Chapter Nine
Lila
He was here.
My entire body relaxed at the sound of Dan’s truck turning into my drive. Sliding on my shoes, I grabbed my clutch and hustled for the front door. Flinging it wide, I threw myself at him as he topped the steps, and he caught me, deep chuckle rumbling into me. “Well, hey.”
“I’m so glad to see you.” I buried my face in his throat and took a long sniff of soap and aftershave and warm skin. “I missed you.”
“Same, baby.” He spread his hand over my lower back.
I hugged him closer. “No more weeks where we don’t see each other in person.”
Chin hooked atop my head, he rocked me side to side. “Agreed.”
Reluctantly, I unwound my arms and tiptoed up to kiss him. “Do we have to go out?”
“We don’t have to, but thought you might want something to eat.” His features relaxed despite the small lines of weariness about his eyes, he gazed down at me. “Maybe play a little pool or some darts with me.”
I considered a plea to order in, but he was right – playing together was important, too. And we’d vegged on the couch the night we’d ordered pizza last week. “Okay, let’s go.”
He held the passenger door and handed me into the seat. I watched him jog around to his side, determined not to ask about Nicole and her appointment. I was not giving her space she didn’t deserve.
Tonight, he turned to take us through town, to the Cue Club instead of the Millhouse. I hadn’t been to the popular local bar yet, but had heard good things about its artery-clogging food, cold beer, music and dancing.
The long low building squatted in the middle of a large gravel lot, pink neon glinting off the vehicles packing out the spaces.
Our shoes crunched as we walked toward the big doors.
Once inside, he folded his hand at my waist, and I glanced around, taking in the long bar that stretched along the right-hand wall and the tables and booths scattered about, most of them full.
A dance floor took up the far end, and four or five pool tables marched in a line between the bar and the dance floor.
Nineties country pounded, competing with laughter and chatter.
I spotted Josh and Lacey at one of the tall tables, talking to another couple.
Dan nudged me in their direction. “Hey, Vic’s here. I’ll introduce you.”
I eyed the dark-haired man. He looked like a Vic. Had Dan talked about this colleague? I cast about in my memory and came up blank. Sometimes, I didn’t always pay attention like I should when he talked about work.
As we arrived at the table, he exchanged a bro-hug with Josh and smiled at Lacey and the tall blonde. His smile faded when he jerked his chin at the man I assumed was Vic.
“Lila, this is Vic Ocampo and Roman Santillan.” He gestured first at the blonde, then the man. “My girlfriend, Lila.”
Wait.
She was Vic.
“Hey, Lila.” She smiled at me, gaze dipping over me in an assessment I recognized because Dan looked at everybody he met the same way. It had to be a cop thing. “Good to meet you.”
Roman paused, beer halfway to his lips. “This is your girlfriend? Saw you at the women’s clinic today with Nicole from city planning.”
Vic shot Dan a look, brows raised enough to deeply wrinkle her forehead. He shrugged. “Gave her a ride.”
“Yeah, she wants you to give her a ride.” Roman snorted, looking impressed with his own gross humor. My stomach hollowed out.
Dan glowered. “What the fuck, man?”
Vic sighed. “Roman.”
“What?” He spread his hands. “Didn’t say he was. Just that . . . I’ve seen the way she watches you, dude.”
“This is fucking awkward,” Josh muttered. Lacey shifted, darting an unhappy, sympathetic look at me.
“She knows I’m not interested,” Dan snapped.
“Maybe.” Roman grinned around a sip of beer. “But she’s sure invested in you.”
“Roman, just stop talking.” Vic pointed at the bar. “Go get us another beer.”
“We have a waitress–”
“Go.” She lifted her chin, staring him down. “Before I change my mind about later.”
He paused, then tilted his head and shrugged. Beer in hand, he ambled toward the bar.
“Motherfucker.” A helpless laugh shook Josh’s shoulders.
Dan shook his head, brows tugged together in confusion. He tipped his chin at Vic. “What do you see in that guy?”
“It’s a hookup, Gallagher. It’s not about his personality.” Her quiet laugh rang like soft bells. She smiled, a rueful twist of her lips. “I forgot you don’t do those.”
He shrugged, hand finding my waist again. “Don’t get the purpose.”
“It saves batteries.”
Josh choked on a sip of beer, and Lacey leaned into him with a snicker.
Vic studied Dan’s face, something softening in her expression. “He’s not the kind of man you marry, Gallagher.”
Dan blinked, his chin lifted in surprise. “You don’t date someone you wouldn’t marry, Ocampo.”
“She’s not dating him, genius.” Josh folded an arm about Dan’s neck and patted the center of his chest with his other hand. “She’s using him.”
Head tilted, Vic grinned and lifted her beer in acknowledgement. She turned her attention on me, gaze drifting over me like she was putting a puzzle together. “I’d apologize for Roman, but it’s pointless. I assure you he’ll spew more stupid shit before the night is over.”
Josh reached for a nacho. “The sex that good?”
“The sex is fantastic.” She took a long pull on her beer, then her smile widened, a hint of mischief in her eyes. She was really pretty, with high cheekbones and light green eyes with long lashes. “I have considered duct tape for his mouth, though.”
Dan glanced up from the table, where he’d been running a finger over the rounded edge. A slight frown carved a groove between his brows. “Is that some kind of kink?”
“No, Gallagher. Well, it can be . . .” She laughed. “But not with him.”
“Dude, you gave her a ride to the doctor?” Josh tagged Dan’s chest again, sliding a cautious glance at me.
“He told me.” I shrugged. They talked about Nicole? Not sure I liked her having that level of importance in his life, even if it was negative and limited.
Vic tilted her chin at Dan. “Good boy.”
“Pfft.” He shook his head. “I’m not stupid.”
“You gave her a ride.” Humor lightened Josh’s voice. “You might be.”
“I dropped her off, sat in the car for fifteen minutes, and drove her home.”
And now we were talking about her on our date when I hadn’t seen him all week. I was not giving her this space.
I tucked my arm through his and tilted my head toward the pool tables. “Want to play before we eat?”
He startled, like I’d pulled him from deep thought. What was that about?
“Um, yeah.” Ducking out from under Josh’s arm, he stepped back from the table. He folded a hand at my waist as Roman arrived. “See you guys.”
We moved away in a wave of acknowledgements. Roman’s muttered “His girlfriend’s hot“ drifted after us.
Dan’s steps faltered, and he half-turned before forcing the tension out of his body.
“Fuck that guy,” he muttered.
I wasn’t sad to be walking away to be alone with him. I liked Lacey and Josh well enough, and Vic seemed okay, despite her choice of hookups, but I wanted to be with him.
We claimed one of the tables, and I sank into being with him.
We were well-matched – he was good, attributing his skills to Wednesday night youth group, and I’d grown up playing with Daddy at our basement table.
So while I was a little sad we didn’t get to have him cage me to “teach“ me like in the movies, playing was fun and relaxing.
Soon, we settled into our second game. I lined up my cue to shoot the three to the corner pocket. “Tell me about that dating rule?”
When I missed, he moved in for his turn with a shrug. “It’s just a thing. Picked it up hanging around Chuck. His grandaddy used to say it all the time, and it stuck.”
Sliding my fingers along the smooth wood of the table rim, I eyed him, the flex of muscles in his shoulders. “And you live by it?”
With another shrug, he sank his five ball. “Maybe? Didn’t matter until I met you.”
I stilled, pressing my fingertips hard into the wood.
“I was busy with school and stuff, then getting started with the PD, so I wasn’t really looking for anyone.” He squinted and took aim at the six. The cue ball clacked off it with a sharp snap, and the ball spun into the side pocket. He lifted his intense gaze to mine. “Then I met you.”
“You did not think about marrying me the first time we met.” People didn’t do that. Dating was how you figured out what you wanted, hence why Daddy joked about my dating at least ten different men before getting engaged. And he really wasn’t joking.
“Well, no, but if you hadn’t been you . . . I mean, I know what I can’t live with.” He straightened, long fingers around his cue stick. “If I’d seen any of that, I wouldn’t have asked you out.”
I stared at him. I’d had plenty of dates who’d turned out to be not what I could live with.
And we’d been dating for months.
Did that mean he was thinking about marriage?
My breath stopped in my throat.
Surely not.
We were dating. Enjoying being together. Practicing.
It’s not like you’re going to marry the guy.
Oh, my God. What if he was? What if I hurt him? My stomach cramped.
“You okay?” Concern glinted in his eyes, a darker blue in the dim light of the bar. “You just went pale around your lips.”
“Just . . . my stomach’s empty.” I moistened my upper lip, a hint of nausea twisting in my throat. “And it’s hot.”
“Oh, hell, I didn’t think about that. Sorry, baby.” He reached for my cue and hung it up with his. He racked up the table fast and directed me toward a table. “Let’s get you something to eat.”
With me ensconced at the table, he went to put our order in at the bar. I watched him go, panic fluttering at the base of my throat.
Okay. I needed to slow down. He wasn’t proposing, and people did date to get married.
I just . . . hadn’t planned on him.
When I thought about my life, it was about doing so well on my route that I got offered metro sales. Saving a down payment so I could buy a house or condo in Atlanta. Getting married someday. Maybe having a kid one day.
I hadn’t planned to settle in the rural end of the state.