“Yes.”
His eyebrows shot up. “And you’re still standing?” He grinned. “That’s impressive.”
I swallowed because his smile was doing funny things to my insides. Hesitantly, I smiled back. “It may have worn off my stomach lining,” I admitted.
He barked out a laugh. “It’ll do that… Want another?”
“No, thank you.” I fidgeted with the shot glass as he poured another and drank it. I watched his throat work as he swallowed.
How pathetic am I?
I was basically obsessed with this guy—though I’d never admit that to him—and he had to drink just to be in the same room as me. “Thank you,” I blurted out when the silence stretched on too long.
He looked over at me in confusion. “For what?”
“For helping me last night.”
He turned his back to the bar and leaned against it, crossing his muscular arms over his chest. “Looked like you had it under control.”
My mouth dropped open. “Then why did you start that fight?”
“Didn’t start it,” he said. “That fucker pushed me.”
He’d been so close to the cowboy their noses had nearly touched, but I didn’t point that out. “That’s…true. But-”
“Where’d you learn to do that?”
“Do what?” I asked.
“The wrist lock.”
“Is that what it’s called?” I wondered out loud.
“That’s one name for it,” he said, sounding amused.
“My brothers showed it to me before I left home for college,” I told him. I wasn’t sure why I was telling him this. Surely he didn’t care. But the words kept tumbling out of my mouth without my permission. “They said they weren’t going to send me off to Boston without a few ways to defend myself.”
“You’re from Massachusetts?”
I shook my head. “Pennsylvania,” I replied. “Why did you fight those men last night?” I asked, ending his line of questioning. Talking about home was a distraction. I needed answers. To know what his motivation had been.
He shrugged. “Bastards didn’t seem to understand the concept of no. We don’t let people come into our town if they can’t fucking behave themselves.”
The guys had been outsiders, probably from one of the other small towns nearby. Sentinel was still bigger than a lot of the surrounding towns and drew in a lot of people. Sometimes the seasonal cowboys came here hoping to get drunk and laid. It hardly ever worked, the girls here knew the routine.
“So you would’ve helped any woman he’d hit on in that situation?”
Where did that question come from? It was supposed to be an inside thought.
“Yeah.”
“Oh,” I replied, wondering if he could hear the disappointment in my tone. What was wrong with me today? It didn’t matter that I’d had a crush on Pyre for years. I shouldn’t want him to start fights for me.
I’d also never been the kind of girl to flirt with a guy, or throw myself at one. Somewhere along the line I’d gotten braver and a part of me wanted to know if he’d helped me out of obligation, or because it was me. That part was the one talking right now.
He’d never given me any indication that he was interested. I was only going to hurt my own feelings by continuing this line of questioning. “I’m sure the women of Sentinel really appreciate that,” I told him. “I really do. So again, thank you.” I locked down any emotion and made sure my response was neutral.
He shoved off the bar, making all the moisture in my mouth dry up as he stalked closer to me. “Do you?” he growled.
