“Absolutely.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, and I thought about what a good guy he was. Then I wished it was Knox’s fingers in my hair. And then I got mad all over again.
The restroom door opened, and Sloane walked out. More accurately, she stumbled. I caught her, and she smiled up at me and squished my cheeks between her hands. “You are sooooo pretty!”
“I’ll escort this one back to the table,” Nash volunteered.
“You’re really pretty too, Nash,” Sloane said.
“I know. It’s a curse, Sloaney Bologna.”
“Aww. You remember,” she crooned as he led her back to the bar.
I stepped into the ladies’ room and decided it was not a room I wanted to linger in. So I made quick work of taking care of business and then ducked back into the hall. There were no babysitters lurking, so I pulled out my phone and opened my email.
Glancing over my shoulder to make sure Lucian or Nash hadn’t materialized, I started a new message.
To: Tina
From: Naomi
Subject: What you’re looking for
Tina,
I don’t know what you’re looking for. But if it gets you out of my life, I’ll help you find it. Tell me what I’m looking for and how I can get it to you.
N
If I could find whatever it was Tina wanted first, I’d have the leverage I needed to get her out of my life. If it wasn’t something like nuclear codes, I could let her have it or I could at least use it as bait to lure her out of hiding.
I waited for the tiny pinprick of guilt. But it never came. I was still waiting when my phone rang in my hand.
Knox Morgan.
I didn’t know if it was the Fireball or all the pitying pep talks, but I felt more than ready to take charge. Squaring my shoulders, I answered the call. “What?”
“Naomi? Thank God.” He sounded relieved.
“What do you want, Knox?”
“Look, I don’t know what Lina told you, but this wasn’t what you think.”
“What I think,” I said, cutting him off, “is that your love life is none of my business.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t be like that.”
“I’ll be any damn way I want to be, and you have no say in it. You need to stop texting and calling. We’re over. You walked.”
“Naomi, just because we’re not together doesn’t mean I don’t want you safe.”
His voice, the rawness in it, went straight to my chest. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“That’s very chivalrous of you, but I don’t need you to keep me safe. There’s a whole other line of defense in place. You’re officially free. Enjoy it.”
“Daze, I don’t know how to make you understand.”
“That’s just it, Knox. I do understand. I understand that you cared, and it scared you. I understand that Waylay and I weren’t reward enough to get you to face that fear. I get it. I’m dealing. You made the call, now you have to deal with the consequences. But I’m not like Lina. I’m not going to insist on being friends. In fact, consider this my notice. Tomorrow night is my last shift at Honky Tonk. Just because we live in the same damn small town doesn’t mean we have to see each other all the damn time.”
“Naomi, this isn’t what I wanted.”
“Honestly, I don’t care what you want. For once, I’m thinking about what I want. Now stop calling. Stop texting. Call off your babysitters and let me live my life. Because you’re no longer a part of it.”
“Look. If this is about what I said about you and Nash, I apologize. He told me—”
“I’m going to stop you right there before you call me your leftovers again. I don’t care what you say or think about me and any man I might choose to see. I don’t need your opinions or your half-assed apologies. Who apologizes by saying ‘I apologize’?” I demanded, making sure my imitation of him was far from flattering.
There was silence on the other end, and for a second I’d hoped he’d hung up on me.
“How much have you had to drink?” he asked.
I held the phone up to my face and screamed into it.
I heard the scrape of chairs, and moments later Lucian and Nash were standing in the mouth of the hallway. I held up a finger to keep them at bay. “I suggest you lose this number because if you call me again I won’t make Waylay give your dog back.”
“Naomi—”
I hung up and stuffed the phone into my pocket. “Can one of you give me a ride home? I have a headache.”
But it was nothing compared to the ache in my chest.
THE BAR FIGHT
Knox
Iblew into Honky Tonk under a full head of steam. I hadn’t slept last night. Not after that phone call with Naomi. The woman was a stubborn nightmare. She didn’t care that I was trying to do what was best for her. She didn’t want to see it from my perspective. Quitting a good job just because she got her feelings hurt was a stupid fucking reason to turn her back on cash.
And I was going to tell her that.
Instead of the usual greetings from the kitchen staff I got a couple of furtive glances, and suddenly everyone was too busy with what they were doing to even acknowledge me.
Everyone needed to get their heads out of their asses and get over it.
I pushed through the doors into the bar and found Naomi leaning over a table in the corner, laughing at something her mom was saying. Lou and Amanda were there for the drinks portion of their weekly date night.
I knew it had nothing to do with supporting my business and everything to do with showing their support for their daughter.
The rest of her section was already full. Because she drew people to her.
Knockemout had welcomed her just as it had me and my brother all those years ago. If she thought she was going to leave me behind, she was about to be disappointed.
A long, denim-clad leg kicked out in front of me, blocking my path. “Whoa, cowboy. You look like you’re about to murder someone.”
“I don’t have time for games, Lina,” I told her.
“Then stop playing them.”
“I’m not the one playing. I fucking told her just like I told you how it was going to go. It went the way I said. She’s got no right to be pissed at me.”
“You ever think about telling her the real reason why you are the way you are?” she asked, lifting a glass of what I had a feeling was my private stock of bourbon.
“What are you talking about?” I asked evenly.
She rolled her neck like she was warming up for a fight. “Listen, Knox. Women have this sixth sense when we’re being served up half-truths.”
“You got a point?”
Naomi left her table with a little wave and was headed to the next one, a four-top full of bikers.
“She knows there’s more to it than what you’re sharing. I knew it. And I’d be willing to bet every woman in between knew it too. We’re suckers for a wounded man. We think we can be the one you’ll let in. The one who’ll magically fix you with our love.”
“Come on, Lina.”
“I’m serious. But you just keep pushing all of us away. And I think that’s because you don’t want to acknowledge your truth.”
“You sound like a fucking TV therapist.”
“Bottom line, my friend. Naomi deserves your truth. Even if it’s ugly. She’s not going to forgive you and ‘get over it,’ as you so eloquently put it, unless you’re straight with her. I think you owe it to her.”
“I really don’t like you right now,” I told her.
She grinned. “And I don’t really care.” She polished off her drink and set the empty on the bar. “I’ll see you later. Try not to fuck it up even more.”
It was with those words ringing in my ears that I rounded the bar and caught Naomi at the POS.
She hadn’t seen me yet. So I stood there looking my fill, my body tense with the need to touch her. Her face was flushed. Her hair was styled in sexy waves. She was back in one of those damn jean skirts. This one looked new and even shorter than the others. She wore cowboy boots and a long-sleeved Honky Tonk V-neck. She looked like every man’s fantasy.
She looked like my fantasy.
“Need to talk to you,” I said.
She jolted when I spoke, then looked me up and down before turning away.
I grabbed her arm. “That’s not a request.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I have seven tables, boss. I’m busy. It’s my last night. There’s nothing that needs to be said.”
“You’re wrong, Daisy. It’s not your last night, and there’s a lot I need you to hear.”
We were close. Too close. My senses were full of her. Her scent, the velvet softness of her skin, the sound of her voice. It all went straight to my gut.
She felt it too. The attraction hadn’t simply vanished because I’d called it quits. If anything, the last week spent without her made me want her even more.
I fucking missed waking up next to her. Missed seeing her at Liza’s table. Missed walking Waylay to the bus stop. Missed the way I felt when Naomi kissed me like she couldn’t help herself.
The music from the speakers kicked over to a lively country anthem, and the bar cheered.
“I’m busy, Viking. If you drag me out of here, you’re only hurting your own profit margins.”
I clenched my jaw. “Get your tables sorted. You’re on break in fifteen. My office.”
“Yeah, okay,” she said, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
“If you’re not in my office in fifteen, I will come out here, throw you over my shoulder, and carry your ass back there.” I leaned in closer, almost close enough to kiss her. “And there is no way that skirt of yours is up for that.”
I felt her shiver against me when my lips brushed her ear.
“Fifteen minutes, Naomi,” I said and left her standing there.
* * *
Sixteen minutes later,I was alone in my office and royally pissed. I yanked the door open so hard the hinges rattled. When I hit the bar, Naomi’s head came up at the service bar like a doe sensing danger.
I went straight for her.
Those eyes went wide when she read my intention.
“Warned you,” I told her as she took a step back and then another.
“Don’t you dare, Knox!”
But I fucking dared.