She gave a small headshake and frowned, unable to shake the feeling of eyes on her from somewhere else in the room. Was she being paranoid?
The busy bartender stared at her for a long moment, issued a grunt, and said, “Hold up. Let me take a closer look.”
Again, she held out the phone. He studied the pic this time.
“Still no,” he said.
“Thank you for your time,” she said.
“No problem. Have you been in here before?”
The question caught her off guard considering how rude he’d been a few moments ago.
“No,” she said. “Why?”
“Never mind,” he said. “I would have remembered you.”
Was that a come-on? Because seriously?Maybe try being less rude when someone first approaches.
He was five foot ten, maybe eleven. He had sandy-blond hair and gray eyes with a slightly pointed nose—not bad looking by most standards. She was spoiled by Blaize. Now her standards were ridiculously high. Good looks alone didn’t do the trick for her. There had to be substance underneath, holding it up. Worse yet, Blaize had that in spades. Again, he’d raised the standard so high that it would be next to impossible for anyone else to measure up to his looks, him as a person, and certainly the kiss they’d shared. A kiss her body craved to repeat.
Not an option, Carys.
“Thanks for checking out the pic,” she said, turning to leave.
“If I’d said that I knew her, would you have stuck around a little longer?”
Gross.
The line didn’t deserve a comeback.
When she turned all the way, she practically slammed into Blaize’s chest.
“There you are, babe,” he said before planting a bone-melting kiss onto her lips, imprinting on her, marking her as his. When he pulled back, he searched her gaze and said, “I was beginning to think I lost you.”
A huff sound came from behind the bar.
Carys took Blaize’s hand and walked out.
Once outside, he said, “I’m sorry about what I did in there. I thought it was the fastest way to stop him from pestering you.” Was there a hint of possessiveness in his tone? Or was she hearing what she wanted to hear instead of what was there?
“Thank you,” she said. “The bad part is that he had no idea who Stephanie was, so I didn’t make any progress. How did you do?”
He didn’t answer right away as they walked through the maze of people on the sidewalk beginning to line up for the bar scene. This was a popular street with several bars and taco joints running along it.
When they reached the Jeep, he turned toward her, glanced around, and said, “The barback asked me to come back closer to closing. Said he would be able to slip me a note.”
Carys didn’t like it. They could be walking into some kind of ambush.
Or was that old fear creeping in again?
Chapter Fourteen
“Do you want to take a walk or wait here?” They’d been sitting on the ride over, and Blaize wanted to stretch his sore legs.
“I’d like to move,” Carys said.
He locked up the Jeep, and they headed east on Chord. Austin was the equivalent of an ant farm of students. They were everywhere, which kept the area safer since there was so much foot traffic. Unhoused folks stayed to themselves, not harassing anyone. It was an easy place to take a walk anytime night or day.
