Page 116 of Mountain Men Heroes
She turned on the ball of her foot and aimed for the back shelf to put the last of the glasses away when she lost her balance.
Everything hit fast-forward. Hands flew out and she pitched forward. Arms wrapped around her as she faceplanted into hard muscle.
“You okay?” His expression turned puzzled and a bit humored when she peered up into his face.
Hell no. She’d just face-planted and her nose was plastered between two mountains for pecs. “Sorry. This really isn’t me. I’m not usually so easily distracted. I can’t seem to focus and why the hell do I keep seeing images of you and me having, you know, sex?” She dipped her voice low and made sure no one else could hear. Not that anyone was in the joint, but still. Her sister had disappeared in the back and left her alone with him.
“Direct. Your sister did say you were a little on point.”
“Character flaw I guess,” she countered. “What the hell is going on with me, Damon?”
He gave a soft shrug of his big shoulders. “Stress, whiskey, and hormones? But I’m no doctor. I do know you’ve been working way too much. Your sister likes to talk. A lot.”
She bet she did.
“You’ve done this before.” He signaled the change of topic sensing the unease in her she assumed as he pointed to the empty glasses and beer bottles.
Her mouth twitched. “Bartending? Yeah. That obvious? College isn’t free. Over half of med school students have tended bar or waitressed.” It took everything she had not to lean in the foot of space separating them and inhale a lungful of his scent. She was off in the head. Had to be. She hated the way he affected her. Purely masculine and so damn handsome it hurt to be near him and not reach out to caress the line of his jaw. Brush her hand with his.
Ivy shook her head as the blissful fantasies played in her mind. The second she closed her eyes and inhaled, the buzzing in her ears disappeared.
Damn man. What was she—an animal in heat? She couldn’t help herself, though. He drank in the sight of her from her black boots, tight jeans and the way her sweater hugged her breasts.
“When I’m off rotation I pick up odd hours at some local bars. The tips alone can amount to a nice sum.”
“No doubt. Double when you flash any guy that smile.”
“Triple when I fall for smooth pickup lines with grace and a cute giggle.”
He pushed up to his full height, easily a head and a half taller than herself, and everything that made her want to forget her no one-night stand rules filled her senses. He was a walking sex ad.
“That I believe, Ms. Kennedy. It’s a powerful smile.”
She should be finding a way to get her sister alone and tell her the truth about dropping out, but she couldn’t muster the mental strength it would take after her long day.
“You ready to go?” Zahara hadn’t disappeared, after all. She made her way toward them, her eyes red and puffy with sleep. “Holden and Riley went to pull the truck around. We’re going to head back to the house. Mrs. Savage has a room all set up for you. We can drop you off and then I can swing by in the morning if you’d like to go to the doctors with me.” Since Zahara’s cabin met its match with an arsonist several months back, the apartment her sister shared with her two husbands wouldn’t fit a guest.
“Actually, I have an idea.” Damon’s expression went serious as he shifted Ivy’s way to lean a hip on the bar. She echoed his movement as if drawn to his raw masculine allure.
“Stay with me.” His pupils dilated and the crease of his jaw ticked. Everything about him was a complete contradiction to what came out of his mouth.
Like he wanted her there, but at the same time didn’t trust himself being alone with her.
Stay with him? Should she? Hell no. Unease tightened her shoulders. Them under one roof, possibly in the same room as him? That would be like dangling honey in front of a starving bear. And everyone knew what happened to the honey.
Licked, eaten and wholly consumed.
When she didn’t say anything he continued. “I have the empty apartment your sister ditched when she hooked up with my brother and Riley. You can stay there and in exchange, you can help me out here in your spare time.”
He pushed off the bar, grabbed a set of keys and placed them in her hand gently. “It’s yours. Come and go as you please. Door’s around the corner outside.”
She wrapped her fingers around the cold metal. “I’ll only be in town through Christmas day. Are you sure?”
“As I can be.” He placed both palms down on the bar, causing the muscles in his arms to bulge against the confines of his shirt. “I can’t handle this crowd all by myself. And tonight was only the first of many holiday parties.”
Him not handle a crowd? He could probably wrangle an entire bar full of half drunk people with one hand tied behind his back. But she took the white flag he offered and ran with it.
Ivy slid her eyes over to her sister, who stood there with a silly grin on her face and way too much cheer for two in the morning. “Works for me, too.”