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“You sure about that?” Billie asked, her tone incredibly dry.
The guy tried to shove at me again, and there was no way I was going to let this fucking farce continue. He wanted to dance? Fine, let’s dance.
I cold clocked him, right in the temple, and the guy went down like a sack of bricks.
“Oh my God,” Billie croaked. She looked like she might be sick.
“C’mon.” I took her by the hand and led her out of the bathroom, leaving the guy to groan on the floor. Let him sort himself out.
Billie gestured towards another door marked OFFICE. “This way.”
I followed her in, noting that her legs were a little wobbly. I’d only seen her take two shots so unless she had been sneaking more on the job without my knowing it—which, again, didn’t sound like the responsible Billie that I knew—it wasn’t alcohol that was making her like this. It was nerves.
I couldn’t even imagine what it was like to have someone do that to you. I was a man and so I could walk around at night relatively safe. Sure, there was the possibility of someone trying to mug you, or something like that, but that was a bit different from having to spend your entire life on guard against men like that asshole.
“You okay?” I asked.
Billie whirled on me, anger flashing in her eyes. “Why the hell did you do that?” she sounded furious and panicked at the same time. “Don’t you remember how fast gossip spreads in this town? That guy’s going to tell everyone about you doing that and then I’m going to get mercilessly asked about it for weeks!”
“He’s not going to tell anyone that he got as good as knocked out from just one punch,” I snapped back, irritated. A thank you would’ve been nice! “But good to know that the idea of people thinking of the two of us together in any way is so awful to you.”
“I can look after myself.”
“I’m sure you can, but you didn’t have to, all right?”
“Of course, I have to.” Billie folded her arms. “What about the next time I’m alone, now? He’ll think I’m easy pickings or something. You’ve just made my life more complicated than it has to be. You can’t swoop in here after four years of nothing like Leap Year and expect me to welcome your interference!”
“So, you’d rather I let the creep just do whatever and not try and help you?”
“Yes!” Billie shot back. “God, were you always this infuriating or did I just get amnesia?”
“I could ask the same thing about you! I help out and you couldn’t even thank me?”
“I never asked you to help out, Pike,” Billie snapped, and I hated that she was right. “Go back to your entourage, I’m sure they’re missing you.”
That pissed me off. “I don’t give a damn about them,” I snapped, far too honest and raw.
“Then why are you letting them hang off of you like flies with honey, huh?” Did I detect a hint of jealousy in Billie’s voice?
“Because you weren’t even giving me a second look!” In for a penny, in for a pound, I supposed.
Billie stepped right up into my face, challenging me, her eyes blazing. “And just what would you do if I did give you a second look, huh, Pike?”
Oh, I knew exactly what I’d do. But I wasn’t going to waste my time telling her when I could show her.
I grabbed Billie and hauled her against me, kissing her, even as she yelled angrily into my mouth. Her hands latched onto my shoulders and I thought she would push me away, in which case—I’d be disappointed but I would let her. But she wasn’t doing that. She was hauling me closer to her, her nails digging in, her body pressing all up against mine in one line of blazing heat.
Fuck, I wanted her so badly I couldn’t even think properly.
My hands slid up underneath her shirt, feeling out the smooth planes of her back. We hadn’t gotten properly undressed the first time we’d had sex in the car, and I wanted to fix that right fucking now. I wanted to see every inch of her and get my mouth on every damn inch of her, too. I wanted her screaming my name so loudly that no other asshole even thought about going after her.
Billie pressed herself into my hands, yanking at my shirt, tugging it up, her kisses greedy. I pulled away so that she could yank my shirt off, and that was when she paused, staring.
“What?” I asked, only to belatedly realize that I knew what she was staring at.
While I was in the army, I’d gotten a tattoo of a star on my chest. Nothing too big or crazy, but it was definitely something that hadn’t been there before.
