Her mother had always avoided places like this, instead preferring big bustling cities or dry, dusty, arid towns in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps small costal islands and towns reminded her too much of home, but then again, she never did understand what was going on in her mother’s head half the time.
But now, surrounded by the scent of briny waters and watching the glittering waves sparkle around the edges of the island she felt a strange sense of contentment. As the air cooled and the sun began to dip toward the horizon, setting the skies ablaze with powerful slashes of pink and purple, she abandoned any thought of finding the construction company and drove back toward town as her belly began to rumble loudly.
She parked out front of a local bar and grill. Now that the sun had gone down the air was cooler, so leaving Bailey in the truck she headed inside.
Kelley tore his gaze away from the game on TV as a collective denial rose up from some of the regulars. Although they still watched avidly, despite their rather vocal disapproval Kelley had already lost interest, he wasn’t really a sporty kind of guy anyway.
He picked up a cloth and resumed wiping down the smooth glossy wood of the bar. Absently glancing across to the doorway he saw her immediately. It took him a moment to process that he’d stopped cleaning and was just standing staring.
She stood out; even in jeans, a plain white tank, red sneakers and without a scrap of make-up she was stunning. All gold skin, dark eyes and hair as black as Indian ink. He watched as she crossed the room, heading toward the other end of the bar. She didn’t take a seat, instead she picked up a menu and began to read.
‘Hey, what can I get you?’
Ava looked up at the tall guy standing smiling at her from the other side of the bar. Her gaze dipped from his face to his torso and back up again.
‘Umm,’ she glanced back down at the menu.
‘You eating?’ he asked.
She nodded.
‘Well,’ he smiled easily, ‘the lobster rolls are really good.’
‘Huh,’ she looked up, her gaze locking on his eyes. Under the dim lights she couldn’t really tell what color they were, but they were light. ‘I’ve never had lobster before.’
‘You’ve…’ his eyes widened slightly, ‘what never?’
She shook her head, her mouth curving slightly.
‘That’s practically sacrilegious around here.’
‘That right?’ she replied in amusement.
‘You know, we’re going to have to remedy that, stat.’
‘Maybe next time,’ she smiled suddenly, and he stopped and blinked. ‘I’ll take the cheeseburger and fries thanks, if you could wrap it up to go.’
‘Uh,’ he shook his head as if to clear his thoughts, ‘to go, right.’
She continued to scan down the menu.
‘Can you add the steak with that.’
‘Steak?’ His eyes drifted over her slim hourglass figure, pausing briefly on her small waist, ‘you want a steak too?’
‘Uh huh,’ she nodded.
‘Any other sides with that?’
‘Nope,’ she replied simply, ‘just the steak, rare… so it faintly whispers moo.’
‘Okay…’ he set his order pad down, ‘you do know how big the burger is right? You seriously telling me you’re going to down a twelve-ounce steak too?’
No,’ her mouth curved, ‘it’s for my dog.’
‘Your dog?’ he repeated slowly, ‘you’re going to buy your dog an eighteen-dollar steak?’
‘Why wouldn’t I?’ Ava shrugged, ‘she likes steak and besides if I don’t give her something good to distract her, she won’t let me eat my burger.’
His head tilted a fraction as he studied her curiously.
‘Okay,’ he smiled a moment later, ‘one burger, one steak coming right up. It may take a little while, why don’t you take a seat and I’ll get you something to drink?’
‘Coke please,’ she slid onto the bar stool and watched as he placed her food order.
He filled a tall glass and slid it in front of her.
‘You’re new on the island then?’ he leaned on the bar in front of her.
‘Yeah,’ she took a sip of her ice-cold drink.
‘Vacation?’
‘Family business,’ she replied vaguely.
‘You have family on the island then?’ he asked curiously.
‘You ask a lot of questions,’ her eyes narrowed slightly.
‘But that’s how you get to know someone,’ he smiled.
‘You never heard of stranger danger?’
He chuckled lightly shaking his head, ‘more often than I’d like.’
She frowned at the weird response.
‘Kelley Ryan,’ he held out his hand.
She stared at his hand suspiciously before glancing back up at his expectant face.
‘Ava,’ she grudgingly offered, as she took his hand and shook as briefly as she could without being rude.
‘Ava?’ he left it hanging. ‘Or is it one name like Cher or Madonna, or maybe Sting.’
‘Cortez,’ she replied, trying not to be charmed.
‘Ava Cortez,’ he rumbled, his mouth curving as he studied her, ‘I’m pleased to meet you.’
She refused to let her name on his tongue heat her belly, or any other part of her for that matter, despite the warm gravelly tone of his voice. She was there to deal with the house and find out if she had any living family, not scratch an itch with any of the locals, no matter how appealing they were.
‘So where are you from?’
‘Lots of different places.’
‘Are you always this prickly?’ he asked in amusement.
‘Yes,’ she replied flatly.
His name was called loudly from the other end of the bar, so he excused himself reluctantly and moved further down and began filling drinks orders.
She sat quietly sipping her coke and watching him. His frame was tall and just the right side of lanky to not be skinny. His skin, paler in the winter months she guessed was tanned, his hair, a medium brown with licks of sun kissed blonde, hung to his collar, long enough to run his fingers through but not so long as to look untidy. She still wasn’t entirely sure what color his eyes were, his smile was easy and genuine, but the face damn it, he was entirely too gorgeous for his own good.
The women flocked to him like a half-price sale at Nordstrom, she noticed. Each of them starry eyed, pouted lipped and with cleavage he could trip over if he wasn’t careful. But she noticed he ignored every single one of them, other than a polite smile, in favor of glancing in her direction every few moments as if to satisfy himself she was still there and not some figment of his imagination.
It would be flattering if she wasn’t so suspicious. A man that good looking had to know the effect he had on women. He couldn’t be that oblivious to the disappointed pouts and sulky frowns he left in his wake.
He would be trouble; she could just tell. Probably best to steer well clear of him.
‘ORDER UP.’
There was a hearty boom of a voice punctuated by the dainty tinkle of a small bell.
Kelley headed back her way, stopping to pick up her order which was in a brown paper bag.
‘Can you throw a couple of beers in there?’ Ava asked.