Page 63 of Totally Off Limits

In the parking lot.

No sooner had she replied to Mickey than she received a message from her dear friend.Fucking amazing, Sierra. You should come up here. Plenty of work and we could hang.

Did you forget I have Mia?

Nope. How is the little munchkin, btw?

Doing great!What she didn’t tell her friend was that she herself was struggling. And it wasn’t fucking appropriate for a text anyway.How’s the love life?

Then she got another text from Mickey.I’ll come find you. Sit tight.

Cami shot another text at her as well.Non-fucking-existent. But there are so many possibilities. Which is why you need to get your ass up here.

Her friend didn’t realize there was the dilemma of child care and all kinds of other fun. Dating wasn’t as carefree as it had been when they’d been in college. And, besides, if Sierra’s parents had their way, she’d be marrying into the Ackerman family in the next year or so…

But she didn’t want to think about that. Right now, there was another man she couldn’t let go of.There are possibilities here in W too.

Yeah. Same old losers. No thanks.

Glancing up, Sierra saw Mickey walking out of the back of the building, so she held up an arm and waved. Quickly, she typed one last message to Cami.Sorry. Gotta go. Later!

Even though she saw her friend’s response—Wait, what? Possibilities in W? Are you seeing somebody? Have you been holding out on me???—she shoved her phone in her back pocket as Mickey got close.

Jesus, he was beautiful. But what the fuck had he done? “Where the hell’s your hair?”

“You like it?”

The man’s hair was cut short, all those luscious locks gone. “It’s fine, but—”

As he ran a hand over the back of his neck, he said, “I feel a little naked here, but I’ll get used to it.” With the cutest expression on his face, he said, “Let’s get you inside before the mosquitoes eat you alive.”

“There aren’t—”

“Yet.I haven’t been gone from Winchester so long I’ve forgotten. The sun just dropped behind the mountain, so they’re gonna be out here feasting. And don’t you look scrumptious, by the way?”

As they began walking toward the back of the bar, Sierra said, “Don’t change the subject. Why did you cut your hair? Didn’t it take you forever to grow it out?”

“Goddamn, you’re persistent.”

Yes, she was. After all, she’d barely noticed the black Nirvana t-shirt with the sleeves cut off highlighting his gorgeous tattooed biceps, the blue jeans hugging his ass, wallet chain hanging by his side, the black combat boots, the stubble on his face. He very much looked the part of a rock star, evenwithoutthe long hair.

But, God, did she miss it—even though she never would have thought she would.

“It’ll grow back. Haven’t you ever cut your hair?”

“Yeah.”

“Did anyone ever give you the third degree about it?”

Sierra laughed as Mickey pulled the back door open, holding it for Sierra to walk through. “Fair enough. Where are we going?”

“I thought you might want to hang backstage before the show.”

“Yeah, actually, that sounds good.” She had no fucking idea what the bar itself was like, but she wasn’t in a hurry to find out.

Even walking down the empty hall, Sierra could hear the din of the crowd in the main part of the bar, so she knew it had to be packed with people. All the cars and bikes around the building had attested to that as well, but hearing the people’s low roar just added to Sierra’s nerves. Was the place going to be jampacked?

“Youlook good enough to eat, by the way.” A small smile appeared on Sierra’s face, because hadn’t that been the goal?

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