Jose And Honey: A Starting Over Small Town Romance: Carter's Bar, #3

By Lara Norman

Come for the first steamy night, stay for the HEA!

 

Nora Watts has had enough of the constant torment from a lifetime of bullying. Desperate for a fresh start, she finds herself in a small, welcoming town where she stumbles upon Carter's Bar. Determined to leave her past behind, Nora decides to give bartending a shot, despite her natural clumsiness. 

 

In the midst of creating a new life for herself, fate intervenes and brings Ethan Baines through the doors of Carter's Bar. Captivated by Nora's ethereal beauty, Ethan is intrigued by her resistance to his charms. Nora, on the other hand, has been let down by too many men who only had one thing on their minds. 

 

As Ethan's persistent presence continues to chip away at Nora's walls, she finds herself torn between maintaining her distance to protect herself from potential heartbreak and acknowledging the possibility that Ethan may indeed be a good man who means what he says. Will Nora take a leap of faith and open her heart to a chance at love, or will she let her past dictate her future? 

 

*Set in the enchanting small town of Abbott, Texas, Jose And Honey is the third installment of the captivating Carter's Bar series. From heartwarming romances to scorching chemistry, each book in this series celebrates the power of love, laughter, and soulmates. The men in these stories are affectionately dubbed with nicknames inspired by their favorite spirits, while the women use aliases, concealing their true identities until they are ready to admit they have found love. Dive into the enchanting world of Carter's Bar, where love is always on the menu.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LPN Publishing
• Release date: Mar 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9798201908829

Lara Norman

Lara used to scribble her fictional characters down on legal pads in high school, and then not show them to anyone. In recent years, she started posting her work in public forums for feedback, which gave her the courage to publish professionally.  She needs copious amounts of coffee and chocolate to survive. She enjoys eavesdropping on the character conversations in her head, which she has been assured doesn’t make her crazy. She always gets the best ideas while in the shower, driving, or about to fall asleep. Though she’s a Florida girl at heart, Lara currently resides in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her husband of twenty years and their three children, where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age fifteen.

Book preview

Chapter One

The bar was nearly empty when Nora spotted him standing just outside the glass-paned doors, reading the sign announcing their hours. The first thing she noticed about him was the black ink covering his forearms. The second thing she noticed was his killer smile as he looked up and opened the door.

Good afternoon, she greeted him from behind the bar.

He was still smiling as he headed in her direction. Hi, there.

He came up to the stools and took a seat, but kept his gaze on Nora. When he didn't place an order, she raised her eyebrows in question.

What can I get for you? she prompted.

Grinning, he rested his elbows on the wood. Your number, for starters.

That’s not on the menu. Draft beer, mixed drink, shot?

A shot of Jose Cuervo Especial, honey.

She turned to get him what he’d asked for, feeling his gaze following her. She looked right in his eyes when she set the drink in front of him, and couldn't help noticing how mesmerizing they were. Setting up a tab, or paying by the drink?

I don’t know yet. He swiveled on the stool and took in the rest of the area. Quiet in here.

It’s early yet.

He turned back to face her. If I run a tab, can I have your name and a bit of conversation?

Propping her hands on her hips, she purposely overlooked the way he asked for her name. Conversation about what?

Anything. He tapped the side of his shot glass. Everything.

Nora watched him throw back the shot, spotting more ink on his throat. Another?

Sure. Here.

He took out a credit card so Nora could start a tab for him. Pulling the bottle of tequila from the shelf, she poured him another, leaving it within reach behind the bar.

You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, honey, and that’s saying a lot.

She snorted. Then I’m sure you’ve led a very sheltered life.

Not at all. He leaned forward, catching her wrist as she picked up his dirty glass.

Hey.

Since it wasn't said with much heat, it didn't surprise her that he didn't let go. Her pulse picked up speed at his touch, making her wonder if he could feel it.

You have soft skin. I could tell before I touched you.

Why are you touching me, exactly? She looked him square in the eyes again.

He grinned at her. You haven't kicked me in the nuts yet, so you must not hate it.

That’s how you determine if a woman is interested in you? Her brows went up at his chuckle. Let go unless you want me to come around the bar and prove you wrong.

He dropped his hand and sat back down. Better?

Was it better?

Nora tried to move on and do her duties, but she’d already cleaned up after the last people had left. It was only a few minutes after four; not their busiest time of day. She wiped invisible smudges from already clean glasses, feeling like a fool but hating the way the guy kept watching her as she moved. It sent heat down her back and a tingling low in her belly. She couldn't remember ever having such a visceral reaction to a man before.

Can I get one more shot, honey?

Why do you keep calling me that? she asked as she approached the bar.

You haven't given me your name.

She rolled her eyes, but he was right; she hadn’t given her name to this man for a reason. No, I haven’t. She poured him another shot and moved off once more.

She hoped he wasn’t driving home later. He didn't live in Abbott, that much she was sure about. She’d been there long enough to know the residents by face, if not name. Abbott was a tiny town, the perfect place for someone looking to begin again as she’d been.

Nora tried to keep busy so she wasn't tempted to strike up a conversation with the mystery man. It was her job, though, and she was usually pretty good at coming up with small talk, but there was something about him that made her nervous. His intensity, his good looks, and a bit of a southern accent as the word honey slipped from his tongue.

She stopped where she was and fanned herself. Peering around the partition, she saw him facing one of the televisions spread throughout the bar. Pete, one of her regulars, got up and headed to the door, so Nora stepped to the front and told him to have a good day. At least cleaning up his table would finally give her something to do with her hands.

As she headed back to the sink, she noticed her attractive stranger standing by his barstool. She wanted to ask his name, wanted to know if he would come back before he left Abbott or if he was simply passing through. She wanted to ask why he’d chosen the tattoos he had. She wanted to hear him call her honey again.

She shivered as his piercing gray eyes landed on her. I think I’ll be going now.

Do you need me to call you a cab?

He watched her put the dirty glasses in the sink. No, I’ve decided to stay for one more night. I’ll walk to the B&B.

Oh. She nodded dumbly, wondering if that meant her mystery man would come back the next day. Safe travels, then.

He winked at her. See you soon, honey.

Nora waited until the door closed behind him to respond. I look forward to it, Jose.

She cleared his shot glasses and put away the tequila bottle. Busying herself with the dirties was all she had going for her until Shea came to relieve her in another hour. Milo, the manager, trusted the interns, as he called them, to work alone more often than he had at the beginning of their employment. It made sense, of course. Cooper and Ryder were immature in her mind, but still trustworthy. They were also better at showmanship than she ever would be. Since Shea began working there, she’d spent a lot of one-on-one time with Nora, teaching the correct way to watch for the bottle coming at her and how to anticipate what she couldn't see. Nora had never been particularly deft or graceful.

She’d left Missouri less than a year ago, looking for a fresh place to start over, planning to live in hostels and work odd jobs as she crisscrossed the United States. Instead, she’d stopped after seeing a billboard for bartending school at Carter’s Bar. It came with a paid internship, and it was enough money to keep Nora staying at the only bed and breakfast in town until she’d found an opening in the one little six-unit apartment building near the interstate. Housing was scarce in their sprawling mecca.

In Abbott, Texas, birthplace of Willie Nelson, she’d made friends surprisingly fast. Back home, Nora was the easiest to pick on. From her clothes to her lavender hair to her tendency to trip over her own feet, the people she’d grown up with teased Nora as though they’d never liked her. Maybe they hadn’t; maybe that was the entire problem in a nutshell. They didn't care if they hurt her feelings or made her feel bad about herself.

She was the target of entirely too many jokes. She was fat, ugly, too short, would never get a man; the list went on. She dropped things, bumped her elbows, stubbed her toes. They constantly bullied her until there was nothing left for her in her hometown. Her only thought became running at that point, and that’s what she’d done. She’d packed what she could fit in her car and said goodbye to her parents. It was easier than she’d expected it to be, which was sad. To think she had no one to miss or anyone to miss her was depressing.

But she’d found something like a family in Abbott. She’d found nice people who cared about her. They cared about what happened to her and how she was doing. They checked up on her and asked how her day was going. Nobody made fun of her, except for a very few times when Cooper teased her about dropping the bottles in bartending class. Milo never let it go further than one joke before he put an end to it. He was almost like a stern teacher in some ways, like a grown man much older than his actual twenty-four years. Nora liked that about him, though. He was responsible and kind, and she was happy he’d found Shea. They complemented each other.

Nora tried to put the handsome stranger out of her mind as she worked. It was Saturday, meaning they’d opened earlier than they did on weeknights, and they were bound to be busier soon. Shea was due in fifteen minutes by that point, and Lillie would come in, too. Being the owner meant she liked to have her hand in a little of everything, and she preferred Saturday nights for the crowds and noise.

Before Nora had made a full pass over the floor with the mop, Lillie was walking up from the back. Hey. I thought you were coming in later.

I was, but I left Trois Femmes early since we were dead in there, and decided to come on in.

Lillie ran a tattoo parlor with her best friends Stella and Hannah, as well as owning the bar. She was