Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 136507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 683(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 683(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
“Right, the one who smashed my window.” Isla’s friend, who is not even sixteen yet and done up to look twenty. A wild child who likes to flirt with older men, according to Emery. And clearly, she’s been waiting for me.
I shift my body sideways, intent on sidling past, but Holly cuts off my escape, stepping forward until I’m forced back into the wall. A waft of herbal, sweet-scented alcohol hits me. She’s been into the gin. Great. Maybe that explains the boldness.
A young, stocky guy strolls down the hallway toward us then, shaking his head at Holly and scowling at me before easing past us with a muttered “Gettin’ into trouble already” as he disappears into the men’s washroom.
Fuck. I have no clue who he is, but he obviously knows who I am and this doesn’t look good. I need to end it before things get worse. “What do you want, Holly?”
“I’m sorry about your window.”
“’Kay, you’ve said it. Now move along.”
She bites her bottom lip playfully. I’m sure it works on the half-brained teenaged boys in her life.
“I’m not interested.”
She cocks her head. “In what?”
“Come on.” I can’t get away without physically touching her and there is no way in hell I’m doing that. “I don’t need this kind of trouble.”
She steps in closer, batting her long eyelashes at me. “You look a lot different than I thought you would.” Her voice is a purr as she reaches up to adjust the collar of my shirt.
“Please don’t—”
“What the hell is going on here!”
My head snaps left.
Emery marches down the hall toward us, fire in her eyes.
Chapter 14
Emery
“I haven’t been here on a Friday night since … I can’t remember when.” I toss my jacket on a nearby hook and slide into our reserved table as the singer belts out a gritty song, earning himself a round of catcalls and hollers. “It’s busy.”
“Good thing you called in when you did.” Mike shakes his jacket off his brawny shoulders and drapes it over his chair before easing into it. Of all my officers, he puts the most effort into staying in shape. The guys at the station constantly tease him about Breanne being way out of his league and he better not let himself go if he wants to keep her.
I know Breanne well enough to know she cares about far more than his physique, but she has admitted on more than one occasion that she appreciates he hasn’t gone the way of the beer gut.
“One of the few perks of my job, I guess.” I smooth my palm over the front of the silky emerald-green blouse Breanne loaned me in place of the wine-soaked T-shirt from earlier. This one’s sleeveless and probably too sleek for the Bale House, but she insisted on it, and it pairs well with her boots and my leather jacket.
Within minutes, Matt approaches our table with a tray carrying our drink order. “Lookin’ good tonight, boss.”
“Don’t forget, you’re driving my drunk ass home later,” I warn Mike before flashing Matt a smile. “Thank you again for holding this table for us.”
“You kidding? Anything for the one who saved my fine establishment from Benny the Hulk.” With a playful wink, he sets a full-to-brimming glass of chardonnay in front of me. “I have to say, I’ve always liked the uniform on you, but this works too.”
Beside me, Breanne snickers. She was with me the night Matt poured all those tequila shots and piled on the charm. She knows how close I was to making a mistake with this man.
That’s right … that night was the last time I was here on a Friday, dressed up and on a mission to drink away my problems.
“So, how’s Shawna doing these days, Matty?” A not-so-subtle reminder that I know the game this eternal bachelor plays.
Matt grins. “She’s doing just great. A solid server and …”
His words fade from my focus as a prickle crawls down my skin, a sixth sense that I’m being watched. I turn and there Logan is, standing tall and imposing, in a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt draped over a T-shirt.
I inhale sharply, the shock of seeing him here like a lightning bolt zapping my nerves. The seconds seem to hang as we lock gazes and my brain stops working.
And then, with nothing more than a subtle nod, he passes by, heading down the hall toward the washrooms, leaving me with my pulse racing through my veins.
“Staff?” Mike’s sharp voice in my ear pulls me out of my stupor.
“Huh?”
Concern mars his brow. “What was that about?”
It seems my shock didn’t go unnoticed. “Nothing.”
A server calls Matt away then, thankfully. The fewer people there are to ask me questions, the better.
But Mike and Breanne aren’t buying it.
I sigh heavily. “That was Logan Landry.”
Breanne’s jaw drops. “That’s him? The guy who just got out of prison? Your neighbor?”