“Behave,” Alyssa tells Wylder. “And if she doesn’t come home, I’m heading right to Cheryl’s after I go to the cops.”
“I’m not here to hurt her.”
“I tried to touch his eye,” I explain.
Alyssa wrinkles her nose, and she gawks at me. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“I don’t know,” I whisper through clenched teeth.
“That good old impulse control seems to be slipping,” she tells me with a smirk.
I know what she’s talking about. Maybe she feels the snap, crackle, pop of the air between Wylder and me.
“Ready?” Timber asks Alyssa, not giving Wylder a second glance.
“I guess so,” she says to him, adjusting her purse strap over her shoulder. “But only if Tate’s sure.”
“I am,” I tell her, shooing her toward the door. “I’ll be fine.”
She stares at me as she moves. “Are you sure?” she whispers, glancing over my shoulder.
“I promise.”
“He’s fucking hot.”
“I know,” I say before Timber is at her side, and they leave.
I take three seconds to gather myself before I turn back around to face Wylder.
“Your name’s Tate, right?”
“One and only,” I say, stalking past him to get to my workstation.
“Is this your place?”
“Yep.” I busy myself with cleaning, letting Wylder do whatever Wylder is going to do.
“It’s impressive,” he says in a warmer tone.
“Thanks.”
His boots echo on the tile floor as he moves around the shop. “I wanted to thank you for earlier.”
“It was nothing.”
“It was something to me, Tate.”
I glance up when he says my name. I like how it sounds coming out of his mouth, and that spells trouble for me. “I make a mean Shirley Temple.”
Wylder blows out a loud breath before collapsing into one of the waiting room chairs. “I’m glad they wandered into your place and not some of the other bars around here.”
If I thought he looked large standing, he looks even bigger sitting down. His legs seem to stretch out farther than I’d ever think humanly possible.
“They were safe. No one bothered them, and we all love Cheryl too.”
“I didn’t know my mom went to bars.”
“She comes in once or twice a week for a bite to eat and company. She’s been doing it for years since her husband died.”
