Claiming Felicity (Ace Security #4)(42)
“We are,” Felicity agreed. “I can’t imagine not being able to see her every day.”
As if he could read her mind, Ryder said, “You won’t have to. We’re gonna make it so you can put even more roots down in Castle Rock so you never have to leave.”
She smiled weakly at him. “I hope so.”
Ryder didn’t try to placate her. He simply rested one of his big hands on her leg and squeezed. He left his hand there until they pulled into the parking lot of a hole-in-the-wall building.
An old wooden sign hung crookedly on the side of the building proclaiming that they’d arrived at The Pit. A picture of a set of three pool balls was next to the lettering. There was only one window in the front of the building, and it looked as if it had never been cleaned.
She stared at the ramshackle building in dismay and turned to Ryder when he began to talk.
“It looks like a piece of shit, but that keeps the yuppies and college kids away,” he said softly. “It’s not as bad on the inside as it looks from out here.”
“God, I hope not,” Felicity said before she could stop herself. Then she slapped a hand over her mouth and mumbled, “Sorry, that was rude.”
Ryder merely smiled. He climbed out and walked around to her side of his sports car. He held out his hand. “Nathan had the same reaction, and by the time we left to get the two of you, he was a convert. Come on, love. You can see for yourself.”
She took his proffered hand and couldn’t help but marvel at his strength as he pulled her upward out of her seat and into his side as easily as if she weighed no more than a child. He closed the door and beeped the locks as he wound his arm around her waist and pulled her into his side.
Felicity snuggled in close, loving being near him. She’d missed him today. Which was crazy because they’d only been apart a couple of hours. But since they’d been together practically twenty-four/seven over the last couple of weeks, she’d gotten used to him being around. Close by.
Ryder held open the surprisingly thick door for her and gestured for her to enter the dimly lit bar ahead of him. She walked in and stopped, letting her vision adjust from the bright Colorado sunshine to the darkness of the interior of the building. Ryder had been right, it wasn’t a complete dive inside.
It was surprisingly big. There was a large open room with tables and chairs sprinkled sporadically around the area. Felicity could see a door leading into a back room that was filled with row after row of pool tables. At this time in the afternoon, there weren’t a lot of people there, but she could still hear the clink of pool balls hitting each other emanating from that back room. A large bar ran along the right side of the room, and she noticed a huge bear of a man standing behind it, smiling at them. Before she could decide if she wanted to risk smiling back, Ryder squeezed her waist.
“Come on,” Ryder said into her ear. “I want to introduce you to Dave before you meet the rest of the guys.”
Felicity shivered at the feel of Ryder’s breath on her ear. For a split second she wanted to tell him that she didn’t want to meet his friends, after all. That she didn’t care about Joseph. She’d been looking over her shoulder for so long, she’d gotten used to the threat Joseph posed. She wanted to think about something else. About Ryder. Wanted to tell him that she wanted to go straight home. To her bed. With him. But she took a deep breath and forced herself to walk calmly next to Ryder as he steered her to the bar.
Ryder grinned down at her, as if knowing exactly what she was thinking. She decided he had to be able to read minds when he leaned down and whispered, “Don’t worry, as much as I like my friends, I’m not about to spend all day shooting the shit with them when I’d rather have you all to myself back at your place.”
Goose bumps rose on her arms at his words, but she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other so she didn’t fall flat on her face. Tripping over her own feet wasn’t exactly the first impression she wanted to give his friends.
Ryder steered her over to the large bar, and once again she was struck by the openly friendly look on the bartender’s face as they neared. He was tall, probably a few inches over six feet. His hair was cut fairly short on his head, but he had a short beard that covered the bottom half of his face. There were speckles of gray interspersed with the black. His lips were large, his nose looked like it had been broken a few times, and she could see a long scar trailing down the side of his neck, disappearing into the neckline of the tight black T-shirt he wore. He was dark skinned, either from his heritage or simply from being in the sun, Felicity couldn’t tell. His arms were covered in dark tattoos, every single one black, with not one splash of color among them.
All in all, he was an imposing man, one she would definitely not want to meet in a dark alley. He looked like he could be a hired goon for someone like Joseph Waters . . . which didn’t make her feel too comfortable to meet him.
“It’s about time you brought your woman down here to meet us,” the large man boomed.
Ryder didn’t comment on the other man’s words, but instead simply said, “Dave, I’d like you to meet Felicity Jones. Felicity, Dave. The best bartender Colorado Springs has . . . bar none . . . pun intended.”
Felicity bravely stuck out her hand. If Ryder wasn’t concerned about her meeting his friend, then she needed to stop thinking about the large man hauling her over the bar and slitting her throat. It wasn’t nice, and she trusted Ryder implicitly. “It’s nice to meet you.”