placed Leah’s drink on a second coaster and lifted an eyebrow. “Marian said he’s a good-looking chap and she’s watching him. Do I need to watch him, too?”
Sasha smiled and slumped her shoulders. “No. I’ve got it under control. You can simmer down and tell Marian to do the same the next time you see her, okay?”
Dave winked. “You know we’re only looking out for you.”
“I know.” She lifted the drinks from the bar. “It’s appreciated, but John’s all right...considering.”
“Considering what?”
“Considering I’m still giving him the benefit of the doubt.” She smiled. “If at any point I think the guy needs reminding I’ve got the whole of Templeton looking out for me, I’ll let you know.”
He laughed. “I’m always here. You know that.”
She lifted her glass in a salute before turning and heading purposefully to a table as far away as possible from the small dance floor in one corner and the pool table and dart nook in the other. Despite her bravado with Dave, Sasha’s heart hammered with nerves. John Jordon was far from “all right” as far as her body was concerned.
The man was a walking, talking magnet to her libido and that meant trouble whichever way she looked at it.
She was used to mental and emotional knock backs, used to people pulling her from her intended path, but John Jordon was a different challenge than any she’d faced before. His cool blue stare and bright, sudden smile jolted her. Made her waver, doubt and feel. She cursed. Even now, she wanted to smile because she thought of him.
He was...interesting. That was it. Interesting...and phenomenal to look at.
She sat down and stared into the golden depths of her glass, twirling the stem back and forth with her fingers as the past twenty-four hours played through her mind. Once they’d return to work after leaving Marian’s, it became very clear, very quickly, both she and John had individually made the decision to keep their distance. It had been almost comical how they avoided each other, barely sharing more than a sentence or two for the rest of yesterday and all of today.
Freddy brooded and snorted his way around the fair, casting glares at her, John or anyone else in his line of sight. The atmosphere was stretched to breaking with the three of them biding their time to see who would cut the first inch and let some of the pressure escape.
Well, it won’t be me. Not yet. I want to know what both of my opponents have in mind before I decide what to do next. One wrong move and everything I have planned will crash and burn.
The bar door swung open and Sasha lifted her gaze. Leah, her best friend of the past ten years, came striding toward her, seemingly in time with the drumbeat of the soft rock ballad blasting from the speakers. Her blond, short-cropped hair and dark-rimmed glasses belied her friend’s soft nature. At five-three, new patients could’ve made the mistake of thinking Nurse Dixon a pushover...until she showed them who was boss with a syringe inserted into their bare ass cheek.
On a personal level, Leah was more cocker spaniel than rottweiler, but nobody would know that at Templeton A&E.
Her friend collapsed into the chair opposite Sasha, her brow furrowed and her cheeks flushed pink. “Wine. Fabulous.”
Sasha raised her eyebrow as Leah downed a hefty gulp and set the glass down with a satisfied smile. “Ahh, better. Much better.”
“Good day?” Sasha grinned.
Leah pinned Sasha with a glare, her huge hazel eyes glinting with a trace of potential violence. “Just peachy. I had to sew up a kid whose father decided he didn’t like the way his son was taking up so much of his mother’s time. He thumped him and split his eyebrow wide open to prove his point.”
Sasha’s smile dissolved and she gritted her teeth. “You deserve a medal working in the E.R. I’d be more likely to inflict further injury than fix them up.”
“Yeah, well, they train us to fight the urge to exact justice.” Leah took another gulp of wine. “So, what’s up? I love that we get to have a drink on a Saturday night.” She smiled and shifted forward on her seat. “It’s great you’re actually doing something with your night off rather than working.”
Sasha laughed. “You’re not really the person to tell me off for the hours I work.”
Leah grimaced. “Fair enough. So? What’s going on?”
“On? Or wrong?”
“Ah.”
Sasha inhaled a shaky breath and released it. “I’ve got a new boss.”
“What are you talking about?” Leah frowned. “I thought you were going to give Kyle your offer this week. What happened?”
“His son turned up.”
Leah’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding me.”
“I wish I was.”
“Kyle has a son?”
“Yep.”
“Well, what’s he like? Kyle in a younger, uglier form? If that’s possible.”
Sasha sighed. “I wish.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, he’s the handsomest man I’ve ever seen. All dark hair, blue eyes, built like a freaking model and about seven feet tall. He makes me feel...” Sasha shook her head. “Like a girl.”
Leah’s glass halted at her lips and she slowly returned it to the table. “Uh-oh.”
Sasha closed her eyes, her shoulders slumping under the impending doom of any man stripping her off her tough, tomboy persona. “Exactly.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.” She opened her eyes. “He’s barely said a word to me since yesterday morning and I’ve no idea what his intentions are. I was so close. So damn close to at least getting Kyle’s attention back on my offer for the fair. Now this happens.”
“What’s his son’s name? Have you told him about the offer?”
Sasha lifted her wine and took a sip. “John. And he knows about the offer. I told him. He also knows Mum hates the place and that I want it.” She stared at her friend. “He asked me why Funland means so much to me. He said it can’t be all about family if Mum wants nothing to do with it.”
Leah’s intense gaze softened with concern. “Your reasons are none of his damn business. All he should be asking about is the money.”
“I know that.”
Leah eased her hand across the table and grasped Sasha’s. She squeezed her fingers. “He doesn’t need to know what happened to you there. Your reasons for wanting Funland have nothing to do with anyone else. You’ve never felt you could even trust your mother to understand what happened and why you want to make it yours, let alone some bloke who’s clearly shaken you up.”
Sasha squeezed Leah’s fingers in return before removing her hand to brush the hair from her face. “Do you think I’m mad?”
“Mad?”
“For wanting Funland. For wanting to make it good again. I know it’s probably completely irrational but, for me, it’s the only way to erase him for good.”
“Hey...” Leah leaned across the table, her gaze intense and full of conviction. “That, my girl, is all that matters. If you owning Funland is the only way for you to deal with what happened to you, so be it. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re wrong. The animal who hurt you was one individual. One bastard who got away with hurting kids and then disappeared off the face of the earth. I believe you can make Funland an amazing place again. Don’t give up, okay?”
Sasha