Till the Break of Dawn Read online

  His brown eyes sparkled as he took a seat at the bar. “Glad to see you’re open now.”

  I returned his smile as I propped against the rough wooden surface of the bar. “I’m glad you could make it.”

  He seemed pleased with my response. “Are you now?”

  Jesse leaned forward like he was going to tell me a secret and his musky scent drifted my way again. I sighed, realizing how much I loved what I called the “cowboy” smell. It was a mixture of fresh air and leather and man.

  “Tell me, Dawn, what’s a good drink to try?”

  Immediately I recalled my newest concoction in the making, “Valley of the shadow of fuck” and laughed. Jesse gave me a questioning look, but I didn’t think that sharing the drink’s odd name with him was such a good idea just yet. We’d barely met and not everyone appreciated my sense of humor.

  “There is something I was working on earlier today. You could try it out for me.” I made the suggestion sound like more of a question and he smiled again. He had a slow natural-looking grin that was absolutely adorable.

  “Sure thing. I’m your huckleberry.”

  I was pretty sure that no one besides the gunslinger Doc Holiday had ever used that expression, but it cracked me up just the same. He watched with a look I couldn’t quite read as I mixed the ingredients: dry vermouth, sweet vermouth, gin, cognac, orange bitters, and orange juice with a splash of lemon and food coloring to make the drink look more “shadowy.”

  I shook all of this together with ice and strained it into a dark purple cocktail glass and pushed it toward him with a smile. He took a sip and nodded approvingly.

  “Not bad. What do you call it?”

  I laughed. “You don’t want to know.”

  Jesse continued to sip the drink and study me with his dark brown eyes. “I’m sure I’ll find out eventually.”

  The way he spoke made me wonder if he was talking about the name of the drink still, or something else. But when he winked at me I forgot his strange tone and went back to my best flirtatious smile.

  I was glad Our Place wasn’t too busy. This gave me plenty of time to talk to Jesse who had another of my specialty drinks over the next hour or so of small talk. Of course, I still worked during this time. There were other customers, but not many. Only hardcore alcoholics hung out in a bar on a Tuesday night. The rest of the town was what I called social drinkers. And they usually “socialized” on Friday night. So, I took the opportunity to keep walking back to Jesse and continuing our conversation. Jamie kept giving me looks that clearly said she wanted to tease me, but would refrain for the moment.

  When I leaned down in front of him to put some glasses underneath the counter Jesse asked, “So, what’s your idea of a perfect date?”

  I hit my head on the underside of the bar. When I stood up, rubbing my scalp I was surprised to find him laughing. I was not used to having men laugh when I injured myself. However, his laugh was so warm and pleasant that I felt the corners of my mouth starting to tug upward as well.

  “Oh, you think that’s funny?” I said with a smirk.

  “Do you always react this way when a man is trying to ask you out?”

  My heart fluttered just a little bit. It made my head hurt worse. “I thought you were trying to finish that drink.”

  He returned my smirk, but his still looked playful. “I am.”

  I leaned forward, abandoning attempts to soothe my throbbing head for the moment. “What’s the matter, is it too much for you?”

  He finished the rest of the drink in one gulp. His smile never wavered. “Tell me, Dawn, what’s your idea of a perfect date?”

  *****

  “My idea of a perfect date isn’t expensive, it is peaceful.”

  I was explaining this to Jesse two nights later as we sat on the banks of the lake behind my house. We could have stayed up on the deck that overlooked the water, but I liked it here on the grass. A bottle of wine sat between us and he refilled my glass as I stared out at the water. The lake looked like it was filled with stars. I wanted so much to shed my clothes along with the heat and plunge into those stars. But I wasn’t about to take my clothes off in front of a man I had just met. Even a really sexy one like Jesse.

  The lake was bordered by thick trees all around. I knew that somewhere on the other side of those trees was other houses, but none were visible from here. Since I bought the house and the land around it, the lake was mine. As I stared at the small crescent moon reflecting off the glasslike surface I wondered how anyone could own something so beautiful.

  “Where are you?”

  Jesse’s voice was soft and closer than I remembered him being before. He handed me the glass of wine and I smiled. Not far from where we sat was a large oak tree. Its moss covered branches hung out, casting a shadow over the water. I remembered kissing another man underneath that tree. A man with pale green eyes and hair as black as the night sky above.

  “I’m here,” I lied.

  Jesse took a sip of his wine and studied me with a thoughtful expression. “No you’re not. But, maybe you’ll come back.”

  I shook my head, trying to dislodge the memories and the ghost whose arms I could still feel around my waist. Would I ever be able to be with another man without thinking of him?

  “Sorry.” I thought that changing the subject might be nice. “Before we drink enough that I won’t remember, why don’t you tell me what you do for a living?”

  Without missing a beat he replied, “I’m a bounty hunter.”

  I almost choked on the wine. I’m not sure what I expected to hear when I asked about Jesse’s occupation, but that certainly wasn’t it. He patted me on the back softly, like he was used to women choking when he told them about his job. If this were happening to someone else, it might have been funny. But, under the circumstances it was a little bit shocking. Not to make him into too much of a cliché, but Jesse looked like a regular country boy, as the saying goes. Of course, he was better looking than most, but he didn’t strike me as the bounty hunting type.

  “What kind of bounties do you go after?” I asked, still coughing.

  He continued to rub my back gently and I didn’t object to the contact. “The dangerous kind,” he answered.

  His voice was gentle, but the look in his eyes was anything but. Part of me wanted to question him further, but the other part knew that might not be such a good idea. For the first time since we’d met I asked, “What brings you to Happy, Florida?”

  He smiled as if he had been caught doing something he would rather not have me know about.

  “Work,” he admitted. “But after this job, I might stick around.”

  “Why?”

  He leaned closer. Despite the warmth of the night air I could feel the heat rising from his body. Jesse was a good-looking man and I didn’t need wine to be attracted to him. But as I looked into his brown eyes I wondered how his appearance might change if they were green.

  “I like it here,” he said softly. “Besides, after a while you might want me to stay.”

  “Is that what you’re hoping for?” I meant to sound playful, but my voice was breathy and I was nervous. I couldn’t believe I’d brought him to my favorite spot on a first date. What was I thinking? I barely knew him and something about his nearness made me flutter inside.

  “Right now, I was hoping for a kiss.”

  I could still feel him smiling when he pressed his lips against mine. His kiss was easy, like lying in bed on a Sunday morning. It was soft and kind and I melted against him, feeling my nipples growing harder against the thin fabric of my t-shirt. That was another thing my perfect date included, perfect comfort. No high-heels and uncomfortable dresses. Just jeans, a t-shirt, a hot guy, and some chilled wine.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck. Through his shirt, just beneath the collar I could feel a necklace. I’m not sure what made me pull back when I found it, but I did. The moment wasn’t awkward and the kiss had certainly been good. I simply wanted to look at what
was underneath his shirt. That is to say, I wanted to see the necklace.

  Jesse seemed to understand what had caught my attention. He gave me that slow easy smile as he pulled the necklace out of his shirt. A small charm hung from the silver chain. It looked like a wolf was carved into its surface. As I ran my thumb over it Jesse explained, “It’s a good luck charm.”

  Strange. I’d never seen a good luck charm like this before. Most people had lucky socks or a lucky coin. A lucky wolf necklace? That was a new one on me.

  “Is it working?”

  He kissed me again, then pulled back as if still considering my question.

  “Today’s not turning out so bad.”

  I expected him to kiss me again. Actually, I was hoping he would. Instead Jesse stood up and offered his hand to me. “Let’s walk around the lake,” he suggested. “You can tell me all about this place.”

  The pace was slow and the conversation was easy. Before I knew it I had told Jesse all about growing up in Happy. I even told him about my parents getting divorced and moving to different sides of the country to avoid each other. My dad moved back to Tennessee to help take care of his aging mother, but that wasn’t until I was a grown woman and out on my on. My mother moved to California when I was seventeen, right after the divorce. I even told him about how I thought I was cracking up over turning thirty and he laughed.

  “I’m thirty-five,” Jesse said. His voice was deep, but soft and I was really starting to like the sound of it. “If you’re old then what am I?”

  I looked him up and down. “Better looking in jeans than I am.”

  He laughed again. “So your mother who put so much pressure on you to be normal, get married and have a family, abandoned hers.”

  I nodded. “That’s pretty much the gist of it.”

  He stopped for a moment and started pulling off his shoes. Watching him hop around and try to keep his balance was both hilarious and endearing.

  “Why do you give a shit what she thinks?”

  “Because she is my mother and I always wanted to have a relationship with her. It’s just something women do … I can’t explain it better than that.”

  He tied his shoe laces together and tossed them over his shoulder. I took his lead and slipped out of my sandals. The cool grass beneath my feet felt amazing and I sighed.

  “You don’t have to explain further,” Jesse said. “I was always looking for approval from my old man too. It just never quite worked out that way.”

  It was refreshing to find someone who understood why I continued to try to please my mother. Most anyone who had ever heard the story said she was a miserable bitch and didn’t understand why I bothered. I bothered because I wanted so desperately to have something in common besides a shared gene pool.

  “What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done to try to be closer to her?” he asked.

  “I dumped a guy I really cared about because she disapproved of him. Of course, that wasn’t the only reason we broke up, but it played a major part.”

  I could not believe I’d just said that. I hadn’t had that much wine, honestly. It took me nine years and a lot of whiskey to be able to discuss Marcus with my best friend. Yet here I was with this almost stranger talking about him as easily as I’d slipped off my shoes. What the hell?

  The moment was made even more curious by the fact that Jesse seemed so interested in the subject. “Did you love him?”

  Why bother lying? “Yes.”

  As we continued our slow, easy pace around the lake he said, “Tell me about him.”

  Okay, that’s where I drew the line. I was not about to discuss my relationship with a professional wrestler turned vampire with someone I barely knew. For one thing it was painful and for another it was complicated. Besides, I didn’t want to end up mentioning his name and have another star struck fan on my hands who wanted to hear about the personal details of his life. I was okay with talking about the relationship in general, but I would never share personal details about Marcus, nor was I about to tell his name.

  I tried to act casual as I brushed off Jesse’s comment. “You don’t want to hear about that.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe I do.”

  “What are you, the last sensitive man?”

  He winked. “Don’t spread it around, I like to pretend to be really tough.”

  Chapter Seven

  Two weeks passed and things were going really good with Jesse. I couldn’t say the same for Mandy’s wedding plans. What in the hell made me agree to try to put together a wedding in just two months?! I had no idea there was so much crap to be done. I decided right then, as I looked at a catering menu for the umpteenth time that if I ever did get married, we would elope. End of story.

  The good news was she had ordered the wedding invitations and she had just gotten her first fitting for her dress. She had decided on something with a high waist just in case her belly grew more than expected between now and then. The gown was lovely, but I was so tired of all the hassle I couldn’t have cared less. Maybe that made me insensitive, but at the time I didn’t really care. If it weren’t for Jamie reminding me to place the order Our Place would have been out of beer for this week’s televised boxing event and we would have been screwed. The only thing people liked better than watching boxing was watching boxing and drinking beer.

  I was just frustrated enough when Jesse stopped by the house to pick me up that I started complaining to him. It was really nice of him to be so patient. He seemed to understand that I was still hurting over the past relationship I had mentioned on our first date. So, we were taking things slow, which was fine with me. It was also very considerate on his part. As hot as he was, I wasn’t ready to just jump into bed with him or anyone else right now. For the first time I was looking for a serious relationship and when I slept with someone I wanted it to mean something. I could almost hear Jamie’s voice in my head saying, “Thirty will do that to you.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, realizing I’d been complaining for much too long while I looked for a comfortable pair of shoes.

  Jesse was sitting at the foot of my bed, watching me ravage the closet with an expression close to amusement in his eyes.

  “You think this is funny? I almost didn’t order booze because I was so busy trying to pick out flowers and catering!”

  He sighed. “This friend of yours sounds like she’s all alone and she needs someone right now. I know it’s a pain in the ass, but you’ll hate yourself if you stop now.”

  He was right. How could he know that about me in such a short amount of time?

  “You’re right.”

  I stepped in front of the full-length mirror beside the closet and looked at my short-sleeved red sundress again. It was simple, soft cotton, and it came to just above my knees. My hair was twisted up loosely, letting curls fall here and there over my shoulders. I hardly ever wore dresses and even if I looked cute I felt out of place in them.

  “You look great,” Jesse said as if he could read my mind. “Why don’t you let me find the shoes?”

  “Fine.” I gestured toward the closet. “Be my guest.”

  While he rummaged around in my walk-in closet I took his place at the foot of the bed.

  “Where did you say this friend of yours is from?” he asked.

  “Well, she’s from here. But she’s been living in Texas for several years now.”

  “And she’s back just to get married?”

  “Yep.” I relayed as much about the situation as I knew, which wasn’t much. Of course I left out the part about Mandy being pregnant. I figured if she wanted anyone else to know, she would tell them. “It’s all kind of strange. She talks about this David guy all the time, but I really don’t know anything about him. Come to think of it, I didn’t even know his last name until I read the sample invitation I got today. I think they made a mistake in printing them anyway.”

  He emerged from the closet triumphantly carrying my favorite brown sandals. I was really starting to
like him. “Why is that?”

  “Well, because they say the wedding is going to be at night. She has planned this whole thing outdoors with lots of flowers and stuff that won’t look as good at night.” I shrugged as I passed him the invitation. “I don’t know, it’s just weird.”

  Something passed over his features as Jesse read the invitation. It looked like a mixture of recognition and pain. He ran a hand through his dusty blond hair and for once I didn’t focus on the way his biceps flexed with the motion. My attention was drawn to the way his brows knit together and the look in his eyes.

  “Something wrong?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  But from that moment on, he helped us plan the wedding. I wondered at first if he had recognized one of their names. Then one afternoon while we were taking one of our walks around the lake he started telling me about his little sister. It was mine and Jamie’s day off, so Jamie had decided to tag along for a little bit of exercise. Mandy came too. They hung back a bit from us, even though I insisted this wasn’t a date, we were just hanging out. Things weren’t really serious with Jesse, but that didn’t mean I didn’t like him.

  “I’ve traveled a lot over the past few years. It’s just us and my dad. My mom died when we were kids. I wasn’t around when my sister got married.”

  Well, that would make sense as to why he wanted to help Mandy.

  “Where were you?” The question was out before I took time to think it through. The look Jesse gave me said I didn’t really want to know.

  “I was tracking a bounty in Alaska. She still hasn’t forgiven me.”

  After three weeks of spending time with Jesse, he was still a mystery to me. I had no idea what kind of bounties he hunted other than they were “dangerous”. Hell, that could mean anything. He rented an apartment across town, but he spent most of his time at my house. He loved chocolate ice cream, good coffee, and too much sugar in his sweet tea. He also cooked like a motherfucker and looked amazing in jeans. But as far as his past, the closest I’d come to that was learning he had a sister.