Chapter 14 #2
“I wasn’t. I was…” I broke off, not wanting to explain what had just happened.
For some reason Pyre already looked the way he had the night at the bar.
Like he was about to start tossing bodies.
I didn’t need him fighting old men with bad hips.
That could give people the wrong idea. “What are you doing here?”
That seemed to jerk him out of protection mode. “Saw your car here,” he told me. “Figured I’d stop in and see what you were doing.”
“Playing bridge,” Margaret piped in.
“Why don’t you join us?” Norma offered, motioning toward an empty chair.
A smile spread over Pyre’s face. “Sure, why not?”
“Oh but…” Everyone looked at me. “I’m sure you have other things to do,” I stuttered, feeling lame.
“Nope.” He sat down. “Ladies.”
Henrietta giggled. She was seventy-eight years old and was giggling like a school girl. I understood, honestly. Pyre had that same effect on me. On most women, I was sure of it.
Sinking down into the chair next to him, I held Penny close as he scooped up all the cards. “Don’t know how to play bridge,” he admitted. “I’m partial to Blackjack.”
“My kind of man,” Norma said with a grin.
“Any man with a functioning penis is your kind of man, you tramp,” Margaret said in a good natured way. The women cackled and Pyre grinned at them.
“Maybe you should go,” I told him in a low tone. “They’ll get in trouble playing that in here.”
“By who?” he asked. He glanced over as one of the staff members started our way. The dark look Pyre gave him had the man changing his mind and swerving before he reached us. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle any fall out.” He started dealing. He set a card in front of me and focused on Penny. “She’s cute.”
My heart had been thumping in my chest. His praise of my pride and joy made it stop and sort of melt. “Thank you.”
Penny was content to sit in my lap now that the danger had passed. She was also happy to take the treats Henrietta kept passing to her. Grapes, crackers, cheese, you name it and she devoured it. Once the gifts stopped coming, she began licking her paws to then clean her face with.
“How long have you been coming here?” Pyre asked me as he waited for Margaret to decide if she was going to hit or stand.
“Oh… A little while,” I said.
“A couple times a month since she moved here,” Norma answered, squinting at her cards.
Pyre gave me a panty-melting smile. “Seems like you ladies know her pretty well.”
“We do,” Henrietta confirmed.
Margaret finally tapped the table, indicating she wanted another card. “Better than she thinks we do.”
His grin widened as he passed Margaret her card. “Really? So if I wanted to get to know her on a deeper level and she keeps politely evading those questions…”
“Oh, we can help you there,” Norma said with a conspiring wink.
“Okay,” I gasped. “I think that’s enough of that.
” I plunked Penny down in Henrietta’s lap and tugged on Pyre’s bicep.
My eyes widened as I realized just how big it was.
He was so muscular. Of course I knew he was, I had eyes, but feeling all that power flexing under my hand as he set the cards down and stood up just brought the fact into sharp focus.
Oh, how I want to be gripping those when he…
“Looks like my girl here doesn’t want me talking to you three,” Pyre told them with a chuckle. “I’ll be back for the goods.”
“His girl,” Norma said with a smug look at the other two. “Told you it was a man making her glow like that.”
Pyre’s eyebrows shot up as his grin just got wider and wider as I dragged him—he let me—away from the women.
My face was flaming hot as I eyed him out in the little hallway that led to the rec center. There were less eyes on us out here. “What are you doing here, Pyre?” I asked.
Besides embarrassing me?
I didn’t ask that question out loud. Studying his face, I waited for his answer.
He shrugged. “Like I said, I saw your car here.”
“What was that?” I asked, waving a hand back toward the room where my friends were sitting.
“Just trying to learn more about you.”
“You could ask me,” I pointed out. Being the center of attention like that had me all flushed and jittery. Blending into the background was more my speed, not being talked about like I wasn’t even sitting there, but also having every eye on me.
“I have. We’ve had two dates and all I’ve learned about you is that your parents live over in Cheyenne and you have some brothers. I already know about your work.” He was watching me with a patient look on his face. “Every time I try to learn more you evade the questions.”
“I don’t,” I insisted, thinking back to our dates and trying to figure out if I’d done that.
“Oh right. You told me you wanted ten kids.” His lips lifted into a smirk.
Clearing my throat, I conceded to myself that maybe I hadn’t told him much.
That was probably a subconscious thing I’d started doing after too many dates had crashed and burned.
Hard to scare them off if you don’t tell them much.
Add to that, it had been a very long time since I’d had practice dating.
And none of that was fair to him. “I’m sorry.
I didn’t realize I was doing that,” I admitted.
“I know. But you can’t blame me for gathering intel when the opportunity presents itself.”
I let out a huff of a laugh. “You still speak as though you’re in the military. That’s how my brothers talk, too.”
“See? Didn’t realize your brothers were military.” He crossed his arms over his chest, staring down at me.
“Fine,” I told him. “I’ll tell you more about myself the next time we…hang out.”
“Tomorrow night,” he said. “Movie night at my place.”
Searching his gaze, I slowly nodded. It hadn’t really been a question, but he was waiting for my response so I had a feeling he thought he was asking instead of demanding. Who knew with him? I was still getting to know him, too. “You’re going to answer my questions, too?”
“Of course.”
“Okay. But I get to pick the movie.”
His eyes narrowed. “Can’t be some chick flick,” he countered.
“There’s a love story in it, but lots of action too,” I promised him. “It’s my favorite movie.”
“Then I can’t wait to see what it is,” he said. His eyes raised and locked on something behind me near the door.
Turning a bit, I saw Jury and Scythe standing there. Scythe looked annoyed as always, but Jury winked at me and gave a nod of his head in greeting. I waved, then turned back to Pyre.
“Gotta go,” he said, scowling at his friends. “Want me to pick you up tomorrow?”
“I’ll drive over,” I told him. “What time?”
“Six.”
My eyebrows shot up. “That’s early. We might need more than one movie.”
“I get to pick the second one,” he said. He reached out and tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear, then brushed his thumb over my cheek. I had a feeling he’d kiss me if his friends weren’t standing right there watching us.
“Bye,” I said. As soon as he left, I turned to go back inside and sighed as I saw my friends with their faces all but smashed against the glass doors. I was going to have some explaining to do.