themselves, huh?” His tone was callous and he said it as if he hadn’t known I’d been there all along. Then he shook his head and told Jake, “Nah, I’m good.”
Jake gave him a strange look, but didn’t say anything.
Cowboy hadn’t even said hello to me when he walked up and now he was shunning me, which only made me feel more awkward and uncomfortable. So when Bubba Ray asked me to dance with him, I jumped at the chance to get away from the group…and Cowboy.
After a few laps on the dance floor, Bubba Ray and I took a break and passed by six of his buddies sitting at a table across the room. They invited us to have a drink with them, and since I was in no hurry to return to my own group, we sat down.
For a moment, I worried about sitting at a table surrounded by seven hulking men. But they were sweet and made me laugh. Apparently not all men were cocky asshats. Nice to know. But just as Bubba Ray put his hand on my arm and leaned over to whisper into my ear, someone snared my hand and yanked me out of my chair.
My eyes flickered up, meeting Cowboy’s direct, unwavering gaze. But the controlled intensity in his eyes had nothing on the contemptuous expression he wore on his face. “Come on. I need a partner.”
He dragged me toward the dance floor as I stumbled behind him, unable to keep up. I tried to pull my hand free, but it had no effect on him as he charged through the crowd. It was like playing tug-of-war with a pissed off bull. “Hey! I was in the middle of a conversation back there.”
Cowboy stopped on the wooden floor, turned, and pulled me into his hard chest, wrapping a strong hand around my waist. “That wasn’t a conversation. That was a full-on tactical assault by Bubba Ray. Women are sex toys to him.”
I pulled back slightly and raised a brow. “Look who’s talking.”
“Hey, at least I respect women afterward.”
“Oh, really?” I rolled my eyes as he led me around the dance floor. “If you had any amount of respect for them, you wouldn’t sleep with them to begin with. At least not so soon. Maybe try spending a little time getting to know something about the woman, other than what kind of underwear she wears…or doesn’t wear.”
His firm hand tightened on my waist, and I could feel the aggravation in his fingertips. “Oh, that’s rich coming from a woman who was letting Bubba Ray feel her up two minutes ago.”
My feet stopped moving. “Excuse me?”
“I saw him touching you. You shy away from me every chance you get, but you’ll let that fucking idiot put his hands all over you?”
“Put his…?” I shook my head, not believing what he was accusing me of, then the anger took over. “He touched my arm, you jerk!”
Irritation tightened his jaw. “Yeah, and it wouldn’t be long before he was playing grab-ass with you and rolling you into his bed for a slumber party.”
I dropped my hand from his as other patrons danced past us. “Bubba Ray’s been nothing but a perfect gentleman with me, which is more than I can say for you. If you think there was anything going on between him and me back there, then you’re more delusional than I gave you credit for.”
“Yeah right,” he scoffed. “That’s why tonight you dressed up and put on all that heavy makeup—because there’s nothing going on?” His eyes filled with hostility, and his lip curled with revulsion. “You know, maybe you’re more of a liar than I gave you credit for.”
Outraged, I barely had time to register what I was doing when my hand smacked across his face. I blinked, shocked by my own reaction. Actually, I wasn’t sure who was more surprised—him or me. No matter. I refused to apologize for my behavior after the way he spoke to me. I turned and walked quickly away. He didn’t even try to stop me.
I squeezed through the crowd, fighting back tears of frustration, when I bumped a man’s arm and spilled his beer on both of us. “Oh, I’m sorr—”
“You!” Joe Barlow stood there, looking none too happy and wiping his beer-soaked hand on his pants. “What the hell are you doing here? Now you’re following us?”
“Of course not.”
Clay peered around his brother. “Then what’s a stuffy girl like you doing in a place like this?