The bouncer was at her side in an instant.Nobody in a biker bar liked cops.They made people itchy.The bouncer escorted the policemen to the door and Roxie turned, bracing herself with her feet spread wide.The fact that her toes hurt in an old pair of boots didn’t help her attitude.
“Where are they going?”Landers Underhill said, pouncing on her like a barracuda that smelled blood.“They should be taking you in.”
“Shush it, daddy’s boy,” Roxie hissed, making a slashing movement with her hand, “unless you want to drag Lexie into this.”
The last thing she needed was for Lexie’s brother to stick his nose into the mess.
“Me drag Lexie into it?”he snarled, although his volume did turn down a notch.“You’re the one who’s dragging her down in the gutter every time I turn around.Did you see the news?There’s a reporter and video crew out there right now.You’re making that damn billboard their lead story again.”
“So?”Roxie growled, cocking her head.“That’s my business.”
“You know it’s not.With that face, every time you get into trouble, you drag Lexie and the Underhills right along with you.It happened with that newspaper story, and it’s happening again.”
“Is it?”Roxie said, hair swinging as she took a step forward.Her entire body vibrated with anger.“To my memory, that newspaper story didn’t affect Underhill Associates one bit.You just took it out on Lexie.”
“Our stock price took a hit.We sell educational children’s toys.We can’t be associated with that filthy billboard.”
Filthy?Roxie’s jaw tightened a notch.“Your company lost value because it lost its Marketing VP.”
She narrowed her eyes when a thought occurred to her.“Or is that what this is really all about?You losing Lexie as your Girl Friday?”
A swath of perfectly cut blond hair swung forward onto the pretty boy’s forehead.“She’s my sister more than she is yours.Ever since you showed up, you’ve been nothing but trouble for her.”
“Really?Have you run that theory past Lexie?Because last I heard, she was doing pretty well with her new company and her new home.”
Temper bubbled inside Roxie’s veins like a poison potion.She’d been spoiling for a fight, and she’d just walked into one.She’d never liked the Underhills, save for Blaire.She and Landers had gone round once before, and although she’d walked away the winner, she’d left feeling like her guts had been put through a grinder.
Her fingers dug into her hips.Lexie may have been adopted growing up, but Roxie didn’t envy her.
“Do you have any idea what that did to my parents?Her leaving like that?”Landers hissed.“They’re crushed.”
“Crushed?”Roxie coughed.“There’s an easy way to keep her around.Show her some support.Show her you care about her.”
“You’re one to talk.”He jabbed his finger towards the door where the cops had just left.“If you cared about how your actions affected her, you’d stop acting like such a skank.”
Whoa.
“Skank?”Roxie’s eyes narrowed to razor-thin slits.He wanted to play that game again?
At the slur, conversation around them halted and the noisy bar went from a din to a soft roar.A nasty sultriness went through Roxie, and she deliberately reached out to stroke the guy’s chest.Her fingertips moved over gym-hardened pecs across his somewhat impressive abs down towards his—
His eyes widened like a deer in the headlights.It was that split second later that he jerked out of her reach.
Or rather, he was jerked out of her reach.
Billy had the angry prepster by the back of the collar.The fancy blazer Landers wore was hitched up towards his ears and looking wrinkled.
“You sick bitch,” Landers spat.
“You might want to be more careful who you call names,” Billy said threateningly into the younger man’s ear.
Billy.How he’d gotten into the bar and within five feet of her without warning bells flaring was beyond Roxie.Yet here he was, in all his glory.
Big, tough, and so incensed, his leather jacket looked ready to burst off his shoulders.
Her lips pursed into a tight knot.Billy, looking rough and sexy, firing up her nerve endings, was the last thing she wanted right now.
“Hey,” she called.“I can fight my own battles.”
