Accidental Knight: A Marriage Mistake Romance(54)

A nearly silent small gasp comes from Bella. I glance at her. Her eyes light up, and the way she’s biting her lip tells me she’s fighting a smile.

“For the record, I barely recognized you either,” Molly snaps. “Except I see you’re still dyeing your hair that shade of blonde.”

Christ, her tone. The only word missing before shade is shitty.

“Sorry, darling,” Erin says. “I was born with this hair.” She plants both hands on her hips. “I was born with everything and took good care of it.”

Molly’s nostrils flair. Her hair is blonde, too, but I’d guess it’s nowhere near the original color.

I tighten my hold on Bella’s hand.

Red alert signals flash in my mind. Fights between women over looks can make war zones look like playpens.

Unfazed, Erin just laughs and turns to Gary, shaking her head. “Oh, Gare-Bear...can’t say you weren’t warned.”

Gare-Bear? Is this real life?

Bella must be thinking the same thing I am because she’s fighting the laughter so hard her lips are going white.

“Did your father ever tell you that we were the prom king and queen together our junior year in high school?” Erin asks Bella. “Those days were fun.”

“Of course not!” Molly hisses like a cornered snake. “I’m sure he’s forgotten it ever happened. Some of us live in the present and don’t worship what happened thirty damn years ago.”

The two women lock eyes. For a second, I’m worried I’ll have to physically intervene to pull them apart.

Erin merely lifts a brow as she says, “Gotta warn you, too, Bella.”

Shit. Frowning, I wonder just how far she’ll take this spat, and how long it’ll take Molly to push Gary out of the way and start tearing out Erin’s hair.

“About what?” Bella asks.

“This guy.” Erin slaps my shoulder. “Drake’s kinda like our own hometown version of The Bachelor – except he never lets us have a tenth the fun as the show. Every woman under sixty in this town has been after him for years and they never so much as get to first base.”

Gary coughs across the table, hiding a smile. His snake of a wife sniffs, lips fluffed in a pout, eyes going to her glass.

I shake my head at Erin’s crude exaggeration. “Hardly. I’m a busy man. No time to get serious with nobody.”

“No time to make time for the right gal, you mean,” she fires back with a wink.

”Oh, really?” Bella sets her chin on my shoulder and looks up at me with sparkling eyes.

Fuckery, here it comes...

My body does the talking before my head. Even when I try to look away, she’s still there, her sweet tits pressed a little too snug against my arm.

Not feeling them, not thinking about them, is impossible.

I flex my toes in my boots to release some tension. I’d kill for a cold fucking shower right about now.

“Erin just loves to give me crap,” I say, taking in Bella’s big green eyes. “Should’ve known I had a heaping side of it coming along with my burger today.”

“Sure do.” The waitress grins and winks, this time at Bella again. “How else would I find my fun around here?”

Bella smiles and shakes her head, giving her hair this little wave bob that’s so fucking sexy my hard-on jerks in my pants.

“Do me a favor, Erin?” she asks coyly, waiting for the waitress to lean in. “Spread the word I’m just like my grandpa, always packing. I’m serious. I want to make sure any troublemakers know who they’re dealing with, and I mean worse ones than this guy.” She points at me with her thumb.

Goddamn great. The last thing I need is an image of this light little minx being armed and lethal.

And if I’ve got a screw or two loose for wanting to screw her in nothing but cowboy boots and a holster, so be it.

Erin’s tinny laughter echoes off the old plastered walls. “I’ve always loved you, kid. Welcome back.”

Molly clears her throat loudly, wiping the mortified look off her face. “I’ll have a house salad, with vinaigrette dressing on the side, and lemon for my water. So will Gary.”

Bella giggles quietly as she lifts her chin off my shoulder and turns to face the table again.

“Coming right up!” Erin glances at Gary Reed over her oversized notepad, shaking her head as she writes.

Then she finally heads away, but not before giving me a wink I can’t even interpret.

There’s so much tension at this table I think I could tear into it with my knife and start carving it up for an appetizer.

“So how long did you live with Jonah?” Molly asks. It’s the first time she’s addressed me like a human being. Barely.

Fuck, her claws are out, ready to dig deep into my flesh. Let her.

I’ll take whatever she dishes out in order to keep her from turning those claws on Bella. Releasing her hand slowly and visibly, I stretch my arm along the back of the booth.

“Jonah brought me on about four years ago. Pulled me out of a blizzard. We got to talkin’ and he needed a guy. So I stayed.”

“A guy?” Molly’s too-thin eyebrow lifts. “What sort of 'guy,' pray tell?”

My jaw works in slow motion.

Then the unthinkable happens under the table. Bella lays her little hand on my thigh.