Page 22 of Things Good Girls Don't Do (Rock Canyon, Idaho 1)

Chase looked out on the empty floor and shook his head. “I think you’ve had too much to drink.”

“I’ve had one beer.” She tugged his hand harder.

“There’s nobody dancing!” he said, wondering if he should bring up the no-holding-hands-in-public rule.

When she batted her eyelashes and pouted her full lips, though, he dropped his guard long enough to laugh and she jerked him off his stool with an evil grin. He gave up reasoning with her and let her lead him out onto the dance floor.

He had always associated her with being bashful, but he was quickly figuring out that just because she was a reserved girl didn’t mean she was shy. She finished maneuvering him smack into the middle of the room, slid her arms up over his shoulders, and moved against him. His hands settled on the small of her back, minding her tattoo, and he had to admit she did feel really good pressed against his front.

She was singing the lyrics softly and he joked, “Kind of a morbid song, isn’t it?”

Something passed through those blue eyes when she looked up, and a strange feeling ran through him. Protectiveness. He knew she’d been hurt, and he wanted to take away that pain.

What the hell is the matter with you? She’s just a girl you might have some fun with. Nothing else.

“Maybe, but at least the girl got to have her wedding,” Katie said.

He didn’t like the sadness in her voice either. Trying to get himself out of his head and distract her, he reached up and tapped her nose. “Why are you getting sad on me? Do you need me to kiss you again? ’Cause we both know you like that.”

“Now, that would be breaking the rules. No kissing in public.” Her smile chased away the sad look.

Chase leaned real close so only she could hear him over the music. “I think we can make an exception this once.”

“Do you really want to?” she asked, her tone seductive as a siren’s call. “’Cause even if we bend the rules this once, people might get the wrong impression.”

Suddenly he didn’t care what the people of Rock Canyon would think or say. “Let ’em talk.”

Dipping his head down to kiss her, he loved the feel of her fingers tickling the back of his neck as she kissed him back. He wanted to get the hell out of there, take off that sweet little dress, and get his hands on . . .

“Hey, Katie, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need to get home.”

He pulled back to give Becca the eye, but she just returned his look with a knowing smile. Becca had come into the parlor a few days after she’d first moved to town, and he’d given her a tattoo of two red cherries still on the stem low on her right boob. When she’d caught him eyeing her with interest, she’d told him he wasn’t her type. He’d asked her what her type was, she’d said, “Probably the same as yours.”

He’d laughed and liked her immediately, but right now she was cock-blocking him hard, and that smirk said she knew it.

“Oh sure. Sorry, we rode together.” Katie turned to Chase and looked so disappointed that he wanted to find Becca another ride, just so she would stay.

He slid his hands off her waist and said, “It’s okay. We can pick this up another time.”

She gave him a brilliant smile as she followed Becca out the door, and Chase jumped when a heavy hand fell on his shoulder.

“So, Katie Connors, huh?”

Chase grinned at the bigger man standing next to him. “Where have you been all night?”

Eric Henderson was Grant’s brother and ran the day-to-day operations of the bar for his dad, Buck. Chase and Eric had become pretty good friends, despite the way Gracie McAllister, the object of Eric’s interest, tended to flirt with Chase outrageously. Especially when Eric was in the vicinity.

“Had stuff to do.” Eric turned his dark, I-want-to-intimidate-you stare on Chase and said, “Katie is the kind of girl you marry and have kids with.”

Chase didn’t argue. He knew what kind of girl Katie was. It didn’t stop him from wanting her, and it definitely didn’t change the fact that she wanted him too.

“Yeah, but even girls like Katie need to sow some oats before they settle down with their Prince Charming, right?” he said.

Eric’s frown would have sent a weaker man scurrying for safety, but Chase knew Eric. He liked people to be scared of him. It was his way of controlling his world, but under all that snap and snarl, Eric was a marshmallow. At least with certain people.

But Chase must not have been on the marshmallow list tonight, because Eric just nudged him and growled, “Just make sure you don’t hurt that girl or the people of this town might make you disappear.”

Chase looked around, caught several unfriendly looks, and tried to resist the urge to gulp. Visions of torture and crazy men with guns were not on his list of fantasies. Nor was being the cause of any pain in Katie’s soft, blue eyes.

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