I’m captivated by her.
Her wide grin.
The bright red waves tumbling down her back.
The tight black dress hugging all her curves.
The way her heels dangle from her toes as she sits on the high stool, like they’re hurting her and she can’t bear to leave them on.
Her mossy green eyes when she turned around to look at me.
Her.
Bars are not my scene. Ever. As a single dad to a ten-year-old son and thirteen-year-old daughter and an offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Renegades, I have too much on my plate to be the guy who picks up girls in bars. Or ever. But once a month for as long as I can remember, my mom has booked me a night in a hotel, practically shoving me out of my house and taking control of my kids for the evening.
For relaxation, she says.
And usually, that’s exactly what I do. I read. I sleep. I watch a million episodes of whatever show looks interesting. But tonight,none of that appealed. Tonight, I was restless. Tonight, I wandered out of my downtown hotel and straight into this bar. In almost ten years of once-monthly hotel stays courtesy of my mom, I have never done anything like this, and as I watch the redhead, it seems almost like fate, if I believed in things like that.
Except she’s leaving.
But as I watch, the brunette she’s with puts a hand on her shoulder to push her back into her seat and tosses a glance over to me, giving me a subtle wink and a nod that have a smile spreading over my face.
Looks like I’ve got myself a wing woman.
Taking the last sip of my beer, I push up from my chair and cross the bar, coming up next to the redhead.
“Leaving so soon?”
I wince internally at my opening, and by the roll of the brunette’s eyes, I know it was exactly as bad as it sounded.
I really need to get out more.
“I am,” she says, picking up her bag from the table. “But my friend here isn’t quite ready to leave yet. Maybe you could keep her company while she has another drink?”
The redhead looks up, and my heart kicks up at the way her eyes track over me, studying me like I’m the most interesting thing she’s ever seen. The way she seems to catalogue every feature of my face. I would think it was a disinterested perusal but for the flutter of her pulse in her throat. The way her pupils dilate when our eyes lock.
Yeah, she’s interested, and that thought has need rushing through me, hot and fierce.
“Looks like you’re in good hands,” the brunette says, wrapping an arm around her friend’s shoulders and giving her a squeeze. “Take care of my girl,” she says to me, before sailing out of the bar with one final wave over her shoulder.
The redhead blows out a breath, dropping her head back in what seems like exasperation. “Sorry about that. I love her butshe’s…a lot. I’m going to head out too. It was nice to meet you. Kind of.”
She starts to stand, but I lay my hand over hers, stopping her. The crackle of electricity where our skin touches has her eyes snapping to mine, and oh yeah, there’s something here. No way am I letting this woman walk away. “Sorry, I can’t let you do that. Your friend told me to take care of you, and I never break a promise.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “I didn’t hear you make a promise.”
I lay my hand on my heart. “You may not have heard it out loud, but in here, it was the most sacred promise I’ve ever made.”
She laughs, and the uninhibited sound makes me grin. “Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you talked to a woman?”
I chuckle, running a finger over the back of her hand, loving the way she shivers. “Why? Am I bad at it?”
She laughs again, reaching into her purse and taking out a bag of peanut butter M&M’s, tearing it open and offering it to me before tossing a handful into her mouth. “You really, really are.”
“Sorry,” I say a little sheepishly, grabbing a couple of M&M’s. “It’s just that you’re really pretty, and I haven’t been able to take my eyes off of you since I walked into the bar, and you just pulled my favorite candy out of your purse, and now I think maybe I need to ask you to be mine forever.”
She grins, her eyes sparkling. “I don’t know about the forever thing, but you can share my candy with me. There’s more where that came from.”
