Free All Flash No Cash by Randi Alexander Page B

supposed to mean?” She
kept her voice low, her body language neutral. No need to give the
whole bar a show.
    He rolled the drawings together and turned to
face her. “I think it means exactly what I just said, ma’am. Think
about what makes you happy. What makes you smile.” He looked at her
lips. “You know what?” He winked at her. “I’ve never seen you
smile.” He strolled toward the back door of the bar, disappearing
into the darkness.
    She did so smile. Didn’t she? She tried it,
tried moving her lips, showing some teeth.
    “You gonna snarl somebody to death with that
face.” Dolby stood next to her, bending to scrape the piles of
tickets into one of the boxes.
    “I smile, don’t I?” She tried it again.
    He just shook his head. “Smiles come from in
here.” He tapped his chest over his heart. “And in here.” He tapped
his temple. “You can’t force them, child.” He picked up the boxes
and walked away.
    He hadn’t called her “child” in a long while.
She strolled to the bar, opened a beer, and leaned back, drinking
half of it in one pull.
    “CJ, I think it’s a fittin’ tribute to your
father.” A grizzled biker leaned on the other side of the bar. He’d
been around a long time. Had known Harry back when he was just
starting out in Deadwood. “We all miss him. We…some of us…visit him
regularly.”
    She nodded. She’d seen the names in the guest
book in her dad’s room. “I appreciate that.” She’d never thanked
any of them. Had never talked to any of them about her dad. “Let me
buy you a beer.”
    With two fresh brews between them, CJ took a
scary step. No, a leap. “So, how long have you known Harry?”

Chapter Nine
    Pete rolled into Williston as the sun rose. He’d thought about
stopping for the night, but he’d been too keyed up to sleep. When
he stepped into his apartment, he was surprised to see Dax laying
on the couch.
    “Shouldn’t you be working?” Pete kicked off
his boots and set them neatly on the rug inside the door.
    “Shouldn’t you?” Dax’s voice came out
weak.
    “I’m working the afternoon shift. Need to get
a few hours’ sleep. What’s up?” He plopped down on a recliner and
shoved back, lifting his feet and laying nearly flat.
    “I thought I had a chance with her.” Dax
rolled onto his side.
    “Another rejection?”
    “Yes, and it’s getting old.” Dax wrote songs.
Country songs. More than half of them for women to sing. He took a
lot of grief from his friends, but he’d do just about anything to
break into Nashville.
    “You can’t give up.” Pete yawned and let his
eyes drift shut. “Get out and sing. Play your guitar and show off
your talent.”
    “I may have to. I think I’ve hit every agent
in the listings.” He puffed out a breath. “How’d it go last night?”
Dax knew Pete was going to confront CJ about the drawing.
    “Bad. Then good. Then bad. Then good. I
think.”
    Dax laughed. “You sure about that?”
    Pete sat up. “We talked. We yelled and let
off steam, then bam, we were having sex.” He scrunched up his nose.
“I don’t even know how it happened.”
    Dax sat up, his black eyes widening. “No
shit?” His straight black hair stuck up in a hundred
directions.
    “Yeah. I think she started it.” He shook his
head to clear it. “I don’t know. But it was so fucking good, man.”
He heaved out a breath.
    “That was the good part, right? Then what
went wrong?”
    “She’s tough and independent. Doesn’t want to
get tied down. Especially with a poor ranch kid like me.”
    Dax snorted. “She doesn’t know about your pot
of gold?”
    “Nope. And I’m not gonna tell her, either.”
He wasn’t looking for a woman who wanted to marry a millionaire. He
was looking for a woman who wanted to marry for love.
    “You know, sex that hot and explosive might
burn out quickly.”
    Pete had considered that. “I want to see,
though. She’s something…I don’t know. Special. Amazing.”
    Dax whistled as he