Page 110 of Tangled Kisses
“I’m here because you’re here.”
“No, no, no. I said I wanted space.”
“Fine.” I slide two stools down, drop onto the vinyl seat, and spread my knees wide like I own the place. “There you go. You’ve got space.”
The bartender chuckles under his breath. “Nothing like true love, am I right?”
“Nothing like it in the world,” I reply, my gaze fixed on Reese.
“Can I get you something, man?”
“Yeah. Beer. And put her tab on mine.”
“Absolutely not,” Reese snaps, spinning toward me with fire in her eyes.
The bartender just lifts a brow, leaving us to it, and sets the beer in front of me.
Meanwhile, Reese is glowering from her bar stool, trying like hell to glare a hole through me.
Trouble is that her glare is adorable. Just like on that first day, when she was covered in dust.
I smirk around the rim of my bottle. “Go on. Keep glaring. I gave you space. I did what you wanted. Besides, this place will be so crowded soon, you won’t be able to see me.”
Almost as if on cue, the locals begin packing into the bar. The crowd thickens, voices rising over the clink of bottles and the buzz of the jukebox.
No way this empty seat between us will stay that way for long.
Sure enough, a blonde in too-tight jeans wedges into the narrow space between the empty stool and the bar. Her hand skims down my arm, nails grazing my sleeve. “This seat taken, handsome?”
Reese moves fast, slipping off her stool like she’s been burned. She drops into the space before the woman can, crossing her arms tight against her chest. “Actually,” she says flatly, “I’m sitting here.”
The blonde huffs and wanders off, while I bite back a grin. At least I’ve got my girl next to me now.
Reese avoids my eyes, staring hard at the bottles lined up behind the bar. “No way am I letting you have fun if I’m not.”
Why the hell would she think that? I’m not the one who wanted space.
I tug my hat off and rake a hand over my scalp, jaw tight. “Baby, I don’t want anything to do with her.”
“Good.” She mutters into her glass. “She looked too high-maintenance for you, anyway. Trouble you don’t need.”
I tip my head, watching her closely. “Maybe the truth is, you wanted to sit next to me. You just don’t want to admit it.”
Her gaze dips to her drink, voice low. “There’s a guy across the bar who’s been staring since I walked in. Said something when I went to the bathroom, but I couldn’t hear it. That’s why I switched seats. I feel safer next to you.”
She shifts, trying for nonchalance as she lifts her glass. “Besides, you might not catch any SOS signals I’m sending up if you’re too busy flirting with Blondie.”
For a second, I wonder if she’s just saying that—making up excuses to stay close, to sit beside me. God knows I’d never complain.
But then my eyes sweep the room, landing on a broad-shouldered bastard nursing a whiskey at the far end of the bar. He meets my stare, bold as hell.Buddy, I’ll put you through the fucking wall if you so much as say hello to my woman.
I slide my arm across the back of her chair, dipping close enough for my breath to stir her hair. “Anyone so much as looks at you wrong, I’ll take care of it. You feel me?”
Her lips twitch like she’s fighting the instinct to argue. Instead, what comes out is soft, almost shy. “Thank you.”
The distance between us doesn’t vanish, but it shifts—like a crack of light through a locked door.
Still, I know better than to rush it. She needs to lead.
