I am Not Your Melody: (steamy cowboy romance) (13 page)

Well, at least the new bar could top a barn, right? It would be pretty embarrassing to be outranked by a farm structure as the best place in town for a drink.

The main door opened, and Zach strolled, in followed by Eric, who wore a sleek cowboy hat Allie could only assume was his “clean” one, or his “dress” cowboy hat, unlike the battered hat he wore on the ranch. Jay and Chris followed, their hair still wet from showering after a hard day’s work.

“Welcome to Uncle Fred’s Bar,” Allie said. “You guys are the first to see it.”

“Wow,” Zach exclaimed the moment he entered. “And great name. Real good.”

He ran up to the bar and high-fived Bill, and then for good measure, Allie as well. Allie laughed and slapped his hand back with exuberance. The other guys walked around, checking everything out.

“I can’t believe this is the same bar,” Zach said. “You did a real good job, Allie.”

“Thanks!” she said. “Bill did, too.”

The guys laughed. Jay said, “Bill’s put in more man-hours on this bar then he has on th—”

Chris jabbed Jay in the chest, interrupting him.

“Oww,” Jay muttered.

Bill pulled his black Stetson down over his forehead and shrugged. “What can I say? Allie motivated me to want to come to work.”

“I’m gonna have to wear a skirt to get ‘im back on the ranch,” Eric joked, “I know it.”

“I’d like to see that,” Bill said with a laugh, and the guys joined him in agreement.

Allie could already imagine what they’d start daring each other to do if she let this go. Might be interesting… but they had a job (albeit a very enjoyable one) to do.

“Okay everyone,” Allie said quickly, “drinks are on the house tonight. We’ll need to try some shots, try some cold beer on tap, check out the sound system, the dance floor, the stage… I want to sit in every chair and booth in this place, and make sure that everything is in working order and ready for customers.”

The guys agreed heartily. That was definitely something they were up for helping with. Who could beat free booze in exchange for being “practice” customers?

Bill pulled a bottle of vodka from the top shelf and slid it down the bar to Allie, who caught it with one hand. She winked at him, and poured all the shots in one go. It had been a while since she’d bartended (her ex hated her doing it, so she’d had to quit for him), but she was having fun getting back into it. It was a skill not unlike riding a bike — she hadn’t forgotten even the silliest cocktails, or moves.

Later in the evening, with a few drinks in everyone, Allie had left her position behind the bar, and stood behind Bill, waiting for her turn to play pool. It wasn’t a bad situation, getting to watch five gorgeous, muscular men work the pool table, their deep, baritone voices mingling as they talked and laughed.

“You guys could’ve brought your girlfriends,” Allie said, “to balance out all this testosterone.”

“We’ll bring dates for opening night,” Chris said.

Zach shrugged noncommittally from his chair, a lock of his light brown hair falling over his forehead. “I’m still looking for a girl.” He kicked his boots up onto a table.

Bill glared at him.

“They’re not
that
dirty,” Zach protested, but he dropped his boots to the floor instantly.

In moments like that, Allie could almost imagine what it had been like when Zach and the guys first starting working for Bill when they were teenagers, and Bill was at the “advanced age” of his mid-twenties.

“I have to admit, it’s hard to believe that hard-working, good guys like you four aren’t already taken.” Allie said. “Maybe… maybe you’re all too ugly?”

She pretended to cough to cover her laugh, unable to play that line deadpan, the way she wanted to… to see if they’d fall for it. Those boys, ugly? Not even when they were covered in dirt and hay and sweat. Hmmm… maybe it was the dirt, hay, and sweat that helped the sexy cowboy factor along, instead of decreasing it.

“I told ya you guys were ugly!” Chris said. “Now you know.”

The guys laughed, Bill too. Apparently one too many cowgirls had given those boys big heads. Ginger from the General Store probably had something to do with that, as well.

A slow song came on the playlist, and Allie grabbed Bill’s hands. “We should dance.”

“I don’t dance,” Bill said, but he kept his hands in hers.

“Well,” she said, “I’m not going out there alone and putting on a show for you guys—”

Jay and Eric booed good-naturedly while Zach pretended to slap Eric upside the head for it.

“—we need to make sure the dance floor’s not too slippery for dancing!”

That sounded like a good reason, right? It had nothing to do with how much she enjoyed being with Bill, just being near him…working with him, smiling and laughing with him, tossing each other the bottles behind the bar and exchanging looks that only each other could understand — a skill that had come about from working so closely together on renovating the bar, and living in the same house for the past few weeks.

Bill stood, and let her drag him onto the dance floor. But once there, his whole demeanor changed. He wrapped his arm around her, his hips tight against hers, and immediately found his rhythm, leading her to dance with him, slowly, rhythmically.

Allie draped her arms around his neck, and whispered in his ear so that only he could hear. “You love working at the bar.” It wasn’t a question, it was just a fact.

“I do,” he admitted. “I’ve been workin’ a lot less on the ranch over the past couple years,” he said. “Too many memories there — memories that trigger me. That keep me chained to the past.”

She didn’t have to ask to know exactly what (or rather, who) haunted Bill’s memories over at Melody Ranch.

“And the work…” he added, “It doesn’t get me goin’ anymore.”

He lowered his hands to her hips, and Allie swayed into them, enjoying the feel of his hands on her body once more. Dancing could be so intimate, even in a public space.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Bill added, keeping his voice low so the guys couldn’t overhear from the pool table in the back. “I love the land, I love the cattle, and the horses. But the day-to-day of ranchin’ just… It’s not somethin’ I have my heart in, not anymore. Not for a while.”

“If your heart’s not in the ranch, then…where is it?” Allie whispered.

Say it’s with me; please say your heart’s with me
.

She didn’t know why she would want that, not when the idea scared the hell out of her. Somehow, she wanted it just the same.

“I think my heart’s in makin’ this bar a success now,” Bill said. “I could see working here with you.” He touched the rim of his hat. “That is…if you’d have me.”

“Of course,” she said. “Of course I’d have you, partner.”

She smiled and whirled away from his embrace. They could be partners, and maybe, just maybe… something more.

Bill tugged her hand and she twirled back in against him, pressed against his chest.

“The dance floor,” Bill said, “is jus’ right.”

They kissed, and in that perfect moment all of her fears melted away. She was ready for this, for this new life with him.

What about Bill? Maybe he was ready for the bar, but was he ready for a relationship? Or would she forever only be… not his Melody?

Chapter Twelve

“It’s gettin’ real cold out there,” Bill said.

He was upstairs from the bar in Allie’s apartment with the guys, and while it still needed some cosmetic work, at least the bones of it were all well above code now.

Zach flushed the toilet one more time to make sure everything was working, and came out of the bathroom to peer out the window in the living room.

“Those snow clouds, ya think?” Zach asked.

Bill scoffed without bothering to lift his head. “Too early.”

Eric dropped the plaster he was using on the drywall, and peered out the window as well. “I don’t know, boss, they look like rain clouds, but it’s too cold for rain. If it comes down, it’s gonna be a snow storm.”

“What else do we have to do here, so that Allie can move in?” Zach asked.

Bill walked through the apartment, looking at everything carefully. The guys had done a really good job, and Allie had been helping with painting and picking up the furniture she would need from thrift stores and garage sales throughout the whole county.

“Looks real good,” Bill said. “I think we just need to make sure she has a new refrigerator an’ microwave.”

The guys glanced at each other in uneasy silence.

“What?” Bill demanded.

Zach shrugged. “I bet you’re ready for her to get out of your house, huh?” he asked. “She’s been there a while now. Must be drivin’ you crazy… since you like your space an’ all.”

Bill shrugged back in response. “Livin’ with Allie, it ain’t so bad.”

Now the guys exchanged an altogether different look. Bill could just imagine what they were thinking: “Bill an’ Allie, sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

Bill laughed at the knowing expressions on their faces, and shook his head.

He wasn’t going to spill his guts about Allie. It wasn’t his style. The guys knew that he’d had his share of flings in the past two years. Those weren’t girlfriends, though, and they weren’t women he could fall for. They weren’t even women that he had to see the next morning, if he didn’t want to.

But Allie was different.

They worked well together at the bar. He could actually see himself having a future there with her. The night they’d had their practice run with the guys at the bar had only proven what Bill already knew — his new venture with Allie was going to be a success. If only Uncle Freddy were around to see it, he would’ve loved it (once he got over grumbling about the girly aspects).

Grand opening was on Saturday night, only five days away.

Her apartment would be ready before then. Despite the fact that he’d never wanted her to move in in the first place, Bill wished that they could slow it all down. He wanted to keep Allie with him, at his house. Having her around had kind of…worked out.

Originally, he’d thought that he wouldn’t want her in the same room with him, so that yeah, he could have his space. The guys knew all about that. Instead Bill felt like he could still have his own alone time, even when she was right there. Not because he shut her out, not at all. Maybe because she just seemed to belong there, with him. He didn’t feel the need to escape her presence so that he could recharge, the way he did around everyone else.

At night, after the work was done, she would sit quietly, and read one of her books. Or she’d get up and bustle around, putting all his things in tidy piles so he couldn’t find what he needed later. Funny how it didn’t annoy him like he’d thought it would.

Maybe ‘cause they kept falling into each other’s arms. The sex was hot, he’d give her that.

Nah. It was more than just hot sex. Bill really cared about Allie, as a person. She’d been taking over his mind, to the point that…
he wasn’t constantly thinking about Melody anymore
.

It almost felt like a new way of living… to not be consumed with thoughts of his late wife. Lately, it hadn’t even been thoughts about Melody in particular, more like… guilt. Or anger.

It had been so long since Melody had been gone, that he had forgotten how her voice sounded, or what her hair felt like when he ran his fingers through the dark strands. That was something that had brought him a lot of shame, not remembering every detail of her time with him.

It didn’t anymore. He would always feel sorrow that he’d lost his young bride so early, but it was a relief to have the grief lifted like clouds after a storm.

And behind the clouds, there was the sun. There was Allie Crawford.

He’d never thought that he would have a future with a woman, but Allie had worked her way into his life so completely, that despite all of his plans to keep her at a distance, he found himself pulling her closer and closer toward him.

Now he didn’t want her to move out of his house — not now that he had her there.

“Hey Bill,” Zach said, interrupting his train of thought. “I bet we could have this apartment finished by tomorrow afternoon. I know for a fact that Chris’s cousin has an old refrigerator in his yard that’s doin’ nobody any good. All we gotta do is screw the door back on.”

Bill looked up in surprise. “The carpet needs to be replaced.”

But what he really meant was…
I’m not ready to let her leave yet
.

Didn’t matter, though — he couldn’t keep Allie forever. He shouldn’t want to, right? After all, he was the one who had insisted they be on the same page. And they were. She didn’t want a relationship, and neither did he.

Hell
.

There was no way Bill was going to be the one to screw everything up by asking her to live with him, instead of in the apartment she had bought from him with her hard-earned money.

Zach looked at Bill, and raised his eyebrows. “Maybe you should talk to Allie about whether or not she’s actually lookin’ for new carpet right now, at all.”

That cowboy was about as subtle as a hungry calf. Swap the word “carpet” with “relationship,” (or maybe “ol’ man”) and that right there boiled down to the real question.

Bill smirked. “Ix-nay on the secret ode-cay.”

“You’ve lost me,” Zach said, smiling that lazy smile of his. “I was just talkin’ ‘bout carpet.”

Allie’s answer shouldn’t matter to Bill. In fact, if Allie said anything other than “no, of course I’m not ready for a new man in my life,” Bill might just run and hide under the bed like he’d done when he was four years old and scared shitless.

How had this girl rewired his mind the way she did? He’d gone from thinking about Melody all the time, to comparing Allie to Melody, to now… thinking about Allie all the time instead.

Allie was his obsession now.

Bill had to be careful with his obsessions… it could consume him. If being with Allie was anything at all like his marriage to Melody, she would consume him completely, and then destroy him by tearing him down until he was nothing but dirt on the bottom of a boot.

“Let’s get this apartment finished up fast for her, then,” Bill said.