When I Need You (Need You #4)

“This has to do with Igor?”

“Igor did what needed to be done. I owe him. I’ve no doubt he’ll be back at some point to collect.” Ash clapped me on the back. “Ain’t ya glad ya asked?”

“Hell no. But I’m not obsessed with digging out secrets like some female Lund family members. I’ll probably forget this entire conversation by tomorrow.” Total lie there. “I figured if I got around to asking about your woe-is-me attitude after we’d knocked back a few beers, that you’d tearfully confess you were still busted up over what’s-her-face.”

“Tearfully. Right.” He snorted. “You mean Olivia?”

I frowned. “Olivia? I thought the ball-buster’s name was . . . Victoria or something?”

Ash laughed. “You’re really in the dark. Veronica—ancient news. Olivia . . .” His humor faded. “Long story and there’s been way too much drama tonight already for me to subject you to more. Let’s get our drink on.”

He opened the door and I followed him in.

The bar carried that musty smell I associated with century-old buildings. We walked up a short ramp, pausing at the top.

I should’ve been checking out the space, but my eyes scanned the bar patrons until I saw Rowan.

The cheeky woman let her eyes scroll over me. From my boots up to the brim of my ball cap, then back down to linger on my mouth before her gaze reconnected with mine. Her smile? Sexy, secretive and a little naughty.

My body reacted instantly. Dick hard. Mind set on the one track of getting her alone and making her mine.

Ash and I snagged the two empty seats at the high-topped bar table. Immediately I scooted mine closer to Rowan’s, leaning in to whisper, “Enjoy it while you can, sweetheart, because we won’t be here long.”

Amusement glinted in her eyes. “I never get to kick back in a dive bar with a table of hot guys. So cool the fire in your jockstrap, Lund. We’ll get there.”

I grinned at her. “I think Nolan got it right in calling you Red Hot.”

“What can I get you to drink?”

My focus moved to the waitress standing between Nolan and Ash. “What’s on tap?”

The woman addressed Nolan. “This is why table signage is a waste of money. Guys like him?” She indicated me with a jerk of her head. “Expect the server to recite the beer list. It doesn’t matter if the beer menu is written in colored chalk in gigantic letters across the enormous blackboard above the bar”—another jerk of her head toward the blackboard she’d described, directly behind her—“they’re in a bar for personal service. That means spending the money properly training the servers to be friendly and knowledgeable.”

Nolan let a smile slowly bloom on his face—the one I called you’re-about-to-get-schooled. “Then we’ll leave the ‘friendly’ aspect of training to someone more qualified than you. Careful about using that black Irish temper on me, Simone.”

Ash made the time-out sign between them. “Don’t start, you two. We’ll take a pitcher of Leinie’s.”

“And a glass of your finest Zinfandel for my lady,” I said, not caring that it had sounded cheesy.

Simone addressed Nolan again. “Balls-for-brains over there does realize that no one at this table is drinking free tonight?”

Balls-for-brains? Yeah, she did have a hate-on for athletes.

Rowan tapped Simone on the arm to get her attention. “Just so we’re clear . . . while I applaud your creativity, tonight it’s my right to level any insults at him about his balls, not yours.”

Silence.

Then Nolan pantomimed a mike drop.

Simone tilted her head at Rowan. “You? I like. Your glass of Zin is on me.” Her gaze encompassed the table. “I’ll start a bar tab for the rest of you assholes.” She sauntered off.

“So . . . now you’ve met Simone,” Ash said dryly.

I said, “Too bad she’s not a silent partner.”

“Good one, JB.”

Rowan frowned. “Do I want to know why you called him JB?”

“Habit when we’re in public and he doesn’t want to be recognized by his distinctive name.” Nolan winked at her. “I’ll let you ask him what the B stands for.”

After Simone dropped off our drinks, the four of us fell into an easy conversation for the next hour.

I took a moment when Rowan was discussing cheerleading athletic scholarships with Ash to soak up the atmosphere. Everything in here was vintage. The long carved bar, the wood floors, the smoke-stained tin ceiling. The two stories of windows and the curved staircase leading to the second floor. There wasn’t a single TV in the joint. Music played in the background, but not at a noticeable level. A great vibe filled the space and I could see why Jax had invested.

Rowan’s hand slid up my thigh, startling me so I nearly spilled my beer.

“Sorry. I just—”

I held her hand in place when she attempted to pull it away. “Never apologize for touching me.”

“I haven’t had a chance to say that you look great tonight.”

“Nolan’s doing. But I am going to make an effort to look less like a college frat boy from here on out.”

“You’re mistaken that any woman would look at you and see a ‘boy.’”

This was what I’d been waiting for. For Rowan to be comfortable enough to show me that the physical aspect of us didn’t scare her. I understood her skittishness. She’d been so loaded down with responsibilities at such a young age that she never had a chance to explore the sexual side of herself. Oh, it was there. I saw it. I wanted it. I couldn’t wait to bear the brunt of all that pent-up sexual energy because I knew how to handle it.

Seeing Nolan and Ash deep in conversation, I set my elbow on the table to give us some privacy. “What were your plans for tonight that fell through?”

“Seducing you.”

I would’ve choked on my tongue if my mouth hadn’t gone dry.

“After I left Calder at Nicolai’s, I stood outside your apartment. I almost knocked to tell you I had a free night. But showing up looking like I normally do didn’t seem special enough.” She glanced away for a moment. “My hesitation with you hasn’t been about you.”

Special enough. Christ, she didn’t have the first clue about how special she was. I angled my head to softly kiss her shoulder. “I get that.”

“So I got dressed up and gave myself a pep talk.” She released a nervous laugh. “I even practiced saying sexy things out loud because I worried I’d go speechless when I saw you naked.”

“You’re killin’ me here.”

“It took three tries before I had the guts to completely cross the hallway.”

I had a sudden panic about how long it would have taken her to find that courage again if I hadn’t been home tonight.

Question now is: Why the hell are you here and not at home, naked with her, proving that her trust in you isn’t misplaced?

I slowly pulled her hand up my thigh until it reached the hardness between my legs. “See what just thinking about you in my bed does to me?”

“Kissing you has the same effect on me.” She dragged an openmouthed kiss from the edge of my jaw to my ear. “So hot it feels like fire dancing across my skin.”

“Rowan—”