Games of the Heart (The 'Burg #4)(142)

Mike looked at her. “The kind I don’t think is cute because I’m not sleepin’ with you.”

Cheryl smiled huge at me.

“He’s a good guy but he can be bad,” I shared, her huge smile got even bigger and she leaned toward me.

“Do tell,” she invited.

“Fuck,” Mike muttered.

“I mean, he can say it straight,” I explained.

“Girl, if I didn’t know that already, I’ve just learned,” she replied.

“This is true,” I mumbled.

“Right, so, now that I know I like you, time to get this over with,” Cheryl announced and before Mike or I could say anything, she turned her head and shouted, “Vi! Get your ass over here.”

Oh my God! No! Shit!

I looked at Mike and he had his head bent and his eyes closed.

“Mike?” I called and he opened his eyes and looked at me.

“Fuck,” he muttered then his eyes shifted over my shoulder and he sighed.

“Uh…hi,” I heard and turned.

There she was. Violet Callahan. And she was even more gorgeous close up. Worse, Jessie and Mimi had followed her down. They either started our way before Cheryl gave them the okay or they had the ability to dematerialize and re-materialize at whim.

“I’m Violet,” she told me sticking her hand out. I took it, her fingers curled around mine tight and she kept talking. “And, so this isn’t more uncomfortable for you and me, I’ll get it out of the way. I know you know about, uh…you know and obviously I know since I was, um…there so we both know. And that’s done. Oh, and I know you’re Dusty. And I also looked you up on the internet and saw your pottery. It’s pretty. So pretty I bought a bowl and a platter. Joe freaked because I spent three hundred and fifty dollars on a bowl and a platter. He said the most he’s ever spent on a bowl was twenty dollars and it came with four of them and a set of plates and he’s never owned a platter. But they were worth it, they were that pretty. And I’m not sayin’ that to get you to like me. I’m just sayin’ that because it’s true. And I didn’t buy them to get you to like me either. I bought them because I liked them. And Joe didn’t say that about them because he didn’t like them. I don’t know if he liked them. He’s not a pottery kind of guy. They came through the mail a couple of days ago and I put them out on the shelves in our livin’ room and I’m not certain he’s even noticed them. Probably not. But not because they aren’t pretty. Because he’s Joe. Oh, and I wasn’t internet stalking you or anything. I was just curious. It’s not like I read everything about you, though there isn’t much. Just your gallery page and –”

“Vi, shut up, you’re babbling,” Jessie cut in.

Vi jerked my hand she still held then let it go, crying, “Shit! I am. Sorry.”

“You had a thing with my boyfriend. It was intense. You still like him. You don’t want to lose him from your life. So you’re nervous. I get that. You aren’t the first woman I’ve known who’s known what it’s like to kiss my man,” I offered to put her at ease.

“Stealth kisses,” she muttered.

“What?” I asked.

“Fuck,” Mike murmured.

Vi’s eyes went huge.

“Sorry, uh…” Vi stammered and stopped.

“Stealth kisses?” I asked.

“Fuck,” Mike murmured.

Vi bit her lip.

I burst out laughing, slapping my hand on the bar while doing it and everything.

“Oh my God!” I shouted when I was down to chuckling. “I think of them as slow burn kisses. Stealth is so…much…better.”

“Fuck,” Mike murmured.

Vi smiled a tentative smile at me and said softly, “Slow burn is good too.”

I heard Mike sigh.

I ignored that and turned to Cheryl. “Four tequila shooters,” I ordered.

“Don’t forget me,” Cheryl returned.

“Right then, five,” I corrected.

“Fuck,” Mike muttered.

I looked over my shoulder and grinned at him. His eyes dropped to my mouth. Then he sighed again.

Then he claimed me, turning me into him and dropping his head to brush his mouth against mine.

When he lifted it, he said quietly, “I’m outta here. You need me, I’m down at the other end of the bar.”

“I think that’s a good call,” I approved, grinning.

His eyes swept the area behind me and he muttered again, “Fuck.”

My grin became a smile.

Mike’s arm gave me a squeeze then he got the heck out of there.

“Shots ready,” Cheryl announced and all the women reached in and claimed a glass. “What’ll we toast to?” she asked.

I looked at Vi.

“Stealth kisses,” I declared.

“Absolutely,” she replied.

I smiled at her. She smiled back.

We lifted our glasses and tossed them back.

*

“Cake.”

This was said in my ear by a very deep, very rough male voice.

I turned and my eyes hit a wall of tank top covered chest. They went up, up, up and I locked eyes with a bald man who, I had to admit, wasn’t entirely attractive. In fact, I didn’t get scared easily and, one look, he scared the crap out of me.