Page 31 of Needing Your Love
I sipped my beer as the silent drama played out, wondering over the game Dex played.
He leaned in closer to the stranger, mouth moving against his ear. The guy flushed, a shudder shifting him in his seat before the two shared a laugh, all up in each other’s spaces.
Cole dug cash from his pocket, slapped it on the bar, and headed toward the exit without giving the two men a second of his time while striding past them. Red flushed his face, his brow furrowed into a deep groove.
Dex watched him go and wilted on his stool. Less than two minutes later, he bid the guy beside him a good night and headed toward the pool tables with a slow, shuffling gait.
I shook my head and sipped my beer again. Hadn’t he figured out manipulation wouldn’t work?
“They need to just fuck already.”
I chuckled at Babs who sidled up to me without my knowing. So much for my usual awareness. “I think it’ll be a fistfight rather than fucking,” I said.
Babs snorted. “Tell me you don’t see and feel the chemistry between them.”
I couldn’t argue the truth, but Dex was a lover, not a fighter, and that Cole guy brought out the worst in him.
Frenchie and Iris hollered their usual welcome.
“Speaking of chemistry…” Babs’s trailed off, and I turned toward the entrance, heart already speeding up.
Swallowing a groan, I drank in the sight of my kryptonite as he strode into the bar, my free hand at my side flexing with the desire to map out every inch of his skin.
“Thought you were straight, Chief.”
Blinking, I tore my gaze off Jimmy.
Babs smirked up at me. She clinked her beer bottle against mine while I struggled to find words to come out to the town gossip, even though she’d picked up on the truth without any problems. Was I really as transparent as Dex and Cole?
“Do yourself a favor, Sutton.” Babs shifted toward me, her voice dropping. “Life is short, so grab this opportunity by the balls and enjoy the hell out of that boy.”
Her suggestion filled my mind with dick-stiffening images I tried to force away by clearing my throat.
Jimmy crowded against me as usual, swarming my nose with something too damned sweet to be a man’s cologne. My mouth watered. “Chief,” he purred with the low tone I’d come to expect every time he talked to me.
“Looking good, Jimmy,” Babs said, and the boy popped his hip out, pert nose with its silver ring wrinkling with his wink.
“Thanks,” he said with enough sass that I shook my head, tearing my focus off his slim, alluring form to check on the rest of the bar while Iris poured him a glass of wine.
The stranger had left, and Dex still played pool.
Jamie and Chaz sat cozied up in the corner at a small table, chairs close together so their shoulders and thighs pressed tight. They only had eyes for each other, and that tender yet wrenching heartache over wanting the same slid over my chest at the sight of the engagement ring on Chaz’s left hand.
“Don’t behave, boys.” Babs’s teasing suggestion pulled my focus to the temptation inches away from me, but I didn’t step back to give myself breathing room.
“Oh, we won’t,” Jimmy promised her, his baby blues twinkling up at me. “Or rather,Iwon’t. Not tonight, anyway. I’m feelingespeciallynaughty.” He licked the rim of his wine glass before taking a sip.
I clenched my jaw as Babs chuckled and ambled away.
“How’s it hanging, Chief?” Jimmy asked, giving my groin a pointed look before flicking his tongue over his shimmery lower lip.
“Uncomfortable and to the left,” I grumbled the honest to God’s truth.
Jimmy’s pupils swelled, and he stumbled into me. His wine sloshed over the front of my red hoodie. “Oops.”
Oops, my ass.
I glared at him, thankful the color of my sweatshirt matched his wine so it wouldn’t stain. An abrupt spin on my heel turned me away from him without a word, and I strode toward the bathroom, far from his manipulative ass no matter how delectable it appeared in tight jeans. Frenchie’s had three unisex bathrooms, and lips in a thin line, I entered the first empty one.
