What the hell was that bunch of uptown snobs doing in a bar like this? Worse, Mia had to be with them.

I saw her checking me out as soon as I stepped into the bar, even though she pretended she wasn’t. I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself as I made my way up to the bar, wondering if she’d been thinking about me the rest of the day. I had noticed a ring on her finger when she had come by with her car earlier, so I wasn’t going to do anything about it, but still, it would have been nice to know I could finally have the one chick who’d turned me down all those years ago.

I grabbed a drink and took a long sip on it, enjoying the hoppy flavors as they spread out over my tongue. It had been a long day. Mia’s car had needed a lot of work, and some part of me resented having to do a job for a woman who probably wouldn’t look at me twice if she could avoid it. But still, the money would be good, and the garage could always use any business I could get my hands on.

I could hear them laughing, talking and chattering loudly, but I did my best to ignore it. I didn’t want to get involved. Half the women over there probably hated my damn guts anyway, and I made it a point to never waste a moment of my time with people who thought they were too good for me. Besides, I had just come for a drink, and I sure as fuck was going to do that. Not give a moment’s more thought to Mia or the ring on her finger or the way she’d spoken to me back at the garage.

Eventually, though, she made that impossible, as she came up to the bar to grab a drink; she had a smile on her face. It was clear she was having a good time, and might even have been a little tipsy. She ordered another round, then she glanced down in my direction, just casually. But as soon as our eyes met it was as though someone had pressed a volt charger to my body, sparks flew across my skin.

I looked away quickly and dropped my eyes to my drink. What the fuck was that? I’d only had one drink, and yet the way she had looked at me made me feel as though I had been drinking all day long. Jesus, I needed to get a hold of myself. I snuck another look at her as she was walking away, and noticed that she wasn’t wearing the ring she had on earlier. Okay, so she’d taken it off to come out tonight. That was an interesting bit of data. Maybe she was hoping to a have little fun, to have the kind of fun that whoever had given her that ring might well not approve of.

“Hey, cut it out.”

I heard her voice come from behind me, loud and furious. The whole bar seemed to turn together with me to see what the hell was going on. Mia was holding a couple of drinks, and one of the regular barflies had his hand on her ass, as she was trying to turn around and face him.

Something in me clicked. I was six again, cowering in a corner, watching my father tower of my mother, hearing his voice become angrier and angrier, and wishing to God he’d just go away and leave us alone, or hoping that at least my brother, Wayne would come back. Wayne would know what to do. Wayne always did. I had turned to look out of the window to see the pigeons on the neighbor’s roof. I’d watched them fly as the first sound of flesh hitting flesh started. The memory was as clear to me now as the day it had happened.

Without thinking, I sprang to my feet and shoved the man at the bar away.

He staggered backwards. “What the fuck are you doing, man?” He held his hands up and glared at me.

“Do I really have to tell you not to pull that shit with women at the bar?” I snapped at him. I just wanted a quiet night, and he had forced me to intervene. I glared back at him.

For a moment, he hesitated, then he seemed to think better of taking it any further. “Yeah, sure, whatever,” he muttered, and turned back to his drink at the bar.

Mia turned to me and smiled. “Thanks for that.”

Her friends didn’t even seem to have noticed what had just happened.

“No problem.” I waved my hand. “Damsels in distress are my specialty.”

“I bet they are.” She fluttered her lashes at me and bit her plump lower lip.

My eyes widened. Did she just… Nah, but if I hadn’t known better, I would have thought she was flirting with me. I knew I should walk the hell away but I was drawn to her like a moth to flame. I just stood there staring at her like a dumbstruck fool.

“You want to dance?” she suggested, sucking her whole bottom lip into her mouth.

Shit, that was one wildly provocative gesture. She was wearing a hot pink dress that hugged in all the right places and her hair was all over her shoulders in thick, shiny waves. She looked different than when she’d come into the garage earlier. And not just physically too. There was something altered about her mentally, as well, as if she had clicked out of stress mode and into something, a little more… loose and a lot more fun.

I glanced around. The place had a small dancefloor, and there were a few people on it, slobbering drunk and clearly just using the music as an excuse to make out with each other.

“I’d hate to miss this song. It’s my favorite,” she added.

Her favorite song was Cotton Eye Joe by Rexnex? Bullshit.

She raised her eyebrows and subtly squeezed her arms against the side of her body so her chest spilled out.

Hell, I hadn’t danced in years, but if she wanted me to play knight-in-shining-armor, then I was definitely game. The thought of getting that way with her was doing something to me.

Down boy.

“Sure thing,” I drawled.

She slipped her hand into mine and followed me out on to the floor.

None of her friends even glanced up to watch her go, and I wondered what they would think if they saw me taking her off to dance.