Page 1

Chapter 1

Violet

* * *

I push through the rear door of the Pelican into the alley behind the bar. Juggling the heavy bag of trash, I’m gearing up to do the toss when I hear a noise behind me. I spin and barely manage to stifle a scream.

“Evening, sunshine.”

Sully. Of course, it's Sully, I think, silently stomping down the fear that nearly choked me when I heard someone skulking up behind me.

My heart pounds against my ribs, and I try and fail to take a deep enough breath to slow it. I've been jumpy all day, unable to shake the feeling that someone is watching me. I keep telling myself it's my imagination and lack of sleep. I always get super cranky and jumpy whenever I'm tired. And I'm so far beyond tired at this point…

"Vi?"

I glare at the gorgeous man, wondering what I'd done to garner his seemingly undivided attention when he could walk into the Pelican and pick up any woman inside.

"What?" I snap with more force than I mean to. Ever since I started bartending nights for extra cash in an attempt to get a second food truck, Sully's shown up whenever his shifts at the firehouse allow. Two days on and four days off—with Sully positioning himself so close to me on those days off that I'm pretty sure his presence is impacting my tips. Despite my less-than-stellar social skills and nonexistent flirting tactics, because I don't have it in me to flirt for money, I generally make more on the nights he's not glaring at the guys trying to chat me up.

I'm tired. For real. No, I'm exhausted. Getting up well before dawn after closing the bar and driving the Beach Babe Burger truck to snag a prime parking space close to the beach is wreaking havoc on what little sleep I normally get. Toss in the paranoid feeling of being watched, and normal sleep has gone out the window, too.

"Whoa. You okay?"

I watch as he lifts his hands as though in surrender, and I wince when the tone of my voice takes root in my brain. He doesn't deserve that. "Sorry," I mutter.

The idea for the Beach Babe Burgers food truck might've been mine, but my sister, Jasmine, is the one who made it happen. She'd taken out a loan to get us going, and we've done great. But a second truck? Our expansion? That's on me to do, and come hell or high water, I will.

I go back to tossing the bag of trash into the dumpster and let the lid slam shut before I turn, nose to chest, into Sully.

Tall, dark and Hollywood handsome, Sully is a guy's guy and most women's fantasy with his mix of Henry-Cavill-glam-meets-Jason-Statham ruggedness. If a chiseled jawline and piercing dark eyes aren't enough, Sully is also gifted with a deep voice that could make reading a product manual sexy.

Yup, he's that guy. The one with an edge that keeps him from being pretty-boy handsome but too pretty to look like a bad boy.

"No problem," he murmurs. "You heading home for the night?"

"It's not closing time yet." Which he knows.

I get that head tilt of his that means he's studying me more closely than I want, and I quickly put my feet into motion. Sully and his crew members from the fire station are regular customers at both Beach Babe Burgers and the Pelican. I can't afford to tick any of them off. Those guys burn a lot of energy and keep the bus flush, especially during the slower winter months when we have to rely on locals and the weekenders visiting the island.

I brush past him and yank open the rear door, letting it swing behind me, believing he'd get the hint I wasn't in the mood for idle chitchat and leave. At the very least, he'd go back down the alley to the front to come inside and give me a few quiet seconds to myself.

But Sully?

Sully is Sully, and I glare up at him when I turn to see a long-fingered hand stop the door so he can step inside.

"Shortcut," he says with a smile and a wink. "Ty won't mind."

My boss, Ty Serrano, won't mind because it's Sully, and he and Sully are long-time friends and members of the same motorcycle club or riding club or whatever they call themselves.

But I mind.

I have to step back as Sully walks his big body inside the tight space, forcing my shoulder blades against the wall behind me. Images from my past threaten to overtake me, but I lock my gaze on the back of Sully's dark head and keep myself in the present.

He locks the door, and I watch him do it so I know it's done correctly. Then I turn on my heel without a word to make my way back to the bar.

It's quiet tonight. Valentine's Day. And while a few local couples had come in earlier to have a drink and gossip about the latest commercial developments taking place on the island during the slow months, it's going to be one of those nights when I wonder how much longer I can burn the candle at both ends when the pay and the tips make me question even more of my life choices.

Sully places one of his large hands atop my neck and shoulders, and I tense up. He gives me a gentle squeeze and then digs his thumb into a tender spot, and it's everything I can do to stay on my feet when I want to melt like ice cream on a hot day.