My cheeks heated at the same time my mouth gaped open, but still, I didn’t have a smart, snarky reply. I just kept blinking and staring at him like a mindless moron.
I covered my face with my hands, hiding my embarrassment at my actions and words. “I can’t believe I just…” I whispered, wishing I could disappear.
Austin’s palms landed on my arms, trying to pull my hands away from my face. “Relax, Mak.”
I splayed my fingers, sneaking a peek at the handsome man sitting next to me, not looking the least bit affected by what just happened. “I need a drink.”
“Clive,” Austin called out, angling his body to see around me. “Emergency situation over here.”
I groaned, closing my fingers and dragging my hands down my face. “Jack straight.”
“You heard the lady,” Austin told Clive as soon as he appeared.
“Make it a double,” I added, knowing one wouldn’t be enough to help ease the absolute horror I felt over forcing myself on a stranger.
Clive threw me a grin as he reached under the bar, fishing out a clean glass. “Don’t let this one get to you,” he told me, lifting his chin toward Austin. “He’s an asshole, but not the biggest one in the place.”
“I’m an asshole?” Austin said, touching his chest. “This coming from a man who married two women without them knowing about each other.”
My eyes widened. “Isn’t that illegal?”
Clive’s smile shifted. “Only if the marriages were legal, which neither was. Being married by a shaman on the beach without a marriage certificate is more of a commitment ceremony than a real marriage.”
My gaze slid to Austin, who was laughing, before going back to Clive. “Then what happened?”
He slid the empty glass in front of me and grabbed the bottle of Jack. “With?”
“The women.”
“I still got them.” He winked at me, filling my glass to the top with Jack.
I reached for the glass, wanting and needing the liquor. “But…”
Austin placed his hand over mine, stopping me from taking the gulp I so badly needed. “Trust me. Don’t ask.”
Clive leaned over, resting his arm against the bar. “Anything else, sweetheart?”
I wrinkled my nose at the nickname and how easily the word rolled off his tongue. “No. No. I’m good.”
“There’s always room for one more,” Clive added, laughing his ass off from the look of horror on my face.
“Fuck off, Clive,” Austin told him. “She doesn’t want to be your third.”
Clive shrugged, throwing up his hands. “Never hurts to try. Never gain anything, especially a beautiful woman, without throwing the possibility into the universe.”
I guzzled half the Jack in my glass, wondering exactly where my night started to go wrong. I had an older man, close to my father’s age, trying to make me part of his harem. My best friend ditched me for some woman who meant nothing to him and never would. And then there was Austin…a man I kissed and didn’t even know.
When I joined the navy, I promised myself I’d change my ways. I’d grow up. Become the adult my parents always wanted me to be. But within minutes of walking into the bar, I kissed a complete stranger.
“So, G.I. Jane Junior?” Austin raised an eyebrow. “Want to explain that to me?”
I waved him off, wiping my lips with the back of my hand. “It’s nothing. Just Blondie being Blondie. Tell me something about you. Where are you from? Kentucky? I hear the slightest twang.”
Austin sighed. “Twang?” He laughed. “You’re definitely not a linguist, darlin’. I’m originally from Tennessee but moved to Florida when I was seventeen. And then once I joined the Navy, I’ve been everywhere.”
“Why Florida?” I asked on a whim, trying to keep him talking about himself and not asking about me.
“You want the long or short version?”
