Page 2 of Some Like It Hot

Long enough for the moose to land another punch cracking across his face, this time snapping his head back.

Oh, no, he was not ending this night on the floor, bleeding from the mouth. He spun off the moose, bringing his foot around and hard into the man’s jaw.

That’s right—

The sound of the gunshot jerked through him, and for a second, the old man’s voice was in his head.Keep your head in the game. Focus. It’s the only way to stay on target.

Yeah, well, he’d long ago forgotten what the target even was.

“Stop it!” The brunette stood with her gun raised, like she might be in a movie.

Then the bartender, a solid blonde woman who scared even Riley, put together an incredible string of blue words that had him just a little in awe. She followed by dragging up one of the skinny flannels from the floor and throwing him aside like he might be trash. “Every one of you, get out!” It seemed she looked right at Riley when she added, “Unless you’re willing to behave yourself.”

He wanted to raise his hand, offer himself in tribute. Him. He would behave himself. Or at least he’d give it a good try.

It never quite panned out that way.

“Let it go, guys,” Tucker said.

Riley glanced at the moose, who seemed willing to have another go, break a few rules. But Riley had a pretty girl waiting, thank you.

And his shoulder really burned.

He turned, spotted Skye standing outside her booth, as if she might dive into the fray. Oh yeah, Tucker would have been thrilled about that. But she had guts—Riley had to give her that.

Seth, Romeo and the other guys picked up chairs, offered a few apologies.

Riley caught Larke’s gaze on him, an unreadable expression on her face. He offered a smile, and she raised an eyebrow, reaching for a napkin as he walked over.

“You have a little blood there, tough guy.” She pressed it against the side of his mouth, and his hand caught hers.

“It’s nothing.” Except he could use a little ice for his shoulder, maybe.

“You took a pretty hard shot there,” she said, reaching for his shoulder. “Want me to take a look at it?”

He shrugged, despite the fire churning through the muscle. “Naw. Just a war wound. It’ll be fine.” He winked.

A shadow fell through her eyes, a flicker that had him frowning. Then she gave a little giggle that sounded completely fake, and nodded.

Huh.

It stabbed inside him another spur of unease. Because the second he had met Larke ten days ago, he’d wanted to see nothing but her smile, the way she flirted with him before they deployed, the suggestion that she’d be at the ranch waiting—for what, he wasn’t sure, but yes, he had a few hopes.

In truth, Riley wanted Larke to be the kind of girl he might easily forget, someone to ease away the ache of today, the last week—honestly, this entire lousy year.

Problem was, he could hardly get her off his brain the entire deployment—the first sign of disaster—and now that he was back, with Larke looking up at him with a smile he just wanted to devour, wearing a black tank top that showed off all her curves, with her fingers looped into the beltloops of his jeans, yeah, he was on his way to making a serious, delicious memory.

Except…the shadow. The fact that he’d glimpsed something inside that suggested Larke had her own hollow spaces.

And shoot, if it didn’t ignite all the protective, run-into-danger instincts that only got him into trouble.

Riley could very easily get his heart broken if he didn’t keep this night easy, fun, and his heart at arm’s length.

To his great relief, Larke blinked away the shadow and grinned up at him, stepping closer. “Play us a song.”

No problem. She let him go, and he headed over to the jukebox. They had nothing in this century on the ancient music machine, but he found something he recognized and popped it on.

Redbone. “Come and Get Your Love.”Thank you,Guardians of the Galaxy.

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