Ink Enduring (Montgomery Ink #5)(2)

Jake wasn’t any different than those with their hungry eyes all for her.

“Well, she’s not single from the looks of it,” Graham drawled. “In fact, she looks clearly…attached.”

Jake flipped his brother off even as he watched the woman wrap one leg around her dance partner’s hips and grind. Oddly enough, with the type of bar they were in, she was probably the most dressed woman there, and wasn’t dancing as sexually as the others. But either way, she made him groan. He wanted her to dance with him like that.

“Speaking of attached,” Jake began, “where’s your wife? I thought you said she would be here with you tonight.” Jake liked Candace. She loved his brother, and Graham smiled when she was around. In Jake’s book, that worked.

“She wanted to stay home tonight,” Graham said with a shrug. “Told me to get out and watch your ass.” His older brother grinned through that big beard of his. “And since the wife told me to…”

He trailed off, and Jake punched Graham in the arm. “Fuck off.”

“No thanks, I have a willing, young wife at home. I don’t need your help.”

Owen snorted in his beer and shook his head. “I really don’t need to think about any of that.”

“Aww, you and your hand going through a breakup?” Jake asked, ducking as Owen threw a punch. “Hey, watch it. Don’t get us kicked out of here. It’s my favorite bar.”

Owen rolled his eyes. “Every bar is your favorite bar.”

Jake grinned and tipped his beer at his brother. “True, but this one has her.” He pointed with his beer again. “I like the view.” When he turned toward the mysterious woman, though, he frowned.

Some other dude had come up behind her, and from the look on the first guy’s face, this one wasn’t a stranger. But when stranger number two put his hands on the woman’s hips, all hell broke loose.

“What the f*ck, Mark?” the woman spat. “I already told you, I’m not going to do your buddy so you can watch.” She tried to wiggle out from between them, but the two douchebags held her tight.

Jake ground his teeth and set his beer down. “Be right back,” he snarled.

Graham growled, “We’re right behind you.”

“No one touches a woman like that if she doesn’t want it,” Owen added.

There was a reason Jake loved being a Gallagher brother, but he pushed that thought out of his mind as he stormed toward the three on the dance floor. Not a single other person looked like they were going to help. In fact, some of the women looked happy that one of their own was in this situation. Fucking people and their f*cking small minds. Just because someone wanted to dance, didn’t mean they wanted to f*ck. It was as simple as that.

Jake held out one hand and opened his mouth to speak, only to come up short as the woman moved faster than he thought possible. In one move, she elbowed the one behind her in the gut and kneed the first dude in the nuts. When both of the guys leaned forward with a groan, she slammed their heads together. Just when Jake thought she might be done, she kicked them each in the nuts one more time.

“No means no, *s.” With that, she tossed her hair over her shoulder and glared at the rest of the crowd before letting her gaze fall on him. She studied him for a moment, and he forced himself to let his fists relax at his sides. She raised a brow at him before smiling.

Damn, she was beautiful. Not just hot and sexy, but f*cking gorgeous.

“Thanks for the assist,” she said without a hint of sarcasm. “Buy me a drink?”

He blinked a couple of times before letting out a rough chuckle. “That I can do, sweetness.” He held out a hand, but she smiled at him instead, moving past him and leaving the two dumbasses on the floor trying to pick themselves up.

Jake let out a breath and followed her to the bar where she was already holding up two fingers at the bartender. He sidled up to her side and noticed that Owen and Graham had moved a little farther down the bar, giving him space with this new development. He loved his brothers sometimes.

“You handled yourself well there,” he said as casually as he could. Kind of hard to sound casual with a hard-on from hell pushing against his zipper. “Jake Gallagher.”

She smiled and held out a tequila shot. He took it and tapped glasses. Neither of them bothered with salt or lime, instead, letting it hit the back of their throats as they shot it back.

“I have five brothers and about eighty cousins,” she said once they’d finished the shot. “I can handle myself anywhere.” She winked. “Maya Montgomery.”

Maya. He liked the name. It fit her well.

“So, Maya, I’d ask what brings a girl like you to a place like this, but that’s cliché, and considering you just laid those two on the ground in two seconds flat, I figure I’d best think of something else to say.”

She smiled again. “I like you, Jake Gallagher. No pretense, and yet you’re smooth.” She tapped her tongue ring on her tooth. “Or, at least you think you’re smooth.”

He clutched his hand over his heart. “I’m wounded.”

“You are not. You were totally checking me out the entire time I was dancing, and you liked what you saw. And from the nice bulge in your jeans, I’m thinking you liked it a lot.”