Tiny Dancer Page 5

  Maybe there was nothing back there, maybe I just panicked. It wasn’t like I’d never been followed before.

  My mind had trouble comprehending what I was looking at. She had been drawing a picture of me. Why? I slid down the trunk of the tree to sit on the cold, hard ground.

  I didn’t mean to scare her. I was just getting a closer look. I tried staying away. I wasn’t stalking her, exactly. Just unable to get her out of my mind.

  When I went to park my bike in the garage, I saw a figure out in the old family cemetery. It was her. I had seen her a few times back there visiting a small grave for an Evie Prieto. My dad told me it was a woman who had worked for them when she was killed in a car wreck, and since she had no living family, Granny Ann had her buried on the hill. The tombstone inscription was confusing as hell. Dad told me that a man placed it there a few years after her death, but he had no idea who it was.

  The inscription started to make sense when I stormed off in that kitchen at the Downtown Cafe and my eyes locked with a pair of green eyes so damn sexy I was sure I was hallucinating. If Evie had anything in common with Annie, no man could walk away.

  I should know … I’ve tried.

  I’d spent the past two weeks trying to forget how it felt when I was with Annie. Nothing came close to the feel of having Annie’s arms wrapped around me.

  On the ground, the moon highlighted a glimmer of pink silk. I picked it up and rubbed it through my fingers before bringing it up slowly to touch my lips.

  Annie had some connection to my screwed-up family. She was living in my dad’s fuck pad. I no longer cared. I wanted what she had to offer.

  I crumpled up the picture she had been drawing and threw it across the cemetery. Who was I kidding, I never got what I wanted. Whoever started the urban legend that I did, obviously, never took the time to know me. So, I guess it could’ve been anybody.

  Chapter 6

  Annie Prieto

  John stood in the kitchen, grinning when I walked in. “Thought our girl had the night off?” John questioned.

  “I did, but Bob called and said the place was going to hell without me.”

  “The place is hell with or without you. Sorry to burst your bubble,” Will said and handed me an apron.

  “Touché, you know the place is a little brighter with my bitchy personality around.” I tied the apron around my waist and tucked a pen behind my ear. “Time to shine.” I picked up a pitcher of sweet tea and smiled as I bumped the doors to the dining room open with my hip.

  Luckily, there were only a handful of customers sprinkled around. I hurriedly took down their orders and refilled a few glasses of sweet tea before heading back to hand in my orders to John.

  John had already filled two of Will’s orders and held them up when I walked back into the kitchen. “Here, if you don’t mind. Will’s too busy flirting with the girl at table two.”

  Better her than me.

  “Got-’em, handsome,” I replied and took the platters from John.

  I delivered the burgers and refilled two soft drinks before taking the order of a new customer. All while Will lingered at table two. I wouldn’t complain. At least he had given up on me. I wasn’t ready for a relationship with anybody. I had one goal to achieve: learn who my dad was, and then I was leaving this hell hole.

  Will finally headed to the kitchen as I was punching an order into the computer. He saluted me and grinned. “She’s hot,” I said and raised my hand to give Will a high five.

  He slapped my hand back but informed me it was his cousin who was down visiting his grandmother. Damn, I need to find him a girl.

  I quickly gathered the orders John had finished onto my tray then returned to the dining room. When I saw him … or them. Lucas was at a table with his head tilted toward some brunette. She wasn’t as alluring as Candice but quite possibly prettier in a more natural sense. Her cheekbones were high and emphasized the perfect pout to her lips.

  He leaned in closer to her like he didn’t want anyone to hear what he was saying. She laughed.

  My eyes went from the brunette’s face back to Lucas’s, and I came eye to eye with his intense stare. I had no idea what to do. Should I smile or simply look away? I decided to copy his lead, but he refused to look away. He continued to watch me until little Miss Brunette started nibbling on his neck.

  I felt my tray wobble. I had to hold it together. After all, I worked at the only restaurant in town and had no choice but to see him with a number of girls. But seeing him gave my heart a strange new ache and caused my stomach to lurch into my chest. Hearing that girl’s laughter made me just a little jealous. Okay, a lot jealous. He didn’t even take the time to make me laugh. I wasn’t the type of girl Lucas would ever parade around town, but I would’ve liked to have him take the time to whisper something funny in my ear.

  No one had ever taken the time to make me laugh. I’d cried myself to sleep too many nights after allowing someone to use me and promised myself I would never do it again. But when Lucas told me I was beautiful, I let myself believe he meant it. I guess that was my latest mistake.

  “Breathe, Annie,” Will said and walked up behind me. I took a deep breath. I hadn’t realized I’d visibly panicked.

  How the hell could Lucas incite this kind of reaction in me with only a simple glance? Because I was a martyr looking for a punishment.

  That was why I had to keep my distance from Lucas and anyone else in the small town of Carterville.

  “Can you remind me again why I agreed to come in on my night off?” I managed to ask without my voice changing five octaves.

  “To be with me. Why else?”

  Fortunately, when Lucas saw me, he left, and the rest of the night flew by. All I wanted was a hot bath and my bed.

  I have had two semi-regulars in my life: Candice Armstrong and Harper Cooksey. Candice made my mother happy. Harper made me happy when I was with her. Annie made me happy by simply thinking about her, but she was the “do not touch” girl. I had no choice but to leave her alone.

  I’d tried giving Harper a chance last night, but seeing Annie ruined any hopes of that happening. Then I thought I could give Candice one more go. That was how I found myself squashed between Candice and some guy with a matronly hairstyle that was short with slightly longer bangs named Cruz and his date who I couldn’t care less what her name was. She meant nothing to me; just another one of Candice’s sorority sisters.

  If you’re calling me an ass again … bingo, that’s me.

  I focused on some picture of a thoroughbred hanging on the wall directly across the room, not even vaguely interested in the talk around me.

  I’d always thought double dates were a waste of time. What did anybody think they would gain by spending time with another couple? If the other couple were happy and in love it would rub off on the them? Not me. I’d never let someone else influence me.

  “You okay?” Candice whispered and squeezed my thigh to gain my attention.

  I faked a smile and nodded my head, wracked with guilt. Candice was entitled to more than I could ever offer.

  “Here you go, good-looking,” a waitress said and winked before sliding a plate of cheese sticks over toward me.

  The waitress was hot and didn’t hide the fact she was willing and available. I didn’t even acknowledge her. I might’ve been an ass, but I’d never once played two girls on the same night.

  Everyone else ordered salads — even Cruz. He had already complained earlier in the night about the sweetener ration of his virgin martini. I’d offered him a cheese stick and rolled my eyes when he fluttered his hands in the air at the thought of so many calories in one bite. That guy was happy; I was sure he shit unicorns and rainbows out at night.

  I needed a beer … bad.

  “Lucas, Allison was asking you a question?” Candice whispered in my ear.

  Who the h-e-double hockey-sticks is Allison?

  “Lucas, I saw you had a Harley. My dad has a Honda Gold Wing,” the blonde to the
left of Cruz said. I finally made eye contact with the girl who must’ve been Allison.

  Congrats, Cruz, she’s a hottie.

  “How do you know what I have, besides the Jeep I drove up in?”

  I’d never seen that girl in my life, and the way her boobs were spilling out of her top, I think I would’ve remembered her. So, the idea she knew what I owned was agitating.

  She patted a napkin to the side of her lips and swallowed back a mouthful. “I’ve seen you around. I think you were at the Downtown Cafe last night.”

  Annie ... I’d promised myself I would give Candice my full attention. She warranted no less. Then someone had to name the place Annie was surely slaving away at.

  I slammed my fork down. I hated the idea of Annie always working and serving people like Candice who didn’t have a clue what work was. More than anything, I wanted to not care what Annie did. I sure as hell didn’t want to be picturing her serving some ass who was trying to pick her up, but that was exactly what I did.

  “Maybe you can take me for a spin sometime,” Candice said and stroked over my shoulder, crinkled up her nose, and laughed. I told myself I should’ve found that face adorable, but it was all wrong and too fake to find attractive.

  “The bike is a me thing,” I said a little too sharply but we had already had that talk more than once. My bike was my sanctuary, and I wasn’t cluttering my head up with memories of random people on it.

  Candice started to pout. Was she for real? Her lips stuck out so far I was afraid she was going to step on them with the six-inch heels she was wearing. “You don’t mind me riding other things,” she said as she smirked.

  “Other things are already tainted.”

  Cold? Yes, but truthful.

  At that point, I couldn’t hang around and act like it was my scene when all I was doing was worrying about Annie.

  “Really, you’re going to say that to me?” Candice asked incredulously.

  I shook my head and wrapped my arm around her neck, pulling her head over onto my shoulder. Candice did deserve more, but more with Candice wasn’t what I wanted. “Sorry, just not feeling good tonight.” I paused before looking over at Cruz and what was her name ... oh, yeah, Allison. “Care if I get this one home? I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.”

  They mumbled, “No”. Sure by the way Candice was nibbling on my ear that I was going to let her ride something.

  The only thing I even had a remote interest in Candice riding was my Jeep back to her house. She warned me that if I ever acted like I did again that it would be my last chance with her. It would’ve been the best damn news I’d heard in a while if I knew it to be true.

  After dropping Candice off, I hurried to the Downtown Cafe. It was only eleven but the place was already closed and vacant for the night.

  The idea of her walking home alone in the dark terrified me. Someone could hurt her, take her, I was letting my imagination get the best of me. Annie was a grown woman used to taking care of herself. But it still didn’t hurt me taking her familiar path on my way home.

  Annie had made me do the one thing I said I would never do for anyone … care.

  Chapter 7

  Annie Prieto

  Other than one house across the field, the cemetery was off to itself, and the thought someone was there the other night was more than unnerving. The idea I was being watched almost kept me away. I had to push it out of my mind; nothing was going to keep me from visiting my mom’s gravesite. I just wanted to know where I belonged. After all, everyone had family somewhere.

  Leaning against the oak tree, I slipped the notebook out of my backpack to draw.

  “Mom, why do they even ask how I’m doing when they obviously don’t care?”

  “Maybe, they do care,” came from a husky voice behind me.

  I stumbled sideways in my attempt to turn around, and a strong muscular hand reached out to steady me. Before I even glanced up, the yummy scent of musk and earth washed over me. I squeezed my eyes shut before opening them and staring into the same blue eyes that had haunted my dreams the last few nights. Any warmth or humor I imagined in his voice was void from his face.

  “Lucas,” I whispered.

  “The one and only. Care if I join you?”

  He continued to stare at me. I wrapped my arms around me, trying to hide behind the backpack held snuggly against my chest. The way he studied me and one of his eyebrows turned up only reminded me I didn’t have the kind of body the girls I’d seen him with did. I hated the fact he was comparing me to them.

  “Do you always hang out in a cemetery?” I finally asked, wanting to bring his attention back to my face and off my body.

  “Do you?” His blue eyes narrowed and grew hot and smouldering as they crept over my face. That stare and pout he had going had to be illegal.

  I pointed over to my mother’s tombstone. “Visiting family. You?”

  He slid down the trunk of the tree and pulled me down beside him. “Same. Most everyone buried here is family.”

  “Really? Do you happen to know anything about my mom?”

  He hesitated before shaking his head and looked off into the distance. “No, she was before my time, and my family doesn’t talk much about the past.”

  He was being sweet, I guess. At least he wasn’t being a total asshole, and as weird as it seemed, I liked his attention. There was something appealing about him, and he made me feel almost happy when he was around.

  “How did you end up renting that house?” he asked.

  He tilted his head and pouted his lip as if he knew to bring attention to it. Even more than those blue eyes, I had dreamed about those full, lickable lips.

  “Going to answer me or just stare all day?”

  Crap, he asked me a question.

  Those lips were distracting, especially when he ran his tongue over them as he was doing at that second. My cheeks flamed hot, and I’m sure as pink as the panties I was wearing. “What was that again?”

  “How did you end up in that house?”

  I had to stop acting like a babbling idiot. I dropped my arms to my side and squared off my shoulders. “Bob, my boss, when he found out I was living at the Knotty Pine, arranged for me to rent it. And no, I’m not paying with my body. I tried but the owner only accepted cash.”

  Lucas slowly let his gaze trail up and down my body. “That’s a shame. Should’ve negotiated with her son; I heard he would accept alternative payments.”

  He made my heart flip over in my chest by the way he was looking at me. He practically fondled me with his eyes. I wanted him to like me, but I was scared to be a one-nighter with him. I knew one taste of him would never be enough. I had to keep the upper-hand. “Must be a friend of yours?”

  “Family.”

  Neither of us said anything else for a while. Lucas, however, had something on his mind. The way he clenched his lower jaw let me know it was probably a thought I wouldn’t like to hear.

  “Where’s your dad at?” he asked, focusing his eyes back on me.

  That was an easy enough question to answer. “I have no idea who my dad is. That’s why I’m here.”

  He looked back at my mother’s tombstone and muttered the dates under his breath. “Who raised you?” His face grew soft as he realized I didn’t have anyone to depend on.

  “The foster system.”

  “Shit. Are you happy?”

  The first fourteen years of my life, I’d been extremely happy. I was raised by an older couple who had an endless amount of compassion and understanding. I wanted for nothing — especially love. Then my foster mom died and my life was ripped apart. I became a paycheck for no less than five other families over the course of four years. After I graduated from the foster system, I went to find pawpaw Charles and learned he died three weeks after I was removed from his home. That was how I learned that the world wasn’t a place of vibrant colors but a land of dull and lifeless gray.

  “Give me a year, and I’ll let you know,” I replied as
honestly as I could.

  Lucas didn’t acknowledge my answer with words but with a simple hook of his pinky around mine. That one small gesture meant more than any words.

  After several minutes of silence, Lucas let his finger slip from mine and softly said, “Annie, ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that I’m not a person who is good for you. I’m a straight up jackass. Please tell me to leave you alone because I can’t force myself to stay away.”

  “I think I can handle you,” I said and reached back for his hand.