Her Gentle Giant: No Regrets (9 page)

* * * *

Rachel was about to disagree that she was the lucky one when they were interrupted by a sudden commotion and the sound of a fistfight on the other side of the bar. Eli murmured to her quickly, “Duty calls,” and vanished in an instant. Rogelio appeared next to Rachel and said, “Stay right here, sweetheart. I’ll be right back.” Both Eli and Mike had waded in to separate the combatants while others moved the women out of the way and returned overturned chairs to the bar. Three men who had been sitting at the bar were involved in the confrontation—Brice Huvell and two other men she recognized but did not know personally.

Every woman who came into The Dancing Pony on a regular basis knew who Brice Huvell was because he’d used the same inept pickup lines on all of them, including her. Brice was kind of sleazy with his come-ons but basically harmless. Once a woman told him
no
a time or two, he generally left her alone, which was why Rachel placed him in the harmless category. More than anything, Brice needed a makeover and someone sympathetic to take him in hand and teach him some etiquette.

Ethan left Grace with Rachel and got involved in the fray, helping to separate the three men, and then had pointed words with all three of them.

Eli, Mike, and Rogelio bodily dragged the three of them to the door, away from the customers at the bar and away from listening ears. Grace stood with Rachel as Ethan listened to what Brice had to say.

Brice angrily pointed a finger at one of the men. “This
bastard
asked if she was the one newly married to Jack Warner, and I said yes. He said she was acting like an adulterous whore dancing with some other man like y’all were dancing and that she ought to be ashamed.”

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He gestured angrily at the other man and said, “His friend said maybe she’d like to dance like that with him, or maybe
both
of them, and I couldn’t take no one talking about your Grace like that. I had to kick the shit outta them. Grace is a happily married
lady
and wouldn’t have
nothin’
to do with the likes of you
sorry bastards
,” Brice said through gritted teeth and threw another punch, landing it squarely on one of the other guy’s jaws before Eli restrained his arm from landing another blow.

The other two both had bloody noses and the beginnings of black eyes.

Brice was on the small side, but he evidently fought dirty because both guys were bigger than he and hadn’t done more than bloody his nose.

Grace let out a quiet sigh at Brice’s narrative, making sad eye contact with Ethan. Hands on his hips, Ethan made eye contact with Eli, Mike, and Rogelio and pulled out his phone. After speaking no more than ten soft words, he hung up. He spoke to Eli and Mike and gestured to the back exit.

Eli released Brice, patted his back, and took hold of one of the others.

Rogelio returned to his post at the door, stoic as ever.

“Jack and Adam should be here in a few minutes,” Ethan explained to Eli and Mike. “Hold them and I’ll be out in a couple of minutes.”

“You got it, boss,” Eli said, winking at Rachel. “Back in a few minutes, angel.” He had a fierce gleam in his eyes. The two men glanced nervously at each other as the two bouncers began to walk them to the backdoor by the collars of their shirts. One of them resisted for a moment, and Eli jostled him by his shirt collar and Rachel heard him growl, “Yes,
please
fight me, asshole.”

People stared at the men as they were escorted across the club and out the backdoor.

Ethan turned to Brice and held out his hand. Brice shook it and smiled at him, blood dripping off his chin onto his white dress shirt. Ben poured a shot of Cuervo 1800 and put it on the bar for him. Ethan took it and offered it to him. After tossing it back, Brice softly said, “It was the least I could do, Ethan, to make up for being such an ass.”

“You’re not an ass, Brice,” Ethan replied, grinning. “We need to work on your pickup lines, that’s all. Grace wants to thank you, I think,” Ethan said, indicating her where she stood behind Brice, next to Rachel.

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Grace also held out her hand to him. “Thank you, Mr. Huvell, for defending my honor. I appreciate that, and I’m sorry you got hurt in the process,”

Brice blushed and couldn’t even make eye contact with her as he shook her hand. “It was the least I could do, ma’am, for making such an ass of myself with you a few months back.”

“You are a man of worth, Mr. Huvell. Never doubt it,” Grace replied.

Grace had told Rachel a couple of months before about the pickup line Brice had used on her the first time she’d visited Ethan at The Dancing Pony. To say Brice employed shock value with his choice of icebreakers was putting it mildly. Rachel had laughed out loud and told Grace he’d used the same line on her.

Rachel watched Brice’s rounded shoulders straighten and his head come up as he finally made eye contact with Grace. He didn’t say anything else, just politely nodded, put his cowboy hat back on, and wiped his bloody chin on the back of his hand, smiling broadly. Rachel looked on, smiling, as something about Brice Huvell was transformed in that moment. It was true that
everyone
had a story to tell.

Ben held out a clean bar towel filled with ice for Brice to put on his face. Gradually, the hubbub died down, and the music played on. Waitresses delivered fresh drinks, and the noise of the club returned to normal levels.

Ethan sat Grace in a chair next to Rachel and looked at his watch.

He smoothed his palms over Grace’s thighs as she settled in the chair and said, “Stay here with Rachel, all right?” Grace nodded and tried to smile at him. Ethan tilted her chin so she looked directly into his eyes. “Don’t worry, Gracie.” He gestured with a thumb to the backdoor, referring to the men who had disappeared through it. “They have opinions they feel like sharing, they can answer for them to Jack. I’ll be back in a few minutes.

Rogelio will watch over you both.” After kissing Grace gently, he turned and stalked purposefully toward the back of the club.

Rachel tilted forward and looked at Grace, who sat distractedly watching as Ethan disappeared into the dim hallway that led to the emergency exit. “You okay, Grace?”

Grace shrugged. “Yeah, this is not the first time something like this has happened. They have a very strong need to defend me from people like that.”

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“Does it bother you that they feel the need to do that?”

She looked at Rachel and shook her head with a soft smile. “No, they can take care of themselves, and it’s a fact of life for us that not everyone appreciates our choices. That doesn’t bother me so much. People can think whatever they want, but it’s when people begin to say or
do
things to offend me that they take matters into their hands. It is what it is,” Grace said matter-of-factly. She told Rachel the short version of her confrontation with a busboy in Rudy’s restaurant, the day Jack, Ethan, and Adam proposed marriage to her back in June.

“Is it worth it?” Rachel asked, grinning at the thought of not one, but three men defending Grace’s honor.

Grace smile warmly. “To be
with them
? Totally.”

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Eli held one of the men by the back of his collar as the black SUV

pulled to a halt by the backdoor of the club. Jack and Adam climbed from the vehicle and walked over to Ethan, who quietly gave them the synopsis of what happened. Eli and Mike stoically held both men as one cursed the other for getting him into this mess. He didn’t even know who Jack was, for crying out loud.

Jack and Adam reacted predictably to Ethan’s words, simmering with anger. Ethan spoke a few more words, and Jack nodded before he and Adam walked over to the two men. Eli and Mike released them and stepped away, crossing their arms over their chests.

“
Adulterous whore?
” Jack quoted to the unlucky bastard who’d been dumb enough to utter the words and then applied his fist to the man’s jaw.

Adam took the other man by his shirt collar and yanked him forward and up to eye level. “You insulted the sweetest, gentlest woman on this planet, and now you’re gonna to regret it. Brace yourselves. This might
hurt
a little,” he grated as he applied his fist to the other man’s face.

“But she—”

Jack cut the man off, shaking him by his shirt collar. “She what? What?

Danced with a man who has been my best friend my whole life? She dances with Adam, too, with my approval. Dancing with us makes her happy. We love to see her happy. Right now she’s
not
happy, and if she ain’t happy, we ain’t happy. You caused that unhappiness, and now you’re going to regret it.

No one. Insults. My. Wife
,” he ground out before he dropped the man on the ground.

“Sorry, Jack, I didn’t know—”

Ethan dropped a Ziploc bag filled with ice on each of their chests.

“You’ll be a damn sight
sorrier
if you ever insult her or come near her
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again. Don’t judge people you don’t know, Jim, Roy. You might want to ice that.”

“Can we apologize?” Jim offered. “We don’t want to get banned.” The Dancing Pony was the only decent nightclub for miles.

“What do you think, Jack?” Ethan asked. “Should we ban them? Or let them sacrifice what’s left of their self-esteem for the evening to avoid getting banned?”

Jack replied, “Yes, but only if they march their asses back through the club and make it a public apology. And then they’ll need to leave for the evening.”

Judging by the change in his expression, Jim had been hoping for a less public apology, which would have been a little easier on his ego, but he’d offered, so now he’d have to man up.

The noise level in the bar dropped a little when the men re-entered through the backdoor, minus their dignity. Ice packs to their faces, they cautiously approached Grace after Jack nodded to them to say their piece.

“I’m very sorry to have insulted you, Mrs. Warner. I spoke out of turn, and I hope somehow you can forgive me,” Jim said as clearly as he could around his swelling sinuses.

“I accept your apology,” Grace replied softly.

The other man offered a similar plea for forgiveness, and after she accepted, they both made their way to the traditional exit of the club, the front door. As if on cue, the DJ started another song, and club patrons left their tables and headed for the dance floor as Grace and her men excused themselves and made their way back to their table on the other side of the bar.

Eli returned to Rachel’s side, doing his job, carding a few people who had come in the entrance. After Eli was done, the group entered the club, and he returned to Rachel. She looked up at him curiously.

“You okay, Rachel?” He looked into her deep blue eyes.

“I’m sorry that our little moment was interrupted, but, yes, I’m fine, Eli.”

“Why so serious?”

“I was thinking about the fight. It’s not uncommon for fights to break out in here. I’ve even watched you break a few up over the last couple of
,

85

months. Most of the fights are
over
a woman, but I can’t recall ever seeing someone fight
for
a woman, to defend her honor.

“
Every
woman wants a man that will deal out reckoning like that in her defense. Maybe it makes me sound a little bloodthirsty, but I was turned on by it when you winked at me then carried that son of a bitch out the backdoor for his beating,” she said, stroking his chest as she looked up to him with eyes filled with admiration.

“Mmm, are you a bloodthirsty wench? Does it turn you on that I might someday have to rip some stupid bastard a new one for offending you?

Because the defensive feelings I have for my boss’s wife are
nothing
compared to the feelings I have for you. If someone ever hurt you, I might not stop at beating them to a bloody pulp. I might have to put them in the hospital…or worse. I’d fight to my last gasp defending you, angel.” Eli cupped her cheek and then trailed a hand down her back.

“I can’t begin to tell you how much it pleases me to know you’re my defender,” she murmured, reaching for him. He leaned down and let her wrap her arms around his neck as he wrapped his around her waist, hugging her. He kissed her lips again, and they were right back in their romantic moment from before the fight.

“Uh-oh, watch out, baby, here come the Bubblehead Twins,” he chortled, grateful to Grace for the heads-up.

“The what?” She looked around his biceps. “Oh, them!” She chuckled.

“Are you sure you don’t want to try two women at the same time?” She snickered. “Especially a
sure
thing like them?”

He picked her up and gently sat her in her tall chair. “You’re
all
the woman I’ll ever want. You have more beauty and sex appeal in your little pinkie finger than they do in their entire silicone-implanted bodies.”

She laughed out loud, then said, “You won’t let them get me wet, will you?” She waited for his response to her double meaning. He did and grinned devilishly then spoke softly so Mike and Rogelio couldn’t hear his words.

“Oh, you’re going to get wet, all right, but it will be under my touch and my tongue, not from some barfly’s drink. Watch me work.” He winked.

By this point, the women were almost upon them, one armed with a full drink, the other carrying a folded bar napkin that no doubt had their phone numbers written on it. Rachel settled back in her chair and crossed her legs,
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watching the drama play out. Eli moved forward, and he smoothly caught the first blonde by the wrists as she “tripped,” miraculously never spilling a drop of her drink on Rachel.

“Whoa! Careful there, ma’am. Are you all right? You almost took a tumble, didn’t you? It would have been terrible if you’d spilled your drink all over my girlfriend’s lap. I think there’s been enough drama for one evening, don’t you?” he asked, looking seriously into her embarrassed face.

She smiled uneasily and apologized then backed away from him.

Not to be deterred so easily, her friend tucked the napkin in the front pocket of his leathers, perilously close to the semi-erect shaft Rachel had inspired with her earlier words. He gently extricated her hand, which held the napkin.

He took the napkin from the woman and opened it up and looked closely at it. “What’s this? Sorry, I have a girlfriend, and I don’t think she’d appreciate you offering me your phone numbers. I’m a
one woman
kind of man, ladies.” Eli emphasized the last part clearly but softly. He slipped the napkin back into her palm and gently closed her fingers over it. “Would you excuse me?” he asked kindly.

“Sure. Sorry,” she said grudgingly before walking away with her friend, a little red-faced but with most of her dignity still intact.

Eli returned to Rachel, grinning. She looked up at him with amusement, a very sexy smile on her sweet lips.

“Disaster averted. You’re
good,
Mr. Wolf. I was a little worried when she slipped her fingers in your pocket, though. I have
big
plans for
that
and have a
huge
problem with another woman putting her fingers where I plan to put my
lips
later,” she murmured, subtly holding her index fingers farther and farther apart with each emphasized word, snickering when he groaned.

“Despite all the drama, tonight has been wonderful and not nearly as difficult as I thought. You make dealing with all these persistent women almost fun.”

“I’m glad it’s not as difficult and that it’s worth it to you to go through all this trouble to be with me, Rachel.”

“Totally worth it. I admit I hate it when they put their hands on you, but I’ve always felt that way.”

“You have?” he asked incredulously, surprised that she’d paid that much attention to his social challenges.

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“Yeah,” she said sheepishly. “I remember watching you get groped, thinking it must not faze you that much because you were so cool in how you handled yourself. I didn’t realize until tonight how much it bothered you when they felt free to touch you. I mostly focused on how it felt to watch them act that way.”

“I wish it had been your hands that were put on me. I wouldn’t have minded that at all.”

“When they did that, did you go home smelling like their perfume?” she asked, and he liked that she spoke in the past tense.

“Sometimes. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t like it when they touched my hair. It’s too close to my face, then I’d have smell them on me the rest of the night. But I love that you put your hands in my hair, run your fingers through it. It feels good when you do it. I’ll also admit I like it when you do that in front of the others. They see that I let you do what I always stopped them from doing.”

“Oh, baby. I love to hear that so much,” she said enthusiastically to him as he sat beside her

“Hey, lovebirds, check out Brice Huvell on the dance floor. He got a little cutie to dance with him,” Mike said, standing beside them, grinning.

“You know, I’ve never seen anyone dance with him before.” Rachel smiled as she watched Brice scoot the cute little blonde around in a surprisingly efficient two-step.

“I think Brice’s stock went up a little while ago,” Eli said.

Mike chuckled and said, “Look, she’s flirting with him. Oh, man, I hope he doesn’t say—”

“
Don’t say it
! We don’t want to jinx the poor guy.” Rachel giggled.

“Say what?” Eli asked.

Rachel leaned forward and gestured to him to come close. She cupped her hand to his ear and said, “His favorite pick-up line used to be, ‘I don’t normally beat around the bush,’” she snorted, “‘I prefer to beat
in it
. Wanna go somewhere more quiet?’”

Eli sat up straight and looked at both of them. “No, really? Did it work for him?”

Rachel clapped her hand over her mouth to cover her laughter. “It didn’t work on any woman I know! Thank goodness Ethan seems to have taken him under his wing.”

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While he watched the dance floor, Eli noticed Jack and Grace doing a slow, graceful two-step. Ethan and Adam stood off at the edge of the dance floor, watching them.

“Grace is so beautiful,” Rachel said as they watched Grace’s slow, languid movements, allowing Jack to lead her.

“She makes them very happy,” Eli replied softly, wishing he could lead her out on the dance floor for another dance, but the club was busy, and he needed to stay focused on the job. “I’m going to make the rounds and check the restrooms. I’ll be right back.”