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“Can I get a beer?” he said, without thinking.
“Sure,” she said, all politeness stripped from her voice. She plucked a half empty mug that she’d obviously just cleared from another table and slammed it down on the felt in front of him. Foam splashed everywhere, even onto his jeans.
“Damn it!” he hissed and wiped the denim furiously.
By the time he looked up, she was already gone.
Holly watched her leave then looked at Easy. “Do you know her?”
“No,” Easy told her, moving the dirty mug off the table.
“She really doesn’t like you.”
Easy blew out a hard breath and raised his hands, plaintively. “Dunno,” he lied. “Maybe she’s just a shitty waitress.”
Holly’s eyes narrowed. “She’s only mad at you,” she pointed out.
Easy grimaced and shook his head. “I don’t know,” he repeated more firmly. He snuck a look at Tex, who had nothing to say on the subject, thankfully.
Holly took a sip of her drink and set it back down. “I’m going to go to the bathroom,” she told him and whirled away.
When Easy turned to Tex, he caught the man’s look. “You could go with her,” Tex suggested. “Make it two for two.”
Easy rolled his eyes. “Just play.”
“You should probably tell Holly your side of the story,” Tex suggested, lining up a shot.
“No,” Easy insisted. “This’ll blow over. We’ll leave, Daisy will be out of the picture. No one needs to keep bringing it up.”
“Need is a strong word,” Tex replied. “Maybe she wants to.”
Easy frowned. “Wants to what?”
“Keep bringing it up,” Tex told him and nodded toward the bar.
Easy followed his gaze and saw Holly at the bar, talking to Daisy.
“Oh, god damn it!” he cried and tossed his cue on the table.
He headed across the room. The last thing he needed was Daisy telling Holly, or anyone else. “Hey!” he called out, getting their attention.
Holly looked at him inquisitively, Daisy, not surprisingly, just glared.
“What are you telling her?” Easy demanded.
“Nothing,” Daisy snapped.
“Oh, so you just flagged her down to tell her about the specials?”
Daisy crossed her arms in front of her and cocked her hip. “I didn’t flag anybody down. She came over here to talk to me.”
“So, what’d you say?”
“Nothing!”
“You slept with her,” Holly accused.
Easy glared daggers at Daisy. “Nothing, huh? So, you told her we had a quickie in the bathroom and you didn’t come, which is probably your fault, not mine.”
A slow smile spread over Daisy’s face as she looked at him. “Actually, it was Milo who told her we had sex. I didn’t tell her anything. And I sure as shit didn’t mention that I didn’t get off. Guess I don’t need to now.”
Chapter 14
Daisy watched Jimmy retreat to his table and sighed heavily. Couldn’t a girl just fucking work without people thinking they could bother her all the time?
“Hey, Daisy.”
The hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention and she dragged her gaze from Jimmy to her left. Clad in another pair of black jeans and a matching black t-shirt stood Adam. His arms were crossed, too, like hers, and once more the sight of ink and muscles did strange things to her insides. Scratch that, she thought. Here’s a guy who’s welcome to bother me.
“Fun night?” he asked, watching Jimmy walk away.
“A riot,” she told him.
“As in laugh a minute or Kevlar required?” he asked.
“Too soon to tell.”
He grinned at her. “What time do you get off tonight?” Then he said, “That wasn’t a reference to your personal problem, by the way.”
Daisy laughed. “I don’t have a problem. He does.” She picked up a glass and began to wipe the counter underneath it. It seemed dangerous to look a man like this in the eye for too long. She was likely to end up bent over in the bathroom again. “I get off at Midnight.”
He nodded. “Gonna let me see your stuff?”
For a moment her breath caught, and her face reddened. He grinned. “Your artwork, Daisy.”
“Oh!” She let out a long breath and nodded, cautiously. “I… yeah… I guess you could take a look.”
“Great. We’ll head over to your place after work.”
“I don’t have a place,” she told him. “Not yet. I’m staying at the Rainbow a few blocks over.”
He grinned again, and Daisy thought she might need an entire pitcher of ice water to cool off. “I’ll try not to read too much into that,” he told her and walked away.
“Whew,” Milo cried. “Now that guy’s got mojo.”
“There’s not a lot he doesn’t have,” Daisy agreed. Then she glared at the old man. “I oughta take your fries away.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“Stop telling tales on me, Milo. Or the only thing I’m gonna serve you is a stewed boot and a salad.”
Milo grumbled and dug back into his fries, mumbling about rabbit food.
Daisy pretended not to hear him. She also pretended not to see Easy glaring at her from his table across the room. Oh well, she thought, as she stacked glasses. She never could make friends without making enemies, too.
