Page 8 of Taming the Wicked Wolf

“A male someone?”

“Yes. A friend,” I pause, “from college back in Indiana.” Shit, Silas has an accent, no, this is fine, I’m sure there are loads of Brits who end up there.

“Is he cute?”

“Don’t you have tables?”

“It’s been, what? Two years since you guys separated? A year since the divorce was finalized? Do you ever think about dating again?”

I do, a lot, and for some reason that makes me feel a little guilty.

“In Moonstone? There’s not really much of an opportunity.” I look around the bar, okay, it’s filled with men, but I knowmost of them wouldn’t want anything to do with me. Nothing personal, of course. I’m attractive enough to get hit on regularly until they realize I amthatEmilia. “I’d much rather live vicariously through you.”

“So, you’re saying that Ishouldgive table five my number?” Carly Beth smiles at me, her nose crinkling.

“I think you should do whatever you want.”

She takes the tray and lifts her brows suggestively, then returns to the floor.

The kitchen closes around midnight, that’s when the sports crowd thins out and we’re left with the regulars. All we have to worry about is the random fight that could break out at the pool table.

While I clean up, I split my attention between Carly Beth and the hockey replays on the big screen off in the corner.

It’s been a violent game, I count three different fights just in the first half.

“Must be a full moon tonight.” I mutter under my breath.

“Hey!” Carly Beth folds herself over the bar in front of me, “I had an idea.”

“Hm?”

“There’s a band playing in Madison on the 24thand I checked the schedules earlier and wouldn’t you know it? The stars aligned so that we both have that weekend off. We could drive up and make a girl’s weekend of it, rent a hotel, raise some hell.”

“We as in you and me?”

“Yeah.” She picks at a stray paper napkin on the bar, “We’ve worked together for almost two years and haven’t really hung outside of Mitchell’s and I thought it would be kind of fun.”

“I’m going to have to see if someone can watch Poppy, I’ve never left her home alone overnight.”

Carly Beth nods and smiles, “Yeah, sure, just let me know.”

I feel sick at the prospect of having to come up with an excuse later on, but Madison is Chase’s stomping ground and, as much as I want to go, the potential of running into him there is not entirely zero. He has shown up in the most improbable places before.

“Shit.” She hisses out, looking over my shoulder.

It doesn’t take me long to notice what she’s looking at when I see a couple of Chase’s friends walk through the door. Kyle, Chase’s best friend and the worst of them, breaks off and makes a beeline for us with a cocky little grin on his face.

Chase at least has the common decency to not show up at my job, which is why he sends his harbingers to do his dirty work. I know when I see Kyle, my ex-husband is not too far behind. It also makes the owner, Mark, a little nervous to have a sheriff’s deputy sniffing around.

This is my ex’s way of saying, “Look at how easily I can take all of this from you.”

“Emmy,” Kyle says with a nod, “Carly Beth.”

Carly Beth rolls her eyes, turning towards him, “Kyle Evers, to what do we owe the pleasure?”

He looks down at his deputy’s uniform, raising his brow, “Just got off duty.” He leans against the bar, with his back to me, “We were hoping we could sit in your section. It’d be nice to see your pretty face after all the horrors I’ve dealt with tonight.”

“Horrors, Kyle, this is Moonstone Ridge. All we have are those high school kids painting up the old shopping mall down on Meyers Street.” She folds her arms over her chest, “Also, the kitchen closed twenty minutes ago.”

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