Page 15 of Bartender Daddy's Girl
Rage lights a fire in my belly before I’ve fully processed what he said.
“Not us.”Usbeing me and Frasier, that is. The otherus, Carrie and I, we’re expecting a lot more than people.
Why I thought there’d be more time before they arrived is beyond me. Carrie’s ex-boss is a stalker, a stalker with means. It seems. He has enough money to hire someone to follow her around day and night; it shouldn’t be a leap to believe he’d have followed her here, too.
“Her?” Frasier asks after my long pause.
I nod.
I give him a rundown of what Carrie told me the night before. The important details surrounding the turmoil this prick put her through. He nods and listens, not interrupting me until I’ve finished.
“I don’t expect you to get involved, but I am going to sort this out,” I conclude.
“And let you run away with the girl and all the fun? Over my dead body.” He pats me on the shoulder to show support. “Y’have a plan?”
“Not yet. Working on it.” Not a lie, necessarily, but I haven’t had much time to put thought into it. “I’ll keep you in the loop.”
He nods and starts walking. I follow, slipping back into Carrie’s room while he carries on down the stairs.
She’s out of bed when I arrive. Half naked with a thin blanket draped over her shoulders, the morning sun bathing her in rays of gold, amplifying her angelic qualities to new heights.
“Did you get in trouble for last night?” She winks while she speaks. Teasing? Good, she doesn’t suspect a thing.
“Not quite.” I make my way over and kiss her good morning. “Frasier wanted to give me an update on how things went.”
“That’s why he walked you off?” A brow crinkles above her beautiful eye. Smart. Curious. Cautious. All at once.
“Didn’t want you overhearing that the sheriff came by again.” I made a promise to myself that I’d never lie to Carrie. Not about anything. But like before, she has to ask the right questions.
No part of me wants to say that her ex-boss followed her here. Not before I have a concrete plan to stop him from making her life hell. Until then, I want her to live in this budget paradise, wearing that smile and nothing else, strutting around like she owns the damn place.
That would be my heaven.
“Oh shit.” Her eyes widen at the sheriff’s mention. “Was it about those guys?”
“That was my first thought, but no. Guess he just likes poking his nose in my business to find something that will stick.” Like three hotel rooms’ worth of garbage that needs taking out. She extends a hand to me, and as it moves under the blanket and exposes her naked body beneath, a solution hits me. Not one I’m going to be pleased with when she has a full wardrobe to pull from, but it should steer her mind off this topic. “I was thinking we can head into town today. You need clothes, and I need a break from the bar. We can make a day of it.”
Her face lights up like a kid on Christmas morning.
“That sounds like a fabulous first date,” she says, hurrying to gather yesterday’s clothes off the floor. I do the same.
Just like that, my problems are solved.
For now.
8
CARRIE
We get dressed and head downstairs, greeted by the smell of bacon and eggs frying in the kitchen. Finding a table, Judge pulls out my chair and kisses the top of my head. A few minutes later, Frasier joins us with a serving tray full of food.
“Now, I didn’t know what you liked, so I made a little bit of everything,” he says before setting it down.
“You didn’t have to go all out on my behalf, but thank you,” I say, almost embarrassed by how loud my tummy’s grumbling. Only after smelling the food did I realize how hungry I was, but Judge and I were so busy last night, neither of us cared to stop for a snack break.
“Tell that to the scary fucker sitting next to you,” Frasier teases Judge, filling a plate with the breakfast assortment. He doesn’t join us at the table, opting to eat at the bar with his newspaper.
Judge and I eat quickly and mostly in silence. He’s itching to get out of the Stoneworks Pub, it seems, so I scarf down a slice of toast, an egg, and a few strips of bacon as fast as I can. Thenwe’re off in his truck, driving less than ten minutes to get into town.
