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.“You’re an awesome dog, aren’t you?” He licked her hand again.“You’d be good for Derek,” she said thoughtfully.Maybe a pet would bring him out of himself, make him think about something besides the fire that had killed Julie.It was worth a shot, whether this dog was available or not.Macey decided she’d hang some fliers to locate the pup’s owner, and if she hadn’t heard in a few days, she’d set him up with a brand-new owner.Though Derek wouldn’t in a million years admit it, the two of them, pooch and man, needed each other.If she couldn’t make him come round, maybe someone of the canine persuasion could.THREE DAYS HAD PASSED since Derek had played the idiot by not doing an immediate U-turn out of Macey’s room Monday morning.Three never-ending days full of fighting off the memory of her silky, baby-soft skin, her hint-of-lilac scent, her curves filling his hands and fitting against his body so perfectly.Working with her, being on the same island as her, made it all the more difficult.Yesterday they’d shared an eight-hour shift and Derek had remained semi-aroused the entire time.There was no amount of frigid water that could dull the ache.He glanced over at Macey now as she smiled at a group of customers and handed out their drink order.If The Shell Shack survived, she’d be the reason.She was a natural.Just what the bar needed, but the last thing he needed.If he hadn’t made a promise to Gus, Derek would be damn tempted just to walk away from it, before he did something stupid.Like touch Macey again.As Derek delivered a burger and fries to someone at the outer counter, his uncle appeared in the doorway on the beach side.He shuffled over to his usual place and situated himself on the stool.Derek made his way back behind the bar.“I was starting to think you’d turned up your toes,” he said.“No sirree,” Gus said heartily.“Sorry to disappoint.”Derek set a full glass of whiskey in front of him.“Don’t go putting words in my mouth.Somehow this place survived for three days without you, though.”Gus nodded but didn’t say anything.The look on his face was pure cat-ate-the-canary, and Derek wondered what’d gotten into the old man.“You’re gonna make me ask, aren’t you?” Derek refilled his own soft drink, feeling parched after serving the lunch crowd, which had just cleared out fifteen minutes before.“Ask what?”“Where’ve you been? Not like you to miss three days of riding my ass.”“You missed me.” His uncle almost seemed to glow.“Terribly.If you hadn’t showed up today I was going to drive to the home to see what the heck happened to you.”“Love happened to me, boy.”Derek raised his eyebrows skeptically and leaned his elbows on the bar, glad for the break in customers.He couldn’t help noticing when Macey went outside to wipe down tables.He had to tear his eyes away from the subtle sway of her hips as she walked.“Thelma is making me a happy man.”“Glad to hear it.You could’ve brought her around to the bar, you know.”“Could’ve.Didn’t.You don’t need me, anyway.This place doesn’t need me.”Derek studied Gus.“This is your life, man.Has been for as long as I can remember.What gives? You dumping us?”Gus took a sip of whiskey and shook his head slowly.“It’s time for me to move on.Not from you, of course, but from this old girl.” He patted the counter.“You and your woman there…” He gestured toward Macey, who was wiping off the counter around the outside of the bar now.“You’ve got it under control.I’m okay with moving on.”Derek straightened and tapped the wood surface several times, deciding to ignore the part about “his woman.” It was true that with Macey there they really didn’t need Gus’s guidance.Hopefully the momentum would carry on when she left, too.What he questioned, though, was whether his uncle would be okay without the bar.“I wish you the best with Thelma.I’d still like to meet her.”“You will, boy.Maybe we’ll all go to a fancy dinner.”“Maybe we will.”Macey came back around to Derek’s side of the bar and bent over to wring out her towel.Dammit.When she looked like that, wearing short shorts that hugged her bottom perfectly, he had no prayer of not remembering the way her body had felt the other day in her bedroom.Gus chuckled.“So that’s how it is then.”Derek looked at him.“What’s how it is?” Surely Gus wouldn’t open his big mouth with Macey so close.He simply nodded, glanced at Macey and back at Derek, and grinned like the ornery old fart he was.“I’m on to you, boy.”“Nothing to be on to
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