“You’re absolutely right.” Her expression brightened and she flashed him a smile. “I do need a night out to loosen up—maybe even get a little wild.”
He frowned at her back until he remembered she was a first class liar, and he’d set himself up perfectly. Tonight he’d see what she was up to.
****
Colton parked his rusty, conspicuous car out of sight, then walked the block to Beniton’s. It was quarter after six, and he scanned the parking lot carefully for the ranch truck to make sure Kendra hadn’t arrived.
Inside, he located his identical twin friends and motioned Justin Blake to slide over so he could join them in the booth on the side facing the door. The twins were younger by a few years, but they’d all been friends since meeting at a rock-climbing excursion almost ten years ago.
“What’s up with the geriatric time?” Justin asked while Colton poured himself a
beer from the half-full pitcher on the table.
“Yeah,” his brother Jordan added. “Grandpa left five minutes ago.”
Colton shot Jordan a look across the booth as he took a deep swallow. “Shut up. I just figured we could get a bite to eat before things liven up. Maybe actually talk some before Justin leaves for Toronto next month.”
They kept up with a little more good-natured ribbing before letting the subject drop. By the time seven rolled around, they’d started a third pitcher, and Colton wondered how wise it was to use them as his excuse for being there. Especially when Kendra walked in.
His hand froze mid-air and his heart slammed into his ribs. Wow. If he thought her pajamas were hard to take, this thing she wore now put the sex in sexy. A spaghetti-strapped, shimmering black dress, cut low enough to be suggestive but not so low as to be trashy. The skirt flared seductively over her slim hips and ended about mid-thigh. Bare legs and high-heel black sandals completed the outfit.
She approached the bar and Colton noticed a set of diamonds—or so he guessed—at her ears. One also winked in the bar light on a thin gold chain around her neck, nestled in the vee of her cleavage.
Tearing his eyes from the neckline of the dress, he realized the only reason he’d noticed her earrings was because of the way she’d swept up her hair to expose the slender column of her neck. Her make-up was minimal, as usual, except tonight she wore red lipstick. Not cherry red, but a deep beckoning color, glistening on her lips, begging—
Beside him, Justin gave a low, appreciative whistle. “Take a look at that.”
Jordan spun in the booth. “Oh, yeah. Good thing you like blondes Colton, this one’s mine.”
“I saw her first,” Justin protested.
Kendra said something to the bartender, and he nodded toward someone sitting on a stool halfway down the bar. The man was probably in his late thirties, maybe even forty, and he was dressed in a suit—a really expensive-looking suit. Colton glanced down at his jeans and casual shirt before growling, “Quit it you idiots. She’s taken.”
He took a drink, and silently reiterated his objective for spying on her in the first place.
Kendra took a deep breath as she set her purse on the weathered bar. The man the bartender pointed out glanced over with a polite smile, then did a double take and a slow turn. Though his appreciation did wonders for her ego, she was suddenly uncomfortable and wished she could’ve worn something more appropriate.
Your lie, her conscience reminded. Unfortunately, she’d run into Colton, Mr. Sexy Casual, at the house just before getting dressed for her ‘hot date’. So instead of the jeans and sweater she’d planned to wear, she chose the only dress she had to substantiate her lie in case he saw her leave.
“Hi.” Michael Kabara’s deep, rich voice matched the one on the phone.
“Mr. Kabara, I’m Kendra Zelner.” She offered her hand for a polite handshake; he raised it to his lips instead.
“The pleasure is all mine. Please, call me Michael.”
Her cheeks heated at his flirtatious tone, but she quickly pulled her hand away and sat down while he signaled the bartender. When she ordered a light beer from one of the local brews, his eyebrows rose.
“An acquired taste from college,” she explained.
“Not so long ago?”
She smiled. “True. And you don’t have to be so polite about asking my age. I’m twenty-four.” After thanking the bartender for her drink, she caught an openly interested expression on Michael’s face. “And you?”
He grinned. “Thirty-nine.”
How utterly frustrating that the attractive man in front of her stirred nothing more than the hope that he could help her, and it had nothing to do with his age. “Just a few years older than my brother, Joel.” She took a sip of her beer and added, “You even kind of look like him.”
Michael chuckled. “I’ll take that as a compliment. And on that note, let’s get down to business, shall we?”