Chapter 6
“JOSH SUMMERS. JUST the man I wanted to see.”
Shifting the pastry box to his left hand, Josh raised his right and waved to Noah. “Hate to disappoint you, but I stopped by on this fine Saturday morning to share homemade cinnamon rolls with Caroline.”
“She’s not in yet,” Dominic announced as he pushed through the door that led to the staff only area in back. “She’s running five, maybe ten minutes late. Josie’s giving her a ride over, but she had to stop and change the baby first.”
“Have a seat,” Noah ordered in his best don’t-mess-with-the-former-Marine voice. He nodded to the line of empty barstools.
Big Buck’s didn’t open for another fifteen minutes and Josh knew the room filled fast on weekends thanks to the nearby university crowd. He’d never gone the college rou
te, but he supposed that if he had he’d have preferred to study while sipping a pint of Oregon’s finest microbrew.
Knowing he’d have to face the firing squad eventually, Josh set the box on the counter and claimed a stool. He eyed Dominic as the soldier-turned-bartender joined Noah behind the bar. Josh had planned to kick off the weekend with a sugarcoated kiss in the bar’s back room. Instead, he was getting a lesson in Interrogation 101 from a former army ranger—Dominic—and Noah.
“You can each have one roll,” Josh said as he flipped open the box. “But the rest are for Caroline.”
Noah reached into the box first. “How was your date Monday?”
“And your movie night on Tuesday?” Dominic added.
“Good.” Josh smiled at the large blond bartender who managed to make the simple act of eating a cinnamon roll look menacing. But Josh was a long way from breaking under their fierce stares. Though he had to admit Dominic’s dark hair and trimmed beard gave him a leg up in the threatening department. Add in the fact that both men played high school football and led their team to the state championship and you had one hell of an interrogation team.
But Josh had known these guys since they played in the peewee leagues even though they’d never been close. They’d lived in different school districts and their hometowns were about an hour apart. It cut into the intimidation factor.
“Where did you go on Monday?” Dominic asked as he examined the box’s contents.
“Caroline didn’t tell you?” Josh added a hint of feigned shock to his tone.
Noah shook his head. “Caroline told Josie that she should have worn her combat boots. But that’s it. So where did you take her? The local pizza place in Independence Falls?”
“For a first date?” Josh raised an eyebrow. “No, I went with someplace more romantic. And private.”
He watched Noah bite down hard on the soft, fluffy pastry. And yeah, it was difficult not to laugh. But Josh managed as he plucked a roll from the box. He’d tasted one at home, but he had a feeling this conversation might drag on a while. The smell was too damn tempting to resist a second. If he had a third with Caroline, well hell, he’d hike it off later. Or maybe dance it off while he stripped down for Caroline . . .
Dominic rested his forearms on the polished wooden bar. “Just how private are we talking?”
“Are we really doing this?” Josh asked.
“Answer the damn question,” Noah said.
“I’m just saying, if we’re suddenly ‘BBFs’ and all”—Josh paused and took a bite of his roll—“we might want to break out the nail polish before I fill you in on the down-and-dirty details from my dates.”
“What down-and-dirty details?” Dominic growled.
Josh grinned. “Well, things got pretty wild in the hot tub.”
“Fuck,” Noah muttered.
“Not that wild,” Josh said, trying to add a note of o-woe-is-me to his voice. “But I have high hopes for next time. And don’t worry, I’ll tell you everything at our post-date sleepover.”
And now you laugh, Josh thought. But the army ranger and the Marine had packed away their sense of humor for the day.
“Look, Josh, I’ve known your family a long time,” Noah said. “And you seem like a good guy. But I swear—”
“I see,” Josh cut in with a nod. “This isn’t a heart-to-heart talk.”
“If you hurt Caroline, if you push her to do something she isn’t ready for, we’re going to have problems,” Noah continued.