Page 7 of Kiss of Magic

She walked away to the other end of the bar, fighting the urge to inject a little wiggle into her hips. He probably wasn’t watching her anyway.

It was busy. The bar was short-staffed and Dani was rushed off her feet. As it got late, the manager cranked up the music. Dani gritted her teeth.

The girls all knew why Barry kept the volume at ear-splitting levels. It forced them to lean forward to hear what customers were saying, thus highlighting their cleavage. He was such a fucking dick.

She turned to serve the next customer and found him staring avidly at her chest. Honestly, did men think women didn’t notice when they did that? She clicked her fingers irritably.

“Hey, eyes up here. What can I get you?”

“Your number?”

“Funny. You want a drink or not?”

“Me and the guys want to settle a bet.” The man gestured to two others behind him. They looked like middle-aged banker-types but were sniggering like teenagers. “Are they real?”

“Are what real?”

“Those.” He licked his lips as he stared at her breasts. “I think they’re real, but the others think they’re fake.”

“For fuck’s sake. Piss off.”

“Come on, baby. I have a twenty riding on it. Let me just have a quick squeeze…” He reached out before she could move, going straight for her curves.

Two things happened. She jerked away from him, words rising to her lips to send glass flying into the jerk’s face. And a hand shot out, grasping the man’s wrist none-too-gently and making her choke off the spell.

“The lady told you to piss off.”

The letch whimpered as his wrist was slowly crushed in a vice-like grip.

“It was a joke! Let go of me!”

“It wasn’t very fucking funny.”

Dani hadn’t realised the guy in the leather coat was so big. He towered over the other man, his face like granite. No sign of any roguish charm now. He looked like a stone-cold killer.

“Here’s the deal. I’ll let go of you, and you and your friends will find another bar. You got that?”

The ‘friends’ were rooted to the spot. Dani recognised the type. All mouth and swagger until someone actually stood up to them. Realising he wasn’t going to get any help from his pals, the man nodded quickly.

“We’ll go. No problem.”

“But first, you’ll apologise to the lady.” He twisted the man’s wrist. “Now.”

The man started babbling as the bones in his arm protested.

“Sorry, ma’am, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

“Now piss off. All of you.”

The group left the bar in a scrambled rush. Dani looked at her rescuer.

“And they say chivalry is dead.”

“It was no problem.”

“I could have handled them.”

“I have no doubt.”

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