The Way He Looks at Me [What Are Friends For 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  What Are Friends For 4

  The Way He Looks at Me

  Karen Stacey knew she should’ve listened to her friends about getting a new car since hers kept dying, but then she wouldn’t be getting rescued by the sexiest man she’s ever laid eyes on. Even though going off with a stranger is against every safety rule she’d been taught, when Blue looks at her with those intense blue eyes, she agrees to let him take her into town to wait for a tow truck. She probably would have agreed to a lot more than that.

  Blue Collins would never leave a woman in distress. Offering to take Karen to his bar to wait for her friend to come and get her was one thing, but taking her upstairs to see his private apartment is something else. Kissing her is a risk he has to take. When she kisses him back, he is willing to do whatever he can to get more.

  Genre: Contemporary

  Length: 30,533 words

  THE WAY HE LOOKS AT ME

  What Are Friends For 4

  Rita Sawyer

  EROTIC ROMANCE

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Erotic Romance

  THE WAY HE LOOKS AT ME

  Copyright © 2012 by Rita Sawyer

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-61926-906-4

  First E-book Publication: August 2012

  Cover design by Jinger Heaston

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of The Way He Looks at Me by Rita Sawyer from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Rita Sawyer’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Sawyer’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  Big, huge, enormous thanks go out to my family for putting up with all my craziness. Including, but not limited to staring off into space for long periods of time, and having one-sided conversations with my computer. I love you all for not having me committed.

  THE WAY HE LOOKS AT ME

  What Are Friends For 4

  RITA SAWYER

  Copyright © 2012

  Chapter One

  “Come on, not here. Oh, please don’t do this to me.” Karen managed to maneuver the car onto the grassy shoulder of the road before it stopped moving completely. “Not now.”

  She turned the key, praying the engine would turn over. Nothing happened. With a groan, she dropped her head to the steering wheel. The glare from the hot summer sun shined down on the back of her neck. Even though it felt good, she knew it wouldn’t be long before her pale skin went from pink to red. She took a deep breath and turned the key again. Still nothing. Hoping there was at least enough juice left in the battery, she pressed the button to bring the convertible top up, but it didn’t work. Hell, there wasn’t even the whirr of the motor.

  At least she wasn’t in anyone’s way, but that also meant there wasn’t anyone to ask for help. She hadn’t seen another car for the past half hour or so. Why had she chosen today to veer off her normal path? Because you decided you needed some adventure in your life. She never should have bought that stupid GPS unit. Her parents decision to move closer to her mother’s sister had prompted that idiotic notion. Karen remembered thinking how fun it would be to find all the different ways to get there and back.

  “Not having fun now, am I?” She reached for her phone, dreading what she was about to do, but she didn’t see any other choice.

  It was either call for help or sit there and bake to a crisp under the sweltering sun. Karen knew she could call anyone from her little group of friends. Lainey, Sadie, Dianne, and Jillian would all rush to her rescue—just like she would for them—but only Amy was equipped to rescue both her and the car. Besides, once the rest of them heard she had broken down again, they’d join Amy in lecturing her. She pressed the buttons and waited for Amy or one of her brothers to answer.

  “Dooley’s.” Amy’s perky voice brought a smile to Karen’s face.

  “Hey, Amy, it’s me.” Karen heard the sigh and almost laughed.

  “Where are you?” Her friend instantly assumed that she’d broken down yet again, which she had.

  Even Karen was getting a little annoyed with the situation. “You must be getting sick of me calling.”

  “Never,” Amy cooed. “Now where the heck are you?”

  “Some little dirt road off Route 17.” Karen figured she was about a good hour away from the Dooley’s garage, but two from her parent’s house.

  “What did I tell you about not getting off the main road until you either get a new car or let us restore that hunk of scrap metal?” Amy’s scolding made Karen smile and feel really guilty.

  “I know. Just think, you can lecture me the whole way home if you come and get me.” Karen knew there was no question of whether or not she’d come, but Amy deserved something extra to look forward to.

  “Oh, trust me, I will. The guys are all out on runs right now, so it might take me a little while to get there. Will you be okay?”

  “The top is stuck down, but I have a bottle of water and sunscreen.” Karen tried to sound cavalier about the situation, but she wasn’t happy about sitting in the middle of nowhere all by herself.

  “See if you can find some shade. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  Karen tossed her phone onto the faded and
cracked leather seat next to her. She scanned the area around her and shook her head. There was nothing but scraggly little shrubs as far as she could see. She yanked the keys out of the ignition and walked to the trunk. Just as she slid the key in the slot, she heard a car coming.

  Not a car, she thought as she turned around. The pickup truck seemed to get bigger as it got closer. She fisted her hand around the keys. The truck pulled over and stopped a few feet behind her. The driver’s door opened, and a guy stepped out. His feet hit the ground while he was still getting out, so Karen’s scientific mind did the quick calculations and figured he was about six four.

  Her powers of observation took in everything about him as he walked toward her. Rugged and handsome were her first two thoughts. His dark-brown hair was almost long enough to pull back in a ponytail, and he had scruffy stubble that could be considered a goatee. He had on worn-in work boots, faded blue jeans, a muscle shirt that showed he had every right to wear it, and aviator-style mirror sunglasses.

  “Everything okay?” he asked.

  “My car died.” Karen didn’t know how she managed to talk without drooling.

  “I’d offer to take a look, but I’m no good with cars. Can I give you a lift somewhere? There’s a garage in town.” His offer was accompanied with a pearly-white smile.

  All the safety rules her parents had taught her were useless now. Never go with strangers, her mother had warned, but something about this guy threatened to overrule her. He took off his sunglasses and their gazes locked. The icy-blue color of his eyes took her breath away. Just by looking into them, something told her she could trust him. She wondered if she was getting heatstroke or something, because she knew it was insane to think she could trust someone when she didn’t even know their name.

  “I…um…don’t live around here. I called a tow truck, but it’s going to be a while before it gets here.” She noted that she sounded a little breathless and wondered if it was another symptom of heatstroke.

  “Well, there’s a bar about a mile and a half that way.” He pointed in the direction she had been heading. “It’s just outside of town. I could take you there to wait.”

  “I should stay with the car.” She couldn’t even lock it up with the top stuck down.

  The guy nodded. “Okay, but I can’t in good conscience leave you here, so we’ll take it with us.”

  His tone made it sound like he thought it would be so easy to do. “How?”

  “I have some tow chains in the back of my truck. I’ll hook them to your undercarriage and tow you in.”

  “How far did you say it was?” Not that it mattered, because it had to be better than sitting there in the sun, alone on the side of the road.

  “About a mile and a half, but no one really uses this road unless they live out this way, so it should be smooth sailing.”

  “I guess that would be okay. I just need to make a quick phone call.” She needed to let someone know where to start looking for her body if she disappeared.

  “I’ll get us hooked up.” He started back for his truck, and Karen got a good look at the back of him.

  Broad shoulders, trim waist, nice ass, as far as looks went, he seemed like the total package. Lucky for her she was cautious enough not to judge people by their looks. She rushed to the passenger side of the car and snatched up her cell phone. Dialing Amy’s number, she watched him move his truck in front of the car.

  “Dooley’s,” Amy chirped.

  “Hey, it’s me again.” Karen watched the guy—good grief, she didn’t even know his name—pull some ropes with big hooks out of the toolbox that lay across the back of his truck.

  “Did it burst into flames?” Amy giggled at her own joke.

  “That’s not funny.” Karen barely held back her own laughter.

  “Sorry.” Amy’s tone didn’t sound even the tiniest bit sorry.

  “Yeah, right. Listen, this guy stopped and is going to use tow ropes to get my car into the next little town. He said it’s not far.”

  “Does this guy have a name?” Amy reminded her she needed to ask.

  “I’m sure he does, but I don’t know it yet.”

  “I don’t like the idea of you taking off with some strange guy any more than I want you sitting in the middle of nowhere all alone.” Karen knew Amy was coming to that same conclusion she had. “I want you to stay on the phone with me the whole time.”

  “Don’t you think that’ll seem a little odd?”

  “Remember when we were around fourteen and your mother insisted we all wear sweaters to that carnival? Her exact words were, ‘I don’t care how it looks, I want to know you’re warm.’ I agree with her. I don’t give a shit how it looks. I want to know you’re safe.”

  “Fine.” Karen headed for the car where the guy was now standing waiting for her.

  “And find out his name before you go anywhere.” She laughed at Amy’s demand.

  “Ready to go?” the guy asked.

  “According to my friend, I can’t go unless I know your name.”

  He laughed, and she saw the lines crinkle at his eyes and mouth, hinting that he liked to do it a lot. “I’m Barry Collins, but everyone calls me Blue.”

  Karen slid her hand into his and barely held back a sigh as their palms met. “Karen Stacey.”

  “Nice to meet you, Karen.” He tipped his chin in the direction of her phone. “Would you like me to assure your friend you’ll be safe with me?”

  “Give him the phone,” Amy shouted in her ear, and Karen held out the phone. “I’m sure that would make her feel better.”

  “Hello. Yes, I’ve done this before. She’ll be safe at the Bottoms Up.” Karen wanted to laugh as he gave Amy the address and rattled off a phone number then handed the phone back to her.

  “So, am I good to go?” she asked both him and Amy.

  He nodded, and Amy sighed. “Oh, my God, is he as hot as he sounds?”

  “Yes, he is very nice.” That was the biggest understatement, but Amy would get to check him out for herself when she got there. “I’ll call you the minute I get to the bar.”

  She tucked the phone into her pocket, and Blue opened her door for her. Karen put the car in neutral as he instructed. She watched him get in his truck and give her a thumbs-up as he put it in gear. Karen kept her foot hovering over the brake pedal as they moved onto the road. She drove her car with a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. It only took them about fifteen minutes before Blue pulled them into a big empty parking lot.

  Karen climbed out of her car and stared at the building. It would have been a two-story brick monstrosity if it weren’t for the windows. Looking at the face of the building, she guessed they would pretty much run from floor to ceiling on the first floor. The upper floor had smaller panes, but they were still large. The shine of the long sheets of glass gave the building an upscale edge. She couldn’t wait to get inside and see it from that point of view.

  Her gaze landed on the tiny sticker on the door that listed the bar’s hours. “They’re not open yet.”

  Blue walked up on the porch and unlocked the door. “They are now. You coming in?”

  “Is it okay? Will it get you in any trouble?” He’d already done her a huge favor, and she didn’t want to put him on the spot.

  “No, the owner won’t mind me letting you in until your friend gets here. Actually, he’d be pissed if I left you out here alone.” He opened the door and waved his hand.

  Karen smiled, but as she walked past him, her shoulder brushed his chest and her breath caught. She took a quick step away and lost her balance. Blue’s arm shot out and grabbed hers. He pulled her up against him. Their gazes locked, and Karen felt that calming ease settle over her again.

  “Easy, beautiful.” Blue’s voice sounded deeper up close.

  “Thank you.” Karen figured her thanks covered both his rescue and compliment.

  She felt the heat bloom on her cheeks and ducked her head so he wouldn’t see. His grip loosened, and his hand s
lid from her elbow to her wrist. The tingles he left in its wake set off tingles in other areas. Karen leaned away from him, putting some much-needed space between them. It wasn’t enough. She walked away before she did something stupid like throw herself in his arms.

  * * * *

  It took Blue a few minutes to get his bearings before he followed Karen into the main room of the bar. The second he pulled up behind her car he knew he should have just kept going. His parents had raised him better, and he wasn’t about to smudge their good name. But with one look at the tall, curvy brunette, he knew, given the chance, she could knock him off his feet. She wasn’t dressed to impress in her jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers, but she had to know she still packed a punch. Touching her, even though it had been innocent and brief, had proved him right.

  He leaned against one of the eight columns that supported the upstairs and watched as Karen made her way around the room. Usually he didn’t care about other people’s opinions of his place, but for some odd reason, he was interested in hearing what she thought. She ran her hand along the long mahogany bar he’d spent hours upon hours restoring. Along with the new windows, it was one of his favorite things about the place. Together they changed the atmosphere, giving the rundown bar a modern, classy edge.

  The only other thing he changed was the kitchen, but only employees got to see that area. She moved to the jukebox standing in the corner. He walked behind the bar and flicked the switches, turning on the lights. Karen’s sigh reached him from across the room as she spun around.