Naomi shot me a look, but the glimmer of mischievousness in her gaze stopped my heart. She was one of the most beautiful women I had ever set my eyes on, and I swear to any God that may have existed that she almost looked to be in her natural state. With every day that passed, she relaxed a little more. With every night that went by, I found myself longing to be at her side. Did it freak me out that I knew she’d also been with Dutch and Ranger as well? Not one damn bit. It wasn’t the first time we had shared someone.
It was just the first time I hoped she’d be the last.
“Here,” Dutch said, “no one will see your bruises under this kind of light.”
Naomi scooted in and I quickly took up the seat beside her. “Hope you don’t mind.”
The smile she afforded me was unequivocally brighter than the sun. “Not a damn bit, Troop.”
“All right,” Grady, the head bartender, said as he came up to the booth. “What would you guys like to drink?”
Range leveled his gaze with the man. “That all you want to do?”
Grady shrugged as he pulled out his pen and pad. “I’d talk about how things will go differently next time, but there won’t be a next time. Not while I’m at the bar.”
He turned his attention to Naomi.
“Got it?”
Relief crossed her face as she nodded. “Thank you. I really mean that, too.”
Grady nodded. “Now, what can I get for the V.I.P.s of the afternoon?”
Naomi lifted her finger into the air. “A margarita, on the rocks, sugar on the rim instead of salt.”
I slid my arm around her waist. “I like a woman who knows what she wants.”
“Oh, oh! And can I get another order of those buffalo wings? Those were amazing,” she said.
Ranger pointed at her. “I’ll have one of those, too.”
“Double the order, got it,” Grady said.
“I’ll have a Guinness and some fries,” Dutch said.
Grady continued scribbling on his pad. “And for you, Trooper?”
I drew in a deep breath. “Just bring enough wings and fries for the whole table and get a pitcher of margarita made up the way she likes. I think I’ll have one with her.”
Naomi giggled. “A man after my own heart.”
Grady stuffed his pen and notepad away. “Coming right up, guys!”
As thunder boomed and lightening lit up the darkened world around us, I found myself entranced with Naomi. She laughed with Dutch and snickered with Ranger, and the entire time I couldn’t stop thinking about how well she seemed to fit in. The bar kept an eye out for her. Grady seemed to take a liking to her. Hell, even the guys that kept up our security around the clubhouse had started chatting with her whenever she roamed around.
I wonder if she’d consider…
Nah. She had a life to get back to, anyway.
You know, once it was safe for us to release her.
“You really did that!?” Naomi exclaimed.
I’d never heard Ranger laugh so much in all my life. “I know it’s hard to believe, but when Dutch poured that ice cold water all over me to get me out of bed, I slammed that fucker into the wall and damn near choked him out before I realized what had happened.”
“Serves him right, too,” Dutch said with a nod of his head. “He got me last time by pouring—get this—fucking spaghetti sauce on my feet.”
Naomi’s nose wrinkled. “Water seems a lot tamer than fucking spaghetti sauce.”
