Dirt: A Sexy Small Town Romance (Copperwood Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

mind. It would have to feed my imagination once I left. The memory of her image would be the only thing I would be able to take away with me.

5
    Mya
    W hy the hell was Shane Crawford smiling at me like that? I hadn’t seen him smile like that since we were back in school, and even then the smile was never meant for me. It was almost always meant for one of the bleached blonde cheerleaders bouncing with bodies that moved in what I assumed were delightful ways to men.
    Although, in all fairness to Shane, I hadn’t seen him since he graduated high school so maybe he had changed the meaning of his smiles and this was the one he gave everyone.
    Why the hell was I analyzing Shane’s smiles?
    I slammed the rag I used to clean off the bar top into the dirty sink and ran another length of the bar. Our tip basket filled up through the night. Slowly, but one of us would have to count out the basket to change out the singles for the larger bills in the till before we shouted out last call.
    “Can you believe Shane Crawford actually came home?” Alene leaned over the bar top. The movement intended to tease any male gaze with the obvious charms of her well–endowed cleavage.
    God, I hoped she didn’t realize she was doing it.
    “His dad died. I would find it harder to believe if he didn’t come home.” I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for her to order a fruity drink. “What do you want?”
    At least she wasn’t standing right next to Shane anymore. Not that I cared though.
    “Hula Dancer.”
    Alene didn’t blink an eye. She’d been looking at Pinterest again. I could almost guarantee Jack didn’t stock half of the ingredients. I felt my eyebrows lift up while I looked at her. “What’s in it?”
    Alene pulled out her cell phone and showed me the screen. Jesus, she’d bedazzled the pink cover. I scanned the recipe and worked very hard not to roll my eyes. Pick’s shelves didn’t have half the booze needed to make the drink. I handed the phone back to her. “I don’t think we have any of those.”
    “None?” She tossed her hair back over her shoulder and pushed her massive rack out. As if that would miraculously change the bar’s inventory and her drink would magically appear in front of her.
    “I guess I could give you a lemonade with a shot of grenadine?” I walked away from her before she could ask for another weird creation. It wasn’t as though she ever left us a decent tip, or any tip. Kirstin slid into the spot I left and handed her a beer. Kirstin didn’t like Alene any more than I did, but Kirstin didn’t have years of history and didn’t take shit from anyone.
    “Mya?” Shane waved his bottle of beer at me.
    I hoped maybe to avoid him for the rest of the night, but Shane calling me over dashed that particular hope.
    I took a breath and walked over to him. Between Alene and her fruity cocktails and the forever out of reach Shane, I supposed Shane was the lesser of the two evils. But it was a close race. At least they weren’t standing next to one another. Not that I cared though. Much.
    If I kept telling myself that, maybe I’d believe it in a few hundred years.
    I set a beer down in front of him and turned to move on to the next customer, but Shane grabbed my wrist. His hand burned against my skin and the heat shot directly to my lower stomach. Nothing had changed. I thought maybe the decade he’d been gone would have been long enough to get over my addiction to him, but just as my hope to avoid him for the night failed to reach fruition, so did my want to be over Shane Crawford.
    “Maybe we could get together sometime before I leave?”
    Gods, his voice was still the same rich tone, but it aged nicely. Once again, my fantasies pushed me into a realm I didn’t want to venture into but couldn’t stay out of. I was doomed. Even as I spoke the words, I regretted them.
    “Sure. My number hasn’t changed.” He could probably see the reluctance on my face. I didn’t bother to hide it,