11. Second Chances

Princes needing princesses? What the hell kind of Kool-Aid was Dixie drinking, and could Noah have some? Dixie was always good for a chuckle or two, like pointing out that she and Hailey weren't men—a fact he was painfully aware of, especially when it came to Hailey, her big blue eyes, and her sweet, sweet scent.

Though he hated to admit it, his main reason for going to Doc Embry's this morning wasn't so much about the dog. What had spurred him was Dixie telling him Hailey would be there. And when he'd first set eyes on her, an inconvenient electrical current had sparked in his bloodstream … one that was still sparking.

She was dressed in a purplish-blue fleece top that hugged her curves—curves that had been plastered against him not that long ago—along with indigo jeans tucked into shearling-lined boots. Her honey-colored hair was gathered in a thick ponytail he wanted to sift through his fingers.

Do not go there.

She yanked him off his lusty cloud. "I'd love to see your dog before things get too crazy in here."

Your dog. He needed to get used to that. "Sure. I'll take you up there now."

He led her to the back, where he unlocked the door to his apartment. When she shot him a questioning look, he answered with, "Habit. I lock my office too, though there's not much to steal in either place. But anyone can let themselves in this back door without being seen, so it keeps the honest people honest."

"Have you thought about installing a camera?"

"Yeah, but I've thought about a lot of things that haven't made it to the top of the priority list because they cost too much."

As he plodded up the narrow staircase, his mind ping-ponged from whether they were too steep for Hailey to whether he'd left the place messy. He opened the door cautiously, in case Rover decided to make a break for it, ushering her in when he had eyes on the dog curled up on the kitchen mat—instead of the expensive, fluffy new bed Noah had arranged beside the couch.

"Unbelievable," he muttered.

As soon as Rover spotted Hailey, he leaped up and charged her. Dropping to one knee, she braced for the dog's greeting. "Oh my! Who's happy to see me, huh?"

The animal's tail whirled like a propeller. Noah couldn't blame him; if he had a tail, he'd be wagging too. Instead, he took a moment to survey the apartment, making sure he hadn't left behind a crumpled pair of boxers on his way to the shower or an old issue of Playboy opened to the centerfold. He trod to the kitchen sink, relieved it was empty of dirty dishes.

Hailey laughed and cooed while deftly redirecting the dog's enthusiastic tongue. Her eyes lifted above the dog's head, fixing on Noah. "Lex Luthor is a completely different dog. Is it okay for him to be so active right now?"

"Neve said it was all right." Noah leaned a hip against an undersized butcher-block island. "And it's Rover. For now." When her brows knitted together in bewilderment, he added, "I can't bring myself to call him Lex Luthor."

"Do you have any other names in mind?"

"Nope. Got any ideas?"

She turned her attention back to the mutt, and Noah took full advantage, letting his eyes coast up and down her lithe frame. He'd never brought a woman into this private space besides his mom and Dixie, and it struck him how natural having Hailey here felt … as though she fit.

The next instant had him virtually whacking himself upside the head. He had neither the time nor the emotional bandwidth to pursue this girl. Besides, he'd just left another woman's bed two days ago. What did that make him? Never mind that he'd been caught in a moment of weakness after a long dry spell. Six years ago, he would have proudly worn a badge emblazoned with "Stud," but now? That same medallion would weigh on him like a hunk of lead and be so tarnished the moniker would be obliterated.

The girl who so seamlessly blended into his loft brought herself upright, and the dog stuffed his big nose into her palm. "As a matter of fact, I do." A little grin tugged her pretty mouth. "What if you have a naming contest for him tonight? The winner gets … oh, I don't know. Free beer for a year?"

He shook his head vigorously. "Not with the way this town drinks."

"A free meal, then?" She held up her pointer, and her vibrant blue eyes gleamed. "Or how about this? A hundred-dollar credit at the Miners Tavern and have a box they can stuff with suggestions all week long. Say you'll announce the winner this weekend to keep them coming in for the rest of the week. The extra boost in sales will pay for the credit. And if you're lucky, the winner will be an out-of-towner who doesn't cash in. Double win."

Her excitement bubbled over, and Noah smoothed his beard to hide a smile. "I like that idea. Thank you, Hailey Bailey."

Her eyes scanned his apartment, and apprehension sprouted inside him. What if she didn't like what she saw? "If you have a box or a can and some markers, I'll whip something together."

Panic gave way to relief. "You sure you want to go to the trouble?"

"What else am I going to do? I don't have any wheels to get me where I need to go. And it'll be one small repayment for everything you've done for me." A little cloud passed through her eyes.

Whoa.Was he actually reading her signals? Concern had him blurting out, "What's wrong?"

She flapped a hand. "Nothing. I just remembered I sent my office an email first thing this morning, but I haven't heard back."

"They're probably stuck too. Wanna call them?"

She pulled a face. "No."

He was about to ask about her reaction when she abruptly turned and brushed past him. "I'll find Dixie and get started on that box." Her honeysuckle fragrance—or was that jasmine?—drifted over him, and he fought the urge to snuffle like Rover. Instead, he fell in behind her—also like Rover. "I'll go with you."

Soothing the dog, he closed the door with a promise to come back. He jogged after Hailey, who was at the foot of the stairs saying hello to Reece. As she walked away, Reece's gaze went with her, fueling a flicker of jealousy in Noah's chest.

"Hey," Noah barked.

Reece whipped his head up. "Heard you need some help behind the bar tonight."

"I need help everywhere," Noah snapped.

Reece's eyebrows climbed up his forehead.

Noah muttered an apology. "Sorry. Guess I'm … People are going to want to get their Irish on tonight, and I'm not sure we have everything we need."

Dixie materialized from out of nowhere. "Boss, about that. I didn't want to spoil your appetite, but now that you've eaten, I have some bad news." She filled him in on the state of his staff, and a sinking feeling had his stomach churning the stew like it was wet cement. Saint Patrick's was the bar's second biggest night, right behind New Year's Eve. He was down a third of his waitstaff, and winter's last hurrah was about to cap an abysmal first quarter for his business.

She patted his arm. "Don't worry. I have some ideas. Oh, and one more thing." The knots in Noah's shoulders tightened. "I got a call late yesterday about the band you hired. Their manager said they can't make it."

Noah clenched his jaw to keep it from exploding. "And you're just now telling me?"

"Well, you were so exhausted and all, and I didn't want to bother you after you went upstairs. Besides, what could you do about it? I told Dewey I thought it best to let you sleep." She glanced over Noah's shoulder. "Isn't that right, Dewey?" To Noah, she added, "Dewey's the one that took the call, but him or me's the same thing."

The absurd notion that they were the same thing streaked through Noah's brain. Dixie and Dewey reminded him of a matching pair of salt and pepper shakers. Not the same, but best together and not a duo that should ever be separated. Why this ridiculous thought was taking up space in his head escaped him. His circuits were likely fried after this last piece of shitty news.

Dewey faced him and grimaced, but then Dewey always seemed to grimace. "He didn't want to chance getting over the pass."

Noah shoved frustrated hands through his hair. "I've been advertising these guys for-fucking-ever, and they pull out at the eleventh hour because of a little weather? What the hell am I supposed to do now?" he asked no one in particular.

Reece's face split in a grin. "We could get the band back together."

Apparently, Dixie took this crazy idea seriously. "If I can find enough fill-ins, you three could entertain the folks."

Hailey joined the tight knot in the hallway, standing beside Reece, which annoyed the hell out of Noah. "Entertain how?"

Dixie checked her nails. "The Hunnicutt brothers have a little ol' rock-and-roll band."

Hailey's eyes lit up. "Really?" She pointed at Noah. "What do you play, barkeep?"

"Drums. But I'll be tending bar," Noah argued. The gleam in her eyes made him reconsider. Was Hailey into musicians? He could be a musician. Wait. No, he couldn't, and he shouldn't if it was a turn-on for her. Besides, he had a bar to run. "We haven't played since last summer, and don't forget those little details like setting up the gear. Who's gonna do that?" He was sure this reality would bring their freight train of nonsense to a screeching halt. He was wrong.

"I can do setup and teardown in my sleep," Dewey volunteered.

Dixie put a hand to the side of her mouth and whisper-shouted to Hailey, "He used to be a roadie for Van Halen."

The preposterous idea seemed to be growing legs. Noah felt his control slipping away—if he ever had it in the first place—and a headache bloomed behind his eyes. "No. End of discussion." He stormed to his office, Reece hot on his heels.

In the quiet of his sanctum, he dropped into his office chair while Reece parked his ass on the couch. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to see your dog. Neve filled me in on what happened to him."

Noah relished the opportunity to turn some tables and needle his brother. "I see you went to her first."

"Straight from the horse's mouth."

"Why don't you two just get it over with already?"

"Get what over with?" Reece challenged.

"Scratch each other's itches. Get some RR between the sheets. You've both been dancing around it since high school."

Reece's jaw firmed in a stubborn set. "Not gonna happen. I don't think about her that way."

"Well, it's pretty obvious she thinks about you that way."

"Even if I did, I'm pretty sure Charlie got there first, and that would be plain weird. So let's drop it, okay?"

Noah held up his hands in surrender.

Reece leaned forward, elbows on his thighs. "Back to the other reason I'm here. I'm volunteering my services for the evening since you're stretched thin."

"Oh. I appreciate that." Guilt surged inside Noah for giving his brother a bad time. "Hey, I never heard the outcome of the lost skiers."

"Not good," Reece murmured. "That's another motivation for helping out tonight. I could use a change of scene, you know? Where people are happy and living … life."

"Shit, dude, I'm sorry. Need to vent?"

Reece shook his head.

"Fair enough." Noah rose to his feet. "Let's introduce you to my dog." He was anxious to check on him anyway.

They climbed the stairs, and Noah was dismayed to find the mutt curled up on the kitchen mat again. The tiny rug couldn't have been comfortable for the animal's bony frame. The dog raised wary brown eyes and fastened them on Reece, who hunched over before dropping onto the couch.

Noah snickered. "What are you doing?"

"Figured if I look small and sit quietly, he might wander over and say hello. I don't want to freak him out. While we wait for him to warm up, why don't you fill me in on the latest with your train idea?"

Noah parked himself beside the dog. "Who the fuck knows. I've been trying to get a meeting with the developers and decided to just pay them a visit out of the blue, but the storm had other ideas."

Reece smirked. "I thought their liaison, who shall not be named,was setting that up."

Noah snorted. "Their liaison isn't big on communicating with me unless it suits her. And most days it doesn't. I have a sneaking suspicion she's making sure I'm not included in any of their brainstorming sessions. I'm having to do an end around, and I'm not sure how that's going to go over with the big boys."

"So she's playing gatekeeper."

"Yeah, and she basically threw away the key."

Reece slid a sidelong glance at the dog, who remained stubbornly fixed in his spot. "She's probably torqued you haven't crawled back with a five-carat-diamond peace offering."

"Maybe. With Ursula, it's always been about the money. Now that I'm not dropping hundreds by the boatload, she's busy harvesting greener pastures."

"Does that bother you?"

Noah's answer came quickly. "No. Honestly, it's kind of a relief." He had come to the conclusion he'd been trying to jam the proverbial square peg into a round hole for reasons he had yet to comprehend. It had taken the humiliation of a lifetime for him to recognize a relationship couldn't get to the next level if it wasn't on a foundation to begin with. He silently thanked his parents for that jewel.

"I gotta say, little bro, I'm proud of you. It's been over a year since you broke it off. No lie, I was worried there for a long time that she was your drug and you couldn't break your addiction."

"It wasn't an addiction. It was me being stubborn—not to mention shortsighted and stupid." Noah hadn't realized it at the time, but Wyatt's wedding had been his last pitch at something with Ursula beyond their high school romance. After the shock of what happened wore off, he'd come away feeling like he'd advanced to the adult classes while she languished in middle school.

"Well, I'm glad to hear she's not going to be my sister-in-law. Her brand of drama doesn't mesh well with our family dynamic." Reece's eyes strayed to Noah's laptop, open on the coffee table. "Is that … Are you watching surfing on YouTube?"

Aw, shit! Had Hailey seen it too? Noah had been so worried about dirty underwear and dirty pictures that he'd totally spaced on something far more compromising.

"Uh, yeah. Broadening my horizons." Noah lunged for the computer, where his new favorite clips were still looping.

"Hang on." Reece held up a bracing arm and leaned in. "Sweet, but why? Didn't know that was a sport you were into."

"No reason." Noah's hand hovered, poised to snatch the device from Reece's line of sight.

"Hey, that looks like … Wait! It is Hailey Bailey!"

Noah groaned. On the screen, they'd switched from film of her maneuvering inside a barrel to a close-up of her being interviewed, her loose hair kissed blond by the sun. The bottom ticker scrolled her name, along with stats Noah had yet to decipher—he'd been way too distracted by the athlete to unravel how the competitions worked and the nuances of the scoring criteria.

Very young and very wet, said athlete spoke into the mic as if she'd done it her entire life … probably because she had done it her entire life. Though she was muted, her poise was evident—as were the curves under a hot pink surf suit.

Reece slapped his thigh. "She surfs!"

"Correction: she surfed." Noah picked up the laptop and minimized the window.

"Holy shit, now that's badass!"

And so fucking hot!"Yeah, but it was a long time ago." Noah executed a jerky shrug.

The dog picked that moment to sidle over to Reece, and Reece held out a hand. The mutt licked it. "Wow! Progress." Reece glanced up at Noah. "He doesn't know how good he's got it yet, does he? You're his second chance."

"He'll figure it out. Hey! That'd be a great name for him."

Reece's eyebrow dipped. "What would?"

"Chance."

"I thought you were having a naming contest."

"I am, but no one has to know I picked a name, do they? Besides, Hailey had a hell of an idea, and I want it to play out."

Reece regarded him for a moment. "You like this girl, don't you?"

"No!" Noah's too-loud protest teased another smirk from his brother.

"That denial says it all."

"I barely know her," Noah spluttered.

"After what you guys went through? I bet you know her better than most women you've spent time with, and I'm not talking about in the biblical sense. People open up a lot when they believe they might not make it. The alter egos, the pretenses, the games melt away, and you're left with who that person is at their core. Trust me on this one."

After his years in search and rescue, Reece had the experience to back up his statement. But while he might have been right about Noah seeing the real Hailey, Noah wasn't ready to admit it to his brother or himself. His thoughts took an unfortunate detour to her seeing him as he really was, and he winced inside at the crappy impression he'd probably left her with … until the word "sweet" bubbled up.

"Idon't have the time, the money, or the energy for anything beyond the occasional—" Noah stopped himself from saying "hookup" as guilt over Sandy slammed into him.

"Keep telling yourself that, bro. Watching surfing videos says otherwise." Reece stood, startling the dog, who slinked back to the kitchen. "Well, shit. I thought we were pals."

"He'll warm up. I think. I hope." After Reece left, Noah turned to the dog. "Hey, Chance, it's okay. See? He's gone."

Chance surprised the snot out of Noah when he walked over to his fancy bed, had a sniff, and plunked down with his head on his front paws. He let out an enormous canine sigh.

"Huh. Guess you like your new name. Well, that's one bright spot in the shit-show that's my life today."

Noah stripped off his flannel and skinned on a Miners Tavern T-shirt over his Henley. With a resigned exhale, he headed out of his sanctuary, down the stairs, and into battle.