“That should have me out the door,” Panther said.
“Then why aren’t you?”
Panther looked down at the beer bottle he rolled between his hands. “I don’t know. I really don’t.”
“I can help you there.”
He lifted his head, a line forming between his brows. “You got me figured out?”
“Easy. You’ve always played by the rules, and now you want to break a few.”
Panther snorted and shook his head. “And you assume I’m going to break them with you?”
“Well, itwasyour mouth all over my dick yesterday—”
“Jesus.” Panther glanced around, looking to see if anyone was listening in.Newsflash—they weren’t.
“Can I ask you something?”
“I have a feeling I’ll regret it if I say yes.”
I leaned forward, not to keep my voice down, but to get a better read on his answer. “My charming personality aside, do you see me getting shit from anyone?”
Panther frowned. “What?”
“At NAFTA. Have I gotten the short end of the stick in any way? Any hate from our instructors? What about the other trainees?”
“No. What are you talking about—”
“I’m gay.” As Panther sat there trying to piece together where I was going with that obvious statement, I said, “I’m gay, and not one person gives a flying fuck. So guess what? They wouldn’t give a flying fuck about you either.”
He stared at me, unblinking, and then shifted in his seat. “It’s different—”
“For you? Because you’re some special snowflake?”
Panther’s blue eyes turned icy. “You know why it’s different. My father would make my life there a living hell. Not everyone can be as unaffected as you are about everything. I have to be smart here.” He pushed his beer away and stood up. “You know what, this was a bad idea—”
“Wait.” I grabbed hold of his wrist before he could walk away and stood up so we were almost toe to toe. “I’m sorry. I’m just trying to help.”
With a sigh, Panther glanced down at the hold I had on him, and while he seemed to be debating whether to stay, I tugged him back to the table.
“Come on. Just dinner. I’ll drop it.”
Panther gave a short nod and then slid back into the booth as I did the same. I motioned for another round of beers and finished off my first.
Why did I always have to butt in and interfere when it was so clearly not what others wanted? I couldn’t seem to help myself. It was like my mouth had a mind of its own, and there wasn’t one damn thing I could do to stop it.
But for Panther, for tonight, I’d try.
“I appreciate you wanting to help,” he said. “But I don’t have a choice right now.”
All I could do to bite my tongue, because of course he had a choice—he just wouldn’t get the results that he wanted.
But tonight wasn’t the time to delve into all those issues. It was time to flip the switch back to why I’d asked him here in the first place.
“You’re a little buttoned up tonight, Lieutenant Hughes,” I said, sliding back into the sensual tone that told him exactly where I wanted to go. “Maybe a couple of those could, I dunno, pop off.”
Panther glanced down at his shirt and then back to me, and the frustration from seconds ago vanished, a lighter emotion now filling those blue eyes of his. “Just pop off, huh?”
