I glared at some dude who was watching Blair a little too intently as she made her way to the washroom. He must have felt my eyes on him because he glanced at me and quickly looked away before slipping into the crowd.
“Is there, uh, something between you two?” Yuppie asked.
“None of your business.” I could have told him there was nothing between us, but that would have been a lie. The hottest sex of my life warranted honourable mention. “Now I suggest you order that ride and get out of here. We don’t overserve.” I didn’t know how many he’d had or whether he was at risk of being inebriated, but his face was starting to piss me off. And I wanted it gone before Briar came back.
“Relax, man.” He slid out of the booth. “If you’re hookin’ up with a girl like that you’re gonna have to keep her on a shorter leash. She’s trouble.”
Hooking up? Leash? Trouble? I was gonna crush this little weasel.
I curled my hand over his shoulder before he could get away. “Don’t let me see you in here again.”
“What did I do?”
He diminished what I had with Briar by calling it a hook-up. He downplayed twenty years of fake-friendship and dozens of nights between the sheets. He belittled the best sex of my life. He disrespected the woman who invaded my dreams. And I didn’t like his voice. Or his face. Or his clothes. Or anything about him.
“Don’t ask any more questions or you’ll get a security escort to the door.”
He grumbled before tossing some money on the table, presumably to cover his share of the tab. Good thing because I was not buying this loser’s drinks.
By the time Briar returned Lisa was back, trying to talk me into taking her home. I blamed Briar for taking so long in the ladies’ room. “Uh, I don’t think so.” I fake smiled as I peeled her hands off my bicep. “I’ve got an early morning.” Every morning was an early morning for me, but that didn’t prevent me from indulging until the sun came up with women like Briar. No, not womenlikeher. There was only one Briar. Unfortunately.
When she returned Briar gave my companion a once-over before she asked, “Am I interrupting something?”
Briar’s bitch-face was pretty impressive. She routinely had grown-ass men squirming in their seats and Lisa was no exception. Her don’t-mess-with-me vibe was sexy as hell.
“Uh no,” Lisa said, taking a step away from me.
You would expect Briar to be more formidable to be so intimidating, but she was five two and a buck twenty. Long curly blonde hair, big blue eyes, and dimples. That’s right, dimples. Her brother teased her that she looked like a porcelain doll. But the jokes stopped when she started hurling shit at his head. This girl didn’t mess around.
“You ready to go?” I asked Briar.
She slipped her arm through mine, but instead of shrugging her off this time I played along. I didn’t know her angle, only that she had one. I was a master at reading people and Briar was trying to get in my good graces for a reason. I wouldn’t rest until I found out what it was.
“Are you two…” Lisa gestured between us. “You know, a thing?”
Briar’s full lips curved into a slow smile when she looked up at me.
Those blue eyes of hers were going to be the death of me. Even when I was determined to hate her guts those eyes did something to me. Her curvy little body didn’t hurt the cause either.
“How would you describe what we are, lover?”
Lover? WTF?Sure, we’d slept together so many times I’d lost count, but Briar had never been territorial before. When she saw women flirt with me she usually laughed it off, or took a dig at me. But I didn’t think for a second she was totally immune. How could she be? We’d been sleeping together on and off for fifteen years, which was crazy, when I let myself dwell on it too long.
I took her hand, curling it through mine. “Sorry if I gave you the impression I was available,” I said to Lisa. I looked down at Briar, who seemed a little stunned, but not half as shocked as she would be when she heard what came next. “Truth is my girlfriend and I got into it earlier.” I tried like hell to keep a straight face, but the fact that Briar was trying to do the same didn’t make it easy. I curled my hand around her face, leaning in for a kiss. “Didn’t we, sweetheart?”
Her lips were parted, her eyes wide when we broke apart. “Uh, yeah.”
Lisa crossed her arms, looking outraged and a little embarrassed as the color spread across her cheeks. “Then why’d you let me think I stood a chance?” She threw a hand up, shaking her head in disgust. “Forget it, I should’ve known. You didn’t take your eyes off her all night.”
And just like that the joke got real as I watched her stalk off. Because she was right. Briar had been the sole focus of my attention all night.
“You’re so bad,” Briar teased, squeezing my bicep as she curled her body into mine. “Leading her on like that.”
Ugh. This girl was my kryptonite. No matter how many times I swore her off she always found a way to lure me back in. I told myself I should just walk away. Forget about the reason she was drawn to my bar tonight. But we both knew that wasn’t going to happen. I needed answers.
“Let’s get out of here. I’m parked in the back.”
I led her through the crowd, spotting that creepy looking dude who’d been ogling Briar on her way to the restroom. He was standing on the periphery of the dance floor now. He appeared to be alone. He was watching us again, his eyes drifting to our joined hands as he sipped his beer. I got a weird vibe from him. Normally I would have confronted him, but I just wanted to get the hell out of here, get Briar alone, so I could figure out what was going on with her.
