Page 5 of Looking Back

“Place your order,” Mickey whispered in my ear.

A nervous twitch in the corner of my lip made the words spill from my mouth. “Er… um… Appletini, please.”

“Make that two, handsome.” Mickey’s flirty tone shocked the hell outta me.

On the bright side, she wasn’t running out the door. I took it as a win.

“You ladies got it.” Bad boy bartender winked and dashed off.

Mickey sighed. “Oh, he is pretty to look at.”

“I’m shocked you’d say that with all the ink on him?” The guy might be intimidating if it weren’t for his friendly eyes and a spine-tingling smile. From what I could see under his black knit beanie, he also had a great head of blond hair.

Dare I say, he was the kind of guy I’d like to fool around with in a dark corner.

Maybe.

He seemed friendlier than I expected. After being treated with kid gloves my whole life by my daddy, my dirty, repressed self desired someone to dominate me. Instead, this inked-up dude sent off gentle vibes.Bummer.

“I like tattoos. Don’t you?”

I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes as I considered Mickey. She did not just say she liked ink. Did she? “Mick, you never told me you liked tats.” The farmers we knew didn’t have tattoos. They were good ole boys—the kind Mickey wanted to marry. This girl had to be messing with me.

“Well, I’m telling you now.” She turned back toward the inked hottie. “Especially on him.”

“Here you go, ladies.” Mr. Tats placed our drinks in front of us. The corner of his full lips quirked up as he eyed the glasses. Our cocktails were the color of green apple Jolly Ranchers—my favorite. “I haven’t seen you two in before. What’re your names?” He leaned forward with his elbows on the beat-up wooden bar and looked from Mickey to me.

He definitely seemed nice—too nice for me.

I returned his smile. “Thanks. That’s Mickey and I’m—”

“Beat it, Justin.” A deep growl came from behind me. The hairs on my arms stood to attention as I was enveloped in penetrating heat.

The bartender’s smile vanished as he left, no questions asked.Unbelievable. He wasn’t a scrawny guy. He had plenty of muscles. If he wanted to flirt with us, he could fight the guy behind me.

Or maybe not.

I was intimidated merely by the intense energy the growly man emitted. I hadn’t dared to steal even a glance at him. That was so unlike me. I didn’t scare easily, not with my daddy being the law in this town.

I slowly blinked, fighting through my fears. When I opened my eyes, the inked cutie was at the far end of the bar, with his back toward Mickey and me.

Thunder rumbled in my ear, but that was impossible. There hadn’t been a single cloud in the sky all day.

Histhroat cleared.

I turned around to face the arrogant, growly SOB.

Big mistake.

As much as I wanted to give him a piece of my mind, I couldn’t with my tongue knotted up and my heart fluttering.

A massive wall of a man stood before me. His jet-black hair was cut short, he had a nicely trimmed beard, and his piercing eyes were locked on me. I couldn’t make out their color. They reminded me of funnel clouds. Except, they were changing as we stared at each other, turning darker like a tornado. Vast and powerful in an angry gray. Was angry gray even a natural color?

“Dance with me,” he rasped, extending his hand.

My gaze traveled up his forearm to his cut bicep. Holy balls, he was hot. And he wanted to dance? With me?

For some reason, I found it strange this rough dude had even noticed me in the packed bar. One look at us and anyone could see we were all wrong for each other.

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