by Cari Quinn
Bah. Why did she care what he thought anyway? She wasn’t out to impress Rafe Martinez. She was going out to make an acquaintance with men who didn’t know who Colt and Wade Bennett were.
And they sure as hell wouldn’t think she was some little sister who needed to be coddled.
She was a grown-ass woman who was hot for some action.
She grasped the oh-shit handle and climbed into the cab of his truck. “Well, let’s go then.”
His gaze was almost even with hers thanks to the height of his cab. He didn’t say a word, just slammed the door.
The ride into Westerville was a bit strained.
Enough that she switched on the radio and ignored him completely. He was not going to dim her enjoyment of the evening. She was going to have fun tonight.
When neon lights came into view, she sat up straighter. It was a double-level bar with an outdoor patio. Rafe parked across the street in one of the lots and she jumped down before he could come around and open her door. It was much too confusing to handle her sort-of attraction to him.
Okay, maybe a little more than sort of, but that was the confusing part. Why was it perfectly sparky here, but not when they’d gotten naked together?
Was there such a thing as sexual tension minus the sex?
Seemed stupid.
Either way, she was determined not to let it affect her night out. The past was the past, right?
She rushed ahead of him and showed her license at the door to get in. After flashing a mile-wide smile at the bouncer, she sailed inside while Rafe had to pay a cover charge.
It gave her enough time to wade into the crowd at the bar and order a drink. Now this was what a bar should look like. There were strangers as far as the eye could see. Cowboys, city types, college kids—every different flavor.
Perfect.
She didn’t want to get too out of control tonight so she ordered a Raspberry Kiss off the menu behind the bar. There were tons of beers on draft, but she didn’t want that kind of fullness. Especially since she had a belly-baring shirt on tonight.
A guy next to her tipped his head in the unspoken “how you doin’?” gesture. He was cute enough. Her age, with a charming spatter of freckles along his cheeks and neck. He had dark blond hair and a ginger beard.
Not her usual type, so she was immediately interested.
Just before she held out her hand to the guy, Rafe came up behind her and laid a proprietary hand on the bar under her arm. He didn’t touch her, exactly, but there was no doubt that he was letting the bar know she was taken.
Which she was not, dammit.
Hollie shot a look over her shoulder at Rafe, then back to her new friend, but he was already gone.
“Just how was your idea going to work again?” she asked Rafe.
“You didn’t want ginger boy.”
“How do you know?”
“You’d chew him up and spit him out before he had a chance to think about putting a move on you.”
“I would like to figure that out myself, thank you very much.”
He glanced down at her pink drink. “Are we going to have a repeat of last night?”
“No.” She took a sip. “I’m out for fun, not to get drunk.”
“That’s good to hear.”
She spun on her heel to look out at the dance floor. “Where do I want to go first?” She glanced at Rafe when he didn’t answer and found him staring at her chest. “Eyes up, buddy.”
“Something’s different.”
“Same Hollie, same boobs.” She arched a brow. “Why are you looking, anyway?”
He quickly looked back at his beer. “It wasn’t a salacious look.”
“Salacious?” She bumped his arm. “I rather like that one.”
Good word, actually. She heartily approved.
A trio of girls ambushed the bar and shoved her closer to Rafe. “Excuse you,” she muttered.
The blond in the group—of course it was a blond who started trouble, when Hollie was feeling very much like a brunette in blond’s clothing—looked down her nose at Hollie. Even in her three-inch-heeled boots, the Amazon towered over her. In fact, she was nearly eye to eye with Rafe.
So much so that she skipped the sneer that Hollie knew was coming and launched a cock-beaming smile at Rafe. “Hi there.”
He tipped his drink in his typical noncommittal reply.
Blond girl threw her shoulders back and nearly took out Hollie’s eye with her mammoth boobs. Probably no fabric enhancements for her.
Hollie expected to see Rafe salivating. Instead, his attention had already shifted back to the crowd of people.
Hollie hid a smile behind her hand as she sipped from her straw.
The girl flipped her hair and an obviously fake lock fell into Hollie’s drink. So she wasn’t the only non-natural blond in attendance, apparently.
Hollie pulled out her straw. “Watch it.”
“Did you put my hair in your drink?”
“No, you did.”
“Do you know how much it cost for me to get my hair done?” The girl grabbed napkins off the bar and blotted at her now pink hair. And not thanks to a careful dye job.
Hollie set her drink on the bar. No way she was drinking that now. “Not sure how much extensions are going for in Texas these days.”
The girl’s severely made-up eyes took on the size of individual blowfishes. Not her best look. Especially with the purple eyeliner. “This is my hair.”
“Sure it is, sweetie.”
The blond towered over Hollie, the other woman’s surgically corrected nose almost touching hers. “What would you know about nice hair, mouse? Oh, and boobs. Because those surely aren’t yours. Did you have to stuff your training bra?”
Hollie went to swing and a large arm curled around her waist, holding her arms at her sides.
“All right, ladies. That’s enough,” Rafe said right into her ear.
Her arms might be pinned, but her forehead was still plenty useful.
She head-butted Miss Extensions—and the amazon staggered back into her friends.
“Holy Christ,” Rafe muttered and stuffed her behind him. “Chill out, Hollie.”
“Did you see what she did?” The blond whirled around to see if anyone else was paying attention, but the only ones giving her any satisfaction were Wild Curls minion number one and Faded Mermaid Hair minion number two. They had almost identical outfits on as Extension Girl.
The bartender came down to their section of the mile-long bar. She set another Raspberry Kiss down in front of Rafe and gave Hollie a quick wink. “That’s enough, Darcy,” she said to the Amazon. “You just don’t like that someone dished back your sass.” The bartender was stunning and had a no-nonsense air about her.
“Starla, have her thrown out!” Darcy cried as she touched her rapidly swelling lower lip.
Personally, Hollie didn’t like her even more now that she’d caught her name. Extensions Girl was better. She’d stick with that.
Starla rolled her eyes and poured a clear drink in a tall glass and slid it over to Extensions. “Have a drink on the house.”
Rafe peeled off a fifty and tossed it on the bar. “Have a few drinks on us.” He nodded to Starla and dragged Hollie away from the bar.
“Why do we have to leave?”
“We’re not leaving. Just going to another room for you to cool off there, Hollie Solo.” He tightened his grip around her midriff and hauled her off her feet and into the crowd of dancers.
“Rafe, put me down.”
He set her down in the middle of the dance floor as the song changed from an Eric Church song to Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Drink You Away”. The crowd swelled as people rushed in to dance.
Rafe tried to move them off the dance floor, but she hooked her arm around his back and gripped his shirt as she stood on her toes to get to his ear. “You brought us out here.”
His jaw flexed, but he didn’t renege. She was shocked, but didn’t question it. Espec
ially when he slid a hand down her back and around to her hip. Instead of making room between them, as she’d assumed he would, he widened his stance and walked her back a few steps.
Their feet lined up, as did their legs, as he led them through a few bastardized steps of some dance she didn’t understand. But she followed his lead. She couldn’t stop herself.
His strong thighs melded to hers and his hips snapped to the beat in a Latin rhythm that made her mouth water. She’d never seen this side of Rafe, but the song was made for his particular style of machismo and gliding tempo. As the song ended, he dipped her back a little bit, his chest crowding hers, his lips aligned with her mouth.
When the song changed again, he hauled her back up and clasped her hand, dragging her off the dance floor into the sectioned-off room at the back of the bar.
Her chest heaved and her skin buzzed in reaction to his moves, his touch, his nearness. What the hell was wrong with her?
And she really didn’t appreciate getting hauled all over the damn bar. She tugged on his hand, but he simply kept pulling. He stopped at the end of the bar and handed back a bottle of water to her a few minutes later.
Because she was sweating her butt off, she accepted the water and guzzled it down. A few droplets dribbled down her chin into the neck of her shirt. It felt amazing. It was hot as hell in the dance area.
And she’d just Latin danced with a stupidly hot guy.
Okay, so it was with Rafe, but she didn’t really want to focus on that right now. Way too confusing.
Instead, she pushed through the crowd of people and made her way to the pool tables in back.
Now this she understood.
She threw a sway into her step as she approached a pair of college guys. She dug out a ten from the front of her jeans and laid it on the foot rail. “Next game.”
“Sure you can handle it, darlin’?”
She inclined her head. “I’ll give it a shot.”
The taller one held his hand out. “Bobby.”
“Hollie.”
He pointed to his friend with a thumb. “Todd.”
Of course it was. She took a pool cue off the wall and leaned on it. “You guys from around here?”
Todd shook his head. “Going to college a town over.”
A little young for her, but she could try her hand at being a cougar. Or maybe a baby puma.
“And you’re out on a school night?”
“Well, you are.”
“I’m not in school anymore.” She chalked her stick and blew off the excess.
Todd looked to Bobby then back to her. “You’re of age, right?”
She sighed and walked to the head of the table. “Definitely. Though I should probably ask you that question, college boy.”
“We’re seniors.”
“Well, at least you can drink. But can you play?”
Todd rolled the balls to the end of the table and racked them. “Guess we’ll find out.”
She caught Rafe in her eye line. He was sipping a beer, his face expressionless. She wasn’t quite sure why he’d want to come with her to a bar. She definitely didn’t need a chaperone. Though, to be honest, he didn’t really hover that much.
Well, except for the bar.
Maybe this would be all right after all.
She dug a quarter out of her pocket. She took one of the beers on the rail. “May I?”
Todd nodded. “Want us to get you a beer?”
After a brief mental debate—small town or not, these were strangers and could carry date-rape drugs like anyone else—she nodded. “A hard cider?”
Bobby nodded. “Sure. No problem.”
“That’d be real nice.”
Bobby disappeared into the fray. She flipped the quarter through her fingers. She’d had plenty of practice doing that while she was sitting at the circulation desk in the morning. Nothing more boring than sitting there waiting for no one to show up.
She’d rather be shelving books.
“Heads or tails?”
Todd swallowed. His Adam’s apple bobbed along his long thin neck. His shoulders were nice enough, but he really was a string bean. At least compared to Rafe.
And why was she comparing this kid to Rafe?
That wasn’t fair in the least. She shook her head and drained the beer with a wince. Budweiser was definitely not her favorite. She flipped the quarter up in front of Todd. He surprised her by snatching it out of the sky.
She laughed. “Nice.”
He slapped his hand on the rail. “Tails.” He removed his hand. “Aw, look at that. Heads.”
“Guess that’s for me then.” She made a little bit of an exaggerated wiggle as she lined up her shot. She’d thought about playing the clueless female, but she didn’t want to play that kind of game.
Right now, she just wanted to win and have some fun.
She drew her elbow back and released. The stick hit the cue ball with an extra dose of spin and the balls scattered, two dropping into pockets. Both of them stripes.
“Damn,” Todd muttered.
She grinned up at him. “Small-town girl. All we do is play pool.”
Bobby came back with two beers and a recognizable red and black label for her.
She took a second shot and sank another stripe, then took her Original Sin cider from Bobby with a smile of thanks. The cap was firmly in place. Nice.
It sucked having to be so careful, but in this day and age, it was more than necessary.
She sneaked a glance at Rafe and found his gaze was steady on hers. Not that he would’ve let the guys do anything to her drink. She might doubt some things about Rafe, but his eagle-eyed ability to watch out for her wasn’t one of them.
Right now that felt kind of good.
After prying the top off with the opener Todd offered from his keyring, she took a healthy sip and set it on the rail, then tapped her stick on the side pocket to call her shot.
She scratched, but she meant to. No need to trounce the college boys before she had a little fun with them.
Though in the end, she did end up running the table. Twice.
In fact, she ended up giving them lessons on their follow-through. The fact that they couldn’t handle a pool stick probably meant their personal follow-through wasn’t much better. Then again, Rafe could play a mean game and his closer had been less than stellar, too.
Hmm.
Rafe laid a twenty on the rail. “Care to make it interesting? You know, since you’re in teacher mode.” He cocked his head. “Let’s see if you can school me.”
4
Hollie sighed. Why did he have to come over and ruin everything?
“It’s okay, guys. You don’t have to say yes.”
“You know this dude?” Todd asked.
“Yes, this is Rafe.”
Bobby stood up straighter and sucked in his little beer gut. It was kind of adorable.
“I don’t think it’s really fair for us to play them, Rafe.”
“Who said us?” Rafe pulled a stick from the case. “I’ll take you as my partner.” He pointed at Bobby.
“Uh, I’m not sure.”
“Don’t worry, pal.” Rafe slapped him on the arm and Bobby shifted over two steps. “I won’t hurt you. Just going to show you a few more tips that Hollie here doesn’t quite know.”
Todd looked from Hollie to Rafe. “Dude, we don’t want to get in between anything.”
Rafe lifted his beer to his lips. “Hollie and I are just friends, right, Hol?”
She frowned. Were they going to whip it out and start pissing rings around her? “Yes, we’re both from Quinn. Rafe is harmless.”
As a rattlesnake, she added mentally.
She wasn’t quite sure what had gotten into him tonight.
She also didn’t want to study just how much she was enjoying it. Nope, that was how she’d ended up naked the last time. Lured in by the testosterone and sex appeal, then her orgasm had been dashed on the rocks like a lost boat without a lighthouse.<
br />
That got phallic.
Hmm.
Rafe dug out his own quarter and flipped it into the air then slapped it to the felt. “Heads or tails, boys?”
“Tails,” Todd stammered.
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. If Wade and Colt had been there, the trifecta of intimidation would have been complete. Oh joy.
Rafe lifted his hand. “Tails. It’s your lucky day.” He locked his gaze with her. “Guess you get to break.”
That had way more meaning than this table.
In fact, she wondered just how intense he could get if he spread her out on said table.
And danger. There was danger all over that. Flag on the play!
She gestured to Todd. “You break this time.”
Todd went to the end of the table and racked the balls then broke. It wasn’t a bad break. Wasn’t a good one either, but at least it started them in the plus column. He’d sunk one stripe and one solid.
“Dealer’s choice,” Rafe said.
“Stripes.”
He leaned on the rail. “Then let’s go.”
God help her. She took the next and sank two balls. Unfortunately, Rafe’s presence was a distraction she wasn’t prepared for. And to be truthful, not used to. She’d had a crush on him for as long as she could remember, but she’d always made sure to stay out of his line of sight. They tended to argue as often as they had pleasant conversations. She’d long claimed she hated him, just to keep from fluttering around him like a complete girly fool.
Not that even her claims of hatred had bought her much distance.
She didn’t want to look like an idiot around him. First of all, her flirting skills were nonexistent. To her mind, if you wanted to have sex, well, why not say it? The whole coy dating game was simply beyond her.
Not to mention that he never seemed to notice her. He’d always been too busy with her brothers.
All that had changed when Wade had gone away to pursue his music.
After that, Rafe had spent more and more time working, more time with his family, and less time spending his weekends at the farm with her family. Those flashes of fun he’d let her see now and then had vanished completely.
Had he really changed so much in so little time?