Burned

Burned


Nikki Duncan



Chapter One

Hauk Michaelsen swiped a rag across the teakwood bar as a chilled, liquor-and-bar-food scented breeze swept through the open wall panels. Aimee Smith, his newest waitress and only employee who hadn’t called in sick, cleared dishes off the few remaining tables and carried them into the kitchen. Fortunately for them both it had been a quiet night.

“Nothin’ like couples in love and snuggled together.”

Hauk smiled at old man Byron Mitchell and kept wiping as he worked his way down to the rum bottles. At most, he would have two minutes before he was asked for a refill. He’d guess closer to thirty seconds.

As if on cue, Byron raised his glass to signal for more. “You almost had that.”

“A couple times,” Hauk acknowledged. Loving the man as much as he loved his own grandparents in Norway, Hauk grinned as he poured more rum for Byron.

Hauk didn’t like talking about his past, avoided it when he could, so hoping to sidetrack Byron, he asked, “You planning more matchups?”

“Doesn’t look like they need any help.” Byron waggled his brows at the couples in the bar. One swayed on the dance floor to a country ballad on the jukebox. Another near the open wall heeded the encouragement of the wind and huddled closer together, despite the warmth they would likely feel from the outdoor heaters. “Now you…you haven’t been with anyone since Jean Marie.”

“Nope. And it’s going to stay that way.” Hauk shook his head and backed up a step. Even if he did relationships, he didn’t have time for one. “You aren’t going to pair me off.”

“As if the idea of a good woman waiting when you get home is such a bad one.”

“There isn’t a woman good enough in Whispering Cove.” Or safe enough.

“You work too hard. The right partner would ease some of the burden you carry. A woman who would be a good momma for your Sophie.”

“My life isn’t a burden.” Mostly. Though the mention of his daughter, who was in bed sick in their apartment upstairs, hit that soft spot in his soul that only Sophie could command. The spot that made something inside him tremble with the need to give her everything she wanted and the mother she needed.

“Maybe not, but your Sophie deserves better.”

“Better than what I’ve given her?” A suddenly awakened affront strained against his tone. He didn’t care.

“Better than a mother who walks out on her.”

Krista hadn’t been willing to share herself with their daughter. He couldn’t deny that any more than he could argue against the importance of Sophie having a woman role model. They were lucky to have Vic, who his daughter adored, as a friend. And though he found her attractive—outright sexy—she was only a friend. He couldn’t let Vic become more, and he couldn’t give Sophie a mother.

Only once since Krista had he allowed a woman close enough to begin thinking of her as a mother for his daughter. Jean Marie had been everything he thought Sophie would need, but a rock-climbing accident had robbed them of the chance to find out.

No woman since had moved him enough to make trying worth the risk.

Still, watching his friends get mated up and hitched, watching them start their own families had him thinking about forgotten dreams and the things he’d planned for his life. Those memories, and the tragedies and hardships they’d circled around to, inevitably led him to thoughts of what he’d actually ended up with. A life without companionship, because it was the only way to keep things uncomplicated.

He’d needed uncomplicated after his wife’s body had been found battered on the beach and he’d been investigated. The town had been behind him then, just as they were now. Even with the occasional, lingering whispers of the bad luck surrounding women in his life, living in Whispering Cove was much better than anything he could have planned.

“It’s a disgrace, I tell you.”

Hauk leaned against the bar and prepared to listen to Byron rant. The man believed everyone between twenty-five and forty should be married and growing families, but Hauk wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of a direct acknowledgment. Not that he thought any response was safe. “What’s a disgrace?”

“That poor girl still hasn’t found the right man, and with the barnacle-suckin’ men trollin’ around town, she never will.”

Hauk smiled. Byron might claim not to be matchmaking, but someone had caught his attention. As long as he was left alone, Hauk didn’t care. “Which girl?”

“Poor Victoria.” Byron studied his rum, shaking his head as if tragically saddened. “I saw her out with Sean last night.”