Till the Break of Dawn by Tracey H. Kitts Read Free Book Online Page A

pointed down the road. When I did this the stranger stepped closer. Mmm, he smelled good too.
    When I was finished with the directions he offered me his hand and said, “My name is Jesse, by the way.”
    “Well, Jesse-by-the-way, my name is Dawn.”
    He laughed. As I looked at him I decided that a smile must be the expression he wore most often, because it looked so good on him.
    “Thanks for the directions.” He turned to leave, but just before getting in his truck he stopped and looked back at me. “I’ll see you at five o’clock.”
    I didn’t know what to make of Jesse or his promise to come back. Or was it a threat? I was still standing there with a smile on my face, watching his truck drive away when Jamie came outside.
    “Who was that?” she asked.
    Even when she wasn’t working she often wore her cowboy hat. As she spoke she tipped it back to get a better look at the departing vehicle.
    “Nice truck.”
    “Yeah, his ass wasn’t bad either.”

Chapter Six
     
    At five o’clock I was surprised to find myself looking toward the front door of Our Place. I was bartending tonight and we weren’t very busy. So, I kept looking. Who did this Jesse asswipe think he was anyway? He probably made that comment just to get me to watch for him so he could be sitting around somewhere feeling self-satisfied. And never show up.
    “Our clock is fast,” Jamie said.
    I jumped at the sound of her voice over my shoulder.
    “Don’t sneak up on me.”
    She laughed. “I didn’t. You just weren’t paying attention to anything but the door.”
    “Well, I guess I should be going,” Mandy said.
    She had been sitting at the end of the bar going through the invitation book for the last hour. Now that she’d finished her virgin strawberry daiquiri she seemed to have come to a decision.
    “So, what’s the prognosis?” I asked.
    Mandy laughed at my choice of words. “Cream with lace trim and silver letters. I’m going to hold off on ordering them until I find a dress. I hate to put a date and time on something when I don’t have everything else ready.”
    “Are you sure about that?” Jamie asked. “Not that I’ve ever planned a wedding before.”
    Mandy shrugged and her pink t-shirt fell off one shoulder. “After I find a dress, I’ll go ahead and set a date and order the invitations. David said to just let him know when I decided. We’re aiming for exactly two months from now. We’ll see how that goes.”
    When Mandy turned to leave, guess who opened the door for her? Jesse had walked in while we spoke. She said “thank you” and he smiled, but rather than admire the slinky blond his eyes found me across the room. What can I say? I instantly liked him. Noticing me with my long red hair and pale skin over a tall, sexy blond with a tan put him right up to the top of my list.
    His brown eyes sparkled as he took a seat at the bar. “Glad to see you’re open now.”
    I returned his smile as I propped against the rough wooden surface of the bar. “I’m glad you could make it.”
    He seemed pleased with my response. “Are you now?”
    Jesse leaned forward like he was going to tell me a secret and his musky scent drifted my way again. I sighed, realizing how much I loved what I called the “cowboy” smell. It was a mixture of fresh air and leather and man.
    “Tell me, Dawn, what’s a good drink to try?”
    Immediately I recalled my newest concoction in the making, “Valley of the shadow of fuck” and laughed. Jesse gave me a questioning look, but I didn’t think that sharing the drink’s odd name with him was such a good idea just yet. We’d barely met and not everyone appreciated my sense of humor.
    “There is something I was working on earlier today. You could try it out for me.” I made the suggestion sound like more of a question and he smiled again. He had a slow natural-looking grin that was absolutely adorable.
    “Sure thing. I’m your huckleberry.”
    I was pretty sure that no one besides the