No one turned to stare at her. The patrons were too busy talking or listening to the band in the back of the bar. Standing in the dim light to adjust to her surroundings, she saw Jace at the bar. An empty stool was beside him.
Jace waved a beer bottle at her. She joined him, glancing at the crowded bar.
“Have a seat, babe.”
The familiar, loving nickname from the past caused butterflies in her stomach, the same way as it used to do when he uttered it. A memory fluttered in her mind—that time they made love as soon as she’d walked through the condo door. He couldn’t wait to kiss her, breathe her in as if she was oxygen and he was gasping for air.
“Babe, you’re the only sweetness in my life right now,” he’d said roughly, pulling to her to him. “I am having a bitch of a time with my latest assignment. You’re my reason for getting through each day.”
She had given him everything he’d needed, and fulfilled her own needs as well, for she had spent every waking moment anticipating seeing him again...
A lump formed in her throat. Kara swallowed past it. “Jace.” Her tone was formal and stiff, belying the feelings inside her. “I was hoping for a table with a little more privacy. A table where we can talk without being overheard.”
His smile dropped as a guarded look came over him. “Sure.”
He dropped a few bills on the counter, then beckoned to a bartender. “Sam, I’m headed to the booth in the corner.”
As they started for the empty booth far away from the band, he added, “Sam owns the place. Great guy.”
“The sign says Earl’s Place.”
“Earl’s his hound dog. Earl runs everything.” Jace grinned.
As they sat, she wondered how to deal with him. Conversation had never been difficult with Jace. She’d always felt free to discuss anything with him. He’d been an honest, ethical man with a courteous manner and generous attitude, treating her as if she was priceless. She had truly loved him and thought he loved her with the same passion.
Kara set down her purse and gazed at him. “Any reason why you changed your last name?”
A slight lift of those broad shoulders. “Needed to escape from the past. Thanks for keeping that on the DL from Dylan, by the way. My brothers in the club don’t know, either, and I’d like to keep it that way. Fresh start, so to speak.”
Sensing a story there, she wanted to know more. “No worries on keeping it on the down-low, Jace, but I’m curious. What have you been doing since we broke up? Other than joining a notorious biker gang and working as a mechanic. Any new hobbies, like goat yoga? Gardening? Scrapbooking?”
His mouth quirked and amusement danced in his blue eyes. “I forgot your delightful sense of sarcastic humor. Nope. My job and the guys in the club keep me busy.”
“Too busy to date?” Kara bit her lip. Hadn’t meant to let that out, but she itched to know.
He blinked. “Yeah, I’ve dated, but no one now. Some women who wanted more than I did.”
“Situationships,” she said, guessing. “Those relationships that are more than friends with benefits, but one-sided.”
“Situationship.” He grinned and she gave a little laugh. “Guess you’ve been in one or two as well.”
“Caught me.” Her smile dropped. Her “situationships” weren’t merely with guys who liked having sex with her, and were more emotionally committed than her. Kara enjoyed their company, but something kept holding her back from further commitment.
Not that she’d admit to Jace it was memories of how good they’d had it that put the brakes on moving ahead with another man.
He gave her a long, thoughtful look. “They always wanted more and I didn’t, so I had to break it off gently. No hurt feelings.”
Tempted to ask why he didn’t want more, she bit her lip. Too tempting to find out if Jace had felt the same way she did—unable to move forward, still caught in the past and how they had loved each other.
“What about you, Kara? Store doing well? Dylan says he enjoys working for you and you’ve cultivated quite the reputation in town for estate sales.”
A waitress in black pants and a form-fitting black T-shirt appeared. “What do you want, Jace? Sam told me to take extra special care with you as thanks for fixing his bike last week.”
He ordered a beer and glanced at her. “Another beer. And get her whatever she’s having. Gin and tonic, Kara?”
“Just the tonic,” Kara replied. “I never drink and drive.”
As the waitress walked off, he blinked. “I forgot about that. You always were so careful on the road. More than the average person.”
As she relaxed with the praise, her ego deflated as he added, “Driving like you were eighty-three instead of twenty-three. I swear it was a miracle you got to work in less than eight hours.”
Kara gritted her teeth. “I didn’t come here to be insulted, Jace.”
He leaned back against the wall. “Why did you come here?”
She glanced around. Satisfied no one was watching them, Kara dug the last reminder of their relationship out of her purse. “To give you this.”
Jace’s jaw dropped at sight of the diamond ring on the table. He took it, the light from the little lamp at the table winking in the stone. Emotion clogged her throat as she remembered the day he’d proposed at the beach, on one knee, the lacy waves swirling at their feet.
“What the hell...”
“I never did return it to you, obviously.” She struggled for a reason why, and settled on the truth. “I really didn’t want to see you again. But I figure you could use it now.”
“Use it? You know something I don’t? Am I getting married to someone else?”
The thought of him marrying someone else made her heart lurch. Kara had always envisioned their wedding day—Jace standing at the altar, looking resplendent in a silk tuxedo and a wide smile as she swept down the aisle toward him, clad in her mother’s wedding dress.
The dream died, but still haunted her once in a while. When it did, she usually threw herself even more into work.
