Kristina Knight - Famous In A Small Town

Her palms went clammy.

Adam said something to Collin, and Collin squinted his eyes. Savannah smoothed her hands over her hair. She wasn’t the tagalong kid trailing after her brother. She was a grown woman with a life to lead.

Okay, so her life was currently in shambles around her, but it didn’t have to stay that way. She could fix it. Adam would be a bit of a morale booster.

Collin could suck a lemon between his perfect teeth while eating his heart out for not noticing her.

She swallowed and took a steadying breath.

Adam shrugged. Collin looked annoyed.

Savannah straightened her shoulders as she arrived at the corner booth. The room seemed too quiet, not that it had been all that loud to begin with. Other than her group of high school friends, only a handful of townies occupied the bar.

Thom Hall, owner of the best restaurant in town, and his wife sat at a side table, feeding the jukebox quarters. Felix Brown, owner of the marina, leaned his beefy forearms on the bar as he talked to Merle. A few young people she didn’t recognize. No one was paying any attention to the table in the corner, so why did she suddenly feel as if a spotlight was shining down on her?

“I’m not interested in no-strings sex,” Collin was saying, and the words seemed to vibrate around the table.

Savannah let a playful smile settle on her face. This was going to be simpler than she’d thought. Any time a man said he didn’t need or want random sex, it was exactly what he needed. At least, in her experience.

Not that she was going to have sex with Collin. She was here for Adam.

Bland, boring Adam.

She should have stayed at the bar. But since she was here... “That’s too bad. I hear no-strings sex is the best kind to have.” The words rolled from her mouth like she’d practiced them. It was exactly what Savannah would have said to a regular bar guy. The words seemed idiotic here, though.

Collin looked at her, blinking his eyes as if he were an opossum coming out of its den.

“Savannah Walters. Look at you,” Adam said, whistling a little bit.

“Hello, Adam. Hi, Collin,” she said, slipping into the booth beside Adam, and still, she couldn’t keep her eyes off Collin. His blond hair was cut short and he wore a faded ball cap that read Tyler Orchards with a tree of some sort embroidered on the front. “So, what are you boys up to tonight?”

“Shooting the breeze. Playing darts. Exciting Wednesday night in Slippery Rock,” Adam said after a moment.

“Mmm.” Savannah nodded as if Adam had said they were heading out to a red-carpet awards show. “It’s good to see you again, Collin. You’ll be happy to know I made it to a gas station in one piece.”

Adam’s gaze darted between her and his friend. Collin didn’t say anything; he just stared at the glass in his hands.

“Who won?” Savannah picked up one of the darts and twirled it in her fingers, then threw it neatly at the board where it hit bull’s-eye.

“Nice throw,” Adam said. Collin stared into the glass of Coke between his big hands.

“You learn a few things when you sling beers here.”

Savannah focused on Adam. Clearly, Collin had zero interest in her and, if she was going to salvage this night, she needed to make sure Adam had at least a little interest.

“Levi and James.” Adam looked from Collin to Savannah. “I’m just going to go,” he said, looking uncomfortable for perhaps the first time in his life.

“I was hoping you’d dance with me,” she said, using her best, most sultry voice.

Adam shook his head. “That’s not a good idea.”

“Why not?”

Thom Hall and his wife walked to the door, waving at Merle and the marina owner as they left.

Adam held up his left hand and a thin gold band glinted in the low, bar lighting. “My wife’s understanding about the weekly dart throw, but she’s not so good with other women. But it was good to see you, Savannah.” He looked pointedly over her shoulder, and Savannah slid out of the booth, feeling like a fool. Of course Adam was married. All the good, solid, normal, forgettable guys were married. And she’d just made a complete fool of herself—again—in front of Collin.

“I’d forgotten you were married,” she said, the words sounding lame to her ears. How could she have forgotten that Adam got married to the homecoming queen as soon as she graduated high school, and right after Aiden left town for California?

“No worries.” Adam threw a quick hug around her shoulders. “It was good to see you, Savannah. I’ll leave an extra tip for Juanita at the bar,” he said as he started for the bar. “Losers always tip.”

He stopped at the register, handed a few bills over to Merle and then exited the bar. Savannah realized her pretend friends were gone, too. Merle wiped down the bar, but ignored them, and Juanita had disappeared into the back room. Leaving her alone with Collin and a jukebox playing a song about a battered woman killing her husband. Savannah wanted to leave, but wasn’t sure how to excuse herself.

“Looks like we have the place to ourselves,” Savannah said.

“Slippery Rock closes down around ten, remember?”

“Surely not every place in town is closed down.” She sat across the table from him.

Collin looked at her, really looked, for the first time since she’d come over to the table. Savannah swallowed again, but this time not in anticipation. He looked at her as if...as if he didn’t like what he saw. His sharp blue gaze studied her face for a long moment and then traveled down her neck, hesitating slightly when it reached her breasts. The table hid her long legs, but still she curled them back toward the booth bottom.

“I’m not sure what kind of game you’re playing, Savannah, but whatever it is, I’m not in the mood.”

“I’m...I’m not playing games.”

Except she was, and she hated it.

He smiled but the expression wasn’t friendly. This smile didn’t make butterflies flap in her belly. This smile turned those sweet, sweet butterflies into roving vultures intent on eating her alive.

“Sure you are.”

Maybe direct was the better way to go where Collin was concerned. Maybe it was time she stopped playing games altogether.

“Okay, I am. But I’m a big girl and I know the rules.” She ran her hand over Collin’s, and the flash of heat at the contact seemed to spike the temperature around them. Despite the dim light, she saw his pupils dilate, his nostrils flare. He didn’t pull his hand away. She brushed her fingertips over his once more. The heat didn’t intensify but it didn’t disappear, either. “Would you like to dance?”

CHAPTER FOUR

THIS WAS A MISTAKE. A big, huge, lose-the-game-in-overtime mistake.

Collin drew his hand away from Savannah’s. “That isn’t a good idea.”

She tilted her head to the left and widened her eyes a little, but he knew she wasn’t confused. “Why not?”

Because the last thing he wanted to do with Savannah Walters was dance. An image of their bodies moving in time to some beat he couldn’t place formed in his mind. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the last thing he wanted.

In his imagination, though, they were dancing without clothes and Savannah getting naked with him was very definitely off-limits.

The last thing Savannah Walters had ever wanted was to live in a small town.

Whereas he wanted small town. He liked living and working in a place where he knew everyone.

Then there was Amanda to consider. He was her brother, not her father, but he was all the girl had and he needed to give her security. Taking Savannah back to the orchard, bringing home someone who wouldn’t stick around, was a disaster waiting to happen.

Savannah slid from the booth and sashayed across the dimly lit bar, stopping next to the jukebox. She slipped a quarter through the slot, and Collin heard it ping down the chute. Then she tapped a couple of keys and music filled the empty bar.