Page 3 of Dandelions and Smoke

“Ah, Fred? So you two are acquainted, good to know,” I tease, my brows coming down in mock seriousness. “Remy tells me that only his friends can call him Fred. It’s nice to know I’m in good company.”

“Oh yeah?” He grins, his brow lifting slightly.

“Well, of course,” I say, tilting my head, feigning innocence. “I’d have to ask you to move seats otherwise.”

His eyes widen, mouth falling open before he can catch it, a laugh slipping out. I’m enjoying the sound of it when the two guys I noticed earlier walk over.

“Chief,” the blond one calls out, his voice slightly slurred. Not enough to warrant any concern, but enough to tell he’s been enjoying himself.

He catches me assessing him and, judging by the cocky grin that has his lips tilting up and his head cocking to one side, mistakes it for interest.

“Well, hello there, Pinky,” he beams. “How you doin’?”

He says it like Joey from the TV show Friends, extending the word doin and looking down at me like a snack. It’s all so comical that I burst out laughing.

“Do these two belong to you?” I ask the Chief once I’ve composed myself and notice the “Turtle Bay Fire Department” logo on their chests.

“Unfortunately,” he mumbles, taking the first sip from his drink.

“I’ve never seen you around before. How about you let my friend Mark and me show you the best parts of town?”

“And let me guess, Playboy. Does the best part of town happen to be your bedroom?” I ask, filling in the rest of his ridiculously shameless pickup line.

His face goes slack with surprise. “How did you know?”

I cut him off with a crooked smile, one brow arched, leaning in just enough to make him squirm.

“How did I know what?” I ask, tapping my chin with my finger before pointing it at him. “That you’d be predictable and use the same line on me as you’ve used on several women tonight?”

His buddy Mark laughs behind him, slapping his shoulder, and Chief snorts beside me. Playboy is about to respond when a guy walks up behind him and spins him around.

“Were you hitting on my girlfriend?” the man barks.

Playboy’s eyes dart between the guy and the small blonde half-hiding beside him. Mark looks like he’s reluctantly working himself up for a fight, and beside me, the good mood and smile I worked so hard on dissipate completely from the Chief.

Oh, what the hell?

My shoulders drop, and with a roll of my eyes, I hop off the stool and place myself between the two monstrosities of men. They both look down at me, brows furrowed and hesitant. My size has always given me the advantage of being underestimated, but I’m a woman on a mission.

“Listen,” I say to the angry boyfriend. “This one is clearly not firing on all cylinders and is not worth your time. I’d argue that knocking him out would only be doing him a favor and save him the embarrassment of being rejected more times tonight.”

While Playboy’s mouth drops and Mark laughs, to my relief, ‘angry-boyfriend’ smirks. I take a quick breath as my mind works faster than most would think possible and comes up with an idea to hopefully save his ass and my fire chief’s mood.

Woah. When did he become my chief?

Good Lord.

“So instead of smashing his face in. How about,” I reach into the front pocket of my little backpack that I take everywhere and pull out a fifty-dollar bill from the ‘spare cash’ Lucas sent me off with and hand it to him, “You take this and get you and your girlfriend a round of drinks and leave this dumb ass to us?”

The guy’s eyes narrow on me, but there’s a glint in them like he’s impressed. I smile and tilt my head, shifting my hand slightly toward him, encouraging him to take the bill and be done with this.

He nods and grabs it from me, walking away, but not before giving a dirty look to the man whose ass I just saved.

“Holy shit,” Playboy exhales. “You’re my hero, Pinky!”

“That was epic,” Mark chimes.

“You just Coyote Ugly’d him,” the Chief says, huffing a laugh under his breath, shaking his head.