Page 15 of Needing Your Love
“You’re beautiful, Frenchie,” I stated with a grin, and her glacial stare warmed.
“Thanks,” she murmured, glancing over my face and my upper body that wasn’t hidden by the bar. “Not so bad yourself—for a guy.”
“I never came in here before I left for Boston years ago, but the place looks great, and you and your wife make this bar run like a well-oiled machine.” I repeated what Kendra had told me before I’d left The Moose for my stroll downtown.
“It’s all Iris,” Frenchie said about her other half, still smiling.
My grin widened, and I ordered a glass of pinot noir along with a plate of wings Kendra had told me were to die for. Not exactly a great pairing, but the tongue and belly wanted what the tongue and belly wanted.
Frenchie put in my order, and I decided this was my new favorite place to be. There was no sense of judgement, no wary glances at me as I spun around, wine in hand, and leaned against the bar, sipping my drink.
Chatting a little here and there with folks who stopped to say hi and welcome me home suggested I didn’t have the bad reputation hanging over me from childhood that I’d expected. I didn’t bullshit about where I’d been and what I was doing back in Pippen Creek because of the townsfolk making me feel welcomed. I figured letting everyone know the old Riley house was going to be getting a serious makeover and put on the market could only be a good thing for when the time came.
I watched Jamie and Chaz for a few seconds, finally realizing why my old co-worker Zack had always seemed familiar. While the younger Chaz I remembered from nine years earlier wasn’t Zack’s doppelgänger, the man Jamie currently draped himselfover definitely was. Made me wonder if another lip-gloss-wearing Jimmy walked the earth and if he’d been blessed with a better life than the one I’d been dealt.
Huffing, I turned my focus elsewhere—internally and physically since I refused to dwell on the past. Fuck knew I’d had enough of that since returning.
Sutton stood with his back to me, and I ran my gaze over his broad shoulders that carried the weight of the world for all of the town, same as I remembered him doing when I’d been a kid. He stood tall and strong as an oak, and the way he smiled at people with a confident gaze caused me admire him even more.
His jeans fit him perfectly, from trim waist to thick thighs. Every movement of his muscles flexed his backside and made my mouth water.
“Hot as fuck, isn’t he?”
I jerked my focus off Sutton to find Dexter lounging beside me, slightly slouched, elbow on the bar, and crooked smirk aimed across the room. But zero trace of desire lit his eyes as he stared where I’d been focused on seconds before.
“Been stalking me?” I asked since I had no clue how long he’d been close by and watching me salivate over his best friend.
“He’s single,” Dexter continued rather than answer. “Bisexual and finally on the prowl for dick for the first time ever.”
A clutch in my belly stole my breath. “He’s…bi?”
“Mmm hmm.”
I bit the inside of my lip as tingles raced through my limbs.
“A smart man would pursue the fuck outta the chief. He’s a good one and will be gobbled up before you know it.”
A suggestionIbe the smart man or was he laying claim because he had plans to turn his best friend into his lover?
Unsure, I hummed before sipping my drink, trying to rid myself of the cords suddenly tightening in my neck. “Are you going to be the one to do saidgobbling?”
“He’s not my type.”
A release of tension eased my insides, and I followed Dex’s gaze toward a dirty blond, green-eyed man at the other end of the bar staring back at with him with blatant lust and something…more. Temptation? A dare?
“Who’s the hottie?” I asked, expecting I peered at Sutton with those same needy eyes as the blond did to the man beside me.
Dexter finished the long pull on his bottle of beer and tore his focus off the guy who’d held his attention. “No one.”
“Sure, Jan.”
“So—Sutton Forrester. Chief of Police and my best friend.” Dexter’s attempt to change the subject was downright laughable, but I went with it because no greater topic on earth could be found.
“You don’t have to warn me off him,” I stated, angling away to take in the rest of the bar and making note of a few more familiar faces. “He wouldn’t want someone like me anyway, so don’t concern yourself.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’ve lived here longer than I have,” I said with an attempted shrug. “Surely you’re well aware of who my dad was and all the trouble I got into as a kid.”
