A Heart to Rescue Read Free

the bar, she was fairly certain that the conversation was about her.
    “Dammit!” she swore under her breath. She pulled the pitcher off the bar and made her way across the room, not caring if she spilled any of it on the floor. Cleaning it up would give her another five minutes of work to do. Just as she plunked the pitcher dow n on the table, the creak of a door made her twist. She though t that Nate was leaving without at least saying a goodbye.
    The irrational thought distracted her from the men in front of her. Before Mel knew what was happening, a hand cupped her ass while an arm snaked around to grab a fistful of her cleavage as she was hauled backward. Mel cried out in shock and disgust, but found herself on her back on Bud’s lap staring up at his incoming lips. The stink o f his breath overwhelmed her as she kicked her legs trying to find her balance. She slammed her arm on the table, upending the pitcher of beer , but that didn’t stop Bud’s assault of hands crawling across her body. For a small man, he was amazingly strong, and being squeezed between his body and the table, Mel couldn’t get the right angle to push herself free.
    She opened her mouth to yell just as Bud’s squish y cold lips met her s , and then she felt strong fingers encircle her flailing wrist and pull her upright onto her feet. She caught a glimpse of Nate’s blue eyes, tightened in an angry scowl before he pushed her behind him.
    Bud seemed just as surprised as Mel. Then Bud’s face fell into a deep frown. “Hey! We’re just having a little fun. We’re old friends, a ren’t we, Mel?”
    Remembering the fat fingers that had so recently trolled her body, Mel wrapped her arms around herself and willed herself not to cry. “You are an ass, Bud !”
    Nate put up an arm and stilled her. “Why don’t you go take a break, Mel? I’d like to have a little chat with these fine gentlemen.” The chill in his voice was evident.
    Mel didn’t have to be told again. She spun on her heel and dashed for the kitchen, the tears welling up in the corner s of her eyes even as she glared at Max, who looked chagrined. As soon as she was through the door into the kitchen, Mel started to sob. The cook, an old man named Billy, stood up guiltily swiping a small handheld TV behind his back. Mel just wanted to be alone .
    The incident had hap pened so quickly that she couldn’t process it . The only thing she k new was that Nate had saved her. What had started out bad would certainly have gotten worse. The worst part was s he didn’t know if Max would have tried to help her before things were totally out of control . Horrible visions of what could have happened danced through her head.
    Collapsing into a chair, Mel dropped her head into her hands wondering what the hell she was doing with her life. Six months ago had marked the end of her old life. She had nothing new to cling onto, except a crap job in a crap bar on the road to nowhere. She was lost.
    A few minutes later, she heard the front door open and close . She shot to her feet, wondering if Nate had left her. Then the door to the kitchen swung open, and Nate poked his head around it. He took in her disheveled, tear-stained face.
    “I told the loser behind the bar that you quit. Let’s go.”
    Mel’s eyes widened. “What? I need this job.”
    “You may need a job, but you don’t need this job. Let me take you home.”
    Mel started to protest , but Nate held up a hand. “I have a lot of contacts in the restaurant industry. I’ll find you another job to replace this one. C’mon.”
    She wondered if she had somehow been transported into some kind of fairy tale; t he kind where the white knight saves the young princess and they ride off into the sunset together. It was an immature, illogical thought, but staring into Nate’s blue eyes, Mel felt the stirring of something else she thought she had long since buried.
    Then she thought about the fact that she hated working at the Rumbling Rock.