A few minutes outside was what the doctor ordered.
She dug around in her purse for cash to tip the bartender. Damn, where was her wallet? The purse wasn’t big and she quickly realized the wallet was gone.
“Oh, no.” Her driver’s license, cash, and her credit card were in there.
A body slid onto the stool next to her, and his thigh bumped against hers. She nudged him off with her knee.
“Not now, buddy,” she growled. Someone had taken her wallet and she didn’t need a lonesome cowboy offering to ride off with her into the sunset. She needed the police.
“Suit yourself,” a deep voice said with a hint of wry humor. “But I thought you might like this back.”
Her eyes shot up. She managed to realize Noah was the lonely cowboy; her gaze traveled downward to where her small brown wallet was clasped in his hand.
“Where? How?” Relived, she took the item from him and dug through it. Everything was still there.
“The guy with the mullet lifted it when you were conversing with the hot woman in the tight jeans.” He turned to the bartender and ordered a beer. When he turned back, a lazy smile appeared. “I convinced him to give it back.”
For some reason, Noah calling Kerry hot tweaked her temper. Thankfully, the fact that he’d gotten her wallet back tamped down the twinge of jealousy. Somewhat.
The idea of mullet guy in possession of her driver’s license and knowing where she lived turned annoyance to gratitude. She didn’t need some creep stalking her.
“Does he still have his teeth?” She remembered teen Noah liked to fight with all takers. Had he grown out of his propensity for making trouble?
A smile flashed. “Mostly.”
Nope, he still liked trouble. In this case, she was pleased that he hadn’t changed. “Well, thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
The bartender brought his beer. Noah took a long swallow. The familiarity of his movements sent her back to the first night they’d kissed, under the stars, each working a beer like they were cool kids. Well, he was a cool kid. She was the nerdy dork with the unruly curly brown hair who awkwardly sat there in the dark, on the hood of his beat-to-hell old Pontiac, wondering how in the heck she’d gotten there.
Somehow he’d noticed her, and to this day, she had no clue as to how. No amount of explaining made sense. He’d thought she was cute and that was that.
Noah had locked on to her like a heat-seeking missile and after weeks of flirting, she’d broken down and climbed into his car for the ride of her life.
Until they’d crashed in an equally dramatic fashion.
An awkward pause followed. She drank her beer and forced herself not to notice the way his short-sleeved shirt tightened over strong arm muscles when he bent his arm to drink. She’d seen how he’d held the wrench at the garage. Between his rough hands and his muscles, he was a sexy package.
Feeling slightly buzzed, she spun on her stool and leaned her right arm on the bar. Cupping her head on her open palm, she stared up at him. He had the shadow of a beard along his jaw as she scanned his face, then moved south.
“Is this meeting by chance or did you hunt me down?” Her blunt comment was followed by another long swallow. She watched, fascinated by the up and down movement of his Adam’s apple.
He took his sweet-time answering. “I asked your cousin, Marty, where you were.”
Annoyance flashed through her. Marty needed a second job to keep him busy. The man lived to fix Harper up with any guy who wasn’t a dangerous felon. He had six kids of his own and loved his wife. He wanted that for her, despite her protests.
Although she was sure Noah’s past was riddled with misdemeanors and no felonies wasn’t the point. He was the last person on earth she’d ever date again.
“If you plan to run me off, don’t bother,” she said, and dragged her fingertip through a circle of condensation on the bar. “I got the message.”
He sat the empty bottle down and tossed cash on the bar. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”
Suspicious, she leaned in. He smelled so good. She twisted a loose curl in her fingertips. “The last time you said that to me was the first time you got me out of my panties.”
Noah snickered and his eyes crinkled at the corners. Despite how he’d treated her in her hour of need, it was impossible to argue against him being the best-looking guy she’d ever seen. Too bad he was the biggest jerk, too.
“If I promise to keep my hands off your panties, will you come outside?”
The way he said “panties” sounded like he wasn’t entirely against repeating that long-ago night under the stars. Not only did the memory send nervous energy along her skin, but it terrified her at the same time. He couldn’t still be interested in her, could he? After more than a decade, their romance was as fossilized as a mastodon bone dug out of a tar pit.
No, he had Lori. That was enough to keep her from panting when he sent a covert glance down her cleavage.
The desire to flee before she did something foolish, like lean in and steal a kiss, became secondary to wanting to know why he’d coerced her lovable but somewhat gullible cousin into becoming a human GPS.
Marty knew Noah was the last man on earth she’d ever marry. Still, he’d come all this way. It might be in her best interest to hear him out.
“Let me tell Kerry.”
* * * *
Noah watched her weave her way through the crowd toward the dance floor, her worn jeans, though loose, followed her curves and stirred a little more than his interest. She was still the hottest woman he’d ever seen.
Damn. Her thin frame had filled out in eleven years, and she had a fine-looking butt. All those cheerleading workouts must have had a positive influence on her shape and she carried herself with a confidence that he was very sure was not deliberate.
Harper still had some of that awkwardness he remembered.
From the second he’d heard her voice on the phone from jail, his Spidey senses had filled with images of her, and he hadn’t had a moment’s peace since. All he could think about was their past and his screw-up. Okay, he’d thought about a hell of a lot more than that, mostly the two of them naked.
Shit. If he was to help her, he had to keep his hands to himself. Sex would only complicate an already complicated situation.
Harper spoke to her friend who was snuggled up to a cowboy. The woman nodded and Harper headed back. Two guys in various types of western clothing stopped her and she shook her head to both. Clearly, she wanted to know what he had to say over dancing the two-step with a guy who might smell like cow.
“Let’s go,” she said and passed him.
He knew he shouldn’t stare at her ass, but the dog in him wasn’t well-trained and often misbehaved. Harper was far above the women he’d dated since their breakup. He’d kept to casual relationships and made sure the women were of the same mind. Harper, with her glasses and braces and funny laugh had taken his heart and had never given it back.
Damn. He sounded like a greeting card.
If this partnership had a chance to work, he needed to keep emotions out of the investigation. They were both different people now. History was better left buried.
“My truck is over there.” He pointed and she veered that way. The large silver Chevy had been his last big purchase before he “resigned” from the FBI. The payments were a dent in his current finances, but he couldn’t let it go. He’d lost too much lately. He’d cling to what he had left.
Knowing