turned her head and looked at the man who had moved next to her. Dark hair, curling at the ends, hung to the collar of his black polo shirt, framing a face dominated by a crooked nose and thin lips. Why did men always think it was sexy to wear black? Didn’t they want a little color in their lives? She let her eyes skim over him and took in the muscular body just beginning to soften, maybe developing a little flab. Okay, so men did the black-makes-me-thinner thing, too.
“Well, is it?” he persisted, in what she was sure he thought was a sexy voice.
Tyler was tempted to just turn her back on him, toss down her drink, and get the hell out of there. But her persistent self-destructive streak made her look him up and down, curve her lips in a smile, and answer him in what she hoped was a seductive voice.
“It is now.”
The answering smile he gave her was part ego and part I think I’m getting lucky tonight. He hitched his bar stool a little closer. “Great. Just great, babe.”
Babe. Crap, she hated that little word. She’d heard it from too many lips and too many men just like this one. And far too many times, in places just like this.
“So.” He trailed a finger down her bare arm. Her shiver had nothing to do with a sexual response and everything to do with revulsion for the touch. “I haven’t seen you at Tequila Sunrise before. You here with anyone?”
“Just myself.” She gave him a sly wink and took another sip of her drink. God, she had this routine down pat, every comment, every single body movement memorized like a long-running play she’d starred in. How could she even stand herself anymore?
“Well.” He returned the wink. “Me, too. That’s quite a coincidence, isn’t it?” He drained the rest of the liquid in his rocks glass and nodded at her empty one. “How about a refill?”
“Sure. Why not?”
Why not indeed? Tequila Sunrise was just one more dingy bar in the many she’d spent time in over the past few years. One more stop on her downward spiral. She could hardly tell one from the other anymore, and that went for the men, too. But it seemed to be the only way her father ever realized she was alive, albeit to tear his hair out at her behavior.
Tough shit.
The bartender cleared the empties and set up the refills. Tyler picked up her glass and waited until the guy touched his to hers before taking a sip.
“So,” he asked, smacking his lips, “you got a name?”
“Marie.” She always used her middle name. It offered a small amount of damage control and gave her a measure of anonymity. For herself, not for her father. It allowed her to separate the person she was from the things she did.
“Marie,” he repeated. “Nice name.” He waited for her to ask for his. When she didn’t, he said it anyway. “I’m Dewey.”
“Here’s to ya, Dewey.” She lifted her cocktail glass and took a healthy swallow. The alcohol burned as it slid down her throat and into her body, searing away her unhappiness.
“You live around here?” he asked.
Good Lord, were all his lines so stale?
“Sort of.” She took another sip.
“You’re sure a sexy little piece. I didn’t think I’d see any action in here on a week night, but lucky me. Here you are.”
Yes, lucky him.
“So, what do you do when you aren’t hanging out in places like Tequila Sunrise?”
She shrugged. “This and that.”
What did she do, anyway? Not a hell of a lot. She’d studied many things during her scattered college career but never pursued any of them. She’d thought about what she’d do if she completed her degree but —She took another sip of her drink, pushing those thoughts from her mind.
Glancing around, she noticed some of the people had left but others had wandered in to take their place. All of them looked as seedy and desperate as Dewey. When he coasted the tips of his fingers over her knee and tried to ease them beneath the hem of her skirt, she jerked, sloshing some of her drink on her dress. She grabbed cocktail napkins from a stack on the bar and blotted up the liquid. As she did, she brushed Dewey’s thick fingers away, too.
“Awww, don’t be like that.” He tried to touch her again, but she swung her body at an angle away from him. “You got really soft skin. Nice skin.” He leered at her. “I’ll bet it’s just as soft all over.”
Again he made an attempt to ease his hand up the inside of her thigh. Tyler gave a forced laugh as she grasped him by the wrist, her stomach roiling at the contact.
“No touching in public.” She made herself laugh again. “I have rules.”
“That so?” He took a deep swallow of his drink. “Any other rules I should know about?”
“Yes. No personal questions.”
“Uh-huh.” He studied her. “You got something to hide?”
“Doesn’t everyone?” She dug up a friendly look from somewhere. “I’ll bet you do. Right?”
He shrugged. “Maybe, but nothing all that interesting.” He shifted on his bar stool in an attempt to lean closer again. “I’d rather talk about you.”
She hated to think how many men like Dewey she’d been in this same situation with over the years. It was a game; one she played far too often. Tease but don’t give in. They can look but don’t touch. Don’t get too close unless she was desperate. Thank God she hadn’t been that desperate in a long time.
By the third drink, she was getting sloppy and Dewey was getting more aggressive. She needed to pull herself together because she had no intention of letting Dewey and his ego get any more private with her than the seats on the two bar stools.
Nor did she plan to leave with him or anyone else. She knew the prevailing assumption was she slept with anything that had a dick but they were so wrong. Oh, sure, she’d had a few lovers, but not nearly as many as people thought, and not for a long time. It was an act she’d perfected so no one could see who was beneath that slutty armor.
She’d begun to realize lately, though, that the slutty armor pinched. That even as a disguise, it didn’t seem to fit her anymore. She wasn’t comfortable with herself and that disturbed her. Had she gone so far over the edge she’d lost the core of Tyler?
Unexpectedly, he stopped trying to paw her. “Hey, Chuck.” He signaled to the bartender and pointed to the television mounted up in one corner behind the bar. “Turn that thing up, will you?”
“Aw, no one wants to hear that crap tonight,” Chuck argued. “They got the jukebox going.”
“I said turn up the fucking television,” Dewey challenged. “That is if you expect any kind of tip tonight.”
“Asshole,” Chuck muttered.
Tyler wanted to agree with him, but the man threw down his bar towel and reached for the remote. When she looked
