The door opened just as that thought had entered my brain. Coming in, already looking around, was a man too blonde to be the one I was meeting up with. He was tall, lean, and… not Rip.
He was not Rip.
He was too young. Too slim.
But mostly, he wasn’t the man who ran his hands through my hair when I was upset and listened.
The guy was everything that would have been exactly my type four years ago.
Before a six-foot-four man with a chest twice the size of this guy’s, with forearms that rippled with muscle, a thick neck, and a lower body that should have inspired sculpture makers into recreating it, strolled into my life.
Screw it.I was going to hide in the bathroom.
The thought had barely occurred to me when a man sitting at the bar turned in his stool and stood up.
I realized I knew that body. That head shape. I knew that height.
And as the familiar body turned and started heading in the direction of where I was sitting, I stayed there. The lights hid a lot of the nicest bits of him, but I knew who it was. I would always know who he was.
And he had a pissed-off look on his face.
What the hell was he doing here? How did he know…
He didn’t say a word as he pulled out the seat opposite of the one I was in and slid into it. In the dark, I couldn’t see those amazing teal-colored eyes, but I could tell where they were focused. I could see the slant of his eyebrows.
Yep. He was definitely pissed.
And honestly, I had definitely never been less pissed.
Never.
He was here.Here.
“What are you doing?” I asked him, feeling the tension in my stomach unraveling slowly.
He planted his elbows on the table between us and crossed his arms as he answered, “You know what I’m here for.”
I held my breath, and then I lied… hope and love blooming inside of me so quickly I couldn’t help but want to mess with this man. “No, I don’t.”
His voice was a low, low growl of, “Yeah, you do.”
“You’re making sure I don’t get kidnapped again?” I deadpanned as seriously as possible. Why did this feel like the easiest thing in the world now? Messing with him? Giving him crap? “Or are you stalking me now?
He blinked. Then he took a deep breath… and his cheek went up a millimeter in the blink of an eye. “Not funny, Luna.”
I couldn’t help the smile that instantly came over my face as I spoke again, not letting this go, not planning on ever letting this go. “I don’t need a babysitter, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
That cheek went up another millimeter. “You’re right there, baby girl. You don’t need a babysitter. ’Specially not when the dumbass you’re meeting up with didn’t look old enough for you.”
I processed his words… but then processed them right back out and focused only on the important part. “When did you see him?”
He smiled at me. “Before you showed up.”
I didn’t need to glance around the bar to make sure the man still wasn’t hanging around. I knew he wasn’t. How he even knew who to look for was beyond me, but it didn’t matter. Not even a little bit. I also had a feeling I knew exactly what had happened, but I needed to make sure. I tipped my head closer to him. “Where did he go?”
He shrugged a rounded shoulder. “Somewhere not here.”
Uh.
