Page 67 of Heat Exchange
“How long you going to make that beer last?”
He tore his gaze away from Lydia to look at Ashley, who was standing in front of him in a green Kincaid’s Pub T-shirt identical to her sister’s. He wouldn’t say she looked happy, but she looked better than she had the last time he saw her and it was good that she was getting out again. She needed to step back into her life and reclaim her space.
“When the beer’s gone, I’ll head home.” He flicked a glance at Lydia. “So it might take me a while to drink it all.”
She smiled, but her eyes were sad and he wondered if that sadness was for her or for him. “Take your time.”
He wasn’t stupid. Ashley felt a little sorry for him because she could probably see he was mooning over her sister and she would know better than anybody that Lydia wanted nothing to do with another firefighter.
A few minutes later, Lydia freed herself from a group of guys who were convinced they’d play pool better if she went in the alcove with them and blew on their cue sticks. He’d been watching them, making sure they didn’t step out of line, but he knew Lydia had it under control. She’d been doing this for a lot of years and she was really good at it. She knew how to keep them in check while also making them think she was the most wicked cool bartender ever, knowing they’d tip accordingly.
That didn’t make it any easier to watch them hit on Lydia with their cheesy innuendos, but if he went Neanderthal on them, she’d throw him out along with them.
“You are seriously rocking the scowl tonight,” she said.
“I feel like those guys could be a problem.”
She laughed. “They’re amateurs, trust me. If cracking jokes about touching their balls and blowing their sticks makes them happy, more power to them. If it changes from corny shit to personal, or one of them touches me, then they’ll be leaving.”
He watched her face change as she looked over his shoulder. “What’s up?”
“It’s not a big deal. Scotty and Danny just walked in.”
His muscles tensed and he sat up straight, as if he was putting distance between him and the woman on the other side of the bar. “Okay.”
“Will you relax? Jesus, Aidan, how many years have you known me? There’s nothing weird about you sitting here at the bar talking to me.”
He knew that, but he also knew he’d been sitting at the bar talking to her while counting the minutes until he could have her in his bed, which was the problem. “Yeah. Did Ashley see Danny?”
“She’s out back. I’ll let her know he’s here, though, so it’s not a surprise.”
“Hunt!” Scotty slapped him on the back and then hopped onto the stool next to him. Danny leaned against the bar on the other side, and Lydia set two beers in front of them. “What the hell, dude? You don’t call and invite us anymore?”
“I was driving by and stopped spur-of-the-moment. Thought you might be here.” The lies came so easily now. Finding the balance between watching Lydia like a man anticipating having sex with her andnotlooking at her so deliberately it was awkward wasn’t as easy as lying, though.
Before Lydia could go out back, Ashley emerged from the hallway to the kitchen and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Danny. “What are you doing here?”
“Thought I’d have a beer. It’s what I usually do here.”
He said the words calmly, like he said every damn thing, but Aidan saw the flush of anger across Ashley’s cheeks and thought maybe droll smart-ass wasn’t the way he should have gone. “You don’t think you should find another bar out of respect for me?”
“I like this bar. It’s where I proposed to you.”
The bar had fallen quiet, so everybody heard her quiet, sad words. “You say that like it means something.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Danny stopped slouching against the bar, and Aidan looked at Lydia, wondering if they should intercede somehow. Neither Danny nor Ashley would want to play this out with an audience, even if they were currently caught up in the heat of the moment. They’d be embarrassed later. “You think it doesn’t matter to me where I met my wife?”
“I don’t think it matters to you whether or not I’m your wife.”
“You told me you didn’t want to be married anymore. You said you needed space. So I gave you space and now I’m an asshole.”
“I wanted you to care. I wanted you to beupsetthat I thought our marriage was in trouble and show me that you were willing to fight for it.”
“You think I wasn’t upset? Is there some Kincaid standard of showing emotion? Do I have to yell? Break things? Is that how I show I care?” He threw the glass against the lower part of the bar and it smashed. “Is that what you want, Ash? You want me to lose control?”
“Yes! I want you to care enough to get pissed off and throw a goddamn glass.”
Danny shook his head, crossing to the wall with a few long, angry strides. After kissing his fingertips, he slapped Bobby Orr’s picture so hard, Aidan was afraid the glass protecting it would shatter. He wasn’t sure what would happen, jinx-wise, ifthatglass broke. Maybe that’s how the apocalypse would start.
