“Be a lot better if you told me why you’re dodging me.”
“I’m not,” she insisted.
Just before dodging my hand when it went for her ass.
“Lo.”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as she shifted to look to the side of me.
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
“Nothing. Just a headache.” She went onto her toes, but not to kiss me. She leaned to the side again to look around me. “Looks like you’re needed.”
I turned to see she was right and Alice was flagging me down for an issue with a payment. I went to deal with that before getting pulled into multiple refills and even more questions about what was happening with the protests, shooting, but mostly the dicks.
Lo had found out from her handler that the non-emergency line had gotten multiple calls to complain about the technicolor graffiti. It seemed that some thought it was a bold decoration choice that’d I’d purposefully chosen.
In between recounting the lewd graphics and pouring drinks, my eyes inevitably made their way to Lo. And almost every time, she was standing near the overdressed jackoff. When they talked, it didn’t seem overly friendly, much less romantic. His arms were still in their sockets, so it also wasn’t aggressive or hostile.
I would be the first to admit that jealousy was a new thing for me. I couldn’t remember ever experiencing it—and women had tried to make it happen. With Lo, it came up more than I’d care to admit.
And something about them was… off.
Have I seen him before?
He looks like he’d work for the super PAC.
I flipped through the faces I’d seen in my research, but none of them matched. Not that it meant much.
I walked over there and snagged Lo by the belt loop before she could dodge me. Movement behind her caught my eye, and I looked up to see the guy stand and drop some cash on the bar. He wasn’t looking at us. He didn’t look pissed or jealous. And Lo wasn’t looking back at him, either.
Her hand went to my chest, and she shot me an expectant smile.
“Who was that guy?” I asked.
She lifted a shoulder. “A customer.”
“Did he say anything?”
“Not anything weird, why?”
“No reason.”
That time when she went onto her toes, it was to press a quick kiss to my lips before she returned to work.
An hour flew by before Lo moved into my space and wrapped her arms around my waist while a woman yapped at me about some drink she’d had somewhere. I had no clue. I’d plastered on my attentive bartender smile while I nodded at the correct times.
That bullshit smile grew into a genuine one at what I’d figured was Lo’s own show of possessiveness.
But when I shifted her around my body, she didn’t threaten to kick my ass. “I think I need to go home.”
“The headache?” I asked as I gently pushed her hair back.
“Yeah. It’s worse.” She gave me a subtle brow raise. “Outside seems secure. Will you be okay in here?”
I got what she was saying since the puppy love cop was again keeping close. “I’ll get my shit from the office and?—”
“No. No. It’s okay. I’ve got my car.” She kissed me. “I’ll text when I’m home.”
