Man of Honor (Battle Scars #3) - Diana Gardin Page 0,6

track of Mea’s exact placement in the bar all damn night.

The sight of Mea Jones standing behind the bar earlier stopped my breathing just as fast as a chokehold would have.

I see Mea around a lot. My best friend, Dare, is marrying her best friend, Berkeley, in just a couple months. As best man and maid of honor, we have to be in the same room from time to time. We share a tight-knit circle of friends that neither of us is willing to give up. But Mea avoids me like the plague when she can, and I know it’s because our past together is sticky.

But tonight, something’s different. She’s just standing there, staring at me from her place on the restaurant floor just outside the bar area. Her petite body is tight and stacked, and my big palms itch at the thought of running them over every curved inch of her. What she lacks in size—hell, she can’t be taller than five foot two—she makes up for in attitude. She’s got miles of it, and is never too shy to put someone in their place.

But right now? She looks like someone just punched her in the gut. And those big, dark brown eyes are wide and tentative, something Mea is most definitely not. She looks…vulnerable. Like she needs something from me.

God, at that moment, even in my inebriated state, I wish I could give it to her.

My eyes scan her, because I can’t fucking help it. It’s January, and she’s a girl with half a brain, so no tight tank top like Tina, the blonde beside me. No, she’s wearing a casual long-sleeved shirt that dips into a deep V, showcasing just a tease of the perfect set of tits I know lay just beneath. My cock stirs to life again just looking at her, but I force my eyes to keep moving upward and focus on her face.

Her gorgeous, flawless face. Skin the color of the richest caramel. Lush, pert lips set in a perpetual pout that chicks usually have to pay for. And then her hair, fanning around her face in a mess of wild, wild dark brown curls.

Wild. Free. Untamed.

That’s Mea to the hilt.

She’s always been like a little tornado, a force to be reckoned with who sucks everyone around her into her orbit. She’s all power, tucked into a tiny, sexy frame.

Fuck.

I blink, shaking my head to clear it, and when I open my eyes again she’s gone. Like a ghost, she’s disappeared, probably into the back somewhere. Anywhere she doesn’t have to see me. Or talk to me.

It’s what I’ve been dealing with when it comes to Mea ever since Dare moved to Lone Sands two and a half years ago and started dating Berkeley. They went through plenty of ups and downs in their relationship, and Mea and I were there for them every step of the way. Me on Dare’s side, Mea on Berkeley’s.

The one night I spent with her? The one where she blew my fucking mind and then just walked away? That happened shortly before Dare arrived. I’ve been living with the memory for three damn years.

The second I saw her again all I wanted to do was pull her into my arms. Touch her. Love on her.

Taste her.

But when she looked at me, it was with venom and acid and I was so shell-shocked by it I never asked her why. To this day, I have no idea what turned her against me so absolutely.

And now, not only are we going to have to costar in this wedding event in March, she’s apparently also working at my favorite hangout.

Fuck.

“What?”

Right. The blonde. Tara? I must have said that last “fuck” out loud. She’s looking at me the way an orderly in a mental hospital looks at a patient.

Shaking my head, I put my hands to my head and rub my temples. I’m so fucking tired. Why’d I think it was a good idea to come out and get tanked? And how the hell am I gonna get home?

Sighing, I signal to Lenny. She walks over, wiping her hands with a rag. Raises a brow in my direction.

“Close me out, Len.”

She nods. Glances at the chick glued to my side. “Hers, too. On my tab. And then call her a cab, will ya?”

Nodding again, Lenny turns to the register. “What about you, big guy? How you gettin’ home?”

I stand so I can pull my wallet out, and then groan as the