“You squeezed by me, I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’ve seen in this town since Feb came home. Now I think you’re cute as all hell but still beautiful. What I don’t think is that you’re an idiot.”
I bit my lip then I whispered, “Thanks.”
“Won’t pay you fifty bucks but I’ll take you to dinner tomorrow night, you tie a cherry stem in a knot with your tongue,” he offered and I felt my body still. “Though, you should know, you don’t, I’ll still take you to dinner tomorrow night.”
“Are you asking me out on a date?” I asked moronically.
“Yeah,” he answered quietly, not making me feel like a moron.
I didn’t know what to do. I liked him but Joe had been acting differently and, considering that Cheryl and I hadn’t been there but for a drink that led into two when Mike showed and she knew everyone in the bar and introduced me to all of them so I hadn’t had the time to ask her about Joe, I didn’t know what to think of Joe.
However Joe had been clear what I should think of Joe and, seeing as Joe was pretty clear about most everything, I figured Joe would be clear if I should think differently about Joe.
And Mike was handsome, nice, funny, he had a great smile and a devilish grin and he thought I was beautiful.
Therefore I said, “Okay.”
“Remind me,” he said and I blinked.
“Remind you?”
“Remind me, tomorrow night, you let me kiss you when I take you home, to thank Colt for takin’ that case that hit my desk so he’s workin’ tonight and I’m here with you.”
I was wrong. Mike was handsome, funny, he thought I was beautiful and he was really, freaking nice.
“Are your kids hooligans?” I asked and he smiled.
“Yeah, terrors. It’s good they’re growin’ up and out of the house with their friends most of the time, now they can terrorize other people. Your girls?”
“Kate’s okay, except she’s wrapped up in a boy so she pretty much doesn’t exist unless his essence is inserted in the atmosphere. Keira’s a pain in the ass but at least she’s funny while bein’ a pain in the ass.”
“Sounds like teenagers.”
“You should be warned, Keira also listens to boy bands,” I watched him flinch and couldn’t help but laugh.
“My son Jonas is in a band. Drums,” he informed me.
“Ouch.”
He nodded and added, “Loud.”
“Ouch again.”
I grabbed my glass and took another sip, his eyes dropped to it and he asked, “Do you want another?”
I shook my head and said, “I drove here.” Then I leaned into him and shared conspiratorially, “See, rumor has it, cops hang in this bar. Wouldn’t be good for a girl to get tipsy and then slide behind the wheel of a car.”
He leaned in closer too and grinned before saying, “Yeah, I heard that rumor too and cops really don’t like that shit. But, if I buy you a drink, you’ll promise to get you and Cheryl a taxi?”
I nodded as I sucked on my straw, he watched my mouth then shook his head, muttering, “Flirting lessons, fuck me.”
“I’m not flirting,” I told him.
“Then sweetheart, you’re a natural.”
I didn’t respond because I watched as his eyes went behind the bar, he gave a jerk of his chin then tipped his head to me which I suspected was his nonverbal, man ordering of another drink for me. His eyes came back to me but then they jerked over my shoulder and he straightened a bit. He focused on something then looked at me.
“Violet, there a reason Joe Callahan is lookin’ at me like he wants to rip my head off?”
I felt my body tense, my chest expand and I whispered, “What?”
His eyes went back over my shoulder and I watched his frame relax as he muttered, “Must be seein’ things.”
I looked over my shoulder to see Colt’s stool empty, so was the one next to it. A bunch of people I didn’t know were huddled at the end of the bar. No Joe.
“I know Cal’s helpin’ out with your thing, he’s your neighbor,” Mike said and I looked back to him. “Coulda sworn he was just there, lookin’ pissed as all hell.”
“He wasn’t there?”
“He was there, now he’s gone. Man’s fast, always was.”
At the thought of Joe being there, I licked my lips then bit them and Mike’s gaze grew more intense. “There a reason he might be lookin’ at me that way?”
I stared into his eyes and remembered he was honest with me right off the bat. He deserved the same thing.
“Joe and I are complicated.”
“You call him Joe?”
“Yeah.”
“No one calls him Joe.”
I shrugged.
“How complicated?” he pressed.
“I don’t really know but I think, in the end, not very.”
“What does that mean?”
“Honestly?” I asked and he nodded. “I wish I knew. I don’t. All I know is, he’s being cool about the security thing, he’s helping to keep my girls safe and he and I are not very well defined.”
“Not very well defined?”
“Not at all.”
“Sounds like Cal,” he muttered and a chill slid across my skin, so cold I shivered. “You cool with that?” Mike went on.
“Not really.”
“You want defined?”