Chapter 7
MITCHELL
It had been a while since I had a buzz. It felt good.
The alcohol was dulling the anger and frustration I felt after getting grounded.
I probably should have been mulling over what I was going to do differently.
I shouldn’t be sitting in a bar. That wasn’t likely to make the boss happy.
But he wasn’t happy already. While I knew what I should be doing, my focus was elsewhere.
I was far more interested in the beautiful, buxom blonde laughing with Medusa.
The two seemed to have developed a fast friendship.
She’d been doing her best to avoid talking to me.
I got the distinct impression she didn’t like me very much.
That was fine. She didn’t have to look at me or talk to me.
I was enjoying looking at her. She was loosening up a bit.
One more drink and she might even look my way.
I raised my hand, held up my glass, and pointed at Sam to get her another one.
Sam. I liked it. Samantha was stuffy. Sam was cool. She was one of us, except a hundred times hotter. She was funny and everyone seemed to like her. The waitress delivered our drinks. Sam looked confused. The waitress pointed at me.
At first, it looked like she was going to reject the drink, which would have been rude. “Thanks,” she said instead.
“You’re welcome.”
I noticed PitA walking our way. He’d been hitting on pretty much anything that walked since he showed up. It wasn’t hard to miss where his attention was directed.
“Dance with me,” he said to Sam.
She looked up at him with a bright smile. “I don’t know,” she teased. “Is that fraternization?”
She was flirting with him. I felt heat burning my cheeks.
I had no business being jealous, but the way I saw it, I had seen her first. If anyone was going to be taking the lady home for the night, it was me.
Granted, that wasn’t anything we had discussed, but PitA was not for her.
He was cocky and immature. I was man enough for a woman like her.
“We can talk about fraternizing later,” PitA said. “For now, we dance.”
He took her hand, and just like that, she let him lead her away. I couldn’t stop glaring at them. It was none of my business, but damn if I didn’t like it.
“Careful there, you might show you have a jealous streak,” Medusa said.
I looked at her with a scowl. “What?”
“You have been staring at that woman all night,” Watch Dog said. “It’s a little awkward.”
I shrugged it off. “And?”
“And now he just swooped in and stole your lady,” Medusa said. “Are you really going to let him get away with that?”
“She’s not my lady,” I answered nonchalantly, even though there was a burning inside that was making me feel just a little nauseated.
“Do you really want her to be his lady?” Watch Dog asked.
I’d rather give up my wings. “She’d never give him the time of day,” I said. “Look at him. He doesn’t know how to handle a woman like that.”
“And you do?” Medusa countered.
I downed the rest of my drink and got to my feet. “I do.”
I walked right out to the dance floor and not so gently pulled PitA’s shoulder. “I’ll take it from here, rookie.”
PitA shook his head. “Asshole.”
He didn’t make a scene as he walked away. I pulled Sam into my arms. She leaned back and glared up at me. “That was rude.”
“You don’t want to waste your time with a kid,” I said.
“He’s what, twenty-five? Thirty?”
“Twenty-nine,” I answered.
“And you’re a senior?” she asked.
“I’m thirty-five,” I replied without missing a beat during the slow dance. “My balls have dropped. His haven’t.”
“That’s crude.”
“That’s the truth,” I said.
“We were having a conversation before you interrupted,” she said haughtily.
“Trust me, he’s not worth your time,” I assured her.
“And I suppose you are?” she asked with her eyebrows perfectly arched.
Now that I was this close to her, I was able to get a really good look into her beautiful eyes. Her skin had a sun-kissed glow. “Do you live in Pensacola?” I asked.
She blinked. “What?”
“Do you live in Florida? Pensacola?”
“Technically, Warrington, but you didn’t answer my question,” she reminded me.
“That wasn’t a real question, was it?” I said with a lopsided grin. “I mean, come on. Look at me. Look at him. I’m definitely man enough for you.”
She rolled her pretty green eyes. “You’ve got an ego the size of Texas.”
“Funny, because that’s where I’m from,” I replied.
“Why am I not surprised?” She sighed. “I’ve met a few cowboys. You have the look of one of them.”
“And what would that be?”
“You know, all long legs and strut,” she said before looking away.
I had to laugh at that. “I feel like you’re calling me a rooster.”
“If the shoe fits,” she shot back. “You do strut around like a cocky rooster.”
“Isn’t that redundant? A rooster is a cock. Can you be a cocky rooster?” I was enjoying teasing her.
She didn’t seem to be all that bothered by the teasing. “I guess you’re proving it’s possible.”
She wasn’t pulling away. I had her. I was a bit of a connoisseur when it came to women. I knew when things were going well and when things were not. She was looking at me like she wanted to claw my eyes out, but that wasn’t what her body was saying. She was interested. I could feel it.
“I do a lot of things people think are impossible,” I said. “I’m not your average man.”
“I bet that’s what you like to tell yourself,” she replied.
I smirked. “Trust me, I’ve had plenty of people, mostly women, that have told me I’m far above average.”
She groaned and shook her head. “I bet you have to walk through doors sideways.”
I wasn’t buff. I was lean and tone, like I needed to be to be at the top of my game. “Not always.”
“Your ego,” she said. “Your ego is massive, which must give you a really big head.”
I saw the moment she realized what she said. I smiled and leaned down just enough to whisper in her ear. “I told you, there’s nothing average about me.”
“You know, if these are pickup lines, they’re pretty overused and just a little juvenile,” she said.
I chuckled and slid my hand a little lower down her back. “That’s not a pickup line. I’m just letting you know what you’re in for.”
“What I’m in for?” She giggled. “You’re so full of yourself, there’s no room for anyone else.”
“Trust me, you’ll know what it’s like to be full of me,” I said in a low voice.
She groaned. “You should probably quit while you’re ahead. Your come-ons are getting more ridiculous by the second.”
“Ah, you know you like it,” I said. “I can feel it.”
“You can feel what?” she asked.
“You want me,” I said in a low voice.
Instead of kneeing me in the crotch, which I would have totally deserved, she burst into laughter. “Tell me something, Mitchell.”
“Mitch,” I said. “Please don’t ruin this by making me think about my mother. You have to call me Mitch. If you want, you can call me Dice. That also works for me.”
“Mitch, does this work with all the women?” she asked.
“Does what work?”
“This little game you’re running,” she replied. “I feel like I’m probably not your target audience.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, I believe you’re used to enjoying the company of sassy young ladies that are looking for a quick roll in the hay with one of the Blue Angels. Something to tell their girlfriends about the next day. You pack up and leave and never have to see them again.”
“Why do you assume I’m like that?” I teased.
She wasn’t wrong, but I liked listening to her talk. I didn’t want this little game of words to end. The music had already changed to something a little more upbeat, but we weren’t really dancing. We were swaying back and forth talking.
“Are you going to tell me you don’t hook up with a random woman whenever you guys get a little free time before a show?” she asked.
I laughed. “Busted. But it’s not like what you’re making it out to be. I’m not a total man-whore.”
“Good to know,” she said.
“Are you jealous?” I teased.
“Why in the world would I be jealous?” she asked with exasperation.
“Because you want me.”
She let out a long sigh. “I think the liquor has dulled your senses.”
“It would take a lot more than a couple drinks to dull my senses,” I told her. “I know what I want.”
That got her. I saw her inhale. Her lips parted.
The temptation to kiss her was strong. Hell, I wanted to do a lot more than that.
But I couldn’t do anything with members of the crew in the bar.
I was already in hot water. The last thing I needed was another lecture.
There weren’t any rules on the books about me screwing around with a private citizen, but Honcho had made it clear she was to be seen as an equal.
“It looks like everyone is leaving,” she said.
“They have preshow stuff,” I replied. “I don’t. You don’t.”
I caught Watch Dog’s eyes. He raised an eyebrow. Behind Sam’s back, I gave him a thumbs-up, letting him know I was good. I didn’t need a babysitter. The team filtered out of the bar. After they were gone, Sam and I both made our way back to the table.
“It’s late,” she said.
“You don’t go in with the crew,” I said.
“I like to inspect the jets before the show,” she replied.
I was already ordering another round for us. “We’ll have a drink and go.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to get me drunk,” she said.
“To take advantage of you?” I questioned.
“I doubt that. Old habits die hard.”
“I’m not trying to take advantage of you,” I said. “I don’t do that.”
“Because you don’t need to, right?” she said with a bit of an attitude.
She wanted me. I sensed a hint of jealousy. That was exactly what I was hoping for. The chances of anything happening were slim to none, but slim was fine with me. This was just the first move in our dance. She was warming up to me. That was a good sign. I liked a challenge.
“I think you might have the wrong impression of me,” I said.
“You’re a flyboy who likes to fuck,” she said. It was so blunt it actually stunned me. She did not look like the kind of woman that dropped F-bombs.
“Wow.”
She slapped a hand over her mouth and turned red. “I cannot believe I just said that. I’m sorry. That was so unprofessional.”
I laughed. “We’re not at work. We’re cutting loose and having fun. If we always went around being uptight, we’d spring a gasket.”
“Still,” she said. “I should probably go.”
“We can share a cab,” I offered. “We’re going to the same place.”
She hesitated before nodding. “Okay.”
We headed outside to stand on the curb. It was hot and humid. A few people roamed the sidewalk. They were clearly wasted. “I’ll get us a cab.”
While we stood on the sidewalk in an attempt to get a cab, she stepped close. I couldn’t explain what came over me, but I had to have her. I needed to taste those luscious lips.
So I grabbed her face and kissed her. It wasn’t exactly smooth or gentle. That wasn’t my goal. My goal was to taste her. And damn she tasted amazing.