But he didn’t sit. Not until he got a read on the situation.
She looked over the guy’s shoulder and locked eyes with him, just for a moment, and then her expression turned defiant. She flipped her hair over her shoulder, batting her eyelashes in a near-cartoonish manner.
Then she arched her back, thrusting her breasts outward, and Jack about choked on his Coke. She was... Well, she was being pretty obvious but Jack wasn’t sure she knew what the hell game she was playing.
She isn’t a kid.
No, she wasn’t, but she flirted like a fifteen-year-old who’d only ever seen it done in bad teen movies. Why hadn’t anyone ever...talked to her about this shit?
She was over there throwing herself to the wolves. She was playing the game, and she had no idea what the prize was.
He thought back to his rodeo days. To the way he and the other guys had been with women. Love ’em and leave ’em...fast. But those women had known just what they were asking for and Kate so clearly didn’t.
Watching her with this guy, who couldn’t touch the skill the guys on the circuit had, Jack had a sudden vision of her surrounded by the type of guy he knew waited for her in the pros...
Yeah, lamb to the slaughter was what came to mind.
She was just so damned naive.
She tilted her head to the side, putting her hand on the guy’s shoulder, laughing loudly enough for him to hear her.
Then the cowboy leaned in and said something, and Kate’s face flushed scarlet, her posture going rigid against the wall. She was saying something back and then the guy leaned in closer.
Jack took a couple of steps closer to the couple—so he could tell Kate her ice was going to melt and make her Coke taste like sadness, not for any other reason—and it put him in earshot of the conversation.
“If you want to get out of here,” Chad was saying, “we can get in my truck and I’ll take you for a real ride. Especially if you’re into giving a little head.”
And in a flash Jack saw Kate walking out of the bar. Getting into that truck. Undoing that asshole’s belt and lowering her head to...
“Okay. Enough.” Jack took two long strides forward, his blood pounding hot and hard. It was time to intervene.
* * *
KATE FELT A SHIFT in the air, and it was welcome. Her conversation with Chad had started out well enough, and she could tell it had annoyed Jack. Which was sort of the idea after the shit he had pulled earlier.
Buying her alcohol to make her sweet, pressing her up against the bar, looking at her like she was a fucking sunrise or something. Setting off a burst of heat low in her stomach that made it impossible to pretend anymore that she didn’t know what was happening.
Attraction. That was why his presence made her feel itchy. Made her feel restless and hot, like a spark ready to ignite.
It was the worst. It was literally the worst. Worse than knocking over a barrel at a key moment, worse than a fresh cow patty between your toes and even worse than trying to eat a salad without ranch dressing.
Worst. Worst. Worst.
And so she had decided to try to parlay that attraction into an interaction with Chad. Because if she was that hard up for a little male attention, Chad was certainly a better bet. Also, the idea of being into Chad didn’t fill her with terror and a whole lot of “dear God no.”
But that was before he leaned in and told her just what he’d like to go in the back parking lot and do with her.
And she had no idea if she was supposed to want to, if she was supposed to be flattered, or if she was supposed to punch him in the face. She was just too shocked to process it. Fascinated, really. That somehow a little conversation and back arching had turned into...that.
But she didn’t have any time to process it, because a deep voice broke the interaction between her and Chad and broke into her muddled thoughts. “Is there a problem here?”
It was Jack. And she wondered then if him moving closer was the shift she had felt. Disturbing. On so many levels.
“I don’t think there’s a problem here,” Chad said, tugging his hat down, when only a few minutes earlier he had pushed it back. “Kate?”
“No,” Kate said, “no problem.” She was feeling completely at sea and in over her head, but she wouldn’t admit that, not to Jack. She would fight her own damn battle. If she was even going to fight it. Maybe she would go in the back parking lot with Chad and undo his belt in his truck as he had suggested.
The thought did not fill her with arousal. In fact, it kind of made her feel sick. So she supposed she wouldn’t be doing that. But Jack didn’t have to know that.
“You look uncomfortable, Kate, and from where I was sitting, it looked like this bonehead was blocking your exit.”
Chad turned to face Jack, pushing his hat back again. That was one annoying nervous habit. “How is it your business, Monaghan?”
Jack chuckled and crossed his arms over his broad chest, the muscles in his forearms shifting, and in spite of herself, Kate felt her heart rate pick up a little bit.
“It’s my business because anyone who’s bothering Kate has to deal with me.”
“Oh, really?” Kate all but exploded. “Anyone bothering me has to deal with me, Monaghan. End of discussion.” And now she was just pissed. She turned her focus back to Chad. “And you. I wouldn’t go out back with you and do...that...even if you bought me a whole dinner at The Crab Shanty.”
“Oh, come on, Kate. You are obviously asking for it,” Chad said, his tone dripping with disdain now. “Shoving your tits in my face like that.”
And suddenly, Chad was being pulled backward, then spun around and slammed up against the wall. Jack was gripping the collar of his shirt, his forearm pressed hard against the other man’s collarbone. “If you’re in the mood to get your jaw broken tonight, then keep talking,” Jack said, his voice a growl. “Otherwise I’d walk away.”
A hush had fallen over the bar, all eyes turned to Jack and Chad.
And on her, too. She had lost control of the situation, and she didn’t like it at all.
“Jack, don’t,” Kate said.
“Are you actually defending this dickhead?” Jack was incredulous.
“No. But I don’t need your help to say no. Let go.”
Jack released his hold slowly, but there was still murder glittering in his blue eyes. “Whatever you want, Katie.”
And then Chad lunged at Jack. It was a mistake. Before Kate could shout a warning, Jack was in motion. His fist connected with Chad’s jaw, the sound rising over the lap steel that was filtering into the room from the jukebox.
“What’d I tell you, asshole?” Jack looked down at Chad, his expression
