My lips turn down and my gut twists up in knots as I frown at Ryan. “Are you making fun of me?” The gratitude I only felt seconds ago flitters away, cascading in a million directions, like a flock of birds scared away by a barking dog.

“What? No, of course not. What do you mean?” Ryan jerks his head over to the side and his eyebrows knit together. The deep blue of his eyes cloud over with confusion.

“Relax”—Shirley lays down the phone on the bar—“he’s not the one who talks to you like that,” she whispers. Her scolding voice calms me in a weird way, reminding me again how much she’s like a mother I only ever wished I had.

She’s right. And she knows from experience why Ryan’s innocent words make my muscles taut and my jaw set. Wolfe has always had this way of mocking me. Of making me feel like such a fucking nobody whenever he gets pissy with me. He’s often called me a low-class hillbilly or treated me like I don’t have two brain cells to rub together whenever I start to get on his nerves.

“Hee-yuck, Red. Are you sure your parents weren’t brother and sister? Cause you’re pretty as a pig and dumb as a post,” he’d put on a fake twang, acting like I moved here from some tumbleweed community in the deep south instead of from Portland. Even though his insults didn’t make much sense, they always did exactly what he intended, which was to make me feel small and shut my mouth.

Ryan is not Wolfe and he shouldn’t have to suffer punishment for his crimes. He doesn’t mean anything nasty with his words. He’s not the same guy. I guess I just don’t trust my own judgement anymore. Not after I let myself get dragged into Wolfe’s world. Not after I’ve lost the courage to even try to leave it.

My back muscles unwind and my jaw softens as Shirley squeezes my shoulder. “Sorry, it’s just been a long day. That’s all.” I draw in a jagged breath. “How about I get you another beer?” I walk away from both of them, busying myself behind the bar, intentionally ignoring their stares.

“I hear that.” Ryan sounds relieved as he slumps back down into the stool across from me. “I’ve been on the road since just after dawn.” He looks out the window and I follow his gaze. We all watch as a cab driver struggles to shove good ol’ John into the backseat of his car. The drunken mess does nothing to help him, his body as easy to move around as a child trying to play with a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound Raggedy Andy.

For a second, probably less than that, I let myself get lost in a fantasy of riding on the back of Ryan’s bike as the sun comes up before us. Just clinging to his leather jacket, breathing in the cool scent of the morning air while the motorcycle vibrates between my legs the way I wish his cock would.

I blink hard, bringing myself back to reality. Normally that would be fairly depressing. But with Ryan sitting across from me, it’s hard to get too down about much of anything.

“That must be amazing, just traveling where you want, following your heart anywhere you feel like going,” I answer dreamily.

“Speaking of hitting the open road”—Shirley clears her throat—“I think you’ve got this under control, am I right? If you’re good closing down without me, I’m gonna follow my heart down the dusty road out there to my bed.” She jerks her thumb toward the window.

I giggle. She’s got a way of making me do that, even when I don’t think I have any happiness left.

“Sure. Get some sleep. Thanks, Shirley.” I give her a look and she smiles.

“Yep, and you don’t worry so much about your beauty sleep, if you know what I mean. You’re already gorgeous enough. Have some fun!” She swings her hips behind Ryan’s back, still trying to keep that invisible hula hoop on her hips.

God, she’s so subtle.

“Get outta here,” I laugh. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I hold up my hand in a frozen wave and watch as she makes her way out the door.

As Shirley disappears out to her car, my eyes slide over to Ryan and I swallow hard, getting locked in his eyes. I suddenly realize it’s just the two of us in here, and for some reason it feels scandalous. Maybe it’s because night is falling outside, cloaking us in naughty promises. Maybe it’s because I can’t remember the last time a simple look from a man made my pulse whoosh in my ears and my belly pool with a heat that spreads down between my thighs and soaks my panties with desire.

My trembling hand is almost touching his. Somehow, our fingers are seeking each other out even as we’re lost in the opposing oceans of each other’s eyes. I suck the air in over my bottom teeth and it comes out as a gasp for breath.

What is it about him?

“Would you like another beer?”

“Sure, sounds great. I don’t see me doing any more riding tonight anyway. Do you know of any motels or places to stay around here?”

“Yeah, I sure do.” I bite my lip.

“Great, I might need you to push me in that direction in a bit.” He chuckles. I don’t bother to tell him that the place I mean is mine and it’s the apartment above this bar. I walk over to the beer fridge, but Ryan stops me.

“Hey, I’ve got a better idea. Since I’m gonna be settling here for the night, how about something a bit stronger than a Miller?”

“Sure, what do you have in mind?” I turn just in time to see him devour my body with his hungry eyes. My pussy clenches and my nipples grow taut as I surrender to his stare.

“I was thinking tequila.” He does a slow once-over of my body and I can almost feel the power of his desire travel over me, like I imagine the touch of his fingers sliding up over me. “And I was thinking you’d join me.”

“Is that so?” I try to hold my own, but the truth is, I don’t want to be tough. I don’t want to be difficult. I want to submit to him. To the aching need building up between my thighs. I want to give in.

“It is. Let’s have a drink together. It’s not like you’re too busy.” He jerks his thumb at the empty seats surrounding us like an audience of ghosts.

“Okay, let’s have a shot,” I agree, pulling two glasses from under the bar and a bottle from the shelf behind me.

“So why is it that you haven’t traveled?”

“Hmm?” I twist open the lid, pouring the oily liquid into a couple of glasses.

“You seem to have an interest in seeing what’s out there.” He vaguely nods toward the windows, now mirrored by the black skies outside. “Why haven’t you gone exploring?” His voice deepens, making my hand tremble on the side of the shot glass, spilling a bit of the booze down onto the bar.

“I guess I’ve just never had the time,” I finally answer, pushing his tequila across the bar. “Or the money,” I explain. “Bottom’s up.” I lift my shot in the air and he clinks his against it. We both pour the fiery mouthful of liquor down our throats and grimace. It burns in the best way down to my belly.

“Do you have family here?” Ryan persists in figuring me out.

“No.” I shake my head, a warm dizziness buzzing behind my eyes.

“So, what’s keeping you here? A man?” His eyes narrow.

I push Wolfe’s face from my mind. His angry scowl has no place in my thoughts tonight. I deserve the distance I told him I wanted. He can’t tell me we’re not over. He can’t tell me how to live my life.

“No, not that either.” I frees me somehow realizing the truth in my words.

“What then?” Ryan hasn’t stripped me bare. I’m not literally standing naked before him. My tits heaving, my pussy inches from his nostrils. None of that’s actually happening. Yet, somehow, the way he questions me… the way he looks not only at me, but into me, I would feel less exposed if it were only my bare skin between us.

“Fear, I guess.” The confession slips from my lips before I can think over my words.

“I hear that,” he answers grimly. For a moment, he’s lost. He’s gone. He hasn’t moved a muscle, but I can see he’s a million miles away. I don’t know where he’s disappeared to, but he’s not here with me. Ryan’s body grows stiff, then he violently shakes his shoulders and snaps his attention back on me.

“How about another shot?” His voice isn’t so cocky now. Not so smug. There’s an edge to it that wasn’t there a moment ago. One that doesn’t make me question filling our glasses back up to the top. One that doesn’t make me hesitate before clinking my shot glass to the side of his and letting the warmth slide down my throat.

“You okay?” My eyebrows scrunch up as I study his face. The grizzly scruff shadowing his cheeks only makes his lips look fuller. My eyes dance over them as I find myself wondering how it would feel to lick the tequila from them.

“Yeah, I’m good.” He drops his empty glass back down onto the bar hard. “How about you grab that bottle and we play a game of pool?”

My eyes slide over to the table in the back corner and then down the side of the clear glass filled with liquid danger. With liquid courage.

“Nah, I should probably start shutting down for the night.” I don’t meet his gaze. I know if I look into his eyes I could never reject him. I keep my eyes on the dark wood and tell myself that shutting down the bar, shutting this down, now is the right thing to do.

“I’ll make it worth your while.” He grabs my hand and tugs it to his chest making my eyes grow wide.

“Oh yeah? How’s that?” I hold my breath as my mind comes up with a million ways he could.

“We’ll make a bet. Winner takes all. If I win…” He leans in toward me, making the space of the bar between us disappear. My face is probably an inch from his. The boozy heat of his words billows out over my face. “I get to kiss you,” he growls.

My shoulders slide down and I stand taller. “A kiss? That’s it?” I twist my lips to the side in a smirk.

“Oh, I don’t mean some sweet little peck. This isn’t like the end of your first date.” I can see a blaze burn in his eyes. The flames dance higher as he holds me close to him, dropping his voice an octave. “I mean, I’ll slide my hands down your back until I grab that full ass I’ve been watching you swing around here all night. I’ll lift you up onto the side of the table and jerk your head back when I grab a fistful of that bun.” His eyes flicker to my hair. “And I’ll make you moan my name as I finally explore that sexy little mouth of yours with my tongue.”

A shiver quivers over my skin and I squeeze my thighs together tight. Even though he’s still across the bar from me, I can almost feel his body pressed between my legs and his lips blanket mine.

“And if I win?” I somehow manage to squeak.

“What do you want?” Desire dances in his eyes.

I don’t have to think it over. I knew from the moment he walked in here what I wanted.

“If I win”—I clear my throat, trying to clear the haze of carnal cravings clinging to my thoughts—“when you drive out of here tomorrow, I want you to take me with you.”

His blue eyes settle on mine, unblinking. Part of me wants to throw this entire game just to feel his weight on top of me. To feel his thick bulge exposed on my thigh and then jammed up into my wet pussy. I would consider it, if I didn’t have bigger plans. If I didn’t need his help to leave here and get away from Wolfe.

“Deal.”