Read Online Dirt: A Sexy Small Town Romance (Copperwood Book 1) by Reese Patton - Free Book Online Page A

encouraging Alene. The least he could do was the same for me, but that wasn’t Mike. And the only reason I didn’t slap him or scream at him was that I knew his heart was in the right place.
    He cared about me and didn’t want to see me hurt.
    “Mya?” Kirstin called to me from the back hallway.
    So, that’s who Mike was looking at. I wanted to ask more, but after our little ‘come to Jesus’ conversation, I didn’t really feel up to it.
    “Be right there!” I grabbed the drink gun and refilled Mike’s coke. “We’ll talk later. Okay?”
    Mike nodded his head slowly. “I’ll be here.”
    I didn’t doubt it. I figured the topic of Shane and my condition when he left a decade ago was the focus of any conversations my father and Mike had. Together they must have decided that I needed an intervention and Mike must have drawn the short straw.
    I gave him a half–hearted attempt at a smile and walked back to help Kirstin. Too bad she didn’t call for me before the lecture started.
    * * * *
    Customers crept into the bar until 7:30. At 7:30, they
flooded
the bar. They still had money left over from payday and there wasn’t much else to do during the weekend. However, unlike most Saturday nights, this one was busier. Maybe word had gotten out Shane was back in town and people wanted a chance to see him. Word had also probably gotten out that he wasn’t sticking around for the funeral. New gossip was gold in Copperwood.
    Kirstin and I moved around the bar, keeping drinks filled. She had to work harder than I did to avoid the grabby hands of some of the men, but she never got frustrated with them. She bumped up against me and nodded her head toward the end of the bar.
    “I think you have a customer.”
    “What?” We didn’t really have sections when we worked together, we just filled in where we were needed and split out our tips at the end of the night. I turned my head to the side to see where she gestured and couldn’t help the smile from spreading across my lips.
    “Just be careful, okay?” She brushed by me, moving to the other end of the bar before I could respond.
    Shane actually showed up. He told me he needed to do some work, but that he’d pick me up in the morning for a breakfast I didn’t have to catch. It was part of the reason I was able to lie to Mike. I figured Shane and I would have breakfast, he would drive off, and I would mope around for a week or so. Part of keeping the moping to a minimum was keeping my time with Shane to a minimum. That plan got tossed out the door.
    I set a bottle of beer in front of him and felt a blush move over my cheeks when his fingers brushed against mine. Between holding me at the lake and the kiss, Shane Crawford was heating up parts of my body that had been in hibernation for a while.
    “I thought you were working tonight.”
    “I’m taking a break.” He looked around the bar and nodded his head at some of the familiar faces by way of a greeting. “Looks busy tonight.”
    “I think they were hoping to see you.” Mike sat down next to Shane.
    What did he think? That Shane was going to pull me over the bar and fuck me in front of everyone? I cursed myself as images of the two of us together flitted through my thoughts. I didn’t need to be distracted. Not with Mike watching me. Waiting for an excuse to lay into me with another lecture.
    Aww screw it. Shane might be leaving tomorrow, but I would take what I could get. Even if it was a quick screw in a bar. I shook my head from side to side. What the hell was I thinking?
    Shane lifted his eyebrow at Mike, but didn’t say anything. Before either of them could say anything else, I walked away from them to another customer. I didn’t need to hear their bickering. And from the look on Mike’s face, they were going to find any excuse to make snide comments at one another.
    Some things never changed.
    Word must have gotten out Shane Crawford was at Pick’s and the already bursting Saturday crowd doubled.