Free Meant to Be by Terri Osburn Page B

offer her daddy had sent his way after they’d first broken up. Money, power, a corner office. He’d tried to buy Joe the same way he’d buy a car or a new boat. So what was buying an island to Tad “Big Money” Wheeler? Especially when that island could eventually make him a killing.
    “You don’t think anyone is really giving in on this, do you?” Joe said.
    “The asshole is bluffing, or else the price would have dropped by now.” Tom wiped down the bar. “But we have to be pissing him off if he’s sending a lackey all the way down here.”
    Before Joe could respond, Tom dropped the rag and headed for the door.
    “There’s my girl,” he said, throwing an arm around Beth’s shoulders. “Have a seat at the bar. You’re here to eat this time, not work.” He glanced at Joe. “Don’t just stand there, get the girl a menu.”
    What the hell?
“I’m not here to work either.”
    “Then grab two menus and get your ass out from behind my bar.”
    Joe snagged the menus and joined Beth, leaving an empty stool between them. Without a word he slid a menu her way, then buried his face in his own as if unfamiliar with the options.
    “Gee, thanks,” she said, setting a cell phone on the bar between them.
    “You’re welcome.”
    The strip of denim he supposed counted as a skirt showed off more than enough leg when Beth was standing. When she perched on the bar stool the thing revealed enough thigh to threaten his physical well-being.
    Shifting his weight, Joe kept his eyes above bar level.
    “Is there really no place on this island I can get a cell signal?”
    Joe looked up as Tom answered, “Afraid not.”
    “I wanted to call Lucas about something, but I guess it’ll have to wait.”
    “You can use the phone in the kitchen.”
    Beth pursed her lips. Maybe she’d changed her mind about staying on Anchor without Lucas. “No, that’s all right. He’s probably busy anyway. I’ll talk to him tonight.”
    “Order up!” came a voice from the kitchen.
    “I’ll be right back,” Tom said, sliding the hot plates off the stainless-steel shelf. “The phone is always there if you want to use it.”
    “Thanks,” she said, then turned to Joe. “What do you recommend?”
    “Excuse me?” Joe asked. Did she really want his opinion on whether to use the phone? Or worse, if she should stay on the island?
    “From the menu. What do you recommend?” She flashed him those big green eyes and his mind went blank.
    “I don’t know. Order whatever you want.” He hid behind his menu again, considering putting his order in to go.
    “Is it so horrible to have to talk to me?” The hurt in her voice made him feel like more of an ass. Why couldn’t she be mad? He could handle mad.
    Joe kept his eyes on the menu and considered his answer. “I told you once, I’m not much of a talker. You want to know something just ask me.”
    “I did.”
    “You did what?”
    “Just ask you.”
    “Well, I don’t know what you like.” The more he defended himself the more he felt like he was losing an argument he hadn’t seen coming. “How am I supposed to tell you what to eat when I don’t know anything about you?”
    “You’d know something about me if you stopped walking away.”
    Such a woman thing to say. “What are you all wound up about? And don’t tell me it’s because I didn’t recommend you order the hamburger.”
    “You’re right, it’s not. We were almost cordial to each other last night, and today you go back to acting like I have some kind of…cooties.”
    “Did you just say ‘cooties’?”
    Beth rolled her eyes. “Oh my gosh, you know what I mean. Why don’t you like me?”
    “I never said I don’t like you.” Life would sure as hell be easier if he didn’t. “And why is it so damn important that people like you?”
    She looked as if he’d asked her how to get from Anchor to Mars in a rowboat. “Because…it just is. Don’t you want people to like you?”
    As long as he was left alone, Joe