Never Close Enough (4 page)

Porter

   Porter watched her car pull out on to the road, and smiled as he removed the c
ables from his battery and put them in the bed of his truck.  He turned towards the bar and headed inside and felt the sides of his mouth turn up.  She had a way of making him smile.  He felt bad that she was going through something rough, but he also felt good about being able to help her feel better.  As he walked into the bar, he saw his mother bring an order to a table of older, retired men.  He recognized them as regulars, and knew that they came here almost every morning to eat and flirt with his mom.  It was harmless and Tilly was good at making anyone she came into contact with feel special.  It didn’t surprise him that she could bring customers back day after day.

   Tilly saw him come in and after giving the men their food and a thousand watt smile
, she met him back at the bar.  “You want some coffee, son?”

   “Yeah, thanks”

   “What are you doing here this morning? I usually don’t see you until the afternoon,” Tilly asked as she poured him a cup of coffee.

   “I picked up Ella and brought her to ge
t her car.  She just left.”

   “Well, isn’t that nice of you,” Tilly said, trying to hide her smile from him.

   “Calm down, Mom.  It was nothing.  I didn’t feel right about leaving her there without a way to get back.”

   “That was very nice of you, Honey
.  I’m sure she appreciates your help.”

   “She did.  She has told me ‘Thank You’ a few too many times,” he said as he took a drink of his coffee.  It was delicious.  His mom made the best coffee.  He’d have to come here in the mornings more often.  It tas
ted even better because he knew his mom wouldn’t take any money from him.  Free coffee only partly made up for all the times his mother tried to fix him up with unsuspecting women.

   “Maybe she’ll think of a way to repay you,” Tilly said with a wink.

   “Mom, honestly, you’re ridiculous.  Ella just broke up with her boyfriend. Five minutes ago.  In the parking lot.  She doesn’t need you trying to put your nose in her business and neither do I.”

   “I am simply suggesting that maybe she doesn’t need to be
alone right now, perhaps you should keep an eye on her.”

   “Ok, Mom.  Well, as it happens, we are meeting here tonight for drinks.”

   Tilly got an excited look on her face, “That’s my boy!”

   “That’s my cue to leave.  You’re too much.”

   “Have a good day, Son!  See you tonight,” she said as he was walking towards the door.

   “Love you, Mom.  Call me if you need anything.”  He walked behind the bar and gave her a kiss on the cheek before he headed to the door.

   Porter shook his head as he walked to his truck.  His mother was relentless.  Sometimes he thought he should just find a woman he tolerated to marry just so his mother would back off, but he knew that was a bad idea.  He’d never really met a woman he wanted to spend more than an evening with, let alone a lifetime.  Would he want more than an evening with Ella?  The thought had crossed his mind.  He was attracted to her, that was simple.  Her blonde hair was enticing, and looked soft enough to touch whether it had been up in a bun this morning, or swirling in the wind last night.  Her small frame was highlighted by her curves and he had tried not to get caught admiring her body.  She was slender with just enough roundness to hold onto.  He doubted he’d get an opportunity to hold on to anything of hers and that was ok.  He wasn’t into rebounds and he wasn’t a desperate man.  He could spend time with a beautiful woman as a friend without expectations.  It didn’t mean he couldn’t think about getting ahold of her.

Chapter Five

Ella

     Ella had
spent the rest of her day relaxing and she enjoyed it immensely. She had taken a much needed bath in her giant jacuzzi tub, gone out for lunch, and then stopped to do some grocery shopping so she could eat meals without having to leave the house.  Then she grabbed the latest book she had been reading and headed to the beach.  It was a warm and sunny afternoon and reading on the beach had been calming and relaxing.

   The evening came and brought cool breezes with it that forced her back inside.  She figure
d she had better start getting ready to meet Porter at the bar.  She had been thinking all day about how she should approach this situation.  Was she preparing to simply meet a friend at the bar, or should she be treating this like a date?  What should she wear?  She was pretty sure it wasn’t really socially acceptable to be going on dates on the very same day you break up with your boyfriend, but she wasn’t sure she cared about what was acceptable.  She didn’t feel newly single.  She felt newly freed.  She thought she would spend the day thinking about Kyle and being sad about their abrupt ending, but she found herself thinking more about Porter.  She remembered the way he looked when he’d come to her house this morning in his black shirt that clung to his strong arms and how his hair seemed to always be perfectly messy. 

   She decided that regardless of how long she’d been on the market she was going to make sure she looked nice when she met Porter at the bar.  There was nothing wrong with wanting to look
your best, right?  She had packed date outfits for her weeklong stay and she wasn’t about to let them go to waste.  This might be the only opportunity she got to wear them and what did she have to lose?

   When Ella was done getting ready, she did one las
t check in the mirrored closet door.  She had chosen to wear her favorite skinny jeans, a cream-colored lace camisole, and a sheer burgundy cardigan.  She also had her suede boots that came up just below her knee which matched the creamy color of her cami, and added three inches to her height with a stiletto heel.  Her hair was hanging in big, loose curls, and she had put on just a little bit of mascara and tinted lip gloss.  She looked at her reflection and was pretty satisfied with her appearance.

   As s
he drove towards Tilly’s, she tried to ignore the nervous feeling she was getting in her stomach and kept thinking about how this definitely wasn’t a date.  Just as sure as she was that it wasn’t a date, she was sure that Porter didn’t think it was a date either.  He knew she’d just ended everything with Kyle.  Hell, he had been standing right next to her.  She just needed to reassure herself that this was nothing but a friendly meeting of two people for drinks.  However, when she pulled into the parking lot, her head and the butterflies in her stomach started having a serious disagreement.

   She saw Porter sitting on the lowered tailgate of his truck and he looked ridiculously hot.  She debated turning the car around and going back to the beach house.  She
thought she was ready to do this, but she wasn’t expecting to be so surprisingly attracted to him.  She saw recognition in his eyes when he saw her car, so now the brilliant idea to bail was no longer an option.  She parked her car a few spots over from Porter, took a few deep breaths, and then managed to get out of her car.  She walked towards him and he was looking in her direction waiting for her.

   He was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans that seemed to be just the right amount of tight in all the rig
ht places.  She thought his shirt earlier had shown off the muscles in his arms, but these jeans were highlighting muscle definition in a completely different area, accentuating his sturdy legs.  She had never really noticed a man’s thighs before, but she was definitely a fan of his, and now a fan of whatever brand of jeans he was wearing.  His legs were almost like tree trunks.  If he looked this good in his jeans from the front, she was sure the view from the back would be deadly.  She would have to remind herself to not check out his ass.  Because honestly, people who are just friends meeting for drinks don’t check out each other’s asses.  She was almost positive that no good could come of that.

   He was wearing another black shirt.  This one buttoned up
the front and he rolled up the long sleeves up to just below his elbows.  There was obviously no shirt on the planet that could make his arms look bad.  She was totally and completely out of her element and throwing herself into a situation with a man who was so good looking; it could only mean trouble.

   “Hey Ella, glad you could make it.”  She saw him look at her, and definitely saw his eyes move up and down her body, finally settling on her face.  “You ready to get that drink?”

   “I am definitely ready for a drink.  Let’s go.”  They turned and started for the door.  “Did you work today?”  She asked.

   “Well, sort of.  I worked on my own project.  So it’s not a paid job and I only work on it on my free time.  But it’s work.”

   “What is it?”  She eyed him curiously.

   “A boat,” he said as he opened the door for her.  She felt his hand cup the small of her back as she walked through the door and it made her stomach drop.  That was a very date-like thing for him to do.

   “You’re building a boat?  Like, a
boat
boat?”

   “Yeah, I am.”

   “Hmm.  That’s impressive. Is it a small boat? Big boat?”

   “It’s not terribly small.  It’s a twenty-five foot sailboat.  Built it from scratch.” 

   She cocked an eyebrow at him.  “I stand corrected.  That’s
very
impressive.”

   He smiled at her, “It keeps me busy.  What did you do today?”

   “A whole lot of nothing.  Took a very relaxing bath, and then read on the beach for a while. Nothing fancy.”

   Ella followed him up to a small table in the center of the bar
.  He motioned for her to sit at one of the chairs, and he leaned down next to her with his mouth right next to her ear.  “I am going to head to the bar.  What can I get for you?”

   “I will take a Long Island, please,” she managed to squeak out, shivers r
unning throughout her body, terribly affected by his breath on her ear.

   “Sure thing.”

   He headed for the bar and it took every ounce of self-control to not watch him walk away.  She didn’t need any more reasons to be attracted to Porter.  She had more than enough to deal with at the moment.  She was concentrating very hard on looking straight ahead when a man sat down in Porter’s chair.  She glanced up at him and gave him a confused look.  He was about her age with blonde, thin hair creeping out from underneath a greasy trucker hat.

   “Hey there, sweetie.  Haven’t seen you around here before,” he said with a grimy smile plastered on his face.  “I would remember seeing a hot little thing like you running around town.  My name’s Josh.  What’s yours?”

   Politeness won out as she introduced herself, “My name’s Ella.”

   “Well, Ella, that’s a pretty hot name.  It matches your hot little body.  Why are you here all by yourself? Let’s get out of here and I’ll show you a real good time.”

   Ella opened her mouth to tell him off, but was cut off by Porter’s voice.

   “Walk away now, Josh,” he said quietly but with force.  “Get up and walk away.”

   “What’s your problem, Porter?  This one belong to you?” Josh asked with a smirk.

   “She doesn’t
belong
to anyone, but she sure as shit didn’t come here to get hit on by some drunk, middle-aged, in-need-of-a-shower townie.  If you know what’s good for you, just walk away.”

   Josh stood up and took a few steps closer to Porter, so their faces were only inches apart.  P
orter didn’t budge.  “You think you are so much better than all of us, Porter?  Don’t be fooled, man.  You’re a townie, too.  So you better just watch who your flinging insults at.”  Josh turned and walked out of the bar.

   “Are you ok, Ella?” He asked as
he set the drinks down on the table.  “I am sorry about Josh.  He’s been a jackass for as long as I can remember.  Don’t let him get to you.  He won’t be back.”

   “I’m fine,” she offered him a small smile.  “I was just about to tell him to go to hell, bu
t you kind of took care of that for me.”

   “I’m sorry if I stepped over some sort of line here.  But honestly, I can’t blame the guy for trying to hit on you.  As soon as you got out of your car tonight, I knew I was going to have a hard time keeping you
to myself.  You look amazing.”

   Ella wasn’t sure she’d heard him right, but she was pretty sure they had crossed over into a date-like territory. She could definitely play this game with him.  “Your chivalrous nature shows its face again.  Twice in one d
ay, I must have done something good to deserve the attention of such a gentleman.”

   “Oh, you’ve got my attention, all right,” he said with a half grin.

   “Good,” she said with a shy smile.  “So how long has your mom owned this bar?”

   Porter took a pul
l from his beer before he answered.  “When I was twelve my dad died.  A few months later my mom got a check from his life insurance and she used part of it to buy this place.  It was in terrible shape, so my mom and I worked for a few months to get it open.  So I guess she’s had the place for about twenty years now.”

   “I am sorry about your dad.  That must have been hard on you, being so young.”

   “It got easier as time went by.  I think the hardest part was just how sudden it was.  We never had a chance to say goodbye at all.  He was driving down the highway here in town.  A logging truck took a turn too sharp.  Flipped over right onto my dad’s truck.  He never saw it coming.”

   “That’s terrible,” Ella said softly.

   “Yeah, but it happened and we made it through.  I don’t think my mom will ever move on, though.  I mean, she hasn’t ever been on a date in twenty years.  I think she’s still madly in love with him.  She flirts with the customers all the time, but not seriously.  Sometimes I wish she would date again, that way maybe she’s stop focusing on my love life,” he gave a small grin.

   “She obviously just wants you to be happy,” Ella said, “and she obviously thinks the world of you.”

   “Yeah, well, I can tell by the way she’s looking at you that she thinks you’re pretty special, too,” Porter said pointing with his beer towards the bar.  Ella looked over and saw Tilly with a giant smile on her face looking right at the two of them.  Ella laughed and gave a small wave in Tilly’s direction.  Tilly winked at Ella and then went back to her customers.

   “So, tell me how you’ve managed to remain single all these years,” Ella asked, looking down at her drink, a little embarrassed to be asking such a personal question.

   “That’s simple.  I never met a woman who held my attention or who I wanted to pursue seriously.  I’ve dated here and there, but usually it’s just one or two dates at most before I lose interest.”

   Ella laughed a little, “Ok, so if I never hear from you again, I shouldn’t take it personally?
”

   “Do you want to hear from me again?” He asked looking her right in the eyes, suddenly serious.  His question caught her off guard.  She wasn’t used to men being so forward or up front with her.

   “I wouldn’t be opposed to it,” She said looking right back at him.

   “Ella, I don’t want to push you, given your circumstance, but there is no way I am letting you leave tonight without knowing that I’ll get to see you while you’re in town.  I know you just broke up with your ex, and part of my head is telli
ng me you’re off limits because of it, but most of me is just really happy that you pulled into this parking lot last night.  I can’t ignore that.”

   Ella took in a sharp breath and managed to respond with a breathy, “I’d like that.”  This was all a littl
e crazy, but she couldn’t help it.  Porter was openly and obviously interested in her, and for once she wasn’t going to question what she was feeling; she was going to trust herself and her instincts.  He was responsible, treated his mom well, and was sexy as hell.  A lethal trifecta.  She could spend a few days getting to know him while she was here.  No harm, no foul.