Page 2 of Her Captivated Hero

“Stella, I’m gonna—”

Vomit spewed from Leroy’s mouth, into Stella’s hair and continued on towards the bar room floor. Stella shrieked as she jumped up and back, skidding on her gold-sequined ass, but the damage was already done.

“I owe you twice,” the bouncer grinned.

“How about you let us get back to our ladies over at the dance floor, and you deal with the deputies?” Gray suggested.

“Done.” The bouncer agreed and then held out his hand. Gray shook it, then he handed over the pistol.

“Drinks for your party are on the house tonight,” the younger man said.

“The whole bar will lose money,” Griff joined the conversation. “We’re babysitting a bachelorette party.”

The big bouncer easily looked over the sea of people and saw the dance floor where Griff’s wife and the other girls were. “Those ladies have been causing quite a stir tonight. Are they all taken, or are some of them single?”

Dex stiffened. “The strawberry blonde in green is definitely taken,” he said darkly.

Was that Dex Evans? Gray would have bet a whole hell of a lot of money that his man Dex didn’t have a jealous bone in his body.

Just goes to show, you don’t know everything.

“How about the rest of you? Any claims?” The bouncer swung his head around.

“Willowy brunette is my wife, but she’ll let you know fast enough,” Griff laughed. “Just respect the rings man, and you’ll be fine.”

The young man nodded.

Gray looked over the man in the black T-shirt – he was at least ten years his junior and was in as good as shape as any SEAL. It rubbed him the wrong way that he might end up talking to the dancer that Gray had been watching.

“Ah shit,” Griff groaned. “What now?”

Gray turned, his eyes narrowing.

“Kenna!” Dex tried to shout above the music, but the band was playing so loud, there was no chance that he could be heard. A tall, thin executive-type was standing over Dex’s wife, his attention squarely centered on the alluring dancer behind her. Kenna had positioned herself in front of suit-guy, obviously trying to protect the dark-haired beauty. Gray groaned as he saw Dex’s wife slap her hands on his chest. Thank God the idiot didn’t touch Kenna, because there would have been hell to pay.

This time Dex led the charge, but before he got there to protect his woman, the pocket-sized Venus had wormed her way between Kenna and the executive. The next thing Gray knew, the man was falling to the floor.

What the hell?

The eleven ladies who had been partying it up for the bachelorette party all let out a collective whoop of congratulations. Dex, Gray, and Griff arrived in time to see the guy up on his elbows, shaking his head.

By the time he got to the scene, he’d figured out what happened. He stopped dead in front of the beautiful woman he’d had his eyes on for most of the night. Gray held out his hand. “Give me the stun gun.”

Almond-shaped golden eyes looked up at him innocently. “What are you talking about?” she murmured. Gray had been expecting an accent to go along with her exotic beauty, but she sounded born and bred American.

“Honey, the guy on the floor is still vibrating, you used some kind of stunner on him, and I’m going to hand it over to the bouncer. He’s going to want to confiscate it for the rest of the time you’re here.”

“My name is Riya Patel,” she corrected him. “But for the first time ever, I like the nickname Honey,” her mouth twitched in a smile. Did he smell peaches or raspberries?

Damn, she made him feel like it was just the two of them, yet they were surrounded by at least a hundred people.

“Stun-gun,” he quietly commanded.

Riya grinned at him mischievously. “You’re not easily deterred, huh?” She held out the weapon instead of putting it back into her purse.

“Oh I think you might be able to dance around me,” Gray smiled slowly, happy he was finally making contact with the woman who had been driving him insane all night long.

He heard Dex cough loudly behind him. If he wasn’t mistaken, he was covering up a laugh.