Chapter 1
Plateau
Paxton
“What the hell is she doing here?” Cade pinned me with a glare as he tilted his head toward the front door, an unspoken request to look in that direction.
Glancing over my shoulder, I scanned the patrons of Whiskey Nights until she came into view.
Rachel Cambridge.
Evan let out a low whistle. “She looks pretty hot.”
Cade scoffed. “That’s fine and dandy if you don’t mind a big side of crazy.”
Frowning, I watched her tug down the hem of her fitted top as she gracefully sashayed down the main aisle as if it were a runway. “She’s not crazy.” Something about her forced people to take notice when she entered the room, and I watched as several people, men and women alike, turned to watch her, her allure causing them to lose their discretion as they openly stared. One woman snapped her fingers in front of her date’s face, forcing him to tear his eyes away from her shapely body.
“Are you still going out with her?” Cade asked, his face scrunched up in distaste.
I smacked him on the shoulder. “Lighten up, bro. You look like an eighty-year-old grandmother who forgot to take her Metamucil.”
He didn’t smile, but his facial muscles relaxed as he continued, “Excuse the hell out of me if I think your girlfriend showing up at her ex-husband’s bar is a really bad idea—especially since his current girlfriend owns half of it and she’s here somewhere, too.”
I couldn’t disagree with his logic. Mason Cambridge and I were friends, and while he couldn’t care less that I had dated his ex-wife, I would never intentionally bring her to Whiskey Nights, the bar that he owned with his current girlfriend, Lexi Swafford.
In fact, I, myself, had only started frequenting Whiskey Nights in the last few months since my younger brother, Cade, and I had finally called a truce after a longstanding feud between us regarding another woman—a woman to which we had both been attracted.
My brother’s marriage to Seren Flanagan four months ago put an end to that problem. Luckily, I didn’t have the same difficulty with our youngest sibling, Evan.
I turned back around and took a long pull of my beer as I watched Haley Cambridge pour a draft into a frosty mug. Not only was she the bartender, but she was also Mason’s little sister. She would definitely recognize Rachel.
My brothers, Cade and Evan, turned their attention back to the bar. Since Cade and I had reconciled our differences, we’d decided that the Mayfield brothers would spend a little time together every Thursday afternoon drinking a beer and shooting the breeze. We only had one rule. No women.
“I haven’t been out with her in weeks,” I said, answering Cade’s question from earlier. “Maybe her being here has nothing to do with me.” Why would it? Even though she knew I met my brothers here every Thursday, she also knew the no women rule.
Cade turned to look at me, discreetly glancing in her direction with his peripheral vision. “If I were you, I wouldn’t take that bet. She’s heading this way.”
I smelled her perfume before I felt her hands covering my eyes.
“Guess who?” she cooed, her soft voice drifting over my shoulder as her hair tickled my jaw.
Her hands were cool as they pressed against my face. I lifted my arms, taking her hands in my palms. “Rachel,” I greeted, “what brings you here?”
She dropped into the empty barstool beside me, crossing her long legs as she propped her heel on the footrest. “It’s been a while. I’m going to be in Creekview a few days. Thought I’d stop by and see what you’ve been up to.”
“Working mostly.”
“Sounds like you could use a little fun.” A manicured nail trailed along the edge of her face, smoothing back her long blonde hair.
I took the bait. “Maybe we could get together tomorrow night. You free?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” I promised, trying to keep our conversation to the point, so her interruption would be minimal.
She tilted her chin. “Tomorrow then.” She peered around me, waving to Cade and Evan. “Bye, guys.”
“Bye, Rachel,” they said in unison.
Rachel pushed herself off the stool, swept her palm across my shoulder, and left.
“So what’s the story with her?” Evan asked.
“She’s looking for a husband,” Cade responded.
“She is not,” I corrected him. “Just a little companionship. Try to remember what it was like before you were married.”
“I’m just keeping it real, Pax,” Cade said. “If she gets half a chance, she’ll have a ring on your finger.” He took a swig of his beer. “You do know she wants kids, right?”