Bailey didn’t mean to do it, but she pulled her hand from Holt’s as she met Rafe’s stare. She knew she looked guilty, although she had nothing to feel guilty about. She wasn’t dating Rafe. She never had. But for some reason, she didn’t want Rafe to see her holding hands with another man.
The move had Holt glancing over his shoulder, and his demeanor changed. It was slight, but she noticed how his shoulders squared, and the muscles in his neck tightened.
Her breath halted in her lungs when Rafe moved toward them, not sparing her a glance as he narrowed his gaze on Seth.
“You need to move along,” Rafe told Seth, his tone cold and hard.
“Fuck you. You’re not the boss of me.”
This time Bailey did laugh because that was the most juvenile response she’d heard in a long time.
“Move. Along.”
Seth glared at him, then turned to her. “When you get a chance, I’d like to talk to you.”
“We don’t have anything to talk about.”
“I need to apologize, Bailey. I was a real ass.”
“More accurately, adumbass,” Holt added.
“Yes, you were.” She shifted her attention to her tea glass. “But it’s in the past. We’ve got nothing more to say to each other.”
Rafe cleared his throat.
Holt scratched his chin.
Bailey felt incredibly awkward.
And Seth being Seth, said the cruelest thing he could probably think of.
“So that’s how it is? You’re letting them both bang you at the same time. I knew you were a—”
The last word died on his lips when Rafe grabbed him by the shirt and jerked him right off his feet. Seth fell on his ass, then scurried to get up.
“Out!” Rafe growled, shoving Seth toward the door.
The sound in the room had died, all eyes directed at the commotion.
Mortified, Bailey looked at Holt and whispered, “I’m so, so sorry,” before jumping to her feet.
She didn’t make it one step before Holt grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the booth with him. He put his arm over her shoulder and pressed his mouth close to her ear.
“You don’t get to apologize for other people. And you damn sure don’t get to run, little rabbit.”
“It’s embarrassing,” she said softly, wishing everyone would stop looking their way.
She knew that by tomorrow there would be rumors running through town that Bailey was messing around with three men. She could practically hear the stories now. How the men she was seeing found out about each other. She wouldn’t be surprised if there were an article in the Coyote Ridge Gazette.
***
With barely restrained fury, Rafe shoved Sethtoward the door, then out into the steamy August night.
“Fuck with her again, and I won’t be fuckin’ nice about it.”
“Screw you, Rafe,” Seth hissed, spinning around as though he was going to come at Rafe. He changed his mind at the last second when Rafe stepped forward. “You’re the one who needs to stay away from her.”
That was exactly what he’d been doing. And look where it got him. She was here on a date with Holt. Yes, Holt had warned him it would happen, but Rafe had been able to pretend otherwise until now.
