Sharp Shootin' Cowboy (Hot Cowboy Nights, #3)(7)

“Oh yeah?”

“Corporal Reid Everett, also with the Thundering Third. Raf’s my spotter.”

“I’m Yolanda Rojas.” She raked Reid from Stetson to boots. “You look more like a cowboy than a marine.”

“Most of us don’t wear dress blues on liberty, but I s’pose Garcia here needs all the help he can get.”

“Ay, Rafi!” Yolanda tugged his sleeve. “Are you going to let him get away with that?”

“He’s one to talk, sporting the tejana,” Garcia shot back. “Most of the guys in this place only wear it for one reason.”

“That’s them. This is me.” Reid shrugged. “This is my uniform of choice in Wyoming.”

Suppressing a smile, Haley watched the exchange over her drink. Reid leaned down to murmur a warning. “Get caught with that and they’ll toss us all.”

“Then let’s find a table, hombre.” Garcia steered them to a newly vacated spot in the corner.

A short while later, Haley’s mood had lightened. Maybe it was the alcohol, but she was actually enjoying herself. Reid and Garcia continually razzed each other while Yolanda flirted outrageously with both of them. It didn’t bother Haley. Yolanda was fun, flighty, and notoriously fickle, but tonight she’d obviously set her sights on Rafael.

Garcia bought another round of drinks, then he and Yolanda headed once more to the dance floor where he pulled her into an indecently close two-step.

“Yolanda and Rafael seem to have hit it off,” she remarked, eager to keep the conversation on neutral ground.

Reid was slouched back in his chair watching the room. “Garcia’s a good man and a helluva marine, but he likes to play fast and loose.”

“Then they’re well matched. Yolanda’s a party girl.”

“What about you?” he asked. “You don’t seem the party-girl type.”

“Me? No.” She laughed. “I’m a bookworm and a certified monogamist.”

He took a sip of his beer. “So am I. The monogamy part, not the bookworm. Hated school. It’s why I joined the military instead of college.”

She snorted. “You really think I’m gonna buy that monogamy line?”

“Not trying to sell it. Just stating a fact. I’ve been with two women in my life.”

“Two?”

“Yeah. The first was my best friend’s older sister, and the second was my younger sister’s best friend. We dated for a coupla years after high school.”

She still didn’t believe him, but curiosity got the better of her. “Best friend’s older sister? So you were seduced by an older woman? This I gotta hear.”

“I don’t kiss and tell.”

“Really? But isn’t that all you guys talk about in your down time? Getting laid?”

“I don’t deny there’s a lot of that kinda talk, but you gotta understand how it is. We’re deployed for months at a time. We’re physically and mentally pushed to the brink. A man’s got to have something to look forward to. Under those conditions, it’s usually the thought of a woman.”

“So you’re trying to justify filthy talk as a morale booster?”

“I s’pose so.” His gaze met hers and then dropped back to the table. “You’d best push that drink over here now.”

“Why? You want some?”

“No, they’re checking IDs. Don’t—”

His warning was too late. Haley had already turned around. The glare of a flashlight blinded her. “Crap,” she muttered.

“Hands on the table please.”

She set her teeth with a sense of impending disaster. The bouncer directed the beam of light to her hands. “No bracelet?”

“It must have fallen off.” Her lie wasn’t remotely convincing.

The bouncer shone the light in Reid’s face. He tipped his hat back. “There a problem?”

“Yeah. We enforce the drinking laws here.”

The flashlight darted over the beer bottle and half-full martini glass that sat in front of him, then back to Reid’s face. Sometime during the confrontation, Reid had managed to slide her cosmo to his side of the table. Maybe she was off the hook after all.

“You a two-fisted drinker?” the bouncer asked.

“Yeah,” Reid offered, wooden-faced. “Those are both mine.”

The bouncer picked up the glass and sniffed. “What kinda * drinks a cosmo?”

Reid’s jaw twitched, but his voice remained level. “I guess that would be me.”

“Yeah? What about the lipstick on the rim? You wear that too? I wanna see some ID. Now. Asshole.” His hand came down on Reid’s shoulder.

Reid’s gaze tracked to the hand and then returned to the bouncer’s face. His expression grew deadly. “I advise you to remove your f*cking hand from my shoulder before I remove it permanently from your wrist.” His threat was slow, soft, and crystal clear.

Haley felt an unexpected thrill. She blamed the alcohol.

The bouncer beckoned to the cop making rounds at other tables.

“Shit,” Haley murmured under her breath. Now her recklessness was going to get them arrested. She felt a sudden surge of guilt. Other than kissing her, Reid had behaved impeccably all night. The guy certainly didn’t deserve a black mark on his record.