No Ordinary Joe Page 7

“Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude.”

  “Yes, sit down,” Lindy said, scooting over to make room for her. “We just ordered not two minutes ago.”

  Reily slid into the booth beside her and Zoey signaled for the waitress, who scurried right over. She was small and wiry, with dark hair streaked with gray that she wore in a long braid down her back. If she had to guess, Reily would say she was of Native American descent. She carried a pot of coffee in each hand. One regular, one decaf.

  “Reily, this is Betty,” Lindy said. “She and her husband, Lou, own the diner. Betty, this is my friend Reily. She’s filling in for Mark at Joe’s.”

  “Oh, so you’re the young woman who had her car stolen,” Betty said, clucking sympathetically.

  Word sure did travel fast. “That’s me.”

  “Well, you couldn’t have wound up in a nicer place. What can I get you, hon?”

  “I recommend the French toast,” Lindy said.

  “I guess I’ll have the French toast and a coffee,” she said, flipping over the empty cup in front of her, which Betty filled promptly.

  “That’ll be right up,” she said, rushing off to put the order in.

  Reily sipped the coffee and found it surprisingly good. The coffee in the diner in her hometown was so weak it tasted like brown water. This coffee had bite.

  “So, what do you think of Paradise?” Zoey asked her.

  “Everyone has been incredibly friendly and helpful. Without Joe, I’m not sure what I would have done.”

  “The man is yummy,” Zoey said wistfully, her long, siren-red acrylic nails clicking against her coffee cup as she lifted it to her lips for a sip. “Every available woman in town under the age of forty has been trying to land him since Beth left.”

  “Has he dated anyone?” Reily asked.

  “Not that I’ve heard,” Lindy said. “And if he has he’s somehow managed to keep it a secret, which in this town is next to impossible. If someone sneezes it’s in the paper the next morning.”

  “I’m from a small town, too, so I know just what you mean,” Reily said. “Everyone was always in everyone else’s business. I couldn’t wait to get away.”

  “And here you are, stuck in another small town,” Zoey said. “How’s that for irony?”

  “Only for six weeks, when Mark comes back to work. By then I should have the money to get set up in Nashville.”

  “Lindy tells me you’re a singer,” Zoey said. “Do you have friends in the music business there?”

  Reily shook her head. “Nope.”

  “Do you at least have a job lined up?”

  “No again. I’m hoping to get a bartending job to pay the bills until I can find some vocal work. I’ll probably have to start out as a backup singer and work my way up.”

  “That must be scary, starting over somewhere completely new,” Zoey said, then added, “Not just once, but twice.”

  “Yeah, but it’s worth it. It’s been my dream since I was a little girl. My mom was a singer, too. She had a beautiful voice, and she wrote the prettiest songs. She planned to leave for Nashville on her eighteenth birthday, but then she met my dad. She said it was love at first sight, and the first time he kissed her, she knew she would spend the rest of her life with him.” Which she had, though no one ever expected that time to be so short.

  “That’s so romantic,” Lindy said with a sigh. “I take it she never made it to Nashville.”

  “She loved him so much, she gave up on her singing career to get married.”

  “Are they still together?” Zoey asked.

  “They died in a car wreck when I was seven. But if they had lived, I think they still would be. I remember them as being really, really happy. But then again, I was pretty young. At that age everything is sunshine and roses.”

  “You should ask Joe to let you sing at the bar,” Zoey said. “He’s always looking for new acts.”

  Reily shook her head. “He’s done enough for me already. Besides, I don’t have a backup band or even a guitar to play. Mine was stolen with my car.”

  “He likes you, you know.” Lindy said.

  Reily looked at her like she was nuts. “What? No he doesn’t. He hardly said two words to me at work yesterday.” Jill’s son had gotten sick halfway through her shift and she’d had to leave, so Lindy’d waited tables while Joe had helped Reily behind the bar. He’d barely acknowledged her.

  “Which only proves my point,” Lindy said. “He ignores you so you won’t know that he’s attracted to you.”

  “Maybe if we were in eighth grade,” Reily told her.

  “He watches you when you’re not looking.”

  She frowned. “He does not.”

  “He does. He can’t keep his eyes off of you.”

  Reily had to admit that a few times she’d had the feeling that Joe was watching her, but when she turned to look he would be mixing a drink or pouring a beer or chatting with a customer. And even if he had been looking at her, she doubted it had anything to do with him liking her. He probably thought she was going to steal from the register or something, the way he thought she’d helped herself to his wife’s bike.

  “Could you just imagine if you two fell in love?” Zoey said, dropping her chin in the palm of her hand, looking wistful. “It could be just like your mom and dad. You could give up singing and stay here in Paradise and live happily ever after.”

  When hell froze over, maybe. “Unlike my mom, I’m not giving up my dream for anyone. And it’s a moot point because I’m not going to fall in love with him. I don’t even like him. He’s too…moody.”

  “Yeah, but he didn’t used to be that way,” Lindy said. “He used to be fun and sweet. Always smiling. Losing Beth changed him, and I’m sure that if he met the right woman…” She shot Zoey a look and Reily got a very bad feeling. “He would probably be back to his sweet, easygoing old self again.”

  “It would be nice to have the old Joe back,” Zoey said, looking from Reily to Lindy. “And Lily Ann sure could use a mommy.”

  Reily’s bad feeling grew. “I’m not sure what you two are plotting, but it isn’t going to work. I don’t like Joe, and he doesn’t like me.”

  “Plotting?” Lindy said innocently. “We’re not plotting anything.”

  Reily wasn’t buying it, but before she could push the issue, Betty delivered their food and Zoey changed the subject. After breakfast Reily parted ways with her new friends and headed down to the thrift store. Though Sue’s care package had included everything from shampoo and conditioner to all the basic condiments including ketchup and mustard and salt and pepper, Reily still needed some basic necessities. And of course gelatin and canned fruit for the salad tonight. In a way she wished she’d turned down Sue’s dinner offer. The idea of spending time with Joe outside of work made her a little uneasy. But Joe hadn’t invited her. Sue had, and Reily was going there to see her and Lily Ann. Joe was just part of the bargain.

  With her purchases tucked carefully in the secondhand backpack she’d purchased at the resale shop on Third Street, Reily rode back home around noon. As she pulled up the driveway, she hit the brakes so hard she nearly launched herself over the handlebars. There in the center of the driveway, dressed in nothing but a pair of faded, cutoff blue jeans, the sun gleaming off his bare, deeply tanned shoulders, soaping up what looked to be a fully restored, mint-condition, black 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, stood Joe. His damp hair was a little mussed, bits of foamy suds dotted his lean-muscled chest and washboard stomach, and his unshaven face only added to the sizzling, sexy thing he had going on.

  Depraved and wrong as it was, her first thought was how it would feel to dip her hands into the bucket of sudsy water, then rub them all over him. Although, as a former muscle car enthusiast, it was a toss-up as to which was more drool-worthy. Joe or the ’Cuda.

/>   She hopped off the bike and walked it up the driveway. “Nice car.”

  Joe barely glanced up from the rear quarter panel he’d been scrubbing. “Thanks.”

  “Does it have the 383 V8?”

  His head jerked in her direction, brows rising in surprise. “Yeah.”

  “330 horsepower?”

  “That’s right.” He dropped the sponge in the bucket and straightened, eyeing her suspiciously. “How did you know that?”

  Why was it that guys thought only other guys knew anything about cars?

  “I had a boyfriend who restored muscle cars. He would have loved this.” She parked the bike next to the garage, then walked back down to circle the car. “Did you buy it like this or restore it yourself?”

  “I restored it.” He grabbed the hose and rinsed away the soap from the spot he’d just washed. “Every weekend for about five years.”

  She walked around to the driver’s side, peeking in the window at the flawless, red leather interior. “She’s beautiful. She must be fast.”

  “She is.”

  “Can I see the engine?”

  Looking as though he wasn’t quite sure what to make of this new facet of her personality, he opened the driver’s side door, reached in and popped the latch. He lifted the hood and Reily sucked in a breath. The engine was as pristine as the rest of the car.

  She leaned in to get a better look. “Is it all original?”

  He shook his head. “Authentic, but not original. She was a mess when I bought her. Not much more than a shell. I picked up most of the parts from a guy in California.”

  She backed away so he could shut the hood. “It’s really something. And you’ll be happy to know that Lily Ann is incredibly protective of it. I tried to peek under the cover the other day when we were getting the bike out and she practically came unhinged.”

  He shook his head and broke into an honest-to-goodness smile; Reily’s knees went the tiniest bit weak. “She can be a little overprotective.”

  “I can’t imagine where she learned that,” Reily said, and Joe chuckled. The deep rumble of his laugh, the warmth of his smile, made her feel all soft and gooey inside.

  Okay, so maybe she didn’t dislike him quite as much as she’d let on to Lindy and Zoey, but that didn’t mean she like-liked him either.

  Like-liked? What was this? Middle school? And what was it about Joe that made her want to shake her head in exasperation and simultaneously jump him?

  “Maybe someday you could take me for a ride.” Fully expecting him to balk at the idea, she’d said it just to prove to herself that he was in fact not at all interested in being anything but her landlord and boss.

  She was both surprised and a little dismayed when he dug a set of car keys out of his pocket and jingled them. “What are you doing right now?”

  He actually wanted to take her for a ride? Well, that had backfired miserably. “Um, nothing?”

  “I’ll show you how fast she really is.”

  “But don’t you have to look after Lily Ann?”

  “She’s at a friend’s house.”

  Figured. “Well, I’m sure you’ve probably got things to do.”

  “What’s the matter?” he asked with a look that was pure temptation. “You afraid of a little speed?”

  Was he actually daring her to go for a ride in his car? A woman who used to ride along for drag races down Hickory Creek Road back in Montana?

  She propped her hands on her hips and leveled her eyes on him. “Honey, your car can’t go fast enough to scare me.”

  The thrill of the challenge was clear in his eyes and the sly grin curling his mouth. “Give me ten minutes to polish it up, and we’ll just see about that.”

  “You’re on.”

  Looking smug, he started rubbing the streaks from the body with a cloth as she carried her backpack up the stairs. She emptied the contents and put the perishable items in the fridge, wondering what the heck had possessed her to ask for a ride in the first place. Though logically, him taking her out in his car didn’t mean he liked her. If he was like most guys she’d known, he would take anyone out if it meant a chance to show off his baby. The thought eased her nerves the tiniest bit, not that she had any reason to be nervous.

  And if she was so sure he didn’t like-like her, and she didn’t like-like him, why did she stop in the bathroom to check her hair and swipe on bubblegum-flavored lip gloss?

  Because she was an idiot, that’s why.

  She shook her head at her reflection in the tiny bathroom mirror. It was just a ride in a car, for pity’s sake, and certainly not anything to make a big deal over.

  From the driveway below she heard the throaty rumble of a car engine starting and knew Joe was ready to go. Giving herself one last furtive look in the mirror and grabbing her key on the way out, she headed downstairs.

  Joe sat in the driver’s seat, and although she was a bit sorry to see that he was no longer bare-chested, she had to admit that in a black muscle shirt, his tanned arm resting in the open window, he looked like quite the badass.

  He gunned the engine, then let it settle to a low, deep idle. Like the purr of a lion.

  “Hop in if you dare,” he said with that tempting smile. This was definitely a side of Joe she’d never expected. No wonder he had so many women after him. When he let down his guard, he was completely irresistible.

  She walked around and opened the door. As she slid inside, the hot leather scorched the backs of her thighs.

  “Buckle up,” he said, shifting gears and backing sloooowly down the driveway. He headed down the street at a crawl, doing five miles under the speed limit.

  “I’d be careful,” she said, looking over at him. “At this rate you’re bound to get a speeding ticket.”

  He just smiled and steered the car toward Main Street. He turned right into traffic, then drove straight through town past the bar—which was the farthest point in Paradise that she had been so far.

  They passed a few more random houses, which looked quite a bit shabbier than the homes within the city limits, until they reached a sign that announced You Are Now Leaving Paradise. We’ll Miss You! Then they were back in farmland.

  A little ways up they reached a cross street with a stop sign. Joe rolled to a complete stop, despite the fact that there was no one coming from any direction, and cautiously looked both ways. He was obviously a very careful guy. A snarky remark sat on the tip of her tongue, but before the words could form he stomped on the gas and they shot forward like a rocket.

  Reily’s breath whooshed from her lungs as she was pinned back against her seat by the sheer force of his launch. She clamored for something to hold on to, both terrified and thrilled as he buried the needle on the speedometer and the wind blew her hair wildly around her head. Any faster and they might break the sound barrier!

  She’d almost forgotten the thrill of speed, and this fleeting reminder of what it felt like to live fast and reckless had her heart pumping and adrenaline racing through her veins.

  But as swiftly as it began, Joe backed off the accelerator and hit the brake, thrusting her forward against the seat belt. He jerked the car off to the shoulder of the road, skidding to a stop, kicking up a cloud of dust, and jammed it into park.

  Her heart hammering, her breath coming hard and fast, she looked over at Joe and realized that her hand was clamped around his biceps. Embarrassed, she jerked it back. Way to make yourself look stupid, Reily. No wonder he’d stopped. She was holding on so tight she was probably cutting off the blood flow to his fingers. “Sorry.”

  “No, I’m sorry,” he said, wearing a pained expression. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Scare her? That was hands-down the most fun she’d had in years. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d felt so…alive. And she wanted
more.

  She looked up at him, grinned and said, “Can we do that again?”

  Chapter Seven

  Joe stared at Reily, dumbfounded. He must have misheard her. With her windblown hair and her wild eyes and the uneven rasp of her breath, she looked scared out of her mind. Which, despite what he’d said, had been his exact intention. He wanted to scare her. He wanted her to stay as far away from him as possible, because as much as he tried to deny it, as much as he didn’t want it to be true, he wanted her. And he couldn’t want her.

  “You want to do it again?” he asked, just to be sure he heard her right.

  She smiled and nodded, her chest rising and falling with each harsh breath, her cheeks flushed. “I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun.”

  She thought this was fun?

  He wasn’t sure what possessed him, or even how it happened, but something must have come over him, because the next thing he knew his seat belt was off, he was leaning over the gearshift and he was kissing her. And instead of pushing him away and maybe even slapping him, she took his lead and ran with it. She slid her arms up around his neck and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. In that instant, every feeling he’d denied, all the emotions he had spent the last two years burying deep inside of him broke free in a hot, heady rush. The sweet taste of her mouth, the softness of her face as he cupped it in his hand, her hot breath against his lips lit a fire inside him that threatened to burn him alive.

  He slid his hand around the back of her neck and sank his fingers through the silky hair at the root of her ponytail. Reily moaned softly. With his other hand he fumbled with her seat belt, so he could haul her over the console and into his lap. Was it a good idea? Hell, no. And what he planned to do after he had her there, he wasn’t sure. He was functioning on autopilot, his only goal to get as close to her as humanly possible.

  Through a lust-drenched haze he heard someone clear his throat beside his open window. Reily must have heard it, too; they jerked away from each other like guilty teenagers caught in a forbidden embrace.

  Joe looked up and saw Sheriff’s Deputy Nate Jeffries standing beside his open window. Only then did Joe notice the flashing lights of the patrol car in the rearview mirror.