“
It’s been a while for me too. I’m glad you suggested this place. I would have never guessed it was so good.”
She shook her head. “If you’re going to spend your life in the military, Santini, you need to experience the place you’re at. I always think it’s a shame that more people don’t get out beyond that front gate.”
“
I think a lot of us are wary. At least the guys with families. The last few years haven’t been the best for us.”
She nodded in understanding. In his experience, a woman in Joey’s position knew enough about her customers to do her job. He understood flirting was part of it. Tips helped a lot of them pay the bills. With Joey, though, she seemed to really care about the folks from the base. He’d seen her talk to guys, asking them about their families and girlfriends.
“
So, will it be another month before you have a night off?”
She didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “I don’t get a lot of nights to myself. Of course, I like it that way.”
They were standing at the base of the stairs to her apartment. He wanted more than anything to follow her up the stairs and spend the night. Papa wasn’t sure how much experience she had, but he knew it wasn’t much. He was pretty sure some bastard had hurt her in a way that made it hard for any guy to get her to go out…let alone share her bed.
“
I take it you’re not going home for Christmas?” he asked. He knew it was stupid because he already knew she was working at the bar. Papa was man enough to admit when he was desperate. He didn’t want the date to end, not now, not ever.
“
No. Working on Christmas Eve and then going to Sam and Thelma’s for Christmas dinner.”
He nodded, not telling her they were spending Christmas together. Thelma had said something about it earlier, sort of an assumption he would be at her house. It was a definite if Joey was there.
“
I’m glad you finally came out with me.”
“
I’ve been out with you before, Santini.”
He chuckled. “Grabbing a piece of pizza or taking a thirty minute walk on the beach is not a date.”
She tilted her head to one side and studied him. He knew she was going to screw with him. Sadly, he was excited by even that.
“
This was a date?”
He laughed, enjoying her. She had a wicked sense of humor. She laughed with him and he couldn’t resist. He leaned forward and kissed her. She stopped laughing and stilled. Worried that he might have overstepped his bounds, he almost pulled back from her. In that next instant, she returned the kiss. Tentatively and with little skill. It was the sweetest and sexiest thing he had ever experienced.
Heat blasted through him, racing in his blood and soon, he wanted more. He needed that flesh-to-flesh contact. Knowing it was his only option; he cupped her face with one hand as he continued to kiss her. When he knew he was close to begging for an invitation upstairs, he pulled completely back. Then, he stepped away.
“
Thank you for the date.”
His voice was hoarse and it was worse that she looked as stunned as he felt. He hadn’t had a kiss affect him that way before.
“
You’re welcome.” She turned and practically ran up the stairs.
He shoved his hands into his pockets, waiting. When he heard the deadbolt slam home, he walked to his car. He could meet the guys out tonight, but he felt like a drive—then probably a cold shower.
One day, he promised himself, he would be snuggled up to the sexy waitress.
“
So, angel, when are you going to give up this life of hard work and become my lady?” one very annoying college kid asked Joey.
She didn’t roll her eyes but it was close. She hated the last few days before Christmas. It seemed like every annoying frat boy made a stop in Jacksonville on his way home. And they always left horrible tips. She could handle Marines because most of them would tip her well for her troubles.
“
Gee, I don’t know about that. “ It was about all she could muster. She was tired and cranky and she couldn’t think straight most of the night. She’d been thinking more and more of going back to see her parents on the West Coast. She knew part of it was the season. She always grew homesick this time of year. The other part of it…well, she was being a coward. The last month Stewart had been getting under her skin. The few kisses they had shared hadn’t scared her as much as the one from the night before had. That one hadn’t just made her melt. She had yearned for more. She almost asked him up to her apartment. Just a kiss and Stewart almost had her.
Dammit
. She needed to start thinking of him as Santini. That would make him not a man. Just a Marine. A very sexy Marine who kissed her until she melted.
“
Hey, did you hear what I said?”
The annoying college student asked the question and tugged on her arm. She almost lost her tray full of glasses.
“
Sorry, it’s hard to hear in here.”
He still had hold of her arm and she sensed some kind of movement behind her. She knew without looking who was there.
“
Is there a problem here?” Stewart asked, his voice deathly calm. She didn’t think she’d ever heard that tone from him before.
The college kid’s attention shifted from her to the hulking figure of Stewart. The sneer on his lips faded and he lost most of the color of his face.
“
Uh…”
“
Is that supposed to explain why you still have hold of the lady’s arm?”
Frat boy looked down at her arm and then dropped it as if he had been burned.
“
Sorry,” he mumbled.
“
I think you need to finish up and head on out.”
“
Yes, sir.”
He sat back down and she turned to face Stewart. She wanted to tell him to take a leap, but the look on his face sent a blast of ice racing through her blood. This was not the man who had blushed when Thelma had told stories about him or the one who had kissed her the night before.
This was the Marine.
It took her another moment to gather her wits.
“
Santini, take a step back.”
He finally broke eye contact with the college kid. It took a second before his eyes softened a bit.
“
Okay.”
She stepped around him, but she felt him follow her back to the bar.
“
Do you get that a lot?”
She didn’t appreciate the tone. It was as if he was accusing her of something.
“
Only when they drink too much. Of course, it isn’t always college kids. I get problems from some of the Marines around here too. Drunkards come in all classes.”
“
What are their names?”
She glanced at him with a smile, realizing then that he was serious. “I don’t know, Santini. I don’t keep a record of every jackass that comes in here.”
“
You shouldn’t have to deal with them.”
Sam looked over at them, and moved away. Coward. He was abandoning her to Stewart’s questions.
“
I can deal with them.”
He watched her in silence. She knew he wasn’t done. She could practically feel his brooding. The man would have been a perfect Bronte hero.
“
Why do you work in a place like this?”
Irritation, lack of sleep, and her own homesickness had left her with little patience. She also didn’t like that Stewart seemed to think he had a right to question her choices in life.
“
I work here because I like Sam and Thelma. I also like most of the regulars.”
“
Well, you shouldn’t.”
She stopped putting the order Sam had just placed on the bar onto her tray.
“
I don’t think I asked for your opinion. In fact, it isn’t any of your business.”
She finished collecting the order and headed back out. It was loud and smoky and she was now getting a headache. She smiled and tried her best to work the tables like she normally did, but Stewart’s attitude was starting to get her down. Worse, she couldn’t argue with him any more when she returned to the bar because he was gone. Disappeared in the night apparently.
“
You need to be nicer to Papa,” Sam said.
“
He needs not to question what I do for a living. I take it he left?”
Sam nodded as he dried a glass. “He said he’d talk to me later and left.”
Disappointment was the first emotion to hit her and that just made her angry. She wanted to yell at Sam but looking at her employer, she knew he was too tired at the moment. This time of year was always hard on him and Joey didn’t want to add to that.
“
Just two more hours, then we get to close up.”
And with that, she went back out into the fray. It was best to just forget her problems and throw herself into work.
By the end of those two hours, she was happy to shut the door and lock it behind the last customer.
“
Thank God. I thought they would never go away.”
“
Hey, we have to pay the bills,” Thelma said with a laugh. She’d been out all night talking with customers and helping field the tables. It was great to see her out and about. “Why don’t you head home?”
Normally Joey would argue with Thelma. Tonight though, she couldn’t find the energy.
“
Sounds good. I’ll be in early tomorrow.”
Christmas Eve. One of the best and worst nights in a bar—with people who would be there to celebrate the season and others who came to drown their sorrows.
After pulling on her coat and grabbing her purse, she headed out to her apartment. She was about halfway home when she felt it. There was a feeling of being watched…followed. Ever since her attack years ago, she was normally very conscious of her surroundings.
Stewart. He was probably there to make sure she made it home okay.
“
You can come out now. I know you’re there.”
She gasped and found the frat boy from earlier standing just a few feet behind her.
“
So nice to see you again,” he said as he approached her.
Cold, unadulterated fear slithered through Joey’s blood. She’d seen that look on a guy’s face before. This time, though, it was different. This time, she wouldn’t take it.
“
I think you need to leave.” Her voice sounded stronger than she felt. She knew it was more about perception and not reality though. At least, that’s what Sam had taught her when he taught her to fight.
Know your enemy.
Frat boy couldn’t hold his liquor. She knew the little bastard was still tipsy. His words were slurring when he spoke. If she was lucky, he went to drink somewhere else.
Lose your baggage.
The memory of those words had her dropping her purse just in case the stupid boy didn’t leave.
“
Now why would I want to do that? I thought we could share some Christmas cheer.”
The idiot kept approaching. He was close enough she could smell the stale beer emanating from him. He smelled as if he had bathed in it. He reached for her with those grubby little hands. Fear and anger surged as she swung her fist in his direction. He caught it, most probably by accident. It also gave her an opening. Joey raised her knee and hit him squarely in the crotch. He screamed and dropped her arm, falling to the ground.
Don’t have pity. If they attack you, they deserve it. Don’t give the bastard an inch.
He was on his knees, so she punched him. The crack of bone was particularly horrifying and pleasing at the same time. He fell back, blood spurting from his nose and his head hitting the pavement.
“
You fucking bitch. You broke my nose.”
He apparently had enough beer to allow him to ignore the pain of the broken nose and the kick to his crotch because he was trying to stand again.