His Southern Temptation - By Robin Covington Page 0,26

dabbles in drugs, theft, and the skin trade.” Lucky glanced at Taylor, the turn of his mouth becoming more rigid with every passing second. “Not a guy you want to notice you.”

The sweatshirt did nothing to stop the goose bumps from traveling over Taylor’s skin. She remembered the way the bald guy, Bruce, was looking at her up on stage and she knew what Lucky was thinking. She’d been noticed and tagged by one of Eddie’s goons.

The sheriff headed to the door, cutting a look between the chastened Lucky and the belligerent Teague. “If you boys are going to fight this out, get it out of my house or I’ll lock you up until the morning shift.”

With the adult supervision gone, Teague was quick to get to the point, as usual.

“What the hell was my sister doing at the Jolly Gent in the middle of a raid?”

Taylor opened her mouth to answer, but she realized the question wasn’t directed at her. It was like she wasn’t even there.

Teague was openly hostile now, edging into Lucky’s taller frame and deliberately invading his personal space. Beck stood by, watching them closely and placing his keys in his pocket as if he were preparing to keep his hands free—just in case.

“She was helping me with a case I’m working on for Jack.” Lucky crossed his arms, his expression mulish, his words clipped, and more than matching her brother in aggression.

“What could my sister possibly do to help you with a case at the Jolly Gent? It’s a men’s strip club the last time I checked. And now she’s on the radar of some southern Tony Soprano wannabe? That’s just fucking perfect.”

Lucky flicked a glance in her direction, the internal debate about how much he should tell about their activities the past few days battling it out in his eyes. She didn’t think it was any of her brother’s business. In fact, she couldn’t imagine why her brother was here now. Taylor hadn’t called him. Sheriff Burke must have felt she needed big brother to come to the rescue, and she was growing angrier by the second. What she did with her body, in private or in front of an audience, was entirely up to her.

Teague finally glanced her way and then back at Lucky, dismissing her entirely. She was tired of being ignored. It was time to channel the late, great Patrick Swayze and take “Baby” out of the corner.

“I was dancing. It was my choice.” She let that float out there for a bit and waited for the explosion she knew was coming.

Teague closed his eyes for a moment, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose in the exact same way her father did when he was irritated. She could almost see the countdown clock winding down in his head.

“You were doing what?” His eyes, so much like her own, flashed with the anger he was doing a crappy job of hiding.

“I was dancing. Working the pole.” She smiled, deliberately picking a bigger fight because now she was just feeling mean. “One of the regular girls is missing and I tried to help find her. I was making progress until one of the customers tried to get a little too friendly tonight.”

“Too friend—?” Teague choked on his words, his face red and all attempts to keep a lid on his anger vanishing like smoke in the air. He turned and advanced on Lucky, Beck stepping in between the two of them before they made physical contact.

“Lucky, what the fuck were you thinking to let my sister do something like that?”

“I was keeping an eye on her.” Lucky glared down at Teague, his body pushing against the hand Beck had on his chest. He was like a junkyard dog on a chain, snarling and spoiling for a fight. “Besides, there’s no telling your sister no when she decides to do something.”

“Then you should have called me and I would’ve stopped her.”

“He didn’t let me do anything!” Taylor shouted over the two them, physically inserting herself between the two of them to ensure they listened to her. “You two act like I’m not even here, like I need your permission to make decisions about my own life. This is why I never wanted to come back to this crappy little town.”

They both looked dazed, as if they were surprised to see her there at all, and she dug her fingers into her palms to keep from knocking sense into both of them.

“You two