Page 47 of Renegade

I reached out my hand to touch her arm, but she moved back and looked away, as if my touch burned her skin.

“Hey, it’s okay. Did I say the wrong thing? I’ve been known to do that.” I thought about touching her again, but didn’t know if my ego could handle the rejection a second time.

Lauren twisted her lips and turned back to me, her eyes bright. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. Her lip quivered slightly when she finally said, “I’m sorry. I’ve just built up this image of you in my head and it’s still surreal to think that you’re here right now. You’ve been here the whole time—I’m just trying to reconcile you with Jack.”

Jack?

Oh, right. The fake name I gave her that night.

I rested my forearms against the railing again and looked straight ahead. “Do I…do I not measure up to who you imagined me to be?”

I held my breath as she struggled to find the right words. Maybe the girl four years ago had considered a romp on the beach with a stranger, but I was starting to worry that the woman in front of me wanted much more than I would ever be capable of giving.

She started and stopped four different sentences before she got out what she needed to say. “It’s not that simple. At David and Elizabeth’s wedding, I wanted to meet you for that drink—I did. It’s just that I worried about what you’d think about me after. The woman who had come with me, Sandra, warned me against doing it. She said I would’ve hated myself in the morning.”

Ah, fuck.

That explained a lot of things. Her ‘friend’ might’ve hit the nail on the head with her assessment of me and my motivations, but she’d only done it to help herself out.

She continued, “I’ve spent the time since then wondering what would’ve happened had I gone back to your room with you.”

I took a chance and ran my hand down her arm. She didn’t jump away from me this time. Instead, she leaned into it.

“So, you’ve thought about me a lot since that night? Am I wearing clothes or not in these ‘thoughts’ you’ve had?” The cocky grin was firmly back in place.

She groaned, “Leave it to a man to turn this around and make it about sex.”

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and guided her back inside the restaurant for another round. “Darlin’, looking at you, it’s hard to imagine much else.”

She turned and tilted her chin up at me defiantly. “Is that right?”

Oh, I was so getting laid tonight.

I nodded and leaned down. Her eyes fluttered closed, but when my lips were only inches away from hers, all hell broke loose.

“You wanna get your fucking hands off of my wife or do you need some help?”

I’d be the first to admit that I immediately assumed those words were directed at me. It would not have been the first time.

Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how you looked at it, David was the one getting ready to brawl. I saw the smile on his face and immediately began hauling ass over to him. A frowning David—completely normal. A smiling David—people were going to be leaving in body bags.

The man who had his arms around Elizabeth immediately released her and held his hands up. “Sorry man. I’ve been drinking and she looked like someone I know.”

David yanked Elizabeth against him and I waited, trying to decide whether or not to intervene. I stepped up beside him, hoping the drunk guy would take a hint and walk away.

The man turned to Elizabeth. “I’m really sorry ma’am. I meant no disrespect.”

When Lauren made a sound of surprise, I glanced back to see that her face had gone pale and she was staring at the man as if she knew who he was. She then turned her glare on Elizabeth. It was over in a matter of seconds, but it had lasted long enough to pique my curiosity.

Elizabeth inhaled a ragged breath. “I can’t breathe.”

She left us in the narrow hallway by the bathrooms and went back out to the patio.

“David, let’s go enjoy the rest of our evening. He’s not worth it.”

The guy looked at both of us, probably wishing that he’d stayed home tonight. “I’m really sorry—it was an honest mistake.”

Most people didn’t enjoy getting angry. David wasn’t most people though—the guy was completely content to take up permanent residency in the great state of rage.

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