Brand New Me (14 page)

“Do you do this every Saturday at the Faro?” Janie bellowed over the surging noise of the crowd.

“Oh. I don’t know. This is the first one I’ve worked.” Deirdre glanced around the beer garden at the full tables. “I think we do it most weeks during the summer and fall. Until it cools off, anyway.”

Beside Janie, her husband Pete studied the beer garden with a lot less enthusiasm. Deirdre wondered if he danced. Probably not, given that every dancer in the place had been on their feet during “
Volver, Volver”
and she hadn’t seen him there.

“Are you the only waitress out here?” he said.

Deirdre nodded. “Which means I’d better get back to it. Nice to see you.” She turned away quickly and headed toward a table where a couple of men were waving at her. Pete Toleffson must be very good at his job as a county attorney. He made her feel guilty, and she hadn’t even been doing anything.

Other than dirty dancing with Tom Ames, of course. But she doubted Pete Toleffson could arrest her for that. And, in truth, she didn’t care if he did.

Janie gave Pete a narrow-eyed look “Will you relax? Everybody’s having a great time. Nobody looks like they’re getting ready to take a swing at anybody else. You’re off duty, for heaven’s sake.”

Pete shook his head. “Erik says this place used to be the toughest bar in town. Hard to believe it’s been transformed overnight.”

“It did used to be the toughest spot in town, but it clearly isn’t anymore.” Janie grinned again as she surveyed the room. “I can’t believe what Tom Ames has done with this place. It’s really nice.”

Pete glanced toward the street entrance where the massive bouncer was watching the crowd with narrowed eyes. “Ames may not be the only reason the crowd is staying in line.”

Janie followed his stare, and then shrugged. “That’s just Chico. He looks scary, but he’s a great guy.”

“You know him?”

“Sure. He was a few years ahead of me in high school, but he was a star on the football team. He went into one of those special military branches, SEALs or Rangers or something. I don’t remember what exactly. Then he was a pro wrestler. Then he came back here.”

Pete frowned. “You know a lot about him.”

“It’s a small town, Pete. I know a lot about everybody. We should try to get Erik and Morgan to come here with us sometime. And maybe Cal and Docia, too. Even Lars and Jess—looks like they’ve got a play area over under that live oak.”

“Yeah. Somehow I doubt Ames would be all that delighted to have the chief of police sitting in his beer garden on a Friday night.”

Janie thumped him on the arm. “Quit being a grouch. We’re here to support Dee.”

Pete glanced across the room, rubbing his arm absently. “She looks like she’s enjoying herself. So does Ames. So do all the tables of guys who’ve come in to watch her tonight. I’ll bet the ones inside are pissed.”

Janie watched as Deirdre gracefully dodged around a live oak to reach a table in the corner. “She really is lovely, isn’t she?

Pete nodded slowly. “Yep. Way above class for most of these kids. But they can come in here and look. And Ames can do more than that, judging from the way they were dancing.”

“I don’t think Dee sees it that way.”

“Come on, Janie, don’t tell me I’m a romantic. There’s something going on there.”

Janie shrugged. “Maybe. But I’ll bet it’s not what Tom Ames thought it would be when he hired her.”

“What do you think he was after?”

“Maybe just another waitress. Who knew she cleaned up this well?”

“I don’t know, babe. One look at that face, and you’d have to be an idiot not to know she’d turn out to be a knockout in the right outfit.”

Janie grinned again, reveling in the warm evening air. No matter what Pete said, she’d find a way to get the family in here, if only so that they could get a look at Dee being a certified knockout. She glanced around the room, taking in all the tables full of men watching Dee swing by with her tray. Oh, definitely a Konigsburg legend in the making.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time except for one man at the far side. He sat glowering in Dee’s general direction. Janie frowned, trying to remember where she’d seen him before. Sandy hair. Broad shoulders. He should have been smiling—for some reason she thought of him with a smile.

She blinked. Craig Dempsey. Watching Dee and glaring. The sight sent a slight shiver down her spine, particularly since Dee didn’t seem to realize he was there.

Janie made a mental note. Dee might not have realized it before, but she’d definitely hear about it by tomorrow if Janie had anything to say about it. She turned back to Pete. “C’mon, stud. Let’s dance!”

Chapter Ten

A large part of the Saturday-night crowd stayed both inside and outside the Faro until the official closing time of two in the morning. Tom and Chico circulated among the remaining diehards, moving them relentlessly toward the door, while Deirdre and the other barmaids cleaned off tables and stacked glasses for Leon to run through the dishwasher. The empty bottles were tossed back into the cardboard cases, ready for recycling. All in all, it looked like a very successful night, at least as far as Deirdre could tell.

Part of her wanted to slip out the door before Tom noticed and head back to her apartment. After that dance, she wasn’t sure what she could say to him. More seriously, she wasn’t sure she could casually walk down the street beside him as if nothing had happened.

Apparently, from his point of view, nothing had. He was still acting the same way he always did, joking with Harry and Chico, listening to Sylvia’s complaints with a certain glazed patience, bagging up the most visible trash so that the restaurant could open at noon tomorrow, even though Leon didn’t come in until Sunday afternoon. For him, it seemed to have been a quick turn around the dance floor and then back to business. Nothing special.

Deirdre, on the other hand, felt as if her world had tipped on its axis. She wasn’t sure how long it would take her to return to an even keel, but she knew she wasn’t there yet. And walking anywhere alone with Tom Ames wasn’t likely to make that equalizing any easier. Finally, she leaned behind the bar and retrieved her purse, hoping she could get to the door while he was stacking chairs.

He was at her side in an instant. “Hang on a minute. I’m almost through.”

She thought about telling him she could walk herself home, as she’d told him every night, hoping this time he’d take her at her word. But she figured it was probably a lost cause. At this point telling him not to bother was more a formality than anything else.

Guts up, Deirdre. Time to put on your big girl panties.

“I’m walking Deirdre home,” he called to Chico, then started toward the door.

She caught a quick look at Sylvia’s face. Her eyes and mouth had narrowed as if she’d just tasted an unripe persimmon.

“Why don’t you or Chico walk Sylvia home?” she asked.

Tom blinked at her, then he shrugged. “She drives to work. I think she lives closer to Johnson City. Chico keeps an eye on the parking lot.”

Deirdre’s face felt warm in the darkness. Geez, shouldn’t she be too old to blush now? “Oh.”

Somewhere in the distance, the muffled roar of a motorcycle rumbled out of town, probably heading off toward one of the campgrounds back in the hills. Other than that, Main seemed more silent than usual, with everything closed down except a distant Stop and Go. Briefly, Deirdre pictured the streets outside her condo in Houston. She didn’t think she’d ever seen them empty, even at two a.m.
Different world, Deirdre.

Tom grinned lazily as they strolled up the street. “Another good night,” he mused, finally.

“Did we have more people than usual, or is that what you expected?”

“We’ve been building the audience for a while now, but this was the first weekend where we really had a sell-out, or close to it anyway. How’d you like the band?”

“They were very…” She searched for the word. “Eclectic, I guess.”

He chuckled. “They do a lot of different stuff. Classic bar band. Whatever the crowd’s looking for, they can deliver. At least they had the people up on the dance floor most of the night. Kept them thirsty.”

She nodded, trying to think of something—anything—to say that didn’t involve “
Volver
”
.
“You’re a good dancer,” she blurted. Apparently, her brain and her mouth weren’t currently on speaking terms.

He grinned down at her. “So are you.”

“No I’m not.” She blew out a breath. “I don’t really dance much. I never had the time. Or I didn’t. Maybe now I will.” She was once again profoundly grateful for the darkness that hid the fact that her face was flaming. Clearly, this was her night for idiocy.

“I hope so.”

She knew he was still smiling. She could hear it in his voice. Fortunately for both her sanity and her dignity, the door to her apartment was just ahead. “Well,” she murmured as she dug in her purse for her key, “thanks again.”

Tom took the key from her fingers and unlocked the door for her, then turned back. He stood between her and the open door, but she suddenly had no desire to ask him to move. She stared up at his face in the dim light. As he turned, the reflection from the streetlights caught tiny flecks of gold in his hair. He reached out slowly, smoothing an errant lock of her hair back behind her ear.

Almost without thinking, Deirdre shifted up on her toes, leaning toward him and ignoring the frenzied alarm bells clanging in her brain. Maybe it was time she tried making the first move for a change. Just because she’d never done it before didn’t mean she couldn’t do it now. She remembered the feel of his hand on her hip when they danced, the warmth that had spread across her body.
Just a taste. Just a touch. Nothing serious.

Her lips touched his, lightly, gently, almost as if she were afraid he might run.

She leaned closer, into the heat of his body. Running didn’t seem to be on his mind at the moment. She moved the tip of her tongue along his lower lip, tasting salt and warmth. He reminded her faintly of potato chips, and she felt almost like giggling. Her
bête noire.
She’d never been able to resist potato chips.

Her hands moved without her willing them, resting on his chest, her palms rubbing across the smooth fabric of his T-shirt, feeling the slight jut of his nipples underneath.

And then his arms locked around her waist, pulling her tighter against him. His mouth opened against hers and she answered him, sucking on his tongue as he pushed against her lips. Her head was spinning, and she wondered if she should take a breath. But she knew the spinning had nothing to do with breathing and everything to do with the heat that spread slowly from the point where their bodies met, the swell of his arousal and the throb of her own.

He angled his head, taking the kiss deeper, and she followed him, winding her arms around his neck now, pressing herself against him, feeling the heat and pressure and excitement building deep inside as she moved closer still. As she moved her hands up the back of his neck, feeling the prickle of short hair against her palms. As she pressed her body against his, shoulder to knee, her breasts flat against his chest. As she…

Oh my god. What am I doing?

Deirdre pulled back, her body screaming. She managed to draw in one breath, then another, almost panting as she stared up into Tom Ames’s ice-blue eyes. He was frowning down at her, maybe trying to figure out what the hell she had in mind.

She only wished she knew.

“Okay?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She didn’t trust herself to be able to come up with a coherent sentence. She nodded, managing at the last minute to close her mouth so that she didn’t look like a complete moron.

“Is there a problem I need to know about?”

She shook her head, slowly.
Don’t mind me, boss. Just your average doofus.
She took another breath, closing her eyes, trying to steady herself. “Wow,” she whispered finally. “Just…wow.”

When she looked up, Tom was grinning, and she wanted to sink into the ground where she stood. She needed to escape through the door to her apartment, where she could properly dissolve into a pool of humiliation. If only she could make it up the stairs without tripping over her own feet and flopping onto the floor.

He put his hand on her shoulder. “Wait.”

She took another breath and stared back at him, trying not to grimace.
Yes, we’re all in agreement. I am a complete moron. Can I go now?

“Wow is right,” he said softly. He touched her cheek with his fingertips, running his index finger down the slope of her nose.

She stared up at his ice-blue eyes again.
If he kisses me now, what will I do? If I ask him up, what will we do? Do I have the
cojones
to find out?

He rested his index finger on her lower lip for a moment, then leaned down and gave her one last, swift kiss, brushing his lips gently across her own. “Good night, Deirdre. See you at lunchtime.”

He closed the door, and she stood in the darkened hallway, staring after him through the door glass as he moved through the pools of light, heading back toward Main, then merging into the shadows at the corner. “But I don’t work Sundays,” she murmured after he’d gone too far to hear.

He probably shouldn’t have kissed her back. If he’d been thinking at all, he wouldn’t have. Except, of course, that when she’d looked up at him with those indigo eyes, then leaned into him, touching those lush lips to his, all coherent thought had immediately deserted his brain.

Well, not all thought. But everything he could act upon.

He’d been varying degrees of hard ever since he’d danced with her. Which was the first stupid thing he’d done that evening. He still didn’t know exactly why he’d walked out from behind the bar in the middle of the busiest part of the evening. She’d been standing there at the side of the garden, alone, clutching her tray to her chest, and all of a sudden he only wanted to hold her. The dance floor provided the perfect excuse.

By the time they were done, every cell in his body had been on fire. It was all he could do to keep from kissing her right there at the end of “
Volver, Volver
” as she bent back over his arm. But that really would have caused no end of trouble, particularly when Janie and Pete Toleffson were sitting at a side table, watching. He still wasn’t sure how Deirdre fit into the extended Toleffson family, but he didn’t particularly want to find out by having the chief of police and the county attorney arrive on his doorstep.