I Love This Bar (33 page)

   Jarod groaned. "Be gentle," he teased with another age old line when she slid her hands up under his shirt.

   "Not in the grass, cowboy. I don't want a dose of chiggers. I'm only testing the water to see how deep it is." She kissed him again, just as hard, just as lingering, just as passionate.

   "One more kiss like that and we'll both drown," he said.

   "Then we'd better stop making out, hadn't we?" She rolled to one side and put some distance between them.

   "If you say so. Get back on the four wheeler and I'll take you to see where I live. It's not a mansion but I like it," he said.

   Twenty minutes later she was staring at a sprawling brick home with a wide front porch. Half a dozen cats lounged in the porch rockers. That many hounds claimed the steps and yard. They all came running when Jarod called to them. Cats around his ankles. Dogs jumping up on him.

   Finally, Jarod pushed them away and led her into the house. The door opened into a great room. Living room, dining room, kitchen all in one huge area divided by floor types. Hardwood in the dining room. Neutral colored beige tile in the kitchen and plush light brown carpet in the living area. Leather furniture flanked a natural stone fireplace. Beams supported the wide expansive ceiling. Clean lines with one room flowing into the other. Daisy was instantly in love with the place.

   "Bedrooms are down that hall. Four of them and two bathrooms. One in the hall and one in the master bedroom. Utility room is through that door and opens out into the backyard. There's a sink and shower in there so I can clean up before I ever come in the house."

   "It's beautiful. I can see where Emmett's house would have suffocated you, though. You aren't a 'stuff' person."

   "Takes one to know one," he said. "I've been gone for weeks but there's probably a few Cokes in the refrigerator. Want one?"

   She nodded.

   He took two out, popped the top on one, and handed it to her. She took a long drink and set it on the cabinet. When she looked up he was right in front of her, his eyes hungrily looking into hers. He bent. She tiptoed.

   Ten minutes later they were naked in his big kingsized bed, their clothing strung from the kitchen cabinets and down the hallway.

   "Please," she whispered. "Don't make me wait today. I want you now."

   "Yes, ma'am," he whispered, his breath cold against her hot body.

   He began a long slow rhythm under the cool sheets watching her face and eyes the whole time. He could get lost in those blue eyes and live behind them forever and ever.

   "Jarod, I want pure old sex, not love," she whispered seductively in his ear.

   "Sure?"

   "I'm positive."

   "It won't last as long. You deserve the best, sweetheart, not a five-minute romp."

   "Please!"

   They reached the apex together in less than two minutes.

   "I—" he said softly.

   She put a finger over his mouth. "Not now. Don't say it now, Jarod. They're just words. I want more than words."

   He rolled to one side and drew her close to his side. "You should have more than words, Daisy. You really should have all of it. Promise not to leave me tonight. Let me wake up with you beside me."

   "My things are at the other house," she mumbled sleepily.

   "I'll call after a while and have Garrett bring them back here."

   "But they'll know we are… and Jewel will bring a gun… I swear to God she's more protective than Frankie," she said.

   "Who gives a damn? I'm thirty-five and I believe you said something about being twenty-eight. And besides, you just saved her dog and she apologized for being so hateful. Darlin', I believe you've got my whole family in your pocket."

   "Okay," she agreed and shut her eyes. Her last thought before she went to sleep was that if she truly was not going to fall in love with Jarod, this had to be the last time she was alone with him.

   Every time they were alone they wound up having sex. She couldn't keep that up and watch him leave Texas in a few weeks. It was going to tear her heart out already. And she couldn't go with him… or could she?

Daisy and Cathy opened the doors at eight o'clock on Monday night just an hour after Jarod dropped Daisy off at the Honky Tonk. Daisy was ready for a few nights of solid dull routine; anything to slow down the speeding emotional train that she'd been riding the past few weeks.

   "So tell me what happened. You look tired but happy. Did you like what you saw up there?" Cathy asked as they lined up sterile jars for beer.

   Daisy bit back a giggle because the visual she got about liking what she saw involved bedsheets tangled around Jarod's legs the previous afternoon. And yes, ma'am, she most certainly did like it.

   "It's a ranch. They're all about the same," she said.

   "Yeah, right. You got laid. It's written all over your face."

   "Cathy!"

   "Well, you did and you are happy and that scares the shit out of me. What will I do if you go runnin' off to be a rancher's wife? God, girl, you've drooled over ranches and animals your whole life. Now throw something sexy as Jarod into the mix and I'm liable to be out in the cold."

   "I doubt that. What's your portfolio worth these days?"

   Cathy smiled.

   "And you can always find a job."

   Cathy whined, "But I love what I'm doing now."

   "Well, you don't have to worry about anything. Jarod's nephew is coming to run the ranch and Jarod is going home to his own place. This was never a permanent thing for him. I'll probably never see him again.

   "And how does that make you feel?" Cathy asked.

   "Sad as hell. He is sexy!" Daisy attempted a laugh but it was weak.

   Merle was waiting on the porch when Daisy turned on the flashing neon Honky Tonk lights and opened the doors. She marched into the joint, laid her fancy cue stick case on top of the bar, hopped up on a stool, and ordered a shot of Jack Daniels, neat with a Coke chaser. Her black hair had been freshly done and her nails were blood red. She wore a solid red shirt with turquoise roses on the back yoke that matched the pearl snaps. Her jeans were creased and her turquoise boots shined. She threw back the whiskey with the finesse of an old barmaid in a spaghetti Western movie. She didn't even blink when she took a sip of the icy Coke.

   "It's damn quiet in here," she grumbled.

   "What's on your mind, Merle? Something upsetting you?" Daisy asked.

   "We need music. Hell's bells, we can get quiet in a funeral home. We come in here for noise. Can't expect me to keep the boys drinkin' beer if you don't provide the music so I can hustle them for a game of pool. When they lose they drink. It's a circle that all comes back to the music," Merle said shortly.

   Daisy handed Cathy a fistful of coins. "Go make Merle happy," she said and turned back to Merle. "You got anything in mind? Jones, Strait, Shelton, or Trett?"

   "Not the old stuff. Put that new one on even if it is Monday," Merle said. "And pour me one more shot. I need it."

   "Did someone die?" Daisy asked.

   "Be easier if they did," she said.

   Joe Bob and Billy Bob lumbered through the door, their boots sounding like firecrackers on the wooden floor in the quietness.

   "What's it going to be?" Cathy hollered from the jukebox.

   "Anything to pep me up. Joe Bob, you ready to lose?" Merle asked.

   "Not tonight. I ain't touchin' a cue stick tonight. I came in here to dance," he said.

   Merle threw back the second shot and frowned. "If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all."

   The music started with Mary Chapin Carpenter singing "Passionate Kisses."

   Merle sipped at the Coke and said, "I love this old bar. I loved Ruby and I even love you, Daisy. I love Joe Bob even if he isn't coordinated enough to shoot decent pool. I love Mac even though he's married and thirty years younger than me."

   Daisy picked up Merle's case and moved it to the end of the bar. "Okay, talk to me. Cathy can mind the bar."

   Merle carried her Coke to the end stool. "I've got this niece who just got a degree in petroleum geology. I put a word in with Amos for her and be damned if he didn't hire her."

   "That's good, isn't it?"

   "Sure, but I didn't figure on what would be coming next. She's movin' in with me," Merle said with a long face.

   "That a problem? I bet she could find a house to rent if you don't want her to live with you."

   "Hell yes and hell no. It's a problem because I've lived by myself since me and Ruby came here back in the sixties. I don't know what to do with a twenty-threeyear-old girl. And hell no she can't rent a house because it's a waste of money, and besides, my house is huge and there's plenty of room. On top of all that she's the one who's always thought I hung the moon. I've enjoyed living on her pedestal but hell, I never thought I'd be expected to live with her."

   "What's the real problem here, Merle?" Daisy asked. "Spit it out."

   "Promise you won't laugh at me," Merle said.

   "Promise."

   "She's better than I am at pool."

   "Oh, my!" Daisy exclaimed.

   "Now you see. I've been the queen here at the Honky Tonk for more than forty years and I'm not ready to give up my crown. You know damn well she's going to come in here because this is where the pool tables are. She'll get tired of playing me in the game room at my house so there it is," Merle said.

   "When she moving in?"

   "Christmas. Starts to work for Amos the day after New Year's."

   "What's her job?"

   "He's settin' up an office in Mingus for the new wells he's drilling up north of town. She's some kind of wizard when it comes to telling folks where to drill. She'll be runnin' the field for him. It ain't easy gettin' old, Daisy," Merle said.

   "You're tough as nails. I bet you get through it all." "Enough spillin' my guts. Here comes Mac. I'll talk him into a game or two since Joe Bob ain't up to par with his brother off on a honeymoon."

   Daisy shook her head. "Merle, maybe you just
think
she's better than you. Could be that if you play someone other than Joe Bob, you'll hone up on your skills and still keep your crown."

   Merle finally grinned. "You are a good friend, but honey, Angel is a natural. She can outshoot me with a pirate's patch on one eye and half a fifth of Jack in her gullet."

   "Angel?"

   "Yep, that's her real name. Angel Merlene Avery. And if you've got any notion that you want to put a brand on Jarod, you'd best get it done before she gets here. She's pretty and smart as well as the best shooter this side of the Mississippi," Merle said. "Hey, Mac, bring that beer on over to the tables. We'll play for jukebox music tonight so these kids can have something to dance to."

   "You're on," Mac said.

   Daisy started back down the bar to help Cathy with a group of twenty or more who'd just come inside, all talking at once about the nice dance floor and ordering beers for everyone to be taken to the table, along with two pitchers of piña coladas.

   "Hey, I'm Joanie. How long has this place been here, anyway?" a middle-aged lady asked.

   "Little over forty years," Daisy said.

   "Well, I'll be damned. Been going up to Sulphur, Oklahoma, for years almost that long and comin' within a half a mile of this place. We go up there and camp out with our square dancing gang and we never noticed it until tonight. Got any live music?"

   "No, just those two jukeboxes. One antique with music to match. One new one with the hot new tunes," Daisy answered.

   "Hell, honey, music is music whether it comes from a live bunch or straight off the jukebox. We've been ridin' a long time and we don't care what we dance to long as we get to dance," Joanie said. "Hey, guys, it's jukebox only. Thank God it's not karaoke or we'd have to listen to Clayton try to sing Hank Williams. Wet your whistles and let's do some dancing."

   A slow song started and everyone grabbed a drink of beer then paired off for a two-step to Toby Keith's "Who's Your Daddy." Joe Bob danced with a woman with long legs and dyed blond hair. They glided around the floor so gracefully that it took Daisy a while to realize the woman was actually leading and Joe Bob was following.

   From the corner of her eye she saw Tinker get up slowly and make his way toward the back pool table where two truckers were engaged in a pushing contest. He stepped between the men and leaned forward to say something to the biggest one. The smaller of the two picked up a cue stick and drew back as if to hit Tinker in the back of the head. He'd barely started the swing when Tinker turned quickly, grabbed the cue stick, and twisted the man's arm behind his back. Whatever he whispered in the man's ear turned his face ashy gray and when Tinker let go, he gently laid the cue stick on the table and walked out. Tinker nodded toward the door to the other man who threw up his hands in defeat and made his way to the door.

   "What's he sayin' to them?" Cathy asked.

   "Have no idea. I saw him do that the first time when I'd been here about a week. Same situation. Two big old burly men arguing over a pool shot. I asked Ruby what he said to them. She told me that was his job and his business. Mine was to take care of the bar and see to it everyone paid for their drinks. Whatever it is, it works," Daisy said.

   "He's worth his weight in gold and that's a lot of gold," Cathy giggled.