Deep (Stage Dive, #4)(20)

I had a man to forget and a town to explore.





CHAPTER FOUR

“What’d you say your name was again?”

“Liz.”

“Lisa?”

“Close enough.” I gave the drunken blond a smile and took another sip of my margarita. He might be cute, but cute didn’t make up for rampant stupidity or a blood alcohol level sky-high, such as he had to have. He gave me his version of a pantie-wetting grin and I had no doubt it worked when the dude was sober. Or when the object of his lustful affections was in the same state of inebriation.

Sadly, my two-and-a-half-margarita happy buzz didn’t even begin to qualify.

We’d been dancing for an hour or so, having fun. There’d been no real touching or grinding or anything to lead him on.

Because I knew limits, didn’t I? Yes I did.

The hotel had a large selection of bars and nightclubs. Not to mention the plethora of nearby ones. We’d started at a place across the road before heading back closer to home. Good music, lots of dancing, and a couple of drinks. My fun had been found, my hair let down.

Anyway, a pity he had to go and wreck it now by trying to score. Over my shoulder, Sam the security man (who most definitely didn’t dance) kept the same position he had for the past three hours, holding up the bar with a glass of whiskey in hand. He’d wanted to check out a couple of clubs, my ass. The man had been sicced onto me for certain. For not the first time tonight, he narrowed his eyes at my dance partner and shook his head in disbelief. I just smiled back at him. Tonight wasn’t about serious. It was about laughing, dancing, having a few drinks, and celebrating being young and single.

My drunken companion slipped an arm around my waist, licking his lips. “So, Lila.”

“Yeah, Mike?”

A frown. “Mark. My name’s Mark.”

“Oh, gosh, sorry, Mark. My bad.”

“No worries, babe.” A hazy grin slipped across his face once more as he leaned forward, moving in for the kill.

I think not.

I turned my face away and took a hasty side step, escaping his attempt at any mouth-on-mouth behavior. Once my last half of salty, tequila-infused heaven on ice was finished, I was out of there. Sam and I could find somewhere else to hang. If it wasn’t guaranteed to give me a brain freeze I’d have just downed it. “Well, this has been great.”

“Party’s just starting,” he slurred.

In what was no doubt planned to be a smooth move, the douche stumbled into me, knocking my back into the bar. Worse yet, my god damn drink spilled all over the floor. Those things were not cheap, and I sure as hell hadn’t been willing to let Mark buy me any. He’d started getting enough ideas as it was. Idiot.

“Shit.” I shoved at the drunken twit’s chest, trying to get him off of me. “Move it.”

Like my words had suddenly grown superpowers, the dickhead flew backward into the crowd, landing sprawled on his ass several yards away. Whoa. How about that. I gazed in slack-jawed surprise. Then, into the wide-open space in front of me stepped Ben.

Crap.

“Hey,” I said, setting my now empty glass on the bar. “Hi.”

His forehead was furrowed, his mouth a severely straight, unimpressed line. Goodness, did he look angry. Between the beard and the expression on his face, he looked downright barbaric. He might as well be dressed in furs and carrying a spear, presenting me with the boar he’d caught for dinner. Ah, good old-fashioned Stone Age romance.

“How you doing?” I asked.

Still nothing from him.

“Did you want something to drink? I was just about to move on to another club, but if you’d like to hang here for a while, that’s fine with me.”

He set a hand on the bar either side of me, fencing me in. Huh.

“Having a good night?” I asked.

“Not really. Been looking for you.”

“That’s sweet. But you didn’t need to do that.”

“You knew I wanted to talk to you.”

“Yes, I knew.”

“You said we’d talk later.”

“I know. But here’s the thing: maybe I didn’t want to talk to you after all, Ben. Maybe I just want to forget what happened and move on with my life.”

Behind him, two of the bar’s bulky security guys ever so gently escorted my former drunken dance partner from the premises.

“Bye, Mike.” I finger waved.

“And what the f*ck were you doing with that guy?” he growled.

“Dancing, until he got a wee bit too inebriated. My safety isn’t the issue here. I have my friend Sam with me, should I run into any trouble.” I nodded to where the man stood by the bar.

If anything, his presence just seemed to make Ben crankier. “Then why wasn’t he doing something about that idiot crawling all over you?”

“Probably because he knew I had it covered.”

He cocked his head. “You had it covered?”

“Yep.”

“Funny, sweetheart. Cause I could have sworn I walked in here to find some drunken * trying to maul you.” The man, he fumed, his cheeks turning red and eyes blazing. It was kind of impressive.

“I realize it looked bad, but I had it under control.”

“You did, huh?” His laughter, it didn’t really sound the smallest bit amused. “Christ. You’re done here.”