“The downtown’s historic,” I argued. “Gorgeous architecture.”
“All of the buildings are vacant.”
“All but this one,” I reminded her.
“The only bar in town.” A sigh.
“Lucky for me, or we might’ve never met as you passed through here, going wherever you’re going.”
She smiled and dipped a shoulder at me, coquettish. “Maybe I would’ve found you wherever you were.”
“Well, when you put it that way…” Like fate would’ve seen to it that we found each other. That was suspiciously romantic. I was starting to believe I needed to tread carefully, now.
“Another shot,” she said, her tone imperious.
“You’re not serious.”
“I am so serious,” she crooned. “So, so serious. I’m so serious that I need lots of tequila to help loosen up a little. Doctor’s orders.”
“Really?”
“Probably.” She slapped her palms against the bar in a drum cadence. “Shots! Come on, I’ll get you another one.”
“Oh, this one’s on you?”
She batted her eyelashes at me. “Oh, yes.”
“Well, as long as it’s on you, and you’re not planning on riding back to the motel.”
Katie fixed me with a blank stare. “How else am I going to get back to my room?”
“We’ll get you a ride.”
“If you’re proposing that you’re going to be the ride …”
“I can be, if you’re comfortable with it.”
“Or if you’re using ‘ride’ as a euphemism…”
“I’m not. I just want you to be safe.”
“I can take care of myself, Ace. I’m not some damsel in distress.”
The way she weaved on the barstool made me wince to think of her astride her motorcycle, making her way back to the motel.
“I know you’re not a damsel in distress,” I said. “Look, I’ll make you a deal.”
A frown. “What kind of deal?”
“I won’t give you any more grief about what you might or might not be drinking here at the bar tonight.”
“You’ll serve me whatever I want? However much I want?”
“I mean, I don’t want you to get sick.”
“If I puke, I rally.”
“Or get alcohol poisoning.”
“You saw for yourself. I’m twenty-eight years old. I know my limits.” She narrowed her blue eyes. “What’s the catch, then?”
“Not a catch. Just a deal we might be making.”
“Does the deal involve your dick?”
“Pardon?”
“You heard me.”
“I’m more of a gentleman than that, and I’m sorry you don’t understand that yet.”
Katie struck a pose that fell somewhere on the spectrum between sexy and ridiculous. “Are you saying you wouldn’t try to get with this?”
“I’m saying that I wouldn’t ply you with alcohol to do so.”
“That doesn’t stop other men.”
“I’m not like that.”
“What’s the deal, then?” she asked, sounding almost bored with all of it already.
“I don’t harangue you about the drinking, but you don’t put up a fight about a sober ride back to the motel. Is it a deal?”
“If this is just some complicated plot to fuck me…”
“It’s not.”
“… I might just let you have a chance.”
I chose to blame that particular statement on the alcohol she had consumed and kept myself from commenting on it.
“Do we have a deal?” I asked, waving the bottle of tequila at her. Maybe that move was a little underhanded, but all I really wanted to do was ensure she didn’t try and drive herself back to the motel at whatever point she deemed it necessary to return. The way she was eager to throw back shots didn’t give me a lot of faith.
“Okay, deal,” she confirmed. “Now shots.”
“No. First, we shake on it. Make the deal official. You know you can’t back out of it once we’ve shaken hands, right?”
“That door swings both ways, Ace,” she informed me, sticking her hand out. “You can’t back out either. I get as many shots and as much beer as I want.”
“That’s the deal. If you let someone drive you home.”
“Someone?” She retracted her hand. “I thought you were going to take me back.”
“If that’s what you want, I’d be more than happy to do it.”
“Deal.” She put her hand back out, and I shook it. Her hands were small, but strong, and the one she used to shake my hand gripped it so hard that the joints popped painfully.
I poured us a couple more shots, took mine, and dropped both now-empty shot glasses into the sink for washing.
“Be right back,” I said, opening another beer for her as her eyes watered as the floods of bitterness and tartness in her mouth warred between each other.
“Okay.”
“No shots while I’m gone, you hear?”
“I thought you couldn’t nag me about my drinking anymore.”
“I’m not nagging. I’m just telling you that I’m the bartender, and I pour the drinks. If you pour for yourself, you automatically forfeit.”
“You mean I lose?”
“Yes, that’s what I mean.”
“Am I going to like losing?”
“I don’t think anyone really likes losing, Katie.”
She laughed. “I mean, are you going to take me back to the motel room and spank me? Punish me for breaking the rules?”
“Be right back,” I repeated, painfully aware that my face felt flushed and it was a little hard to walk.
At the booth, Jack offered me two thumbs up. “I think you’ve won the redhead over, Ace.”
“It’s Katie,” I informed him, unable to keep it a secret that some…rather significant progress had been made.
Brody pulled an unhappy face. “Dammit.”
“What?”
“Should we redistribute the money, or save it for another bet?” Jack asked him.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I demanded.
“We all guessed what her name would end up being,” Chuck confessed. “Even Sloan was in on it via text message.”
“Do I even want to know what the guesses were?” I asked with a sigh. This was my life, and my friends were betting on its minutiae. Though, admittedly, there was nothing pedestrian about Katie.
“None of them came close,” Brody assured me. “What are you doing over here? Go get her, tiger!”
“I’m not there’s not going to be any go-getting tonight,” I said. Hopefully. If all went according to a plan I didn’t yet have.
“Why the hell not?” Jack demanded. “You’ve been head over heels for this lady since she walked into the bar for the first time.”
“She’s drunk,” I pointed out helpfully.
“Is that why you keep giving her tequila shots?” Chuck asked, frowning at me.
“I mean that I still don’t completely understand her situation,” I said. “Why would she pretend to be so into me now when it seemed like she couldn’t stand me before?”
“Maybe she wants something out of you,” Brody said. “You giving her free shots?”
“No. But I made her promise that she wouldn’t drive herself home.”
“Do you need backup?” Jack teased.
“No. I’m doing…well, I don’t know how I’m doing. Good? Bad?”
“Why are you even over here?” Brody asked.
“God, I needed a break,” I said. “She has the filthiest mouth.”
Jack put his hand up. “Who are you, and what have you done with my friend, Ace?”
“What?”
“You love it when women have filthy mouths, when they know exactly what they want and how they want it. Why haven’t you taken Katie home? You both obviously want it.”
My brain was in shambles. “I don’t… I should get back in there.”
/> “He’s in love with her,” I heard Chuck say as I made my way back to the bar, and I wish I hadn’t heard it. I wish I hadn’t heard it because what if it was true? I’d never let myself be in love before. It made me feel too vulnerable, and I’d had to make sure to protect myself my entire life. There wasn’t anyone else to do it, and I tended not to trust people as a general rule, and maybe that was why I also tended not to invite women back into my bedroom a second time, and oh, good Christ, what in the hell was I doing here? Why did I just feel so good when Katie lit up as I came back around the bar, even if it was only because I’d willingly pour her a tequila shot if she asked for it? I was in big trouble. God, was I in trouble.
“So, Ace.” Katie made some serious eyes at me from across the bar. “I’m going to ask you this once and only once. My place or yours?”
I blinked at her, surprised. “Pardon?”
“Don’t make me say it again,” she purred. “I told you I was only going to ask once.”
“I’m sure I just misheard you,” I said. “Because I thought you propositioned me.”
“You really, really want to say yes.”
“I know I really want to say yes,” I agreed, propping my chin up on my fist and looking at her. “But I’m not going to.”
Her pretty face darkened. “And why the hell not?”
“You’re drunk.”
“So?” At least she wasn’t pretending she wasn’t anymore. We’d apparently moved past that stage.
“So I’m not going to be that guy, the one who takes advantage of the drunk girl.”
“You’re not taking advantage of me,” she argued. “I’m the one propositioning you.”
“And the polite thing to do is decline.”
“But that’s not what I want.”
“It’s what’s best.”
“No.” Katie was adamant, now. Adamant and belligerent. “You don’t get to decide what’s best for me. I’m the only one who gets to decide that.”
“Okay,” I said, holding my hands up, trying to appease her. “I’m not trying to make decisions for you.”
“But you are.” She raked a hand through her red hair, exasperated. “Don’t you understand? This is what I want to do.”
“I understand perfectly.” Because I wasn’t a saint. I wasn’t anywhere even close to perfect. I wasn’t proud to admit it, but there had been a time that I would’ve gleefully taken Katie up on her offer without thinking twice about it. Maybe I was just getting old or something, but I had to take into consideration just how differently she was acting tonight versus the previous two times we’d interacted. Alcohol was the contributing factor, here. I just wouldn’t be able to stomach her regret in the morning, if it came to that. And it wasn’t going to come to that.
Katie was swaying on the barstool, staring at me obstinately, head down, a little mascara smeared below one of her eyes, but she was still beautiful. I was hung up on that, how beautiful she was, how much I really did want her, but I couldn’t have her like this, not all the way there. What I would like for her was the safety and comfort of her motel room. She wasn’t in danger here at the bar, but if she was propositioning me, who she had spent several weeks antagonizing, making me believe that she despised me, I couldn’t say that I had much confidence in her decision-making skills at this point of the evening. I’d promised that I wouldn’t try to talk her out of any more alcohol as long as she accepted a ride back to the motel, but I wasn’t sure how to manipulate the situation to take care of her.
Until I did know how to manipulate the situation.
“Okay,” I said, slapping the bar. “Let’s do this.”
“What? Do what?” Katie peered at me, and I wondered if she’d already forgotten what she asked me.
“You propositioned me,” I reminded her. “Are you taking that back?”
“I’m a woman of my word.” She stood up from the barstool, wavered so precariously that I nearly jumped over the bar to steady her, and hitched her jeans up a little higher on her waist. “Where do you want to get this done? Bathroom? Alley?”
“That’s not very romantic,” I commented.
“You don’t strike me as a romantic.”
“Give me a chance. I’ll surprise you.”
“All right, Romeo. What’s your plan?”
I smiled at her, hoping it wasn’t a leer, hating myself a little. “I’d like a proper bed, if it’s all the same to you. Don’t get me wrong. Hooking up in public…well, that’s a definite kink. But seeing how this is our first time and everything, I’d like a chance to impress you.” I leaned closer. “I can do lots of things with you in a bed that I can’t do otherwise.”
“Like what?” she asked, and her smile was a leer. It made me shudder at just how much I was attracted to her. It had been a while since I felt anything close to this for anyone. If I was drunk, or a little bit worse off morally speaking, Katie really might’ve been getting laid tonight. As things stood, though, I just wanted to get her in bed and away from the bottle.
“Like take every piece of clothing off you and take my time getting to know you,” I said, keeping my voice even, casual, like I was describing a weather forecast. “Build things up nice and slow, take all the time in the world without having to worry about someone walking in on us, or someone hearing you scream.”
She swallowed visibly. “Why would I be screaming? You looking to hurt me, Ace?”
“No, baby. No, no. You’d be screaming because I’d be fucking you with my tongue.”
Her mouth formed a perfect “O,” and her cheeks grew flushed. “Quite a mouth on you.”
“You have no idea. Yet.”
“Okay,” she said quickly. “Let’s get out of here wait. I’ve got to pay my tab.”
“I got you.”
“No, no, that’s not right. Put it on… Here’s some cash. Here’s all the cash I have.”
“Just wait a second. I’ll look up your tab.”
“I don’t care.” She was still laying down bills on the bar, neither of us caring that they were going to get soggy in the rings of condensation and splashes of stray tequila wetting the surface. “I want to leave. Take me back to my motel.”
“I’ll give you… I’ll work out the bill later. Give you back your change.”
“Keep it. I don’t care. I just… God, I want…”
“Okay, we’re going,” I said, and I was an asshole for being more than half-hard right then. This was completely wrong, but I was getting her out of there before more harm than what I had allowed could befall her, and that was saying something.
“Brody, cover the bar,” I barked over in the direction of the booth, having eyes for nothing else other than Katie, not stopping to see if he heard me or was even still there, not caring about anything. I darted out from behind it I’d only just restrained myself from flinging myself across the surface in my haste to get out of there and slipped an arm around Katie’s waist.
“Kiss me,” she demanded, pursing her lips.
“Wait,” I said. “Just wait. We can wait.” Because I was going to let her down easy once I got her back to her motel room. I wasn’t going to lay a hand or tongue on her. At least, that’s what I was hoping.
“I don’t want to wait,” she complained. “The room is too far away.”
I got her outside without any incident. I knew I had to hurry, though. Her legs would be spaghetti in no time.
“Think you can ride a bike?”
“I’m going to take mine.”
“No, no. Yours is going to stay here. We can take mine, but I need to know if you think you can hang on to me while I drive my motorcycle.”
“I was practically born riding a motorcycle,” she boasted. “I can do it.”
“Because if you can’t, all I have to do is borrow my friend’s SUV.” Haley would let me take it for a spin…maybe. In the name of all things good and holy.
“I don’t want to ride in a coffin,” Katie protested. “Come on. Let�
��s see what you got.”
What I got was more than I bargained for. As soon as we were both astride my bike, helmets in place, Katie put her arms around me and squeezed my crotch, making me jump.
“You like that?” she shouted in my ear as I started the engine. “There’s more where that came from.”
“Save it for the motel, baby.”
“You’re not up for a little road action?”
“What I want is for you to hang on and stay still so I can get us there safely.”
“Safe is overrated. Live a little, Ace. Open this thing up.”
I revved the engine for her a little as I walked it out into the street, keeping an eye out for traffic, but there was no way I was even going to approach the speed limit with such precious cargo on board. I should’ve, in retrospect, insisted on taking Katie back in the SUV, but there was no time for that now. She was clinging to my back and I had to make it stay that way. The motel wasn’t very far, but part of me wished we were going back to my place. We could’ve easily walked and I wouldn’t be riding, focusing on my balance, terrified that I would lose the most beautiful and confusing woman I’d ever met off the back of my bike.
“Faster!” Katie hollered like it was a battle cry. “Faster, Ace!”
“Have to watch the speed limit,” I lied. Once you were away from the historic strip of buildings and park that served as downtown Rio Seco, there really wasn’t a speed limit. The roads ran flat and straight out into the desert, not winding or climbing until they reached the mountains.
It was a tense fifteen minutes on the motorcycle, maybe the most nervous I’d ever been operating one, even worse from the very first time I learned to do it, but we reached the motel parking lot without incident minus Katie whooping and screaming every few minutes. She was like a different person, really, and I wondered if she was telling the truth, when she was trying to cajole me out of tequila shots at the bar. She had been awfully uptight and angry the first few times I’d met her, even at the park, outside of the bar atmosphere. If it made her happy, maybe someone really should prescribe her tequila to get her to take a break from herself for a while.
“Which room is yours?” I asked as I flipped down the kickstand and grabbed Katie before she took a slow tumble to the concrete.
“One of these,” she said, helpfully sweeping her hand across the doors before us. “You going to give me a kiss, now, Ace? Or are you still going to deny me?”
HORIZON MC Page 7
