smiled. No, it wasn’t, not with these women. “Your next day off, how about you and me take a drive to Kalispell?”
“Why?” She glanced around, but no one had heard. He’d made sure he kept his voice low, and Sam was busy racking balls for the next game. “Isn’t that forty-five minutes away?”
“You haven’t been, right? It’s nice. Lots of restaurants, bars, department stores, movie theaters. I think there might even be a bowling alley.”
“So…you’re asking me to go because…?”
“I don’t know.” Man, she didn’t make it easy. “I have business there, anyway,” he said, lying through his teeth. “I thought you’d like to check out what’s available…stuff we don’t have in Blackfoot Falls.”
“I appreciate the thought.” She picked up two empty mugs off the shelf that ran along the wall. “But I have a bunch of things to do when I have time off.” Now she was lying. She wasn’t any better at it than him.
“Okay.” He saw Sam eyeing them, curiosity coming off him like steam. “If you change your mind let me know.” Trace grabbed his Stetson off the peg and returned his nearly full beer to her tray. “And don’t worry, Nikki. It’s just a drive.”
2
NIKKI FLORES WATCHED one of the blondes who’d been sitting at the end of the old mahogany bar run for the door that had barely closed behind Trace. Another woman had stopped him before he’d even made it that far. Whatever she’d said had him shaking his head, but he’d flashed her that movie star smile of his, the kind that had silly women forgiving and forgetting when they should be slamming doors shut.
“You gonna sulk the rest of the night because he went home early?” Sadie set a pitcher of beer on Nikki’s tray.
“Me?” She rolled her eyes. “No, but his fan club might. If we’re lucky they’ll drown their disappointment in expensive cocktails. I say we raise the price of those stupid appletinis.”
Sadie chuckled, sounding much better without the rusty wheeze she’d had a few months earlier when Nikki had first met the older woman. A lot of Nikki’s traumatic first visit to Blackfoot Falls had blurred once she’d returned to Houston. She’d only remembered a few things…the beauty of Montana wasn’t something easily forgotten, and the air, so clean and clear that taking a deep breath actually made her head light.
And the McAllisters…Nikki had never met a family like them. Their warmth and kindness was part of the reason she’d agreed to come back with Matt. At first she’d been wary. How could all three brothers and a sister be that well-adjusted? But then she’d met their mother. An hour spent with Barbara was all it had taken for Nikki to understand them. Oh, they weren’t perfect, not even close, but it was their unconditional love for one another and how they had each other’s back that impressed her.
Sadie had also made the short list. Nikki had only talked with her a couple times, but the woman sure seemed to know when to speak up and when to keep her opinion to herself. Nikki had been a wreck the night Matt had gotten into a fight protecting her. Every instinct had screamed for her to find the guys and get even, show them they couldn’t mess around with her or her family. Growing up, she’d learned to protect her own because no one else would.
But Matt had brought her to Montana so she could have a new life. Leave her troubled past behind. Sadie hadn’t known her circumstances, yet she’d seen the thirst for payback in Nikki’s eyes and in a few well-chosen words, convinced her it wasn’t worth it. When Nikki thought about it now, she had to hold back a shudder. The people here didn’t understand what she was capable of. Not even Matt got it. He hadn’t known her as a teenager.
That same night Trace had come into the bar with her, and to be fair, he’d played a big part in calming her down. He’d sat and listened and told her he wouldn’t blame her one bit for wanting to slap those guys into the next zip code. And then he’d reminded her that it wasn’t over—the men would be fired and the pleasure should be Matt’s.
God, it still bothered her that she’d told Trace little things about her past she wished she’d kept to herself. She’d known him less than a week, had never spoken to him one-on-one before that night. At the last minute he’d shown up to help Matt and ended up with a split lip. Not a big cut, just a small nick near the corner of his mouth. It had stopped bleeding pretty quickly, but every time she looked at him, she was reminded he’d been hurt because of her.
That was the only reason she’d opened up to him. Why she’d confessed that she hated Wallace more than she thought humanly possible, that he deserved to be sick, and how she was glad he was dying. She hadn’t censored her vile thoughts. They’d tumbled out of her mouth, and Trace had just sat there, without a hint of judgment.
Of course some of it wasn’t news to him. The McAllisters knew quite a lot from Matt because he trusted them. The scary part was, for those two rocky hours she’d sat with Trace, she’d actually trusted him, too.
That was enough to rattle her. She just didn’t put that kind of faith in people. She trusted Matt, but getting there had taken nearly a year of ups and downs. The only other person she completely believed in was her mother, who loved her no matter what. Her mom was the main reason Nikki was giving Blackfoot Falls a try. She’d met a businessman from Mexico City who wanted to marry her. But it wouldn’t happen, she’d never leave Houston as long as Nikki was there.
No, trust didn’t come easy for Nikki. Especially with men. They always disappointed her. And a guy like Trace with his looks, his family’s clout, money and a bright future…He was the worst kind of man to count on. Good-looking smooth guys like him couldn’t seem to help themselves. They had charm to spare and felt they owed it to the female population to spread it around.
She’d fallen for a man like that before, and she’d been burned. Badly. Just like her mom had been crushed by Wallace all those years ago. If nothing else, Nikki had learned a lesson from the experience. Or so she’d thought until that night she’d blabbed to Trace.
“You need anything else besides those tequila shots?” Sadie asked, with a glance at Nikki’s loaded tray.
“No, this is it. Thanks.”
“I wouldn’t worry about Trace.”
Nikki hefted the tray at the same time Sadie spoke and almost let the pitcher slide off. “Where did that come from?”
“You’ve been staring at the door the last five minutes. I figured you were worried about him.”
“Why would I be? That’s crazy.”
Sadie smiled. “My mistake.”
Nikki dropped off the pitcher first. She’d been carrying heavy trays and serving drinks since she was old enough to work. But something in Sadie’s smug expression had thrown her off and all she needed was for the entire order to crash to the wooden floor.
Her tips weren’t so good that she could afford to hand half over to Sadie.
She delivered the tequila shots to the two cowboys sitting in the corner and managed to give them a smile. They were nice laid-back guys whose names she really should remember. Both were good tippers and patient when she got slammed. She hated that all the other customers seemed to fade when Trace was in the bar. But what she hated even more was that he hung out with Sam.
Sometimes
