and misogynist took off to find other woman to molest.
She cut her gaze back to Dez and he smiled, maybe even chuckled a little, before diverting his attention back to the instrument, which he mastered so well. And at that moment, she knew she’d made the right decision by coming to his gig.
Ten minutes later, when Blakely and her friends arrived, she wasn’t so sure. For one thing, she didn’t know how they’d gotten inside the bar when they were under the age of twenty-one. Maybe the bouncer looked the other way on a day when the streets were packed and breathing like a live organism. Or Blakely could have scored a fake ID. Wouldn’t put it past that savvy group of girls to be prepared with someone else’s driver’s license.
Of course, Blakely looked much older than nineteen. Her lanky body, which had seemed so awkward a few years ago, had rounded out with curves in all the right places. A sophisticated application of makeup highlighted her strong bone structure. Her aura of self-assurance gave her added maturity, so she looked in her mid-twenties, rather than clinging to nineteen.
As she and her friends moved through the crowd, men turned and looked. Hell, women did, too. Her beauty drew the eye, and her freshness made Eleanor shrink toward the perimeter.
But the bright turquoise of her sweater caught her daughter’s eye. Blakely frowned and wove toward her, leaving her friends at a table full of college-aged guys.
“Mom, what are you doing here?” she shouted over the thrum of music.
“Me? What are you doing here? You’re not even old enough to get in,” Eleanor said, tugging Blakely into a less crowded area. “You said you were going to Emily Serio’s grandmother’s place to watch the parade.”
“We are...later,” she said, her eyes flickering toward the stage where Dez and his band seemed to be ending their set. “But I told Dez I’d come hear him play. Wow, he’s, like, really good.”
Eleanor didn’t bother looking at the stage. Instead she studied her daughter. Studied the way she licked her lips and the spark of desire in her blue eyes.
What the hell did a woman do when she and her daughter wanted the same man?
Arm wrestle for him?
“Yes, he’s good, but as previously stated, he’s much too old for you,” she said, taking a less physical, more rational approach. She didn’t care if she and Dez didn’t work out; Blakely wasn’t going to make the mistakes her mother had made. She wasn’t going to date a thirty-year-old man.
“But too young for you,” Blakely said, returning her gaze to her mother. “Is that why you’re here? Because you’re into him?”
Well, hell.
Eleanor really didn’t know how to answer that one.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to, because the object of their desire headed toward them, looking hotter than a two-dollar pistol, in a pair of tight jeans and a short-sleeved gray T-shirt with some kind of British-looking screen print on it. Motorcycle boots completed the look, and the mirrored sunglasses propped on his head and simple silver crucifix at the base of his throat only made him look almost untouchable. Like he belonged in an ad in Glamour or something. He had an essence that made a girl sigh.
He stopped next to Blakely and the girl sighed.
Exactly.
“Hey, ladies,” he said, holding up two fingers to the bartender, who must have been directly behind Eleanor. He turned to Blakely. “How’d you manage to get in?”
Her daughter smiled. “I have my ways.”
He arched an eyebrow at Eleanor. “You came.”
Not yet.
Eleanor shook herself, dumping her dirty thoughts and focusing on the predicament in front of her. “Yeah, thought about that old saying about friends and enemies.”
“Oh, keeping your friends close, but your enemies closer?”
Blakely shook her head. “It’s family. You’re supposed to keep your family closer...or something like that.”
The irony wasn’t lost on Eleanor. She gave a fake laugh. “Guess I’m covered both ways. Family and friends. Right here. Right now. Besides, Dez, I don’t consider you an enemy.”
“I hope not,” he said, his voice lowering a few octaves.
Narrowing her eyes, Blakely turned from Eleanor and smiled brightly at Dez. “So if you’re not watching the parade anywhere, I’d love for you to join me. A friend’s family has a prime spot and there will be a keg and stuff.”
“Well, that sounds cool, but I already have plans.”
Of course he had plans. What had Eleanor expected? Dez to wait around on her while she decided if she would or wouldn’t...if she could or