Page 17 of Sugar Plum Serenade

CHAPTER 7

Olive squealed and closed her eyes. As if that would help. She had nowhere to go! The polished wooden bar was behind her. Directly before her two older men wrestled beer belly to beer belly, edging closer and closer to her, cursing at each other. It was difficult to understand everything they said, but the contentious subject seemed to be football, of all things. She opened one eye; they weren’t more than a foot away. The jabs they threw were ineffective, for the most part, but they did throw them, one after another. One meaty fist came much too close to her shoulder.

Tuck thrust himself between the two men and separated them easily, one hand fisted on a T-shirt, the other gripping a collar. He pushed them back and away from her. The fighters were separated, then with a move she couldn’t quite explain, Tuck put them each, one at a time, on their asses. He stood over them prepared to do whatever was necessary to keep them down.

His efficiency and chivalry were both incredibly hot. Oh my.

“Don’t make me call Mac,” he said in a firm voice. “I will, if you both don’t get out of here, now. You’ve had enough to drink tonight. Go home and sleep it off.” As the men awkwardly rose to their feet and stumbled toward the exit, Tuck added, in a raised voice, “If you fight in the parking lot, you’ll both be banned from The Magnolia for six months!”

One of the men looked back, eyes widened in surprise. “You would never do such a thing. We’re your best customers.”

“Not when you upset the pretty lady,” Tuck said with a wave of his hand in her direction.

One of the men stumbled and all but fell out the door. The other was right behind but stopped to call out, “Sorry, pretty lady.”

The excitement had begun and ended pretty quickly, but Olive’s heart pounded double time. Tuck placed himself between her and the rest of the crowd, who all watched. Since the brawlers were gone the entertainment was over, there was no one to watch but Tuck, and her.

“Are you okay?”

Olive nodded her head, but couldn’t find her voice.

“Are you sure?” He looked down the bar. “Ginny, get Olive another can of wine.”

Her initial response to that was a brief, sharp burst of laughter. Another can of wine! “No, no, if I have any more, I won’t be able to drive. I’m a lightweight. If I drink any more, I’ll need a designated driver.”

“You’re looking at one,” he said.

“I need to go to the grocery store on the way home…”

“I’ll take you to the grocery store, if it can’t wait.”

He had an argument for everything. “Who’s Mac?” she asked.

“Chief of police. He’s even better than I am at breaking up bar fights, and everyone’s more afraid of him than they are of me.”

“No one should be afraid of you.” She sure wasn’t. “You’re not scary at all.”

“Get into a fight in my bar and maybe you’ll think differently.” That statement was followed by a smile. He did have a very charming smile.

Her mind continued to spin and her heart beat too fast. More wine might not have been the best cure for either, but she took it anyway.

“How many cans of wine would it take to get you on the dance floor?” Tuck asked in a lowered voice.

“More than I’m going to drink, tonight or ever.”

“Too bad.”

He sat beside her and took a bite of his half of the burger, but she’d lost her appetite so what was left of her half sat, untouched.

The band played their first song, one she recognized but couldn’t name. Something from the seventies, she thought. It was nice. Her toes wiggled a little and her butt squirmed, but she remained steadfast in her refusal to dance.

Halfway through her third glass of wine, she realized how lightheaded she’d become. Her mind wandered all over the place. That fist that had come so close. Tuck coming to her rescue. The new, sexy dress that was hanging in her closet. Her knight in shining armor stayed right beside her, as if he was worried. Worried about her. That was sweet, but unnecessary. She could and would take care of herself.

Though the two pot-bellied men would’ve been a challenge if they’d moved any closer.

She spun on her stool to face Tuck. “You’re still a bouncer, aren’t you?”

“Some nights I am.”