tried to stand up, I pitched forward into the stall door and my nose was still hurting. I shook my head. “I’d fall on my ass.”
“I can help you.”
“In those shoes?” I looked pointedly at her sky-high heels.
Ginny frowned. “Maybe I can warn the girls in here that a boy is coming in and Roman can help?”
I nodded. That would do.
“This is what I have two assistants for,” I muttered.
Ginny smiled and got to her feet. “Sit tight. I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Do I look like I’m capable of going anywhere?”
Ginny left the stall.
She was only gone for a minute or so, far shorter than I expected. I heard Roman come in with her, announcing to the women in the bathroom that they were here to get me out. Nobody protested. This kind of thing happened at Skip’s all the time. It had just never happened to me.
When the stall door opened, I looked up.
When I saw Peter looking down at me, my ego shriveled into a little prune in my chest and my dignity vanished in a puff of invisible smoke.
Roman stood behind Peter, and he stretched to the tip of his toes to peer over Peter’s shoulder. “Hey, boss,” he chimed. “Look who I brought with me. It’s your knight in shining armor.”
I could feel the color draining from my face as I stared up at Peter in horror. “Oh God.”
Peter smiled. Bless him.
He crouched down in front of me. “How’s that tequila treating you?”
“Like a bitchy girl from high school who won’t stop kicking me when I’m down.”
He snorted. “I haven’t heard that one before.”
“It’s an apt description,” I said.
“Can I get you out of here?”
I nodded. “Please.”
Peter moved into the stall, wrapped me up in his arms, and got to his feet. He carried me out and I buried my face in his chest, appalled at how many women were watching. I heard them whisper about how they wished a guy like Peter could be there for them. All the while, Roman was making his dramatic exit behind us, still complimenting strangers while Ginny pushed him out of the bathroom.
“Shut up, Roman,” she muttered. “Thank you, ladies! Back to your business. Nothing to see here.”
Peter held me a little closer as we emerged in the bar. I kept my face hidden and pretended we weren’t making our way through a bar packed with over a hundred and fifty people. Peter’s shirt smelled like beer and pine-scented cologne.
Chapter 13
Peter
“Watch your step,” I cautioned.
Katie’s vise grip on my hand tightened as she stepped up into the beat-up three-hundred-dollar pickup truck. She offered me an incoherent mumble, and I was pretty sure she was saying thank you. She didn’t release my hand until she had sat herself down and pushed back against the bench seat.
“Good?” I asked.
She nodded.
I closed the door behind her and hurried around to my side of the truck. After closing my door and turning the ignition over three times, it started.
Katie chewed her bottom lip and looked at me with red eyes and a pink nose. “I don’t think I can go back to the hotel like this.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“If guests saw me coming back to the property so drunk I can hardly walk…” She trailed off and shook her head. “It wouldn’t look good for the El Cartana. My boss wouldn’t be happy. And I would be so embarrassed.”
“You can crash at my place,” I offered.
She continued chewing on her lip like she had no nerve endings there.
I reached out without thinking, cupped her chin in my hand, and gently pulled her lower lip out from between her teeth. “Careful. You’re going to make yourself bleed.”
Katie didn’t pull away from my touch. She blinked slowly. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“Intrude?” I chuckled and let my hand fall from her chin. For a moment, she leaned toward me. I couldn’t tell if it was because she was drunk or she wanted to be close to me. “You’re not intruding at all. In fact, you’re getting kind of a raw deal.”
I put the truck in reverse and pulled out of our space. There weren’t as many cars in the parking lot as I’d expected. Skip’s had been jampacked, but the parking lot wasn’t full. Everyone must have arrived in taxis or carpooled here.
“My bed is stiff as a board,” I said. “I need a new mattress for that damn thing but I can’t for the life of me figure out where to get