“You have a life.” And he wasn’t obligated to visit the bar.
“So you haven’t missed me, huh?”
Rowdy checked his watch. “I would have figured you’d lose some of your good humor after ten.”
Dash grinned at him. “Okay, so let’s hear it. What’s my surprise?”
“More like a problem. A woman problem.”
Dash looked first at Avery behind the bar, and then, somehow, despite the crowd, his gaze shot straight to where Lieutenant Margaret Peterson sat.
He didn’t look away. “More than one, from the looks of it.”
“Yeah, well, she was getting clingy.” Rowdy rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn’t in the habit of fobbing women off on other men and he felt a little awkward. “I know it’s late for you, but do you think you can do me a solid and take her off my hands?”
“Sure,” Dash said without hesitation, but then added, “Which one are we talking about?”
What the... Dash would have made a move on Avery? Rowdy thought about flattening him. “Peterson.”
While still staring toward the lieutenant, Dash smiled. “Oh, yeah, I can handle that.”
As if she felt the way Dash stared at her, Margaret twisted in her seat to search the room.
She zeroed in on Dash.
For an uncomfortably long time, they locked gazes. Rowdy shouldered Dash hard. “Quit eye f**king her already. It’s embarrassing.”
Suddenly Margaret jerked away, giving them her back. She was always rigid, but never more so than now with the current set of her shoulders and the steel in her spine.
Undisturbed by Rowdy’s crude comment, Dash whispered to himself, “Surprise, sweetheart.”
Rowdy witnessed Dash’s satisfaction with a shake of his head. “Hate to break it to you, but she looks pissed.”
“She’s fighting herself.” Dash slowly inhaled. “And she’s losing.”
Sure, the lieutenant was a looker, but still a lieutenant. Rowdy didn’t quite understand Dash’s fascination with her, but to each his own.
Suddenly Margaret stood, snatched up her purse and headed back toward the pool tables. Rowdy expected Dash to go after her.
He didn’t.
“Think I’ll let her stew a minute or two. She’s less guarded and more entertaining when she’s riled.” Dash started for the bar. “Why don’t you get me a drink? It’s the least you can do for dragging me out tonight.”
Bullshit. With the way the two of them had shot sparks off each other, Rowdy was starting to think Dash owed him for the favor.
At least now he could reassure Avery; she had no reason at all to be jealous of the lieutenant’s attention, not with the way she’d reacted to Dash.
They’d just paused by the bar and Rowdy was waiting for Avery to finish serving a customer, when from behind them, a female customer said, “Hey, sexy,” and they both turned.
A tableful of ladies issued a lusty invite to join them.
Dash looked interested; Rowdy was not.
When he turned back to Avery, she started snickering and couldn’t stop.
Glad she wasn’t stewing, Rowdy asked, “What?”
That only ramped up her hilarity until she was laughing outright.
Folding his arms over the bar, Rowdy waited. “Are you going hysterical on me?”
“You both looked!” She covered her mouth, trying to muffle her humor. “Both of you!”
Leaving Dash to deal with the ladies, Rowdy circled the bar. As long as Dash didn’t forget about Peterson, he could do whatever he pleased.
When he got close, Avery fought her humor long enough to say, “Hey, sexy.”
“Smart-ass.” He caught her hips and pulled her in close to kiss her. It was a tickling kiss at first because of her giggles, but as he kept at it, she mellowed and heated and soon he had her in a full-blown mating of the mouths.
Damn, she tasted good.
She eased away, breathing fast. “People are looking.”
“Let them.” He wanted everyone to know that Avery wasn’t alone, not anymore.
She looked around, saw Dash and grinned again.
“It’s not that funny.” But he found himself smiling, too. Before Avery, he couldn’t remember ever being so lighthearted.
She’d changed him, maybe irrevocably.
Probably for the better.
“It’s hilarious.” Hands on his chest, Avery frowned up at him. “Unless you’re planning something unseemly for that poor woman.”
Did she miss nothing? “If you mean Lieutenant Margaret Peterson, she is not a poor woman, trust me. She devours guys like Dash. I just threw him to the wolves. It’ll be a miracle if he survives.”
One brow lifted, Avery gave a pointed look at where Dash talked with four women while they more or less fawned on him. “Yeah, poor guy. He looks like a lamb to the slaughter.”
“He’s just warming up. Wait and see.”
Not a minute later, Dash excused himself from his admirers and started toward the back.
“He’s going to her?”
“Yeah.” Rowdy pitched in, helping Avery with refills. “She’s up to something, but no idea what.” He only knew he didn’t want to be a part of it.
“She came to see you.”
“Maybe.” He wasn’t entirely convinced of that, either. He and Peterson had come to an understanding of sorts, but there’d been no sparks between them. Before Avery, sure, he wouldn’t have kicked the lieutenant out of bed. But she was a lieutenant, so he wouldn’t have pursued her, either.