one of her mom’s favorite expressions, made a better door than a window.
Erin shifted to the right as she overheard Cole mention Rhett, David’s nephew. David’s gaze hardened and his jaw clenched. Unable to stop herself, she moved forward, sidestepping a couple heading toward the back of the bar and a group of twentysomething guys who looked like they’d just come off a hiking trail, until she stood directly behind the sheriff.
She was five feet four inches tall in the clogs she favored for work, so both men towered over her and were completely unaware she was listening to their conversation. Invisibility was Erin’s unintentional superpower. She knew much more than she should about her coworkers and neighbors, simply because people didn’t notice she was there.
“Rhett is safe,” Cole told David. “But they can’t get him to come out.”
“What the hell was Jenna thinking?” David asked, then scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “No, don’t answer that.”
“She’s in trouble, David. The crowd she’s running with—”
“I’ll handle it.” He pulled a set of keys out of one of the pockets in his tan cargo pants. “I just need to tell Tracie I’m leaving for the night. I’ll be over for Rhett.”
“I have to call Social Services,” Cole said softly, and Erin felt the tension ratchet up a notch.
“Give me some time with him first, okay?”
“Can you—”
“I’ll handle it,” David repeated. He moved behind the bar and spoke to the woman filling two pint glasses from the tap.
The sheriff walked out of the bar, patrons instinctively clearing a path for him although he wasn’t in uniform tonight.
When she looked up, David McCay stood toe-to-toe with her. She realized she’d moved forward to block his path from behind the bar.
In her daydreams, she’d compared his eyes to the brilliant summer sky above the ragged peak of Crimson Mountain or the iridescent cobalt of a tropical lagoon. But now his frosty stare was more like the ice blue of a glacier, so cold a shiver passed through her.
“I don’t have time for this, sweetheart. You and your friends are going to have to play your liquid courage bar games with someone else.”
“It’s not a game,” Erin said.
“Darlin’, you ordered a froofy drink in my bar. It’s either a game or a joke.”
This close to David, the heat and frustration radiating off him made her feel different from the woman she knew herself to be. She was aware of her body in a way that was new and exhilarating. She wanted more. She wanted...something she couldn’t name. Still, the promise of it made her weak with longing.
Also braver than she’d ever been. Or maybe crazy was a better word, because when he moved to step around her, she placed a hand on his arm.
“I can help with your nephew.”
His sleeves were rolled up to the elbow. His skin burned hers, and the rough hair on his forearm tickled her fingers. A current passed through him, the force jolting Erin like she’d been struck by lightning. He stilled and the power it took to rein in all the things she imagined he was feeling right now made an answering strength bubble up inside her.
“Let me help, David.” It was the first time she’d spoken his name out loud. To her friends, he was simply “the hottie brewmaster.”
“You’re drunk,” he said, his gaze focused on where her fingers wrapped around his arm.
“No. I only had one drink. I’m fine now. Promise.” She lifted her hand. “Rhett is in my class,” she said, in case this enormous, angry man truly had no idea who she was.
“I know.” One side of his mouth almost quirked. “I came to back-to-school night.”
So she wasn’t quite invisible to David McCay. A little thrill tickled down her spine. “I’ve connected with him. He responds to me.”
David’s cool blue gaze met hers again, and he gave a brief nod. “Let’s go then.”
Erin swallowed. This was really happening. “I just need to tell my friends I’m leaving.”
“My truck is out front,” he said, his voice a low rumble. Then he turned and walked away. Erin had the distinct impression if she didn’t get her butt in gear, he’d readily leave her behind.
No chance she was letting that happen.
“I’ve got to go,” she said as she rushed to where Melody and Suzie stood gawking. She grabbed her purse from the tabletop.
“With the hottie brewmaster?” Melody asked, her voice a high squeak.
Suzie pumped a fist. “No beating around the bush tonight.”
“It’s not like that.” Erin glanced over her shoulder but David was already out the door. “I can’t explain now. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”
Before her friends could respond, she hurried toward the brewpub’s entrance. The young, flawlessly mountain-chic brunette at the hostess stand gave her the once-over and arched a brow, wordlessly communicating that a woman like Erin had no business following David McCay out into the night.
Normally Erin would agree, but this was more than her hidden crush on the man. It was about helping a troubled five-year-old boy. Erin’s students were family to her, and she took her responsibility to heart. She had a Spidey sense for the ones who needed a little extra; whether it was the child or their family circumstances, Erin made it her mission to connect with every student in her care.
From the moment Rhett McCay had slunk into her classroom clutching his beautiful mother’s arm, Erin’s radar had been on high alert. Jenna McCay clearly loved her son, yet the woman seemed high-strung and flighty. Erin had the impression Rhett’s home life was anything but stable.
She might not have the guts to talk to David on her own, but she was fearless when it came to one of her kids.
A huge black Chevy truck idled near the curb, and she knew David was behind the wheel. Not that she was a stalker or anything, but Crimson was a small town and she’d seen him drop off and pick up Rhett at school several times.
“I’m fearless,” she whispered to herself when her legs wanted to stop on the sidewalk. It was late September and the evening air was crisp, the changing season scenting the breeze.
If Erin were an ice cream flavor, she would be straight-up vanilla. Everything about her life was ordinary, ordered and infinitely normal. Somehow she knew getting into David’s truck was going to add a whole slew of strange toppings to the mix. She might long for adventure, but this wasn’t what she had in mind.
She conjured up Rhett’s sweet face, with his shaggy blond bowl cut and mischievous blue eyes. With a calming breath she moved forward, opened the passenger-side door and climbed in.
“You ready?” David asked in that deep, hot-caramel-syrup voice of his.
Absolutely not, Erin thought.
“I’m ready,” she answered.
* * *
David was going to kill his little sister, if she didn’t manage the task on her own first.
He concentrated on navigating the route from the bar to Jenna’s small apartment complex on the outskirts of Crimson as fast as he could without breaking any laws. He took slow breaths in and out to calm himself. Of course any thoughts of doing her harm were a joke, although she seemed hell-bent on getting into as much trouble as she could find.
Which had been one thing when they were teenagers, but Jenna had Rhett now. The constant stream of dead-end jobs, loser boyfriends and wild partying wasn’t only hurting her. The thought that Rhett would end up somehow irreparably scarred kept David up more nights than he cared to admit.
He’d moved to Crimson from Pittsburgh almost two years ago to watch out for them. But between the hours he’d put in opening the brewery and Jenna’s resentment over what she saw as his attempts to control her life, he hadn’t spent nearly as much time with them as he wanted.
His greatest fear was that he would fail his nephew the same way he’d failed Jenna.
“I’m guessing you and your sister are pretty close?”
David blinked and glanced at the woman sitting next to him in the truck’s cab. Lost in his own thoughts, he’d almost forgotten about his uninvited passenger. What the hell had possessed him to allow Rhett’s kindergarten teacher to come along on this mission anyway?
David was a master at keeping everyone in his life at arm’s length, even Jenna and Rhett. How had this tiny woman with the thick ponytail the color of maple syrup and big eyes to match managed to slip through his defenses?
“We’re Irish twins,” he offered as an answer. “Ten months apart.”
“That must have been fun growing up,” she said, her voice gentle. The exact kind of voice that could lull a classroom of restless kids into sitting in a quiet circle to learn. Most kids anyway. He still had trouble believing Rhett could calm his squirmy body enough to sit still.
“Not for our mom.”
She gave a small laugh. “If Rhett takes after the two of you, your mother had her hands full.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, and felt the knot in his chest loosen slightly at the affection in her voice. David had no problem with his nephew’s rambunctious personality, but he was normally in the minority.
He didn’t say anything more, and Erin didn’t speak for a few minutes. David liked quiet, but other than Tracie at the bar, most women he knew couldn’t tolerate it. The silence that filled his truck now was strangely comforting, like an extra blanket thrown over the bed on a cold winter night. Like all good things, it didn’t last.
“What happened tonight? Is your sister in trouble? Is Rhett okay?”
David sighed. He knew the questions were coming, and he owed the soft-spoken teacher an explanation before they reached the apartment. “How much did you overhear from Cole?”
“No details. Just that there was a problem and Rhett wasn’t cooperating.”
“He’s hiding,” he said, trying in vain to stop the anger and frustration from trickling into his voice. He could feel it seeping through his pores, making his blood run hot and raging. “Apparently he’s wedged under the kitchen sink. Jenna had a party, and things got out of hand. The cops busted it up and found drugs.”
Erin gave a sharp intake of breath, rousing his temper even further, like a backdraft making a fire blaze out of control. “Jenna loves that boy with all her heart, but she’s in a bad way. It’s why I moved to Crimson in the first place.”
“To help your sister?”
To save her, he wanted to answer, but he only nodded. David knew his limitations better than anyone, and he was nobody’s hero.
“She’s been clean for almost two years,” he said without emotion. “It’s been tough, but I thought she had her demons under control. Cole took everyone to the station. They didn’t realize Rhett was there until the place was empty and he made a noise. The deputies tried to get him out, but he freaked and scratched one of the officers. I know Cole so he called me before the social worker.”
He bit the inside of his cheek and waited for the recrimination he deserved. He should have seen the signs that Jenna was teetering on the edge. He knew her better than anyone. Why the hell couldn’t he keep her safe?
He pulled into the parking lot of the shabby apartment complex. There were two buildings, both with faded siding and balconies that looked like they wouldn’t hold the weight of a litter of kittens. He’d begged Jenna to let him help her move to a better place, but his sister was stubborn and resented any time he tried to “take control” of her life.
“We’ll make sure he’s safe,” Erin said as he turned off the truck’s engine.
Safe. The word had haunted him—and tainted every relationship in his life—for over a decade. Now this too-sweet-for-her-own-good woman offered it to his nephew like she had that kind of power. Damn if David didn’t want to believe it was true.
He shifted to face her, the dim light of the parking lot illuminating her face so that her creamy skin looked like something out of a dream. Unable to resist, he ran the pad of his thumb over the ridge of her cheekbone, marveling at how soft her skin felt.
The inherent goodness radiating from her drew him in at the same time he knew he should push her away. Someone like Erin MacDonald had no business knowing the ugly details of his sister’s struggles. She was Rhett’s teacher and nothing more. But he couldn’t let her go quite yet. Tonight she was his talisman. He had to believe having her close would keep the darkness always skirting the edges of his life at bay.
He dropped his hand and they got out of the truck and started toward Jenna’s apartment. Toward the little boy David was determined to keep safe, by any means necessary.
