In the end, lover boy landed flat on his back in a position most of the women in the bar had dreamed about.But it was a time for fighting, not for loving.His hands were lifted, ready for a continued attack, and his green eyes were sharp as he evaluated the people who hovered over him.
The crowd that bunched around him wasn’t what he expected.
He was used to greasers and tough guys, but the people who surrounded him were different.These weren’t bikers.They didn’t dress the part and they were too… East Side.These were strangers.Except that three of them didn’t look like strangers.His brow furrowed.
Three of the women who watched him so raptly looked like clones of each other.
Clones of Roxie, a one-in-a-million.
“What the hell?”he muttered.
The one he’d spoken to first knelt down beside him.“Are you all right?”
“Did you hurt yourself?”That was another one of the clones, the one he’d tried to kiss.
“I… I’m sorry,” a raspy voice said.
His gaze zeroed in on the third, the one who’d gone pale as a sheet.
Her hair was curling wildly around her shoulders, and her hands were fisted at her sides.Most telling, though, was her right foot.It was cocked back on the impossibly high heel of a leather boot.
Roxie.
Their gazes locked and the air between them started vibrating.The jolt of it ran through the bar, and people turned to watch.
The man on the floor barely noticed when an intense dark-haired man pulled the kneeling copy of Roxie to her feet.He tucked her close against his side and practically snarled, “Keep your hands to yourself, buddy.”
The biker’s jaw locked and some of his cockiness returned.“Looks like there’s enough to go around.”
And what the hell was that about?His eyes narrowed as he evaluated the women.They looked too much like each other to be true.“What’s going on here?”
“That’s what I’d like you to tell me.”That big blond guy moved into his line of vision again.He didn’t look happy either.The back of his shirt fluttered as he moved, and from his position on the floor, the visitor saw the butt of a gun.He stiffened, but quickly recognized how the guy handled himself.A cop.“Why don’t you and I step outside?”Mr.Law Enforcement said.
“Fuck that.”The man sat up and draped his arms over his bent knees.It was clear he’d had enough.“Since when is it a crime to try to kiss your wife?”
“Wife?” The two copies of Roxie snapped upright in attention.They’d spoken as one.
As if a wave of pressure swept through the room, the group pulled back.Attention swung to Roxie and, this time, she was the one who stutter-stepped backwards.
Only one person moved forward, and it was a huge mountain of a man.He pushed his way through the crowd, searching for the source of the commotion.The muscles in his arms flexed as he prepared to take care of business, but his chin jerked up in surprise when he saw the man sitting on the ground.“Billy!Hey, man.”
“Skeeter,” the guy said in return.He lifted a hand for a little help, and the bouncer hauled him to his feet.
“You made it,” Skeeter said, slapping him on the shoulder.“Welcome back.”
“It’s good to be back.”The guy watched the group around him as suspiciously as they watched him.“Or it was until I nearly got punched.”
Roxie’s pretty face turned ashen.“I said I was sorry.I just saw someone making a move on my sister, and it wasn’t her boyfriend.”
One key word in that sentence caught the visitor’s attention.“Sister?”
Roxie started blinking fast.
“Oh, hey.That’s right,” Skeeter crowed.“You probably haven’t heard the news.”
The bouncer wrapped his beefy arm around the man’s shoulders and gestured to the tightly pressed crowd.“These are Roxie’s sisters.That’s Lexie, and this one here is Maxie.”
The man’s green eyes blinked in stunned fascination, but his gaze eventually swung back to Roxie’s.
