He has the nerve to look angry with me, so I try pushing his hands away, but he just grips me harder. “Don’t try to fight me off, lady. You really think you can dance like that and expect no one to come and join you?”
I try to wriggle myself away from him when spiky blond guy is suddenly yanked off me by the scruff of his neck. In his place, I see Jake with Tony and a bunch of other guys from work surrounding him.
Tony is fuming. “You get your fucking hands off her, asshole!”
Spiky blond guy raises his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’ll go. I thought she was fair game after the way she was advertising that fine ass of hers.” He proceeds to give me an almost predatory leer which travels the length of my body from head to toe before daring to go back up again. For a cornered creep, he sure is being thorough! Seeing this, both Jake and Tony move to grab him when Sam’s voice is heard from across the room. “Hey, guys, wait a second! Please don’t do this in my bar. Take it outside if you need to. Just not in here, okay?”
I move my head over at Jessie, who is staring with her mouth wide open. I’m sure I must look just as shocked to her.
Shaking it off, I run over to Jake and Tony, placing a hand on each of their chests. The electrical jolt which passes through me when I make contact with Jake has me spellbound. I can’t help but stare into his eyes for a second. He stares back, making an ever-so-slight gasp as if he feels it too. I sense Tony’s gaze swinging from me to Jake and back again.
Remembering where I am, I snap myself out of it and finally find my words. “It may be best if we leave now. Don’t you think, Jake?”
He glares at spiky blond guy, who is finally retreating. Once he’s satisfied, he looks down at me with a nod.
I wave my hands around absentmindedly. “Okay, guys. Everything’s back to normal. Nothing to see here,” I state with a less than dignified slur, which naturally triggers laughter from strangers and coworkers alike.
Hmm, I do believe I’m rather drunk right now. With a shrug and a smile, I walk over to Jessie and give her a hug.
“Wow. That was intense! I thought they were all going to start pissing around you for a minute there.”
I smack her arm, giggling my ass off. “Jessie, that’s disgusting! I’m going home before I can cause any more trouble. How are you getting back? Do you have a ride?”
Jessie smiles back. “Yes, I have it covered. Michael promised me a ride home. He said he wasn’t drinking.”
I give her a kiss on the cheek and say my goodbyes. I hug Tony last and thank him. He holds onto me a little longer than is strictly necessary, so I have to pry him off me in the end.
“See you tomorrow, beautiful,” Tony says, winking at me and taking one last chance to touch me by patting my arm.
I turn and find Jake waiting for me by the door. “Okay. See you tomorrow!” I shout back.
We head on out, and before long, I’m greeted by a blast of fresh air. I wobble on my feet, stumbling a bit. Jake reaches down to steady me, and that surge of electricity begins to flow again—stronger than ever. I look into his eyes and am both surprised and disconcerted to see the uncomfortable frown he’s giving me..
I work to quickly pull myself together, since it seems obvious that he doesn’t want to touch me. “How are we getting home?”
He initially answers with a perplexed look on his face. “I only had the one beer. I can drive us.” I nod my head in acknowledgement. I hadn’t paid any attention to how much he had been drinking, since I had been quite busy dancing my ass off with Jessie.
Jake opens the door and makes sure I’m in before walking around to the driver’s side.
He starts the car, his eyes downcast for a minute. “Apparently, you needed protection tonight after all—just from a different source. You seem to have a bad habit of attracting trouble.”
Jake’s sudden and insensitive observation stuns me, causing pain to flare in my gut as I am unexpectedly forced to remember my stepfather.
The accountant my mum married was not content with just her. He started looking