Human Interaction (9 page)

I glared in his direction. He simply snorted.

Crossing my arms I pouted. "At least I got us to safety."

Meat shook his head. "That's debatable."

Yeah, well. They weren't perfect either.
Monsoon-ridden Clearwater City had to top an ocean full of hungry sharks.

"I guess I should call the police and let them know about the local kidnappers."

"Don't bother. I'll take care of it."

I looked from Ducky to him. "But…"

He shrugged. "PI here. It pays to have friends in high places."

"Oh." A nagging question neatly filed away jumped to my attention. "What is the round rubber thingy covering the drain in a urinal?" I tapped my chin, looking up at them. "Why can't you just pee in the toilet?"

They snorted, turned their backs, and strode off without a word.

CHAPTER 7

I pushed my way through the masses of women once more, clinging carefully to my purse, lest a pickpocket spring up and snatch it away. The bouncer must have recognized me as he'd just rolled his eyes when I had appeared at the door earlier. I couldn't fathom why he had reacted in such a manner, since I'd kept my promise last time and didn't touch anything. In fact, I probably should have been commended as one of the best behaved females in the entire room.

Hoping the tiny table stood empty, I headed toward the far wall. If my luck failed, I might just have to give it up for the night instead of elbowing through the crowd once more. Someone above must have been looking over me as the table appeared in my line of vision, empty and compelling. Grateful, I plopped down in the seat, lightly dropping my purse on the table. My jeans and pink blouse appeared plain and uptight compared to the tiny skirts and low cut shirts favored by other women visiting.

Why was I even here?
I'd posed that question to myself a dozen times on the drive in. Surely I had more than enough information from my little adventure to adequately write out my human interaction paper. Could it be something else that drew me back? The scenery perhaps? Though a little nervous and concerned about a repeat attempt, I'd just had to return. Banish the bad memories once and for all.

The lights dimmed as the music thumped loudly announcing another dancer. A familiar dark head with wide shoulders and six pack abs stepped out. His leopard print loincloth left little to the imagination. Deltoids and nicely conditioned biceps popped out with his dance movements. Thigh muscles sprang taut with each swing or step.

My eyes watched of their own volition. Despite his bulk, he moved with sheer masculine grace. Enticing, yes, but with a twist of elegance thrown in. His talent definitely drew women to the club like a fresh kill in the Savannah lured hungry predators for miles, all interested in their portion of the prize.

I pulled my attention from the stage and focused on the hordes of women around the room, most of whom stood a few feet in front of him, waving money. Their faces brightened with excitement as he stepped near, their hands dipping into his thong to deposit a tip.

I sighed. Maybe this was what drew me back. I needed to see Meat and Ducky again, to make sure they were doing well, which made little sense. They had been alive and well when I'd left them at the library forty-eight hours ago. The thunderstorm had passed without any serious damage to Clearwater City. No injuries had been reported. If I knew without a doubt they were just fine, then I landed back at square one.

Alex sidled up to my table, grinning down at me. "Meat got your tongue?"

I stared mutely up at him. Last time I had visited, he'd personally handed me the bottle of water I now realized contained some variety of date rape drug. Granted, he could be completely innocent in the matter, just delivering what he was told. Then again, maybe not. My neck hairs didn't stand up, no subtle warning signs sparked inside my brain. Yet, I just couldn't be positive whom to blame for the whole mess.

Tilting his head, Alex paused. His grin faded. Doing a quick scan of the room, he quickly sat down in the chair opposite me. "Listen, I heard about what happened…"

I watched his face, not uttering a word.

He released a weary sigh and picked at the small round tray he carried drinks on. "I swear I didn't know. If I did, I would have beaten the guy to a pulp."

Those blue eyes peered into mine, sincere and apologetic. My tough shell cracked. "Thank you." Perplexed, I didn't know what to say and possessed no clue why he apologized for something when he stood blameless.

He lowered his gaze. "I don't drug women. Not my thing and I abhor those that do."

I nodded. "I understand."

He glanced around once more then returned to his feet. "It won't happen again. I can assure you that. They made sure of it."

"They?"

Alex nodded, shot me a quick half grin, before heading off to a nearby table whose patrons waved demandingly.

The thump of the bass ceased abruptly, noting the end of Meat's set. I relaxed back in my seat, watching the mass of women return to their tables, fanning themselves, and clamoring about the quality of dancers.

Lights dimmed once more and the music turned up as another man took the stage.

A large body plopped down into the chair opposite me. An all too familiar body. One that dressed in record time. "Hi."

My head tilted in his direction. "Hi again."

He leaned back in the chair, hands resting on those now jean-covered thighs. Deep blue eyes met mine. "Missed me?"

My mouth dropped open. Talk about cutting to the chase. Haughtily, I stuck my nose in the air and answered. "I have my paper to finish." A shrug followed.

His dimples flashed as he grinned, eyes dancing with amusement. "Uh huh."

I snorted in return.
What does one do with a self-confident man?
Not sure what to say, I peered out at the stage once more. Women lined up, shaking their hard-earned money madly in the air. The new dancer smiled and gyrated in their direction, seemingly happy to appease them.

Meat followed my gaze, then leaned forward, resting those big hands on the table. "He stuffs his thong with a sock." The low voice carried, sincere and serious.

I blinked. How did he know? On second thought, I'm not sure I really wanted to know. Taking the thread, I ran with it. "I see. Too bad." Tapping my fingers, I met his eyes. "So what do you stuff your thong with?"

The animal just angled back and laughed. Personally, I found the question realistic and reasonable, not worth amusement. Must be a male thing.

"Oh, babe." His chuckling continued as a wry smile appeared. "Is that an invitation?"

"Why can't you just tell me?" I nervously picked at an invisible mark on the table.

He moved in closer, our noses a couple of inches apart. The low rumble reminded me of a big jungle cat communicating with others of his kind. "Showing you would be much more fun. You. Naked. Under me."

Oh, boy.

I resisted the urge to fan my suddenly burning face. I swallowed and stuttered. "Umm. Well… you see…"

He continued to stare, although his gaze drifted a bit lower. "Yes?" he purred.

A burning question popped out. "Did you drug me the first night?"

"What?" He transformed from sensual teasing to offended astonishment in the blink of an eye.

"My water was spiked. Were you responsible?"

"Hell no. You think I can only get women by drugging them?"

"Alex said that spiked bottle of water was from you," I said, even as I mentally recalled the rest of Alex's words about Meat knowing nothing about the laced drink at the time.

Meat ran his fingers through his shoulder-length dark hair in agitation. His body tensed as he leaned in my direction. "I'm sure that lowdown asshole bartender used my name and the names of the other dancers frequently. Anything to get the woman to drink and another bounty in his pocket," he snarled.

Realization struck. "Then you weren't drugged?"

He snorted. "As if. We saw that mangy rat dragging you through the back door. We followed, thinking he was going to take advantage of you. Instead, we heard him selling you to the intermediaries and accepting his money."

"And?" I waited for more.

"We knew this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. And, if we managed to infiltrate, we could recover some other innocent victims. So, we 'accidentally' stumbled into the fray, appearing intoxicated. Luckily, they believed our act and didn't shoot us right away. The rest of it you know."

"Alex said you and Ducky took care of the bartender."

"He did. I got a couple of licks in, but the vamp said something about not liking beet pulp for dinner."

I shuddered as I recalled what Ducky could do with a bad guy. My mouth dropped open. "You took a huge risk with your life in order to save me?"

He shrugged as if unconcerned. "Police tracked down accomplices. Shut down the system. For now."

"Thank you."

"Do I get a reward for my noble deeds?" His teasing grin returned.

"Not tonight. Sorry. I have to get home to my kids." I paused. "Maybe later, though."

His eyes snapped back to my face. "Kids?" He shifted back a bit, head tilting in question.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed down that belly tingling sensation. "Yeah. I have twin boys. They just turned four." I couldn't help but smile as I thought of them. Full of vim and vigor always.

Meat's face morphed into something I hadn't seen before in our short acquaintance. His sensual teasing fled like a snowflake in the summer wind. In its place appeared something harder, angrier.

"So, you send your husband off on business trips to work his ass off while you play around? The kids are just baggage, I take it?" his steely voice accused.

"What?" I gasped. How did we get from "I wanna do ya" to "you're a tramp" in less than a minute?

He sneered. "Just like those other women. A man works to keep you in the means you think you deserve, and any chance you get, you go out searching for some stud to fuck."

My dander shot through the roof. How dare he? "I never cheated on my husband," I spit through clenched teeth.

He gave a brittle laugh. "You think I'm stupid? That I should be on my knees begging you to take me on as your plaything?"

Oh, that was it.
Grabbing my purse, I lunged to my feet. "I repeat. I
never
cheated on my husband. Believe what you will, you jackass." Tears burned my eyes. Something inside me cracked open. The place where I held those emotions and memories in check flowed over, like a river cresting its banks after a flooding rain.

Rushing, I headed to the exit, wiping my eyes, and crunched into a tall, strong body. His hands reached out to grab my arm, steadying me.

"What the…"

"I'm sorry. Excuse me." My voice broke as I pulled away and headed frantically for the door.

The cool night air refreshed me enough to find my car and slide in the driver's seat, but couldn't take the sharp pain away. On the drive home, tears flowed unchecked down my cheeks. Sniffing and wiping them with my shirt sleeve, I kept driving. Questions stormed through my mind. How could I have believed that maybe there might be something with that man? How could I have been so wrong? It had been four long years since I lost Wills. Why did it still hurt so badly?

Would there ever be someone to love me again?

CHAPTER 8

The chiming of the doorbell caught me mid-stir. Shutting the mixer off, I hurriedly wiped my hands on the kitchen towel and started toward the door, wondering who on earth could be visiting so early. I hadn't ordered anything. Anyone who wanted to visit usually called first. My heart pitter-pattered at the thought of more looming devastating news.

"Mommy, someone's here!" Sasha's voice rang through the open and airy family room. He kneeled on the couch with his head stuck between the curtains, looking outside. Chance stood beside the couch, watching as I headed toward the door.

The chimes went off once more. "Hang onto your horses. Jeez," I grumbled as I jogged to the front door. "Who is it?"

"Don't know, Mommy," Chance answered, his brown eyes focused on the door.

"Old woman," Sasha replied.
Obviously, daycare hasn't discussed tactfulness yet.
My more outgoing son beat his brother into this world by four minutes. A fact, he enjoyed tossing out now and again.

Taking a quick peek out the window, I spotted a delivery van decorated with a large red flower on the side. I unlocked and pulled the front door open.

An older, gray-headed lady stood on the front porch, a huge bouquet of flowers in hand. Multiple colors of roses blended perfectly with baby's breath and a handful of tiger lily blooms.

I twisted the bolt on the storm door and opened it enough to partially step out. "Can I help you?" My eyes glanced toward the vehicle.
The Flower Specialists
, it read.

The lady smiled at me. "I have a delivery for Shy McDaniel."

"Oh. That's me." I gave her an odd look. For the life of me I didn't know of anyone that would send me such an arrangement out of the blue.

She handed me a clipboard with a paper on it. "If you would just sign here, I can be on my way."

"Sure." I scribbled my signature then took the heavy vase from her hands.

"I have a penis," Sasha announced proudly, having opened the glass door enough to stand beside my leg, his little hand fastened to my jeans.

Her eyes twinkled as she chuckled. "Oh, you do?" she addressed him as she shot me an amused look. By her calm, amused reaction and appearance, she reminded me of someone's grandmother, one that heard all the silly boasts of small children before.

My face heated. Leave it to my son to share his favorite word of the week with a total stranger.

He nodded sincerely back to her. Her smile widened as she glanced my direction. "He's adorable."

"Thank you. For the flowers too." I gave her a little wave and headed back in, nudging Sasha ahead of me.

Chance hastened over, looking up at the bright colors in my hand. "What's that?"