Page 12 of Herding Cat

Garrett cringed. He saw Luke grimace as well. For his part, Tate—who was now off duty—chuckled. The fucker. “All right, but be sure to keep close to us.”

To which Catherine responded with a glower.

Garrett had no idea why she was being so distant, other than the fact that they had kissed. That she knew he wanted her. And he knew she wanted him but had some crazy hair up her ass about being too old for him. The bald fact of the matter was, he hadn’t even thought about her age until she brought it up. And now, when he thought about it, it was with a wash of exasperation.

When a man was attracted to a woman, little else mattered.

Except her resistance to the idea.

He didn’t know how to change her mind about the issue, other than to try to show her it was no issue at all. At least for him. But if it was for her, that might be enough to kill it right here and now.

His soul howled at the thought.

She picked up another crab leg and sucked the meat out of it and Garrett cringed as his entire body went on point. He forced his attention elsewhere, to the crowd surrounding them, to the potential danger spots, to the rolls of toilet paper on the tables, serving as napkins.

When she tipped back her beer though, when her tongue peeped out to meet the lip of it, he noticed.

Shit.

How could a woman be so innately sexy? Every move, every breath, every look turned him on.

How on earth was he going to focus on her safety when all he wanted was to tip her onto the rickety table and fuck her silly?

“Well,” Tate gusted as he finished his beer and set it on the table. “I’m heading back to the hotel. Y’all have fun at the Night Market.”

It was all Garrett could do not to trip him as he passed. “Yeah. Have a good night.” Total. Sarcasm.

Tate sketched a cocky salute as he disappeared into the throng.

Garrett nodded to the wads of toilet paper on Catherine’s plate. “You about ready to go?”

She flicked a look at him, but it was cold and quick. Yeah. He got the message. “Sure.” She pushed away from the table and stood, hooking her bag over her shoulder. “Let’s go.”

He and Luke exchanged a glance and, without words, determined that his buddy would take the lead and Garrett would pull up the rear. He didn’t mind pulling up the rear because the view was awesome. Still, he forced himself to rip his gaze from her ass and scan the street.

Everything looked fine. Normal. Just a typical evening on the streets of Kowloon, but Garrett knew better than to take the scene at face value. He quickly assessed each person he saw as they made their way toward the Night Market, positioning himself so he would be on point to attack any threat should it emerge.

The man leaning against the street lamp in the shabby suit, watching them pass through narrowed eyes. The shuffling old man pushing a cart filled with unfamiliar vegetables that somehow looked like torture devices. The couple walking arm in arm and chattering to each other in Australian accents. Any one of them could be a threat.

His blood hummed in his veins as they entered the market. It was busy, vibrant and boisterous. A cacophony. People crowded through the narrow aisles, moving slowly as they surveyed the mélange of items, everything from knockoff designer fashions to cloisonné boxes. There were t-shirts and purses and jade statues. One stand was dedicated to everything Hello Kitty.

The bottlenecks—caused by tourists bickering over prices with the vendors—made the little hairs on his nape stand up. There was too much going on for him to see everything. Too many people, too many conversations, an overload of information.

Garrett focused on staying close to Catherine and guarding her from the surging wave of pushing people.

It was a relief when they broke out of one knot and there was room to breathe. But she just plunged into the next row, like a child on an adventure. He loved watching her study the items, explore this stall or that, but he couldn’t ignore the burn in his gut, the instinct that screamed this was not safe.

Luke didn’t seem concerned at all. He merely strolled by her side and escorted her through this pod of people or that. Garrett wasn’t sure if he was really that chill about it, or if he was just a better actor, but it hardly mattered.

It seemed to take forever for Catherine to make her purchases—a number of items she proclaimed were for her niece, Pansy, and several for someone named Lola—and then turn to Luke with a smile and say, “My feet hurt. Shall we go back to the hotel?”

Oh thank God.

He didn’t even care that the question wasn’t addressed to him. Didn’t even care that she had patently ignored him all night.

They were going back to the hotel. Thank God.

Garrett checked the GPS app on his phone and calculated the quickest return route. It was probably best to grab a cab, so he gestured to a side street off the market, which was a quick walk to the next street where they could flag down a ride.