Chapter Three
Nothing made a woman realize how tiny and run-down her place was until a six-foot-three hunk of a man ambled in and took his sweet time scanning every detail. A really good-looking, Adonis hunk of man that had scrambled her wits with nothing more than an arm around her waist. As powerful as his touch had been, it would take a week before her body stopped tingling.
Tucking her hands in her back pockets, Natalie cleared her throat and nodded toward the kitchen. “I’m not much of a drinker, but I was thinking I’d make some coffee if you’re up for some.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea.” Maureen ushered Levi toward the kitchen with one hand and waved Trevor toward the kitchen table. “Trevor, why don’t you and Natalie take a load off, and Levi and I will get a pot going.”
Trevor dipped his head in that polite way Natalie had come to appreciate. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“You see, Levi?” Maureen said as they rounded into the galley kitchen. “I told you nice men always use good manners.”
“But you said men should keep their hair cut too, and his is long. If I say yes, ma’am, can I grow my hair long like his?”
Trevor grinned, ducked his chin, and scratched his jaw like he wasn’t sure what to say. When he spoke, his voice was low enough Levi couldn’t hear from the kitchen. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be,” Natalie said. “Long hair I can deal with, but we’ve really been struggling with manners. If he takes a cue from you on that score, I’ll be grateful.” Realizing she was just standing there like a clueless teen, she hurried toward the kitchen and pulled out a chair. At least her mom had been smart enough to steer things toward the kitchen. With only a couch and an old club chair available in the living room, any kind of seating arrangement would have been awkward. “Have a seat.”
Instead of following her straight away, Trevor glanced back at the window beside the front door, made quick work of opening the blinds, then strolled to the table. If he’d seemed big in comparison to her apartment before, seeing him rounding the ancient dinette put him on par with a giant. He settled in the chair beside hers with his back to the wall and a straight-on view of the window.
“Are you a real cowboy, or do you just dress like one?” Levi asked from behind her.
Natalie spun in her chair. “Levi, that’s a rude question.”
“No, it’s not,” he argued back, innocent as ever. “Bobby says lots of people dress like cowboys, but they’re really not.” He focused on Trevor, animated and warming up for the details that always followed with stories of his best friend. “Bobby’s dad works on a ranch, so he’s a real cowboy, but says most people who wear boots just wear ’em to look good. Since you have a bar instead of a ranch, I figured you wear ’em ’cause they’re awesome.”
“Levi!” Natalie shot to her feet. More than anything, she loved the guileless way her son’s mind worked, but not everyone took his comments as lightly as he intended them. “How Mr. Raines dresses and why is none of your business.”
“Why do you call him Mr. Raines if he’s your boyfriend?” Levi glanced back up at his grandmother. “He told Dad that Mom was his woman, so doesn’t that mean he’s her boyfriend?”
Her mom patted Levi’s shoulder and cast the same patient smile she always used on him. “I think it’s rude to eavesdrop and bad form to ignore your momma when she says to still your tongue.”
“But—”
“No buts.” She lifted her gaze to Natalie and Trevor. “Coffee’s brewing. I think Levi and I will call it a night and let the two of you talk.” She held out her hand to Trevor. “Mr. Raines, it was nice to meet you.”
Trevor stood and shook her hand, but it was a more polite and gentle touch than Natalie had seen him use with men at work. “Call me Trevor, ma’am. And thanks for making the coffee.”
“I’m happy to do it.” She herded Levi down the hall, a not so simple task considering how Levi kept craning his head around to watch Trevor with those big, adoring eyes. And damn it if that didn’t break her heart a little more. That was the way a boy should look at a man. Not constantly ducking his chin and avoiding eye contact the way he did with Wyatt.
The door to their bedroom clicked shut.
“Your mom’s a real nice lady,” Trevor said, still standing.
Shit. Of course, he wouldn’t sit until she did. Which probably explained why her son didn’t have a clue on manners. Hard to teach them if she didn’t follow them. She eased back into her seat, and Trevor followed suit. “I think she likes you, too.” Probably more than Trevor would be comfortable with if he had any inkling what the gleam in her mom’s eyes meant. On the plus side, Maureen Dubois’s stamp of approval said a lot about a man. Neither her mom nor her dad had cared for Wyatt, and look what ignoring their warnings had gotten her.
Angling his chair for a better angle on Natalie, Trevor reclined in his seat and rested one arm on the table. “Your ex always pull stunts like tonight?”
And there was the rub. The reason why she kept herself so isolated as far as friends or relationships went. Being reminded every day of how stupid she’d been marrying Wyatt nine years ago was bad enough. Having to own it with others was mortifying. She studied the dinette’s old cherry veneer and tried to come up with some answer that wouldn’t sound as bad as reality.
“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to,” he said, “but it might help me better understand what I jumped in the middle of.”
He had a point. And considering he’d bought her and Levi a little wiggle room, he deserved at least the basics. “He wasn’t always this way.”
Trevor kept his gaze trained on her, his focus utterly undivided. Now that she thought about it, he was always like that. Focused on one thing or person at time, always giving them his full attention. But while his expression stayed neutral, there was something more behind his eyes tonight than she’d seen before. An intensity and a promise that silently encouraged her for more.
She swallowed, hating the truth as it fought its way out. “I got pregnant with Levi right after our one-year anniversary. Things changed after that.” She shrugged and smoothed one palm along her thigh. “I tried to fix it, but nothing worked.”
“Tried to fix it how?”
God, he was quick. Sharp and always focused on the smallest nuances. She’d need to remember that going forward. “To be the wife he wanted. Social events, lots of friends that weren’t really friends, a housekeeper. A plastic surgeon’s trophy wife.” She met his stare and smiled the best she could. “That just wasn’t me.”
“How long have you two been split up?”
Not long enough. Every day she prayed Wyatt would find some new focus for his life, and yet the one time he’d backhanded her still felt like it happened yesterday. Like the bruise still pulsed beneath her skin. “About a year. I tried to save up before I walked out with Levi, but time ran out, and I had to make do with what I had. Mom helped. She sold her house and we used the money to cover legal bills and get set up here.”
Trevor frowned. “What do you mean, time ran out?”
Oh yeah. Nothing got past Trevor Raines. She scrambled for something to say, anything to put him off course.
He tensed and narrowed his eyes. “He hit you?”
“Uh...”
“Or was it Levi?”
She clamped her lips together hard, fighting the need to run and hide away in her room like she’d always done with Wyatt.
But this wasn’t Wyatt. This was Trevor. A man whose employees respected him and who ran a tight ship at work. Who’d calmly walked up beside her and taken a stand against her ex. Although, the way that he studied her now, she was beginning to think her new boss wasn’t quite as laid-back as she’d thought underneath.
Trevor’s gaze shot to the front door, then back to Natalie. “He got any way of getting in your apartment?”
“No. I told the people who manage the place there’s history I’m trying to get away from, so they know better than to let him in. I’ve told Levi and my mom never to answer the door for anyone.”
“So he did hit you.”
In that second, Natalie half expected Trevor to launch out of his seat and track Wyatt all the way to his fancy Grapevine home. The idea should have terrified her. Or at least have spurred her to defuse Trevor’s growing anger. Instead, all she could process was relief. A much-appreciated sense of protection after months of feeling alone, no matter if the sensation was real or not.
“Should have decked the fucker like I wanted.” Trevor scanned her tight posture, let out a slow breath through his nose, and unclenched his hand on the table. “Sorry. Abuse is a trigger for me.”
It was? The unexpected scrap of information hit her so hard out of left field, she nearly asked him as much, but caught herself before she could let the question air. She’d already shared more with her boss than she should. Asking him personal questions would only clear the path for him to dig deeper in return. “It’s okay. I understand.”
Behind her, the coffee maker gurgled and hissed as the last of the hot water emptied the reservoir. She stood and motioned for Trevor to keep his seat when he started to do the same. “Relax. I appreciate the manners in front of Levi, but it’s not necessary with me. How do you take your coffee?”
“Black’s fine.”
Natalie shuddered and pulled out a few of her mother’s oversized clay mugs. The yellow cups had been in her mother’s kitchen as long as she could remember and would probably work as self-defense weapons given how heavy they were, but they brought good memories. “I don’t know how anyone can drink the stuff straight. I need almost as much milk and sugar in mine as I do coffee.”
“Got a sweet tooth, huh?”
She poured the coffee and slid the carafe back on the burner. “Guilty. Pastries, cakes, or candy, it doesn’t matter. I’m a glutton.” Pouring milk in one cup, she huffed out a chuckle. “Makes keeping my booty a reasonable size a bit of a challenge the older I get, but if I have to choose between dessert or a small behind, then I’ll take dessert, thank you very much.”
She finished off stirring in her sugar, turned with both mugs in hand, and nearly stumbled mid-stride back to the table.
Trevor’s smile was gone and his smoldering gaze took a long, leisurely trip up her body. “If sweets are what give you those curves, I’d say it’d be a damn shame for anything healthy to pass your lips.”
Dear Lord in heaven. How any woman alive could keep from melting into a puddle of goo beneath that expression, she’d never know. It’d been years since a man had looked at her like that, and wowza, did it do a number on her girly parts.
“Thank you.” It was a lame retort, but what else was she supposed to say? No matter how good the attention felt, he was still her boss. Even if he wasn’t, she wasn’t sure she’d ever be up for tangling with another man. Clearly, her judgment wasn’t sound enough to pick healthy partners.
She set his coffee in front of him and carefully took her seat, blowing across the top of her mug and studiously avoiding his gaze.
“Your kid’s a hoot.” One simple, easy statement and he had them back on track.
Part of her was reluctant to let the moment go, but it was probably for the best. “He’s the spitting image of his dad at that age, but they couldn’t be more different in personality. Levi’s got a huge heart. And he’s smart. Never misses anything.” Some of the moment’s lightheartedness dimmed. “Especially not the struggles I was having with Wyatt. Even as a toddler, he steered clear of his dad or found creative ways to keep us apart.”
“How the hell did an abusive dad end up with joint custody?”
For a moment, she thought about deflecting and keeping them in safe conversational territory, but having someone to talk to, someone willing to simply listen for once, was too tempting to pass up. “Because Wyatt is nothing if not connected. Aside from the car and our clothes, I didn’t ask for anything in the divorce except for custody of Levi. So naturally, that’s the one thing he wanted.”
“But he hit his own kid. The judge didn’t factor that in?”
She shook her head and cupped both hands around her mug on the table. “It only happened once to Levi, and once to me before that. When he hit me, it woke me up. I started planning and saving. But when it escalated to Levi, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. I got us out as soon as Wyatt left for work the next day. Only problem was, the mark Wyatt left on Levi’s cheek wasn’t enough to convince the police Levi had done anything except fall off a bike. Wyatt played me up as a vengeful wife, and the judge bought it.”
On the surface, Trevor seemed to keep his cool, but the air around him changed. Whatever it was that somehow tied him with abuse, it was entrenched deep.
She laid one hand on his wrist and squeezed. “Let it go. God knows that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Trevor’s gaze dropped to the place where her hand rested. Almost as quickly, he circled his wrist, bringing her hand so it rested inside his palm, and smoothed his thumb against her knuckles. “Hard to let it go when he’s knocking on your door.”
“True.” Much as it killed her to do so, she pulled her hand away and sipped her coffee, the warmth of his casual but oh-so-delicious touch heating her from head to toe. He was her boss. Nothing else. “Eventually, Wyatt will fixate on something or someone else, and he’ll accept I’m not coming back. That’s my hope anyway.”
“That’s what he wants? You two to reconcile?”
“No, he made it quite clear what a disappointment I was as a wife. According to him, my getting pregnant ruined our marriage. He wanted someone to attend events and travel with him when it suited, not the responsibility of a parent. Though, if you ask me, what really pissed him off was that he wasn’t the center of attention anymore.”
“Then why’s he coming around?”
“Because he can’t have me, and Wyatt always wants what he can’t have.” She winced. “That sounds really pompous doesn’t it?”
“Not if it’s the truth. And he wouldn’t be the first man who didn’t know how to take no for an answer.”
“What about you?”
He cocked his head and crossed one foot over his knee. It’d been forever since she’d owned a pair of boots. Well over a decade, in fact, but she’d bet good money his black boots were top-dollar Luccheses. “What about me?”
“I’ve spilled my guts since you got here, and all I know about you is you’ve got the patience of a saint and are Deep Ellum’s reigning pub king.”
“Pub king?”
She shrugged. “That’s what Ivan calls you. He says most bar owners don’t hold a following in that part of town as long as you’ve been able to.”
He smiled and rubbed his knuckles along his chin. He didn’t quite have a five-o’clock shadow yet, but she’d bet he’d have an irresistible one first thing in the morning. Clean shaven, he was dreamy, but with some stubble he’d be every daddy’s worst nightmare. “I got lucky with The Den. Though my brothers know bars like a native language. They guided me into it. My real love is flying.”
She raised her eyebrows, silently encouraging him for more.
“Been flying since I was eighteen. Once I met my brothers, I set out to make it my profession. Now I’ve got a private charter service.”
“What do you mean you ‘met your brothers’?”
His expression blanked. It wasn’t a complete shutdown, but more of a topic he didn’t quite seem ready to share. “Long story.” Picking up his mug, he uncrossed his leg and stood. “It’s late, and according to your application, you’ve got a day job tomorrow.”
She nodded and stood as well, torn between begging him to sit back down, and welcoming the chance to be alone and gather her wits. Funny, looking back at the time since he’d arrived it was more than just the physical contact that had shaken her. It was the connection, too. The ease of talking to him and the way he made her feel safe just by being here.
She took his mug and carried it to the sink. “Thank you again for what you did. I know you didn’t have to, but I’m hoping it’ll get Wyatt to back off for a little while.” Not to mention her baby boy would be chattering nonstop about manners and cowboy boots for days.
“You’re my employee, Natalie. You don’t have to thank me.”
See? That’s all his action had been grounded on. A good man looking out for someone he felt responsible for. Still, lightening the mood with a little playfulness couldn’t hurt. She planted a hand on one hip and leaned into the counter. “You’re telling me you spend a lot of time checking up on all your waitresses after hours?”
“Nope. I’m saying I’ve got a vested interest in you having your head in the game at work. If that means helping you not worry about your boy by stepping in, it’s a no-brainer.” He grinned. “Plus, it satisfies the shit out of me for a man like Wyatt to get a little of his own medicine.”
With that little quip, he winked and sauntered to the door.
Natalie followed, shamelessly enjoying the way his faded jeans molded to his very nice ass. Funny, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d ogled a man, but Trevor was a prime candidate for brushing up on long-dead skills.
He opened the door, studied the parking lot beyond, and motioned at the blinds he’d opened. “You close those up, and lock up tight, all right?”
“Yep. Got it.”
For a handful of heartbeats, he just stood there, studying her. “Want you to promise me something.”
She tilted her head. “What kind of promise?”
He narrowed his eyes and stepped close. The same woodsy cologne that had coiled around her when he’d tucked her tight to his side assailed her senses and sent her heart kicking in a happy rhythm. “I appreciate you’ve told your mom and Levi not to answer the door, but if your ex comes back, I want your promise you won’t answer the door either. And I don’t give a fuck what kind of beef the cops gave you in the past. He shows, you call ’em anyway.”
“That’s two promises.”
God, he had an amazing smile. Gorgeous white teeth and a roguishness that made her insides tingle. “Yeah, it is. Now tell me you’ll do what I asked.”
She nodded, too muddled by his presence to do anything else.
“Good.” He cupped the side of her face and brushed his thumb along her cheekbone, the simple touch alighting flutters in places she really shouldn’t feel for her boss. If she could have frozen the moment, she would have done it in a second. Savored every heightened sensation and clung to it on the nights when loneliness and fear crept in.
“If the cops don’t treat you the way they should, you let me know.” He dropped his hand and the loss resonated through every part of her, a chill that had nothing to do with the open door licking beneath her skin. He strolled out the door, but there was no missing the dark promise in his parting words. “Wyatt’s not the only man with connections.”