“I can eat alone.”
“Jesus. Are you always this stubborn?” I lifted my hands, exasperated by this woman.
She raised her chin as she slammed the door to her Jeep. “Being stubborn isn’t always a negative.” She turned to face me, eyes narrowed and attitude firmly in place. “And for your information, I’m not stubborn. I’m cautious. They’re two very different things.” She stalked toward the bar, leaving me standing there, gawking at her.
Why I didn’t walk away, I had no idea. Usually I would. I’d never had to try this hard with anyone before.
But I didn’t stand there for long before I ran up next to her, grabbing the door handle before she could. “If I wanted to do you harm, I would’ve done it when we were alone out there.” I ticked my head toward the parking lot where her yellow Jeep was parked.
She stared at me for a moment as I held open the door, her green eyes blazing. “I can still be cautious. Maybe you’re trying to get me to let my guard down.”
“In you go, darlin’.” I pushed her back softly, nudging her inside the bar, instead of standing outside having this ridiculous conversation.
The move earned me a look of death, but she kept walking straight to the bar and the two seats we’d been sitting in before. “You know I could break your arm without breaking a sweat,” she told me as she slid onto the stool and crossed her legs in the most ladylike way.
I raised an eyebrow, laughing softly as I sat down next to her. “You think?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re almost a foot shorter than me and less than half my weight. While it might be possible, Mak, I highly doubt you have the ability.”
An easy smile spread across her face. “Maybe you’re the one who should be cautious of me, Austin.”
I laughed louder, motioning for the bartender from earlier. “Coke for the lady, and I’ll take a Jack and Coke,” I said to him when he came near.
“Maybe I wanted something stronger,” she said.
“Do you?”
“No.”
“Impossible woman,” I muttered.
“Mak,” a guy said, coming up behind her, throwing his arm over her shoulder. “This is Betty.”
The dark-haired woman under his arm blushed. “It’s Belinda,” she corrected him, but she didn’t seem too fazed.
“Found a piece of ass that quick, Blondie?” Mak curled her lip at the bimbo plastered against his side.
“Look at you,” he said, swinging his eyes from her to me. “You worked quick too. I knew you had it in you, tiger.”
“Fuck off, Blondie,” she snarled, shrugging off his arm.
“Gladly,” he said with a grin on his face as he moved back into the crowd with the girl on his arm.
“Friend of yours?”
She turned around, finding the Coke the bartender had set in front of her while her friend stopped by to say hello. “We were until tonight.”
“Why didn’t you tell him about the Jeep?” I asked, knowing she could’ve gotten rid of me if he would’ve stayed.
She shrugged. “He’s here for one thing, and it isn’t helping me.”
“I’m sure he would’ve ditched the chick for you.”
She shook her head. “He wouldn’t. He made that much clear when he invited me out tonight and then left me before we made it to the front door. I thought we were coming here to unwind, have a few drinks, but then he took off and told me he needed to get laid.”
So, her words told me a few things. One, Blondie was not a threat in any way. She didn’t like him sexually or romantically. Second, she had shitty friends. And last, she needed to unwind, which I already knew because if she was wound any tighter, she’d snap.
