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  She pressed the alarm button for her car, and Colin stopped her. “I’ll drive.”

  “I’m capable of driving.”

  “But I know the area and I don’t want to be seen in your ritzy car. I have a reputation to protect.”

  She let her mind wander to what kind of reputation he had. “Fine. Where are you parked?”

  He pointed to the Jeep in front of them. He had to be kidding. It was one of those off-road things with no top.

  CHAPTER 5

  Colin barely kept his laughter in check. She stood in front of him trying not to be insulted that he’d checked out her legs, and now she stared openly at his Jeep in fear. “I’m a safe driver. No worries.”

  She ran a hand over her neatly tied-up hair and tugged at the hem of her jacket. Could she possibly be more buttoned up? At the rate she was going, she’d need surgery to remove the stick up her ass. No one was always that tense. “Are you worried about your hair? Seriously?”

  “No,” she snapped. “My hair is fine. Let’s go.”

  “How about Jimmy’s? Good hot dogs and burgers.”

  “Whatever you want. I don’t live here.”

  As if he needed the reminder that their partnership was temporary. He drove to Jimmy’s and pulled into the lot. They didn’t speak on the short trip. At the counter, Elizabeth ordered a salad and a side of fries, then stepped aside for him to order. He pulled out his wallet to pay.

  She nudged in front of him. “I invited you to lunch.”

  “I never let a beautiful woman pay my way.” He shoved bills into the hand of the cashier, who was clearly amused by their conversation.

  “So if I were homely, you’d allow me to pay.” She stood behind him with her arms crossed, ready for a fight.

  He knew there was no correct way to answer that question. The woman obviously didn’t accept compliments well. “My mother raised me to pay when I’m with a woman.”

  That was diplomatic.

  “That’s sexist. I make plenty of money. I certainly don’t need a man to pay for my lunch.”

  He couldn’t win. “I’ll let you buy me dinner then.”

  She smiled. “What makes you think we’ll be eating dinner together?”

  He couldn’t answer. Her smile was amazing. It totally opened up her face and made her so much more than beautiful. Unfortunately, it only lasted a brief moment because then she scowled.

  She waved her hand in front of his face.

  He lifted a shoulder. “We have a lot of work to do. Long days and nights. We’ll be eating plenty of meals together.”

  She picked up the tray with their food and walked toward a table. His mouth went dry at the thought of long nights with Legs. He gave himself a mental shake and walked to the counter to get some ketchup and napkins.

  Legs could not be a conquest. He needed to keep it professional. Starting with calling her Elizabeth instead of Legs.

  Besides, he didn’t think she even liked him.

  He sat across from her. “Is the salad supposed to balance out the fries for a healthy meal?”

  “No. My stomach was upset earlier and so I wanted something bland, but I love french fries.”

  He took a big bite out of his burger and moaned to let her know what she was missing. Her face became stone. After swallowing, he held the sloppy burger out to her. “Want a bite?”

  She looked at him like he’d asked her to swallow a flaming sword. Maybe she was afraid of germs. It would explain why she wanted to pay someone to clean the bar when they could easily do it themselves.

  He sank his teeth into the burger again. She picked at the salad. This was going to be a long meal.

  “Why did you come to see me about the bar?”

  Her question caught him off guard, and he choked a little while trying to swallow. He heard his mother’s voice echo in his head: If you chewed your food, you wouldn’t choke. When his airway was clear, he said, “Ryan told me about the offer you made him. He already has two bars, so his plate is full. But it sounded like a good business move to me. Of course, that was before I found out it was The Irish you owned.”

  “But if you have O’Leary’s, why this?”

  The tension crept back into his shoulders. “I don’t have O’Leary’s. Ryan does. I help run it, but he’s the owner.”

  She chewed on some fries. He felt like he’d just passed a test.

  “What about you? Why are you doing this? It’s obvious you don’t particularly like bars.”

  “This is what I do. I take something that isn’t working, that isn’t profitable, and I turn it around. Sometimes we sell, and sometimes we hold on to the property.”

  “I know that much. You’re not in the bar business. You do resorts. Why this?”

  She shifted and stared at her plate. He had hit on something.

  When she lifted her face, she was nothing but business. “Let’s just say this is a pet project.”

  He knew that was all he was going to get out of her. She could call it whatever she wanted as long as they made a profit. She could keep her secrets as long as they didn’t interfere with the business at hand. It wasn’t like he didn’t have some of his own.

  They finished eating without conversation. Elizabeth pushed her salad away. “We’d better get back to the bar. People are going to start showing up. Do you have the inventory ready to talk with vendors?”

  “All set, boss.”

  “Do you need me to sit in on those meetings?”

  “No. I think I can handle ordering beer and liquor.”

  She stood. “I figured you could. What’s your schedule look like for the rest of the week?”

  He led the way to the Jeep. “I’ll be around plenty. We need to clean the bar before we can get anything else done.”

  “We?”

  “If you pay people to do what we can do ourselves, you lose money for other things we need, like some kick-ass high-def TVs.”

  She buckled in as he started the engine. “That’s a need?”

  “For a sports bar it is. You can’t call yourself a sports bar and then set up some crappy thirty-six-inch TV.” He pulled into traffic not hiding his smile as he caught sight of her death grip on the door.

  Hours later Colin was dog-ass tired and he still needed to work at O’Leary’s. If he didn’t at least make an appearance after only one day at The Irish, Ryan would never let him hear the end of it. He rapped on the office door.

  “Come in.”

  He swung the door open and saw Elizabeth sitting behind a cluttered desk, looking completely out of place. “I’m heading out. The inventory is done and ordered. Information’s on the bar. There are some good promotions coming up I think we should do. That’s on the bar too.”

  She twirled her pen. “About what you said earlier.”

  Shit. What’d he do now? He waited, but she didn’t continue. “I talked a lot today.”

  “When you said we could handle the cleaning ourselves. Did you mean it?”

  “Yeah. Afraid of a little dirt?” Maybe germs did freak her out.

  “It just seems overwhelming.”

  “Nah. Once you scrape off the first layer of scum, the rest will be easy.”

  “Okay then. I’ll get cleaning supplies tonight and we’ll start scrubbing tomorrow.”

  “See you then.” He walked out of the bar knowing that she took him seriously and liked his ideas, but he was too tired to celebrate. Now he’d talked himself into cleaning a bar that hadn’t seen a mop in years. It was time to call in reinforcements.

  Elizabeth opened the bar early the next morning. Colin hadn’t said what time he’d be in, but since he had worked at O’Leary’s last night, she didn’t think it’d be any time soon. She hauled the box of supplies she’d purchased into the bar and tried to figure out where to start. The tables were as good as any other spot. She took a bucket and went to the back to fill it with hot water.

  As she hefted it to the front, the door opened, flooding the room with sunlight. Shit
. She knew she should’ve locked it. She squinted against the glare. Although she couldn’t make out any features, she knew it was Colin.

  “I didn’t expect you here so early. Aren’t you tired?”

  “I’m fine. Cleaning was my idea, and I’m not about to have you accuse me of slacking off.” He propped the door open and she was grateful for the fresh air.

  “I’m starting with the tables. They all look salvageable if they come clean.” She turned away from him and began scrubbing with the soapy sponge. She heard no movement behind her, so she turned back to see Colin staring at her. “Is there a problem?”

  “Yeah. You don’t want me to call you Legs, but then you show up wearing a pair of jeans that show just how long your legs are.”

  “Did you expect me to wear a suit to clean the scum?”

  “I thought that’s all you owned.”

  She wasn’t about to admit that she’d made a special trip to buy some T-shirts and jeans. Although she owned some in her regular wardrobe, she hadn’t packed them. “I’m a regular person. I wear business attire when conducting business and casual wear when I’m not.”

  He still didn’t move, so she swung her arm out. “Get to work. We have a lot to do.”

  She turned back to scrubbing and watched the white, soapy bubbles turn gray after only a few swipes. Part of her was tempted to get rid of all the tables and buy new ones, but it wouldn’t be fiscally responsible. She needed to watch the bottom line on this site closer than any other.

  Music suddenly blared from the bar and she jumped at the noise. She looked over her shoulder to see Colin grinning. He’d brought a stereo with him. “Better, don’t you think?”

  “Keep it down. We’ll talk about music selection later.”

  He tuned to a classic rock station and she didn’t argue. When he began singing along, slightly off-key, she almost did. He wasn’t horrible, though. She moved on to the next table and she saw him drag a large trash can toward the bar.

  “I’m going to throw out all the crap. Is that all right?”

  “Yes.” She sighed, but knew she had it coming. She’d said she wanted all decisions to go through her. They worked to the sounds of the radio for the next half hour and didn’t talk.

  She went back to refill her bucket for the third time. When she returned, four people were standing in the middle of the bar, staring. “I’m sorry. We’re not open for business. We’re in the middle of renovations.”

  A short, busty redhead snorted. “You might want to start with a wrecking ball.”

  The tall blonde standing next to her elbowed her. “I’m sorry for Moira’s rudeness. Colin asked us to come help today. I’m Indy, Colin’s sister-in-law, and this is my fiancé, Griffin. This is Moira, Colin’s sister, and his brother Michael.”

  She couldn’t have been more shocked. She quickly recovered, wiped her hand hurriedly on her jeans, and extended it. “I’m Elizabeth.”

  “I know. We’ve heard about you.”

  They shook briefly, and Elizabeth did her best to hide the fact that not only did she not know they were coming, she knew nothing about them.

  “Hey, you made it,” Colin called from behind her.

  “Of course we did,” Griffin said, leaning forward to slap Colin on the shoulder.

  Colin looked at Elizabeth. “Did you meet everyone?”

  She nodded.

  Colin continued talking. “Where’s Colleen?”

  Indy answered, “With your mom. She can’t get enough of being a surrogate grandma.”

  Griffin looked at Indy. “You’d better learn to drop the surrogate. It’ll piss her off.”

  Elizabeth watched the exchange with fascination. They were all so at ease with one another. That feeling was something missing from her childhood.

  Indy turned to her. “Where do you want us to start?”

  She shrugged. “Everything needs to be done, so—”

  Colin interrupted, “The basement really needs work. Take Griffin with you. There might be some animals or something down there.”

  Once her mind had a chance to clear, she looked at the man standing next to Colin. Griffin, was it? There was something familiar about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. They’d never met, of that much she was sure.

  Griffin smiled. “How about you take the basement and I’ll do the bar.”

  “Consider this payback for taking Indy from me.”

  Indy laughed. “As if you had a chance.”

  Indy and Griffin turned toward the back. Elizabeth couldn’t believe Colin had convinced them to do the basement. She stood staring for a moment, taking it all in. Colin and Indy? Now she was with Griffin . . . Griffin Walker. Holy cow. That’s where she knew him from. Her mother read the society pages religiously. Elizabeth paid little attention, seeing them as tabloids. She had better things to do than gossip.

  Her mother, however, had thrust the paper under her nose at least once a month to point out someone else she thought would be the perfect bachelor for her to snag. Now she knew why Mom hadn’t mentioned Griffin Walker. He was engaged and had a baby.

  Colin nudged her. “I didn’t think you’d mind me calling for help. If you have a big family, you might as well use it.”

  So much for getting this done themselves. At least they would be cheaper than professional cleaners.

  As if reading her mind, he leaned closer and whispered, “They work for beer and pizza.”

  Moira heard him and said rather loudly, “Now that I’ve seen the place, I think you need to offer me something better than pizza and beer.”

  “A deal’s a deal. Besides, you owe me.”

  “I’ve never owed you this much.”

  “Ha. You’ve moved twice in the last year and I helped both times. If you don’t want to owe me, you better get yourself a big, strong boyfriend for the next move.”

  Moira moved toward Elizabeth’s bucket of water and dipped her hands in. “Believe me, after this, I will.”

  When Colin and Michael went back behind the bar, Moira mumbled, “And when I find him, I’ll keep him hidden from you.”

  Elizabeth grabbed another sponge and set to work. “Why would you have to hide your boyfriend from Colin?”

  “You don’t have a big brother, do you?” She began scrubbing the table beside Elizabeth.

  “Actually, I do.”

  Moira stopped, midswipe. “Do you introduce him to every guy you date?”

  There really hadn’t been that many men in her life, especially of late. “Sometimes.”

  Moira shook her head. “My brothers have a tendency to scare off any guy that wants to date me. They’re even worse with our younger sister, Maggie. She had to go all the way to Europe to escape the protective bubble.”

  Elizabeth finished the table she was working on. “Having someone look out for you can’t be all bad.”

  “Not at all, as long as you never expect to get laid.”

  “I heard that,” Colin called from the bar. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re a virgin until your wedding day.”

  Moira laughed. “Kind of hard to find a husband if I can’t sample the wares first.”

  “Gross. I don’t want to hear.”

  Moira threw the sponge into the bucket, causing bubbles to fly. “Are you going to tell me that you would marry a woman that you’d never slept with? Have you ever even dated a woman without sleeping with her?”

  Colin stood in stunned silence.

  “I thought so.”

  Michael, who had been working silently, pushed Colin. “She’s got you there.”

  Elizabeth’s face warmed. She couldn’t imagine having such a frank discussion with anyone in her family. Janie and Lori, yes, but Keith?

  “How about you, Elizabeth?”

  “Huh?” Elizabeth returned to scrubbing furiously at the table in front of her.

  “You wouldn’t get married without having sex with the guy first, right? I mean, what if he was really bad in bed?”

&n
bsp; Without looking up from her soapy sponge, Elizabeth said, “I don’t know. In my experience, a kiss can tell you a lot about someone. If the chemistry is there to make your toes curl from a kiss, sex won’t be an issue.”

  “I guess I’ve been kissing the wrong guys. Toes curling I’ve had happen, but never from a kiss with my clothes on.”

  “What’s that about toes curling?” Colin asked.

  Elizabeth’s ears burned and she couldn’t look up. She’d spent too many hours thinking about Colin’s smiling mouth coming toward hers and how much fun it could be.

  “Elizabeth’s had some great orgasmic kisses, that’s what. I think I need to hang out with her.”

  Colin strode across the room. “Are you trying to ruin my little sister?”

  Elizabeth straightened from over the table. “We were having a conversation that didn’t include you. Besides, your little sister is an adult. Maybe it’s time you treat her like one.”

  Moira swooped in and stood on tiptoe to wrap an arm around Elizabeth, startling her.

  “I like her, Colin. You need to spend more time with her. She’ll be a good influence on you.”

  Colin slung a towel over his shoulder. “Not likely.”

  Which? Spending time with her or her being a good influence? “Aren’t you supposed to be working on the bar?”

  He grumbled something and returned to his spot on the other side of the room.

  Moira stepped back. “Let him go sulk. He doesn’t like being told what to do.”

  “Too bad. I’m the boss.”

  Moira swished her sponge in the water again. “I’m liking you more and more.”

  Elizabeth found she liked Moira as well.

  Colin watched Elizabeth work alongside Moira and a twinge of jealousy bit into him. Sure, it had been his call to get his family involved, but he hadn’t imagined Moira becoming friends with Elizabeth. He’d been looking forward to having time to work with her and on her. He believed they’d hit it off if given the opportunity.

  And here was Moira stealing that opportunity.