Chapter 4

Juliana

 

 

“I knew you’d come,” I told Amber when we arrived at Rennie’s to find Amber and some of the other girls already there.

Amber fluffed her lustrous chestnut hair and sat up a little straighter in her seat when she saw us. “Of course. I couldn’t leave you to your own devices in this testosterone-filled shithole.”

I gave her a quick hug. “Thanks. I tried to convince Scott to go to Penn’s instead, but the game and all, you know how it is.”

Amber’s eyes fell onto Scott beside me, dropping quickly to our joined hands before she pulled him in for a side hug. “Yeah, I know. Hey, Scott.”

He gave her an awkward pat on the back, and she released him. “Hey, Ambi. You doing okay?”

“Fine, you?” she answered, fluffing her hair again. What was with that? Although, her bright green eyes were already a bit glassy, so she’d probably just had a few cocktails already.

“Good,” he said, stepping back from her. His blue eyes sought out mine. “Gotta go find a seat before all of the good ones are taken.”

“Okay.” I wasn’t expecting a full makeout session worthy of a romance movie, but jeez, a peck before he left would’ve been a nice touch. Scott was gone before I could even reach for him. He weaved his way through the crowd, making a beeline for a seat right up against one of the TV screens.

No surprise there. He proceeded to thoroughly ignore me in favor of the game, but at least it gave me the chance to catch up with the girls and giggle with them as they sized up the male talent, or lack thereof, in the bar.

If I had pictured a sports bar back when I was too young to go into one, Rennie’s would have been exactly what I envisioned. Slightly darkened, low ceilings, with televisions everywhere and a long, rounded old wooden bar that may not have been properly cleaned since the troops came back from Vietnam.

It wasn’t exactly a hotbed of activity insofar as talent was concerned, and we knew most of the regulars. There was, however, one piece of man candy that even I couldn’t help but ogle.

Just because I was dating Scott didn’t mean that I’d suddenly gone blind, and you’d have to be if you didn’t stop and stare just a little at that guy. Although in retrospect, he was so hot I was certain that even blind women would feel it radiate from him enough to give them pause.

Scott was a looker, sure. He was tall and lean with a decent body, ice blue eyes and midnight- black hair. I knew that there were always girls after him, a lot sometimes, and I was happy to be the one he had chosen to give the relationship thing a go with.

But hot dang.

The guy at the other side of the bar, staring as intently at the damn screens as the rest of them, was in a league all of his own. He wasn’t even playing the same damn sport as any man I’d ever met. Certainly not in this town.

Maybe they built ‘em like that in New York or Los Angeles, but they sure as shit didn’t look like that in Stone Mountain.

Because, holy crap on a cracker. I actually had to physically stop my jaw from dropping; he was that kind of hot. Dark brown, almost black in the dim lighting of the bar, his hair was short and swept up and slightly to the left on the front. It was shorter, though not completely shaved, on the sides, but thick and full on top.

His angular jawline could probably cut glass if he tried and was covered in manly, peppered stubble that I could easily imagine scraping against my thigh. Or maybe not my thigh, since my thighs belonged to Scott at present. But still.

An arrow-straight nose sat between dark, almond-shaped eyes. They were framed with thick lashes and peered out from underneath his crescent-shaped eyebrows.

Spartan shoulders spoke of strength, the likes of which I hadn’t had the pleasure of encountering in a man before, and made his white T-shirt stretch in all the right places. The cherry on the cake was the black tattoo that peeked out from underneath his sleeve, though I couldn’t make out what it was.

Golden, tanned skin stretched for miles over arms that vaguely resembled tree trunks—if tree trunks were sexy and could wrap me up in them. I had another momentary lapse in judgment and imagined what it might feel like to wake up in those arms. Better yet, to be caged against a wall, or a bed, or anywhere really, with—

Amber saved me from myself by nudging me and pointing him out, hiding the finger she was using to point behind her other hand. “Get a load of that guy.”

I shrugged as if I wouldn’t have gotten a full mental picture of us naked together if Amber hadn’t spoken up. “He’s okay.”

Amber giggled, “If that’s your definition of okay, then I want to know what you’re smoking, and I definitely don’t want any. I guess you do have Scott, though.”

This guy was not my definition of okay; he was my definition of tall, dark, and handsome, but I wasn’t admitting to that. Because she was right. Scott.

“Exactly. I have Scott.” The only person I should be getting naked with, even mentally. I gave myself a firm shake and turned my focus to the girls, catching up with them instead.

When the first half was over, I expected Scott to come find me during the halftime break. He didn’t. When I looked over to where he’d been sitting before, he wasn’t there either. Eventually, my eyes drifted back to the spot where Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome had been sitting, surprised to find that Scott had taken over the seat.

I bounded over to him, intent on reminding him that he had indeed come to bar with someone, and reminding myself that I was that person. Throwing my arms around his neck, I gave Scott a big kiss, then realized that Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome himself was standing right there looking at Scott with disgust.

Then he was gone.

Scott sighed and shook himself free from my arms, nodding at the television. “I’m a little busy here, babe. Leave me be ‘til the end of the game, would ya?”

I huffed out an annoyed breath, pointing out the obvious. “I’ve been leaving you alone all damn night, babe.” If Scott heard the sarcasm I’d laced into the nickname that I hated because it sounded so patronizing when he used it, he didn’t let on. His eyes remained fixed on the screen. “Fine, I’ll just get out of your hair, then.”

Rennie’s walls felt like they were closing in on me, and fast. Or maybe that was the hellhounds coming for my relationship with Scott. I was really starting to get sick of his shit. He used to be so damn charming, but he wasn’t anymore. Well, mostly not, anyway.

I needed to get some air. It was like Scott had sucked the oxygen out of Rennie’s with his rejection. Pushing through the crowd, I made my way outside to a quiet back alley that some of my friends used to smoke in back in high school.

Stone Mountain was a small town. Most of those friends were gone now, having moved to some bigger city or another, or were currently at home married, and probably with children. I didn’t envy that, not either of those two things, really. Marriage and children could wait a while; I was still enjoying my life and getting to know myself.

Besides, I was only 26, I had plenty of time. As for big city living, they didn’t have stars in those cities like we had out here. I took a deep breath of the warm night air as soon as the alley door swung shut behind me, sealing off the noise from the bar so it was nothing but muted background noise.

Leaning against the wall, I raised my head to the stars and jumped when a voice that cut through my heart spoke from the wall opposite wall the doorway. The kind of voice that would’ve stopped me in my tracks if I’d been moving.

“That’s Lyra.”

I spun towards the voice to find Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome himself pointing up at some constellation or other in the night sky.

“Excuse me?”

He moved towards my wall, leaning up next to me. Not so close as to be inappropriate, but close enough that I got a hint of masculine cologne and my arm warmed slightly from his nearness. He cleared his throat.

“The constellation up there, it’s called Lyra. It was named after the lyre, a type of small harp held in the player’s lap. Vega is its brightest star, right in the handle of the harp. It’s one of three constellations whose brightest stars form the Summer Triangle.”

The way that he said it was nonchalant, not like some know-it-all jerk trying to get into my panties with a look-at-what-I-know chip on his shoulder.

“How do you know that?”

He answered with a slight shrug. “I used to spend a lot of time stargazing out in the desert. There were more stars than there was darkness. You learn a thing or two.”  

“What desert?” I asked, because I was suddenly desperate to know more about this mysterious stranger. I hadn’t been in his presence for more than a minute, and he was already making me feel like I was important to him somehow. Like I mattered.

It didn’t hurt that electricity crackled between us, leaving faint goosebumps on my skin and an arc that I could practically see. I didn’t dare look at him properly, so I kept my eyes on the stars we were talking about instead.

“The Arabian desert. Iraq.”

A military man, then. It certainly made sense of the muscles and the quiet power that rippled right beneath the surface. “What branch?”

I risked a quick glance at him, enthralled by the planes of his handsome face in the dimly lit alley. He was even more gorgeous up close than he had been from across the bar. Figured.

“SEALs.” he answered, still just sounding honest and matter-of-fact about it. Nothing like the cocky bastard he could’ve been for making it as one of the best of the best. He definitely looked like the best. 

“I’m impressed. You must’ve seen some hectic stuff over there. What’s the most dangerous situation you’ve ever been in?” The question was out before I could stop it. Shit. I turned toward him, ready to apologize for asking such a personal question. A dark look crossed his features, but it was gone before I was even certain it had ever really been there.

Instead, his lips quirked up into a small smile. “Found a camel spider in my bunk once. And let me tell you, those motherfuckers are uglier in person than you expect them to be. Not proud of it, but someone in that tent screamed like a toddler watching it, and I was alone in there.”

I tried to imagine the strong, tall man standing next to me screaming in terror and the thought was just too funny. My head actually rolled back from how hard I was laughing. He joined in, and I had to admit that he had a nice laugh. The kind that rumbled straight from his belly, making me laugh even harder.

The dangerous kind that was going to make me do things I would regret if we kept talking—alone out here in the dark alley with nothing but easy conversation and that damn electricity between us for company. 

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” I told him.

He looked at me, like really looked, holding my gaze for a few seconds before those lips curled up again. “It was. It absolutely was.”

It wasn’t hard to notice the intensity of his eyes, the way they lit up in amusement that made them seem more gold than chocolate in this light. I was going to get in trouble if I stayed, even if a part of me really, really wanted to. “I should get back inside.”

“Why? Didn’t look like you were having much fun to me.” He cracked his knuckles absently, like he was thinking of beating them into someone.

“My boyfriend will be waiting for me,” I answered lamely.

He regarded me for a moment longer, cocking his head just slightly. “What if I had a proposal for you?”

I was definitely in trouble, because I wanted to hear what he had to say, and I was going to. “Such as?”

“Let’s go for a ride on my bike. Relax, talk a bit more. I’ll bring you back here whenever you want.” It was the most exciting offer I’d gotten in ages. More than tempting, but Scott was the jealous type, and as unobservant as he’d been all night, he would notice if I just took off. Probably. Eventually.

“Sounds like fun, but I’m going to have to take a rain check.” Before I could change my mind, I pushed back off the wall and ducked inside of the bar, immediately going in search of my boyfriend.