Chapter Nineteen

As she drove back into town, she contemplated stopping for groceries. But instead of being the responsible adult she knew she should be, she swung her car into the back parking lot of Declan’s bar. Dec offered an all-day breakfast special. She’d get some delicious scrambled eggs with a great view. Why couldn’t she feel about Zach the way she did about Declan? Like he was a friend. A hot friend, but not one she wanted to cross a line with. How come the guy that ended up inspiring all sorts of wicked fantasies had to be the one in her house and her clinic?

Her Converse slapped against the concrete and she marveled at how nice it felt not to have so much weight on her shoulders. There was paperwork to do, and she needed to clean out the barn; she had a couple loads of laundry and really did need food. But she could take this extra half hour and show her face, remind people that Stella Lane did, indeed, exist outside of her clinic walls.

Declan was behind the bar when she stepped inside. He was a known player with a heart of gold, a love of all things super hero, and a strong business sense. Might be the perfect candidate for getting this restlessness out of your system. A hell of a better choice than someone you’d have to see day in and day out. That’s how the term “friends with benefits” came into existence. There must be something to the theory.

“Hey there, Stell,” Declan greeted, looking up from cutting limes.

“Hey, yourself. How’s it going?” She boosted herself onto one of the stools at the far end of the bar. Bruce Springsteen played over the speakers, telling the dozen or so patrons about Thunder Road.

“I’m good. How’s saving the animal kingdom going?” He slipped the limes into a small bowl and cleaned the cutting board.

“It’s…really good actually. Zach is making things a lot easier. Plus, I have a practicum student who is doing really well. I’ll be sorry to see him go. How about ordering me your all-day breakfast special?”

Declan wiped his hands and came over, setting a napkin in front of her. “You got it. How do you want your eggs and what kind of toast?”

Her mouth watered. “Scrambled and whole wheat.”

“Want a drink?”

“Orange juice.”

“Sounds good. I like Zach, for what it’s worth. And not just because I got to take his money at my poker game.” Declan punched in her order and poured her an orange juice.

Stella bit down on her lip to hide her grin. “I heard about that. The other night was fun. We don’t do that often enough.”

“It was fun. We know some good people.”

Declan came back over, folded his arms over his chest, and though they were pleasant to look at, with all the ink trailing up and over in a series of patterns and designs, Stella’s stomach didn’t stir or dance.

“Speaking of two of those good people, Taylor and I were wondering if maybe we should throw a joint shower for Adam and Meg.”

Declan’s brows slammed together. “Unless we’re talking the slippery wet kind of shower, I’m pretty sure Adam would not want a piece of that.”

“Oh, come on.”

“No way,” Declan said, grinning. “Bachelor party. That’s what dudes want.”

She laughed at his indignation. “Adam isn’t exactly your typical dude.”

Dec nodded. “True. He’d probably like it less than most guys.”

Stella gave up and took a sip of her orange juice.

Leaning on the bar, Declan grinned again. “All this wedding shit make you dreamy eyed?”

Stella leaned in as well. “About as much as it makes you that way.”

His bark of laughter was the reaction she’d hoped for. “No thank you. I like my life the way it is.”

Stella started to say “me too,” but realized that feeling that way was fairly recent. She did like things the way they were now.

“Having a guy around the house full time isn’t giving you any ideas?”

Giving him a saucy grin, she just stared and he laughed again.

“Well, I’m glad he’s making life easier on you. He seems like a good guy. You deserve that. Maybe he’ll be the one to change your mind.”

When she looked up at him, his grin was far too wide. “Says the lifelong player.”

His smile didn’t fade. “You play while it’s fun. You stop when it isn’t. If I met someone who made me feel like Meg makes Adam feel or someone who took the weight off my shoulders as visibly as Zach’s removed it from yours, maybe I’d reconsider eternal bachelorhood.”

She didn’t want to talk about how Zach made her life better. Worse, she didn’t want to rely on it, even though she knew she already was. “You went to school with him, right?”

“I did. Didn’t know him, really. He was always on the edge of the social groupings. There, but not really part of anything.”

Uncertainty made her pause, but she needed to know. “How did his friend die?”

Declan looked around to make sure his staff didn’t need anything. There were less than a dozen people in the bar currently. He leaned on the counter, his usually happy eyes very somber.

“Growski and a bunch of other kids had a big party at the end of the school year. Do you remember that unused barn at the back of the Bakerfield property? No one in that family had stepped on the land in years?”

Stella thought about it and recalled the barely standing structure. Her father used to take her along when he did home visits and they’d pass it on the route through town.

“I’ve never actually been on the property, but I remember the building. It was torched years ago, wasn’t it?”

Something flashed in Declan’s features that warned Stella of what was to come. Her body tensed, ready to receive a blow.

“It was. That year. Growski and some others had conned a bunch of the quote unquote social outcasts into believing they were invited—that it was a graduation truce. I’m not sure what happened when they got there, but I know it wasn’t pretty. Something similar to college hazing, and in the end, Travis Mackleby died. No charges were pressed because it was ruled an accident and there’d been a lot of drinking. But it was pretty traumatic. I remember counselors coming in, talking to a lot of the kids.”

Learning that made Stella’s stomach feel as if she’d swallowed a lemon, rind and all. A fierce…what? Loyalty? Protectiveness? A sadness that she, or someone, couldn’t have saved Zach and Travis’s family from that pain.

A cook tapped the bell, and Declan went to get Stella’s breakfast. Before he came back, someone slid onto the stool beside her. She already knew it was Zach by the time she turned her head. It was like his scent had imprinted on her senses. Dammit. She didn’t want to look at him while she was feeling so much for him.

“Why so glum, Doc? We should be celebrating,” Zach said, his smile making her heart bounce again. Her heart was such an idiot.

Declan placed her food in front of her with a napkin rolled around utensils. “Hey Zach. How’s it going?”

“Not bad. When’s the next poker game?” he asked.

Declan grinned. “Not next Saturday, but the one after.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Glad I didn’t scare you away.”

Zach nodded. “I was just lulling you into a false sense of security,” he said, making Declan laugh while he stole a piece of bacon from Stella’s plate.

“Seriously? That’s mine,” she said.

Zach grinned and put half of it in his mouth, leaving half sticking out as he leaned his face forward, taunting her. Declan arched his brows and winked.

“You’re a dork,” Stella groused. She itched to snatch the half piece back. With your fingers! She picked up her fork and scooped up a bite of eggs.

“How about I order you one?” Declan said to Zach.

“Sounds good. Extra bacon. And I’ll take a Coke, please, when you have a minute.”

“I happen to have a few of them right now. It’ll be slow for another hour yet.” Declan wandered off to do as he’d said, leaving Stella almost thigh to thigh with Zach.

“Look at us spending our time off together.” Zach nudged her with his shoulder.

“Stop it. We both ended up at the same place. It’s a little different.” She liked bantering with him, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Declan’s words. The urge to hug him was irrational, but that didn’t make it go away.

“Yeah, but I’m going to talk you into a game of pool and when I beat you, you’re going to concede that the website and the photographer were both great ideas.”

Stella laughed around a bite full of eggs. “What makes you think you can beat me? Or that you have to do so in order for me to agree?”

Declan put a Coke in front of Zach and walked away to help a customer.

“You can be a stubborn woman, Doc.”

She started to argue, then quirked her lips and offered him another piece of bacon. Funny how, with the right tone, he could make the word “Doc” sound like a caress.

He widened his eyes in a teasingly mocking way. “What? Sharing without making me beg?”

Instant images of making him beg flashed in her brain, sending way-too-pleasant tingles across her skin.

“Remember that when I kick your ass at pool.”

His deep laugh turned Declan’s head and he looked over, a question in his gaze right before he gave her a smile that made most women melt. Why couldn’t that make her shiver?

Because life is never that simple.