TroubleinChaps by Ciana Stone Page B

even Lola and Emily knew the real reason she agreed to leave with them. It wasn’t something she was willing to share with anyone. Besides, what was done was done and right now she had to focus on making enough to have the car fixed so she could leave this two-horse town and get on with her life.
    As she brushed her hair, her thoughts turned to her new job and her new boss. She’d always made a point not to get involved with people she worked with. It caused too many complications when it didn’t work out. And in Roxie’s experience, relationships never really worked out.
    Cliff Beckett was going to make it hard to stick to her rule. The man was lethal. And it wasn’t just his dark hair that was a shade too long to be fashionable, eyes the color of storm clouds and a face that would not be easy to forget. Maybe that gambler’s air about him. That air that said the bigger the stakes and the more he had on the line, the better he liked it.
    There was an intensity to him that the good-old-boy façade couldn’t cover. And that was lethal. At least for her. Which spelled trouble with a capital T. Bottom line? She had to keep her hands off Cliff Beckett. Regardless of how much she’d like to dive into the tantalizing pool of temptation, she had to steer clear.
    With her resolve firm, she headed out the door for her first night of work.
     
    “Want another hit?”
    Cliff turned his attention away from the schedule on the bar in front of him to look up at the waitress, Diane, behind the bar. She held a carafe of coffee. “Yeah, thanks.”
    “So the new girl starts tonight?”
    “Yep.” Cliff hid a smile. Mesa Blanco was a small town and it didn’t take high-speed cable, smart phones or the internet for news spread faster than wild fire. By now, half the people in town knew Roxie and her friends had broken down. Probably knew that Emily was on Wyatt’s ranch, that Lola had been hired at the Blue Belle and that Chaps was getting a new waitress.
    He’d lay odds that tonight’s crowd would be bigger than normal just out of curiosity. It was the way of small towns. Not much happened out of the ordinary and when something did, everyone was curious.
    “Shit, there go my tips.” Diane muttered , her eyes turned toward the door.
    Cliff turned his eye to follow the direction of her eyes and a spear of heat spiked through him. Roxie.
    Christ on a crutch. What she did for a tank top and cut-off jeans was a sin. A tempting, dead-sexy sin. The tank top was tight enough to have been painted on, accenting her full breasts and exposing her from mid-torso to the top of the low-riding jeans that had been cut off short enough to make a man hope he’d see her bend over.
    Over-the-knee black leather boots showcased thighs that brought images best left for wet dreams to mind.
    “Mr. Beckett,” she said as she stopped beside him.
    “Roxie.”
    “Where do you want me?”
    The sudden swell of erection at her words had several suggestions spring to mind. In his bed, on the bar, the floor, bent across a table. There was a multitude of places he’d like to have her.
    “Why don’t you start behind the bar?”
    “Will do.” She turned her attention to Diane. “Hi, I’m Roxie.”
    “Diane.”
    “Nice to meet you. You mind showing me the ropes?”
    Diane cut her eyes at Cliff then back to Roxie. “Sure. Come on back.”
    Cliff couldn’t help but watch as Roxie turned. Oh, damn. The way the denim hugged her ass was criminal. He better keep her behind the bar. Sure as shit, there’d be more than one fella who tried to get his hands on that.
    A surge of jealously shocked him. What the hell? Was he experiencing some kind of alpha male thing? He didn’t even know the woman and already he was dealing with an uncomfortable hard-on and jealousy over the idea of another man’s hands on her.
    He gave it some thought as he watched Diane go over things with her. Roxie got to him and he knew himself well enough to know that he’d never be