Page 24 of Worth the Chase

Excitement tore through me. “Yes! You can test this new drink I’m working on. Let me know if it sucks or not,” I said before turning around and feeling his eyes on my body from the back.

I pointed at a barstool and told West to sit before I hustled behind the bar and got to work on mixing and shaking.

“Do you live in Heartbreak Ridge too?” I asked as I poured the drink into a martini glass, careful not to spill any of the contents.

“No.” West shook his head. “I live over the hill in Whisper Falls.”

“But Dustin is your cousin?”

“Yeah. We have family in both towns,” he explained. “Have you ever been out that way?”

“No. It’s weird, right? We’re not that far, but I don’t really leave Sugar Mountain often.”

He grinned. His smile was gorgeous. He was gorgeous.

“It’s not weird. Why would you leave one small mountain town for another?”

It was a question that didn’t really require an answer. There wasn’t really any reason to leave Sugar Mountain. And especially not to go to another town that was apparently just like it. What was the point?

I dropped some bitters on top of the drink I’d just prepared, took a toothpick to make a design, and slowly pushed it toward him. I watched as his lips touched the rim of the glass.

“Damn, Bella. This is really good.”

My face lit up with the compliment. “Thank you.”

“It tastes like summer.” He grinned some more, and my chest swelled.

“It’s the pineapple.” I winked before wondering what the hell I was doing. “Can I ask you something?”

He cocked his head to the side, a mischievous grin on his face. “You can ask me anything you want.”

“Why is it called Heartbreak Ridge anyway? I always thought the name was so sad,” I asked, and I could tell that wasn’t at all what he’d thought I was going to talk about.

“Back in the mining days, word spread that there was a vein running underground. But there wasn’t. Not a speck of gold. Not an ounce of silver. Not a damn thing. So, the families living there said the town gave them nothing but heartbreak, and the name stuck.”

“Damn,” I breathed out. “That is heartbreaking.”

“At the time, it was devastating. We’re lucky they didn’t name it that,” he said before taking another drink, followed quickly by another.

“There you are.” Dustin walked into the bar and whistled. “Addi, it looks amazing in here.”

“Thank you. I love it so much.” She spun in a circle as she looked up, taking the whole space in.

“But do you love it more than you love Butch?” he teased, and she gasped.

“I do not,” she responded seriously, her hand suddenly over her heart. “Don’t let him hear you,” she whispered.

“I guess the name stuck,” West said quietly in my direction as he finished off the cocktail.

“I guess so,” I said back.

Dustin slapped West on the shoulder. “Hate to break this up, but I need your help with unloading the meat into the freezer, and then we need to start heading back before it gets dark.”

“Bella”—West reached out his hand for mine and gave me a shake—“it was nice to meet you. This drink was fantastic. Thank you. I’ll be seeing you again.”

“You will?” I questioned.

He grinned. “Better believe it,” he said before turning around and following his cousin out the back door.

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