A shrug lifted his shoulders as he lifted his drink up to his mouth. Words wouldn’t wash ashore. He didn’t have any. His type hardly did. They were so guarded. So reserved. Cautious. Observant. Always in their head.
But, he was intoxicated.
Senses slightly disabled or possibly delayed. Either way, he wasn’t the man whose car I’d sped off into the night in hours ago. He was merely a shell of him. The night wasn’t kind to him. From the snigger that left his lips as he shook his head, I could sense the bitterness.
Disappointment.
The vulnerability.
“You’ve had too much to drink,” I acknowledged, sipping from my glass.
A heavy sigh pushed from his body.
“Or not enough,” he tittered.
The hair on my arms lifted, standing straight up at the sound of his voice. I lost the silent battle inside my head. Involuntarily, I twisted my neck, finding him hunched over the bar.
Defeated.
Drunken.
And, handsome.
No words were exchanged as our eyes met. His through a pair of dark shades. Mine through a lustful haze.
God doesn’t make them like him anymore.
I guzzled the champagne in my flute and reached for the bottle. The fizzing liquid filled my glass again.
“I’m no cop,” he revealed, facing forward.
Losing his gaze felt too much like torture to admit. Still, I retrieved my pride and did the same.
“That’s usually the first thing a cop says.”
I bit the inside of my bottom lip, unsure how to feel about the displacement of my emotions.
Time to go home, Royce.
I removed the envelope holding the hotel’s key card from my purse and placed it on the bartop. Slowly, I slid it in the stranger’s direction.
“Sleep it off.”
Without another word, I emptied the glass of champagne I’d just poured and stood. The parts of my dress that had hiked as I sat flowed down my legs, grazing my skin and forcing small bumps to rise.
Click.
Clack.
Click.
Clack.
His eyes burned holes in my back. Still, I continued out ofBar Balgaria. My head tipped back a bit. My nose pierced the air. My shoulders squared. My spine was as straight as a stripper’s pole.
He’s the law.I surmised.It doesn’t matter which department or which field.Go home.
We’d been there and every Childers and Domino had felt the consequences of Teddy’s happiness. It looked so damn good on him, but it had cost us all.
