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Chapter One
MYSTERY Mullins had finally had enough After six and a half years of carrying this burning torch, she intended to snuff it out tonight
The door to the run-down beer bar creaked when she opened it As soon as she looked inside, she truly wished she hadn’t The late-afternoon sunlight cast rays into the dark rooy checkerboard floors, a crack in the plastic face of the old jukebox, and a faded wooden bar Pictures of beaches, bikini babes, and motorcycles lined the walls In faded aqua paint on driftwood, a framed piece of “art” proclaimed IT’S FIVE O’CLOCK SOMEWHERE
In front of her, a bank of TVs hung fro the door, others away to serve the patrons on the far side of the U-shaped bar She scanned the roo their beers Between the dimness and the obstruction of the various flat-screens, she couldn’t see all their faces
She’d never stepped foot in a place like this Trendy hot spots where one’s name had to be on the list, sure—when someone twisted her arm But a dive? She winced The reality was, if she wanted to scratch her itch for the one e from her system so she could move on, this here she needed to be
Because he was here
A gust of hot wind assaulted her through the still-open door The heat already felt like the worst of a London suun Or maybe she was just flushed and nervous
An ineffectual swamp cooler clattered as it tried to adjust the te bearable but failed Mystery wiped at the fine film of perspiration at her temple, flipped the faux hair out of her face, and hoped like hell this scheme worked
The patrons in the bar were beginning to stare, not as if they recognized her, thank goodness But what if he did? Utter, huuise so he’d never know her identity The auburn ith bangs cloaked her dark hair Color contactsblue A makeup artist Mystery knew froic toher brief ti a shred of one their separate ways, he knew she usually dolled up and wore Chanel or Prada for the cameras Today, she’d donned ratty jeans left over froht Hooters tank top, and a pair of wedged flip flops The press had never photographed her this dressed down Everything about her should appear different He couldn’t possibly recognize her now
But what if he did?
Mystery shook her head and told herself to stop dithering She hadn’t stepped foot on US soil in over a half dozen years, and he had no reason to suspect she’d come to his home turf now Appointments back in London ator she’d hired had sworn he was still single and had just entered the bar alone a few o It was now or never
Because she’d never e crush She’d ten tiratitude and stupid hero worship After all, he’d saved her life But if that’s all she felt, the ache for hi before now She would have stopped co to fall desperately in love with her, she si him none the wiser
“You need some help or you just want to let all the hot air in?” As she stood frozen in the doorway, the young bartender looked at her as if she must be on the stupid side
“Sorry,” Mysterythe room once more
A couple of Duck Dynasty wannabes occupied the booth in the corner A wo tequila into a shot glass shoved into her artificially enhanced cleavage More than one dived for the booze Mystery halted in her tracks
This place certainly underscored the fact that she and the man she yearned for hailed from different walks of life But that didn’t ht
She prayed that was all she needed
Mystery’s stoh she hadn’t seen hio, her nerves seriously annoyed her She tried not to allow anything to faze her any the red carpet at the BAFTA awards with her A-list father, not even appearing on TV
But Axel DillonEven the thought of him turned her inside out
Mystery glanced around again, easing farther inside So pool eyed her The bartender still stared down his pierced nose at her Three cops huddled together all turned and focused on her Did they think she was casing the place for a robbery? She had to stop standing in the middle of the room like an idiot Take a seat and order a drink
Finally, her head forced her body to obey, and she eased into a little booth near the back Once she’d seated herself, everyone around her started talking again And froe point, she could see the back half of the bar, previously obscured by the wall of televisions
There he sat, absently staring at ESPN and sipping a beer, his profile strong As usual, his rugged face was unreadable He still kept his dark-blond hair military short And he still looked like the side of a mountain So, but in the last few years, she’d swear he’d put on another slab of ed every hard swell and lean dip, tapering past a flat belly to narrow hips She had to hold in a sigh Even a single glance of hi below her waist tingle Mystery sed
He didn’t once look her way Somehow, she’d hoped their stares would lock He would approach her, want her, and whisk her away for a spectacular night of unbridled sex that would bloay both her panties and her ht now, he clearly had no idea she existed
On shaky knees, she stood again and headed in his direction She tried not to stare A glance up at the television proved he watched a recap of a pro basketball galanced down into the neck of his beer bottle as she slid onto the empty stool beside him
Now that he was so near, Mystery could feel his body heat, s this close made her feel both safe and weak
“So on your mind?” He turned to her, his stare expectant
She searched his expression and didn’t see a hint of recognition on his large, blunt face What a relief But the cleft in his chin and his bright blue eyes stillThe instant cheo hadn’t waned in the least
“There is” She mimicked the British accents she’d been surrounded with since she’d fled the US—and hio
Her assertion obviously surprised hih he narrowed his eyes, they pierced her
“I’ll bite Lay it on me”
The bartender chose that moment to come around and plunk a napkin in front of her “Now that you found a seat, you want a drink?”
A glass of vino sounded heavenly “Do you have a wine list, please?”
He snorted “No I got three types: red, white, and pink”
Mystery paused She hadn’t expected anything private label, but surely more of a selection than that
“Is the white a pinot grigio?”
The bartender looked as if he was losing patience “I don’t knohat kind that is, but the jug of white I have is as close as I’ve got You want some or not?”
That could be seriously terrible
“Then I’ll have a gl
ass of water, please” Better to keep a clear head, anyway “Thank you”
As he turned and grabbed a glass, the bartender shook his head andto himself Mystery really didn’t want to knohat
“I’m not sure what threw him off more, your accent or your request” The corner of Axel’sher a flash of dimples
She’d forgotten the way his srinned back “He seemed quite ruffled”
A lass in front of her with lots of ice and a bit of water, sans lemon She blinked, and her colored contacts jabbed her eyes with a re that her plan would fail spectacularly
“So do you,” Axel said “I won’t point out that I’ve never seen you here, but I’ll guess you’ve never been to a place like this”
“Never,” she adave me away?”
He chuffed “Leaving the door open so you could gape with barely disguised horror was a start I particularly liked the way you turned slightly green when you stared at the guys about to do body shots with Trina” He nodded to the corner where the bearded hed “So why are you here?”
She’d forgotten how observant he could be and how accurately he could draw conclusions He did it in an instant, as if nothing in the world shocked him anymore The world still shocked her all the time
She hadn’t, however, forgotten how direct he was