Best Man (2 page)

But, jeez, he was nice to gawk at—with his confident swagger, jet-black hair, and a pair of bright blue eyes that, at that very moment, were piercing mine. “Good God, I can’t stop staring at him,” I said between clenched teeth.

“Me neither,” Ava whispered. “But, close your mouth, you look a little like you’re drooling.”

“I think I am,” I said, wiping the back of my hand across my face. “I really want to run, Ava.”

“Don’t, babe, that’s silly. He’s just a guy.” She shrugged at me like it was no big thing.

Yeah, but he was
the guy
. He was
the guy
for me and then he left.

His hands leaned heavily on the bar and his smile was wide. He bumped his chin up in a sexy hello and said, “Hey, can I get a Guinness?”

That’s it?

My eyes darted over to Ava, who stared up at him in shock. Her hands were folded across her chest again and she thumped her hip against the bar.

“Yeah, Guinness, sure,” I said without moving.

His eyebrows furrowed in the middle of his forehead as he watched me stand still and stare up at him. “Today? Can I have one, like now?” he asked.

What an ass. He didn’t remember me at all.

CHAPTER 3

LUKE

M 
adeline Cross. That was her name. She was the kid sister of my best friend growing up. And damn, did I have a thing for her. Now, here she was glaring at me from behind a bar like I’d killed her puppy.

Yeah well, I was standing in front of her pretending like I didn’t remember her at all. I remembered all right. I remember how she turned from a little bit of a thing with scraped knees into a full-blown knockout. It was so hard back then, keeping my scrawny, teenaged hands off her. Then there was that one night—graduation night. She’d worn that short, red sundress and a pair of matching cowgirl boots. The swell of her breasts peeked out the top and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She blushed a deep crimson when she caught me staring and pulled me by the hand down the stairs into the basement. Her hands were soft and warm and her mouth was sweet and wet. She sat me down on an old blue couch and rode me slow until she was gasping out my name—to this day, I still haven’t come so hard.

She slid the drink across the bar quickly as I pulled up a stool and made myself comfortable. “Thanks…Maddie,” I said low.

She stilled and fixed her eyes on mine, her eyebrows hitting her hairline comically. “Sorry, do I know you?”

I took a long, deep gulp of my beer and placed it back on the counter heavily.

“Guess we’re both going to pretend that night didn’t happen, huh?”

Her eyes narrowed as she leaned her elbows against the counter. “Wasn’t much to remember, honestly.” I’d always loved her attitude; she could talk any guy I knew under the table.

I nodded and raised my glass back up to my lips. “Good to know. Then it’ll be fine, you seeing me around and all?”

“Perfectly fine.”

“Great, because I think we’ll definitely be seeing each other again.” I hoped like hell we would.

“Really, why’s that?”

“Your brother’s wedding,” I said.

“Oh, you were invited?” she said nonchalantly, wiping the counter with a dirty towel.

“I’m in the wedding party,” I said, trying not to laugh. “I’m the best man.”

CHAPTER 4

MADELINE

H
e was the worst man.
The worst
.

What the hell was my brother thinking? Probably nothing because he had no clue I’d ever slept with his stupid best friend when I was seventeen,
but still
. Does he have no regard for the friends he has now? Why did he have to go and make someone he hasn’t seen in a few years one of the most important people in his wedding party? I mean, come on.
I was the maid-of-honor
. That meant I’d have to walk down an aisle with him and do that first dance crap with him. He’d be lucky if he lived through the rehearsal dinner with the attitude he gave me at the bar. Asshole.
Prick
.

“Do you think Luke will be around tonight?” Ava asked as we were getting ready to go out. I glared at her reflection in the mirror we were sharing. She did some weird duck face and applied a dark layer of purple across her lips.

“Why are you even here?” I asked.

“Because you have the best clothes to borrow,” she laughed and gave me a little poke in the shoulder. “So…you think Luke will be around tonight?”

“How the hell would I know? And why would I care?”

“I’d care big time if I were you,” she said, flickering her eyes back to her reflection in the mirror and primping her hair a bit. “I’d just about give my right arm for that man to look at me the way he looked at you last night.”

I slammed my flat iron on the sink and fumbled with the wire, yanking it out of the wall. “He was rude and obnoxious. He didn’t look at me like anything more than just a bartender who was a long forgotten one-night-stand.”

“Yeah, he looked like he wanted you to remind him how—”

“—Don’t say it,” I said, holding up a finger and waving it in her face. “I have no time for arrogant little boys like Luke Gunner when there are so many other single men in this shitty little town.”

“Uh huh, sure,” she laughed. I laughed too, because seriously, there was nobody left in this shitty little backward town. Nobody left but Ava and me.

H
OLLOW
H
ILLS WAS A MILLING TOWN
. Everybody and their daddy worked in one of the mills, even the women. The town had a perfect scenic main street and during the autumn months, it was packed with older tourists sitting in trendy little eateries along the strip. There was only one bar; the one I tended, aptly called
The Miller’s Brew
.

Sunday nights were my only ones off, and I spent them at the bar, just on the
other
side of the counter. It was the only thing to do in the town at night if you were single, unless the county fair was going on, and that only arrived with the warmer weather. It was a proud town of factory workers, one I never felt like I fit into, even though I came from a straight-shooting milling family. I felt more at home in the miles of forests and moss-draped woods that surrounded our little slice of earth, where no one could judge me for all my horrible mistakes.
And man, I had so many
.

Ava and I were sitting out on the back patio in the Adirondack chairs that circled the stone fire pit, sipping our beers. Crisp cold air pressed down around us, and the smell of burning wood and pine mixed with late autumn cinnamon drifted past. Six o’clock was Miller’s Happy Hour and the place would be packed with everyone who was anyone in town.

I looked down at my watch and sighed. “Six on the dot. You ready to have some fun?”

Ava turned her head to the back patio doors and squinted her eyes. “Looks pretty crowded already. What kind of trouble are you going to get me into this week?”

I lifted up my glass and winked. “Girl, I’m not the one who always picks up the married ones. You have some sort of a fetish for them.”

“Yeah, well at least I know where I stand. They wouldn’t profess their love for me and run off. A few drunken dances and getting called beautiful isn’t hurting any wives.” She waved her hand at me and shrugged. “I bet they even go back home to their pretty little wives and have the best sex—all because of me shaking my ass and grinding myself all over them. It’s all innocent.”

“Jeez, Ava. You need to get laid.”

“Yeah, look how that turned out last time.” She smiled sadly at me.

Before I could even start to protest her nonsense, the crowd inside spilled out, and we were surrounded by loud people and even louder music. Ava climbed to her feet and smiled down at me. “Enough talking, it’s our day off! You wanna go dance?”

“I’ll catch up with you in a few,” I said then watched her bounce away through the crowd and grab some random guy to dance with. The girl beside him huffed and stomped her foot, but Ava just kept pulling him until she got him where she wanted him. She was grinding her ass into him a second later, and he was smiling like a fool.

“Your friend sure works fast.”

Just the sound of his voice made my heart ping painfully in my chest. The deep silkiness of it slid over me, and I raised my head up to see Luke standing just behind my chair, holding a beer to his lips.

I got up off the chair slowly, ready to go inside and find my own random guy. The idea was to turn my back on him really slow and have him watch me sway my ass as I walked away from his arrogant face.

He took a step closer though, and stood there watching me in his ripped up blue jeans and tight gray Henley that molded around all the muscles hidden behind the material. His eyes sparkled like he found me funny, yet I hadn’t even said a word. Then, his cold blue gaze dropped down to my feet and dragged up my entire body, slowly taking me all in. I watched as one hand fisted at his side and the other white knuckled his drink. His lips straightened, tightened in a sharp line across his face, and it made a rush of warmth surge through my chest. He was looking at me like he either wanted to kill me or devour me—both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. Five years ago, I would have given anything for this man to look at me that way. But I wasn’t seventeen any longer, and he wasn’t ever going to be allowed to hurt me again.

I gulped back the rest of my beer and swiveled around, turning my back to him, and started walking away.

“Never had a girl walk away from me,” he said in a low rumble.

I swallowed back a thousand words—a million words I wanted to throw at him, but I thought better of it and went for classy. “Then go find one that won’t.”

“Think I like this view a whole lot better,” he said.

“Goodnight, Luke,” I called over my shoulder.

“It certainly is from where I’m standing,” he chuckled back.

F
IVE DANCES LATER
—three fast and two slow—five different random men, Luke leaned against the bar and watched it all. It made me ache for something stronger than one beer and a few dances. I made my way up to the bar and ordered a whiskey and tossed it back in one long gulp.

A slow melody drifted through the bar—one of the boys in the band playing on the piano—and that’s when I felt a pair of strong hands around my waist. They were heavy and warm and made me swallow back a gasp. I tried to whirl around, but a hard, hot body pressed me up against the bar and a mouth was against my ear. “Dance with me,” Luke’s voice growled in my ear.

I shook my head and slid my empty whiskey glass to Taylor, who nodded his head and refilled it without question. “No, go away.”

His hands fisted the hem of my shirt and dug into my skin, and fuck if that didn’t get me wet and a little breathless. He slid his face into the crook of my neck and took a deep breath. “One dance,” he whispered, “just one. Want to feel you in my arms again.”

I downed my drink again and wiped the back of my hand across my mouth. Then, I shoved him back with all my strength. “Then you shouldn’t have left the first time.”

He stumbled back drunkenly, his face a sad mask. I looked to my left and saw one of the regular millers, Jason something or other, watching our little drama unfold with hawk-like eyes. I knew Jason a little; he was cute, a real nice guy—quiet, kept to himself. “I’m here with Jason tonight,” I said, whirling around on Luke and stepping back to keep the distance between us.

Luke’s eyes narrowed from me to Jason. “Oh, are you now?” he asked with a smirk.

Asshole knew I was lying. Fine, whatever, this was where I usually got myself into trouble. But Luke—he wasn’t worth me spending a night in a cell for. So, I opened my clenched up fists and put on a pretty little smile instead. “Yep. Jason, I’m tired of dancing. I want you to take me home now.”

Jason nodded his head and played along, thank God. “Sure thing, Maddie.”

I reached for his hand, led him to the front door, and then waved to Ava. His warm fingers squeezed mine as we walked to his pickup truck, and I chanced a look behind me. Luke leaned up against the entrance; arms folded over his chest, watching me leave with another man. I didn’t want to care. I didn’t want
him
to care. I wanted him to go back to wherever the hell he’d been hiding for the last few years and leave me alone.