Just Perfect (8 page)

On a Friday night, though, the atmosphere went from laid back to high gear. Vacationers and locals filled every table and kept the waitstaff scurrying for food and drinks.

The band ended an old honky-tonk standard followed by applause from the couples crowding the dance floor. As the sound died down, Alec leaned closer to Trent so the whole table wouldn’t hear his romantic woes. “I’m telling you, I just don’t get it.”

“Get what?” Trent frowned at him. “What are we talking about?”

“Christine,” Alec said in exasperation.

“Huh?” Confusion lined Trent’s face. “I thought we were talking about Will and Lacy moving to Ohio after the wedding.”

“No, that was way back in the conversation. Although I still can’t wrap my mind around the idea.” He looked toward the opposite end of the table, where some of the guys were toasting Will, who’d been grinning like a fool for the past hour. The groom-to-be was either deliriously happy about marrying Lacy tomorrow afternoon, or on his way to getting ripped. Hopefully it wasn’t the latter because Alec had promised Lacy that Will wouldn’t be hung-over for the wedding. “Why would any sane person move from Silver Mountain to
Ohio
?”

“Because that’s what people do when they get married,” Trent explained slowly, as if talking to a moron. “They settle down, buy a house, and raise kids.”

“But why do they have to do it someplace boring? Why can’t people ‘settle down’ somewhere fun?”

“Because, unlike Jeff and Linda, most people can’t afford to buy a house and raise kids in a ski resort.”

“Okay, yeah, whatever.” Alec waved all that aside. “Let’s get back to the subject at hand.”

“What subject?”

“Christine! Jeez man, keep up.” Apparently Will wasn’t the only one who’d had too much beer. “I was so sure she’d go out with me, but I’ve tried everything I can think of for the past five days, and she’s said no every time. I don’t understand. Where’d I lose control?”

“Wait. Hang on.” Trent gave his head a quick shake to clear it. “We’re talking about understanding women, and you want to know where you lost control? Dude, let me clue you in here. You can’t lose something you never had.”

“Come on, man, I need advice. We had our last ski lesson today. So how do I even see her now to ask her out? Loiter outside her condo?”

“Might work. Yo, Steve!” Trent called to the sheriff, who sat on the other side of Aaron and Jeff, two of Alec’s best-trained volunteers. “If Alec starts stalking a woman, will you promise not to arrest him?”

“Jesus, Trent.” Alec ducked his head as eight interested faces turned toward him. “Shut up.”

“That depends,” Steve called back. “Is she someone I’d want to ask out?”

Trent grinned. “Tall, blond, mile-long legs, sexy smile, and killer eyes.”

“I’d arrest him in a heartbeat,” Steve assured.

“Who’s this?” Brian and Eric, two of the younger volunteers, asked in unison.

“Nobody.” Alec glared at them, then Trent. “I’m trying to be serious here—”

“You serious?” Trent guffawed and tossed back more beer.

“I really like this woman. She’s smart. She’s funny. She looks so classy, but she’s really down to earth. And she likes me too. I’m not imagining it.”

“Hunter,
all
the women like you. Which is why we get together on a regular basis to plot your demise. Isn’t that right, Bruce?”

“Huh? What?” Bruce, who sat across from Trent, turned toward them.

“Nothing.” Alec waved him off. The last thing he needed was for Bruce to hear that he was hitting on a ski student. When Bruce’s attention was elsewhere he turned back to Trent. “If I’m so popular, why won’t she go out with me?”

“You haven’t landed on the right thing,” Trent said.

“Right thing?”

“Her idea of a perfect date,” Trent explained. “Something so irresistible she can’t say no, even if she’d rather go with anyone but you.”“

Alec lowered his voice as the band slid into a softer number. “I don’t want her to go out with me because I have tickets to some sold-out concert. I want her to go out with me because she’s, you know, dazzled by my personality.”

“Just get her to go out with you, then dazzle her.”

Normally that wouldn’t worry Alec. As Trent said, women liked him. True, most of them started out thinking of him as “the fun, cute guy,” but he’d learned to work that to his advantage. Besides, he liked relationships to be as much about friendship and fun as truly great sex.

“I just don’t get it,” he repeated. “Why is she so bent on rejecting me?”

“Maybe you should ask her.” Trent nodded toward the door.

“What?” Alec turned and his heart lurched when he saw Christine standing just inside the door. Shaking off snow, she pulled back the hood of her parka.

Could she possibly have come looking for him? She knew this was his favorite hangout.

The thought sent something shooting through his system like an electrical current. He’d never felt such excitement just from seeing a woman. Attraction, yes. Lust, definitely. But not this… this… whatever it was she stirred up inside him.

Then she shrugged out of her coat, revealing a soft gray sweater that cupped a pair of nice-sized breasts on a long, narrow torso, and the funny feeling in his chest migrated due south. Okay, so maybe some of what she stirred up was lust. Understandable, though, since imagining what she looked like beneath her ski jacket didn’t compare to actually finding out.

After hanging her coat on a row of hooks, she glanced about the dimly lit pub, taking in the antique ski gear hanging from the rafters, the crowded area around the fire pit, and the Victorian-era bar that lined the wall opposite her. The look that came over her face reminded him of a kid entering an amusement park.

Then her gaze landed on him, and she froze.

Disappointment cut deep since that was not the reaction he was hoping for. Making thing worse, she hesitated when the hostess spoke to her. Surely she wasn’t going to leave just because he was here. Had he bungled things that badly? But how? What had he done?

Finally she turned to the hostess, shook her head no to a menu, and gestured to the bar. He tracked her progress as she maneuvered through the tables, his mind racing for what to do next, how to approach her.

She found an empty stool, a rarity at St. Bernard’s on a Friday night, and placed an order with the bartender.

“Wow, who’s
that
?” Eric asked.

Alec turned to find the kid half out of his chair as every male in the bachelor party strained to see who had snagged his attention. Even Buddy, who’d been dozing under the table, lifted his head with a questioning whine.

Oh great, Alec thought with an inward groan, this was all he needed. Knowing his friends, he knew what was coming.

Steve, who was late thirties, divorced, and reasonably good-looking, raised a brow. “My guess would be the woman Alec is stalking. Damn, Trent, you weren’t kidding.”

Across from him, Lt. Kreiger, the retired Navy pilot who flew the rescue helicopter, raised his mug in salute. “Now that, my friends, is what I call a long cool drink of water.”

Bruce sent Alec a look of accusation. “You’re dating the ski student I asked you to teach?”

“Actually, he’s not dating her,” Trent was helpful enough to inform the whole table. “That’s why he’s stalking her.”

“I’m not stalking her,” Alec tried to get in, but Brian ran right over him.

“No way! Man, I can’t believe it. Bruce asked me first, and I turned him down.”

“Well, see”—Bruce turned his attention to the red-headed kid—“that’s what you get for turning your back on a friend in need.”

“You could have told me she was hot,” Brian complained.

“I didn’t know it when I asked you,” Bruce argued back. “Do you think she called up and said, ‘I need a private ski instructor, and by the way, I’m tall, blond, and gorgeous’?”

Alec tuned his friends out and went back to watching Christine as she accepted a frosty mug of beer from the bartender. All he had to do was think of an “irresistible” date, then go over there and ask her out. While he was racking his brain, some guy he didn’t recognize turned on the stool next to her and struck up a conversation. Alec scowled when Christine smiled at the stranger rather than giving him the brush-off. No, no, no! Dang it! Now he had to go over there, beat the crap out of some tourist— which wouldn’t please the sheriff—then ask her out.

The stranger said something that made Christine laugh.

Alec downed the last of his beer in one big gulp and shot to his feet. “Hey, looks like we need another pitcher. Y’all hang tight, I’ll be right back.”

Christine knew the instant Alec headed over. Her skin tingled in anticipation even before she glanced in the ornate mirror above the bar to find his reflection coming toward her. She mentally kicked herself for staying. The second she realized he was here, she should have left. Had she honestly thought he wouldn’t approach her?

No, if she were being honest, she’d admit she’d hoped he would. She’d been so proud of herself earlier when they had parted at the end of her last lesson—until she was alone and realized that was it; she’d successfully resisted him for five straight days. Game over. She had won.

How thoroughly depressing.

No more lessons meant no more seeing him every day.

But now, here he was coming toward her and her whole body perked up. Her gaze ran eagerly over his image in the mirror. She’d formed the impression that he was on the skinny side, but from the way the brick-red pullover hugged his torso, she realized there were muscles on that tall, lanky frame! Some really nice muscles that let him move as agilely here as he did on the slopes.

“So where are you from?” the stockbroker from Kansas said.

Before she could answer, Alec slipped between them to lean against the bar facing her. He smiled so broadly, she couldn’t hold back answering it with a smile of her own.

“Hey, funny seeing you here,” he said as if just noticing her. “I thought you didn’t like bars.”

“I never said that. In fact”—she looked around— “this place is great.”

“You picked a good night since Michael Hearne is playing.” He gestured toward the four-piece band on the stage that had a guitar, fiddle, stand-up bass, and drums. “He’s Bill Hearne’s nephew.”

“Who?” She frowned as the fiddle player and singer sawed their way through a torch-and-twang number she’d never heard before.

“Bill Hearne,” he said. “You know, Bill and Bonny Hearne?”

“Am I supposed to know them?”

He gaped at her. “I thought you said you were from Austin.”

“I also said I don’t get out much to enjoy the music scene.”

“They don’t actually play there anymore, but dang, Chris, they’re legends!”

“Sorry.” She shrugged.

He gave his head a sad shake. “Well, stick around the mountains long enough, you’ll hear all the good bar bands.”

“Uh, excuse me?” The stockbroker tapped Alec’s shoulder. “We were in the middle of a conversation.”

Alec turned to him, all smiles and good cheer. “Hey, thanks for keeping Chris here company while she was waiting for me. Can I get you a drink? Harvey!” He called to the bartender. “Set me up with another pitcher and get this dude a drink on me.”

Christine hid a smile at his audacity.

Mr. Hi-I’m-Bob-from-Kansas looked from Alec to her then back to Alec, who’d straightened to his full height. A look passed between them that she couldn’t read, but Bob seemed to understand it completely. He held up a hand, palm out. “No problem. I didn’t know she was meeting a date.”

“He’s not my date,” she tried to explain, but the man had already turned to scan the crowd for a fresh target.

“Honey, you wound me.” Alec pressed a hand to his chest, his look so sincere, she considered forgiving him for running off Bob, who would easily have won the Maddy and Amy Stamp of Approval. “And after you came here looking for me.”

Exasperation dampened her amusement. “I came here assuming you’d be gone since you usually come here for happy hour and it’s now nine o’clock. What do you do, live here?”

“Actually, I do. Well, not here, here.” He pointed at the spot where he stood. “I live upstairs.”

“So you spend your entire evening here?”

“Normally, no. Tonight’s special. I’m throwing a party.”

“Let me guess. For ‘the guys’?” She looked toward the table where he’d been sitting to get a look at the infamous gang of men. She found every one of them staring back at her, openly checking her out. Trent and Bruce she recognized, but the rest were an odd mix that ranged in age from two college-age kids on up to a stern-looking older man with a military buzz cut.

“Unfortunately, it’s a bachelor party,” Alec said. “Or I’d ask you to join us.”

“The waitress’s fiance?” She looked closer. “So who’s the lucky groom?”

“The guy at the head of the table with the goofy-looking grin.”

“Hmm.” She considered the sandy-haired man with the pleasant face. “Cute.”

“Taken.”

“So I gathered.”
The good ones always are
, she added to herself.

“Yeah, they’re getting married tomorrow, with me as best man. Why they had to pick the same weekend as the big snowboarding competition, I have no idea. Talk about a test of friendship.”

“The what competition?” Her attention was piqued.

“Snowboarding. On Jibber’s Run. Are you going?”

“I hadn’t heard about it.”

“You’re kidding.” His eyes widened. “Not only do you hibernate in Austin, you hibernate here too.”

“Pretty much,” she admitted.

“What a waste. If you do nothing else while you’re here, you should go to the competition this weekend and see some airdogs in action.” His face lit up. “Hey, why don’t we go together on Sunday? I can get you into the VIP stands.”

How did he always know how to tempt her? “Actually, my family’s flying in tomorrow, so what I do Sunday depends on them.”

“Bring them along. That’ll give me a chance to meet this hotshot brother of yours.”

Before she could come up with a reason to turn him down, a golden retriever came through the tables, trotting toward them. “Oh my goodness,” she exclaimed as the dog sat at Alec’s feet and let loose one sharp bark. Even knowing Colorado was a pet-friendly state, seeing a dog in a pub surprised her. “Who’s this?”