Undeniable (A Country Roads Novel) (33 page)

“What about her jean miniskirt?” Grace asked.

“Ohhh, that would look really good with this orange tank top or this green V-neck with the stripes,” Harper said as she continued to push through the hangers. “Take your shirt off, too,” she demanded, not even turning around.

“I’m going to need more wine,” Mel said, and took a fairly large gulp before she put her glass down and did as Harper ordered.

Bennett Hart had been back in Mirabelle for just over two years now. He’d moved back after his honorable discharge from the air force. He’d enlisted when he was eighteen and spent eight years in the service before he was shot down in a helicopter in Afghanistan. There were eleven people on the mission that day; only Bennett and the co-pilot survived, and both of them had barely escaped with their lives.

Bennett’s injuries had been extensive: six broken ribs, a fractured right foot, gunshot wound in the left shoulder, and shrapnel to the right thigh. Just a fraction of an inch over and it would’ve hit his femoral artery. Yeah, he knew just how lucky he was to be alive, but that didn’t stop the survivor’s guilt. How could it? He’d watched as his best friends, his brothers, died and there’d been absolutely nothing he could do to save them.

He still had the nightmares. Still woke up in a cold sweat screaming as he fought with his pillows and sheets like they were the demons that had taken his friends. At least the nightmares didn’t happen on a nightly basis anymore, so that was progress. But that day would haunt him for the rest of his life.

These days Bennett took things easy. Well, easier. There were a certain number of hazards that came with working in construction, but he wasn’t being targeted on a daily basis. He’d picked up a thing or two in the military, and building schools and hospitals had stuck with him. Now he mainly worked on remodels with businesses and houses. It was more than just a job for Bennett. He liked working with his hands, liked creating things.

It was good being home in Mirabelle, too. Good living close to his dad and stepmom.

Bennett’s parents had divorced when he was four. Bennett’s mother Kristi ran off to Arkansas with a man she’d had a fairly extensive affair with for years. She was now married to him and they had three children together. She sent a card every year on Bennett’s birthday, which he never opened. Besides that, he had absolutely no contact with her.

Bennett’s father, Walker, had remarried when Bennett was six. Jocelyn had been the one to pack Bennett’s lunches in school, teach him how to cook, and sit next to his father at all of his baseball games and his graduation. She’d always been much more than a stepmother to him, and for all intents and purposes she was his mother. He’d started calling her mom not that long after she’d married his dad.

Bennett had also fallen back in with a good group of guys he’d gone to high school with. Brendan King, Jax Anderson, and Nathanial Shepherd were all a year older than him, but they’d all played on the Mirabelle High baseball team together. The three guys had been best friends since preschool, or something like that, but they’d welcomed Bennett into their fold and through them he’d gotten a whole other family.

It had been hard for Bennett at first, hard for him to let anybody into his life. When he’d first moved back to Mirabelle he kept himself pretty isolated from everyone except his dad and mom. Losing his friends in Afghanistan had nearly destroyed him. It took him a while to realize that the country roads of Mirabelle weren’t the same thing as the deserts of the Middle East. Yes, tragedies happened every day, but his friends weren’t getting shot at.

Well, except for that one time a couple months ago.

 Bennett had made a couple of close friends in Mirabelle over the last two years and Melanie O’Bryan had become part of that inner circle. She was a sweet girl. Maybe just a little soft-spoken but she had a quiet confidence. And she had this sassy sarcastic side to her that came out every once in a while. She’d drop these one-liners that tended to shock the hell out of him.

And damn did she ever have a killer smile, with dimples that made Bennett never want to turn away from her. She was a high school math teacher, and from what Bennett had heard she had the patience of a saint and was loved by her students. It wasn’t that surprising. Mel was just a good person. A
great
person.

When he’d walked into that spa all those weeks ago and seen her bleeding out on the ground, it had taken everything in him to stay calm. All he’d been able to think was
not her
. But Mel was strong and she’d survived it, and Bennett thanked God for that every time she was around, and even when she wasn’t.

Mel had a knack for popping up in his thoughts a lot, and holding his attention whenever she was in the same room as him. So it came to absolutely no surprise to him that he zeroed in on her the second she walked up onto the deck of Slim Willies. She was wearing a skirt that showed off her killer legs and a gauzy purple and blue flowery tank top that gave just a hint of cleavage. Her hair was down, her curls framing her pretty face and running over her shoulders and down her back.

Bennett was so distracted by Mel that he completely missed what Brendan had just said. The two men were standing at the outside bar waiting for a drink.

Brendan King was Grace’s older brother. He was a mechanic at King’s Auto, and he and his grandfather owned the place. Brendan and his wife Paige had just had their little baby boy Trevor two and a half months ago, and they were taking advantage of a night out. Paige’s mother Denise was on babysitting duty.

“Sorry,” Bennett said, clearing his throat and focusing on Brendan. “What was that?”

Brendan turned and looked over his shoulder. Bennett let his gaze travel back to Mel. She along with Grace and Harper were joining the table where Jax and Paige were sitting. Mel looked up as she pulled a chair out, and her eyes locked on Bennett’s. Her cheeks flushed a soft pink and she smiled at him shyly. She waved and Bennett couldn’t stop himself from smiling and waving back.

“Huh,” Brendan said, facing Bennett again. “When did that happen?”

“When did what happen?” Bennett asked.

“You and Mel?”

“There is no me and Mel.”

“Oh, really? So you just get smiley for all the pretty girls?”

“I didn’t get smiley,” Bennett frowned as he looked at Brendan.

“Right.”

“And we’re just friends,” Bennett said as he tried to get the attention of one of the guys behind the bar.

There was a group of about ten college girls that the two bartenders were giving a little bit too much attention to. They were loud, bordered on obnoxious, and were all processed to about an inch within their lives. Their dark tans were fake, too much time spent in a tanning bed. Their makeup was on thick and their clothes were on light. They gave off more than a glimpse of their flat stomachs, and their breasts spilled out of the top of their too tight shirts.

They did absolutely nothing for Bennett.

His eyes automatically found Mel again. She was laughing. Her head thrown back as her shoulders shook and a huge smile lifted up her mouth. Mel had a natural sun-kissed tan and her skin glowed. He wasn’t even sure if she wore makeup or not. And he liked the way she dressed. Her clothes gave off just a hint of the sexiness that he was sure lay beneath. She was modest, and real. She was beautiful.

“Just friends?” Brendan said skeptically. “Okay, whatever you say.”

“You know he keeps looking at you,” Grace whispered in Mel’s ear.

“Shut up,” Mel said, kicking her under the table. “He is not.”

“Yes, he is,” Grace said, pinching Mel’s leg.

“Ow, don’t pinch me.” Mel rubbed the now sore spot on her thigh.

“Then don’t kick me.”

“What are you two talking about?” Paige asked, leaning across the table.

Jax had gotten drink orders from Grace, Mel, and Harper before he’d joined Bennett and Brendan at the bar. So only Mel, Grace, Harper, and Paige were at the table.

“Bennett,” Grace said.

“Mel has a little crush,” Harper said.

“What part of
shut up
do you not understand?”

The deck was filled with people and the band had started playing, so it was loud. There wasn’t really a chance that they would be overheard, but talking about Mel’s
crush
in public made her really nervous.

“Don’t worry.” Paige grinned. “I won’t say anything.”

Mel loved Paige and did trust her not to say anything. Paige had fit right in with their little group after she moved to Mirabelle over two years ago, and she’d quickly become a very close friend.

Paige had long, dark brown hair that fell in messy waves, gray eyes, and freckles across her nose and cheeks. She was tall and her running habit had kept her legs in amazing form, it had also melted off almost all of her pregnancy weight.

 “He’s really cute,” Paige said as she looked over at the bar. “You should totally go for it.”

Cute?
No. Bennett Hart was sexy as hell in a way that made Mel want to put her mouth all over his body.

Oh, dear, she should
not
be thinking about that.

“Can we
please
not have this conversation right now?”

“Oh, look how red she’s getting,” Harper said. “She
really
likes him.”

Yeah, that’s why she was blushing and not because she was thinking about how lickable his abs probably were.

“I hate you all,” Mel said, and buried her face in her hands.

“No, you don’t,” Grace said. “You love us dearly.”

“That’s debatable.”

“Fine, no more harassing Mel…right now. But we will have this conversation later,” Paige said.

“Count on it.” Grace grinned.

“So school starts next week?” Paige asked.

“Yeah, on Monday. I’m looking forward to the kids’ being back. Sitting in that empty room all week was making me crazy.”

Mel was glad that they’d changed subjects because when she glanced up again, Bennett, Brendan, and Jax were at the table, beers in hand.

“Here you go,” Bennett said, sliding a bottle in front of Mel.

“Thanks.” She smiled up at him.

“So what’s making you crazy?” he asked as he took the seat directly across from her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the matching smirks on Grace’s and Harper’s faces. At least they kept their mouths shut.

“The kids’ not being there. It’s too quiet.”

“I’ll bet.” Bennett nodded as Brendan and Jax sat down, too. “Too much quiet makes me crazy, too.”

“Jeez, this place is crowded.”

Mel looked up to see Nathanial Shepherd and Tripp Black standing at the other end of the table. Nathanial Shepherd, who everyone called Shep, worked at his family’s bar the Sleepy Sheep. He was tall with thick, shaggy black hair and piercing blue eyes. His jaw was covered in what could only be described as ten o’clock shadow and his arms were covered in tattoos. He had the whole bad boy image down to a tee.

Tripp Black had moved to Mirabelle over a year ago when he landed the job as fire chief. He had dark brown eyes and thick brown hair. He was also a man of the perpetual scruff.

“Yeah, good luck getting a drink unless you’re going to flash something. But I feel like your legs could get you fast service,” Brendan said, looking at Shep.

“Aww, come on, Brendan,” Shep said. “You know you’re the pretty boy around here.”

“Who are you calling a pretty boy?” Brendan asked before he took a pull on his beer.

“You. You going to do something about it?”

“Nah,” Brendan said, shaking his head. “Because we both know the truth.”

“That Jax is the prettiest of us all?” Shep said.

“Exactly.” Brendan nodded.

Mel wouldn’t exactly say that any of the men around her could be termed pretty. Hot was a better word. Hot and incredibly built. Yeah, all of them were ridiculously good looking, but none of them had ever inspired the feelings in Mel like Bennett.

“I’m not even going to comment,” Jax said, shaking his head as he put his arm around Grace and pulled her close to him.

“That’s because you have a maturity level higher than these two put together,” Paige said, pointing to Shep and Brendan.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Brendan smirked and pulled Paige in to give her a loud smacking kiss on the temple.

“Let’s start heading up for dinner,” Grace said, pointing to the line behind them. “You guys should start.” Grace pointed to Paige, Brendan, and Bennett. “You, too, Mel.” She winked.

Mel really wanted to glare at her, but chose not to draw attention to Grace’s not so subtle grouping. She got up from the table and followed behind Brendan and Paige, and Bennett fell in by her side. She tried not to think about how that made her heart flutter a little bit.

It cost twenty-five dollars to get into the crawfish boil, but the food was all you could eat and the live band was sure to provide hours of entertainment. The line for food was already pretty deep when the four of them made their way to the end.

“So how’s the new superintendent?” Brendan asked.

The former superintendent, Keith Reynolds, had tendered his resignation during the summer. It had been a pretty big scandal in Mirabelle when it was revealed that Keith Reynolds was Grace’s father.

Brendan’s father, Crayton Dallas, had walked out on his mother Claire before Brendan was even born. Six years later Claire had Grace, and no one had known who Grace’s father was. Turns out it was Keith Reynolds. Keith had come down to Mirabelle twenty-five years ago to interview for a job as the high school principal. He never intended on taking the job; he’d only come down to get another school interested in him. He never told Claire that he was already married. He’d said that he was down on vacation. Claire had made her own mistakes that night, but she never looked at Grace with regret.

It had also been a pretty big blow to the Reynolds family when it was discovered that their son Hoyt was involved in the string of burglaries around town. Hoyt was one of the men who held Grace hostage at the funeral home, it made matters more complicated that he was her half brother.