to his brothers’ love life, the family business was restructuring. Their dad was back with the company again and Nolan’s workload had increased, too. His mom claimed she loved being with her grandchildren while he traveled, but it was a lot to ask of a woman who’d already raised six boys.
So he’d left tonight with the promise to discuss their weekend plans over breakfast. He could hear his kids going at it, the twins blaming their sister for spoiling their fun before he even got to his truck.
The joys of being a single parent. Especially to teenagers.
Sighing, he raised the mug to his lips for the last time and after a long chug set it down empty on the closest table. He checked his phone. After 1:00 a.m. and the party was still going strong, with more out-of-towners than he’d expected. He’d run into a few people he knew when he first arrived, most not realizing who he was until he told them.
Yeah, the costume was that good.
Since then, he’d pretty much been drinking alone while brushing off the interest of more than one female. Oh, he’d been charming, speaking in a fake pirate’s accent, which proved he’d seen too many reruns of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
And again, had too much to drink.
Not that he was uninterested in pursuing something with the opposite sex. He hadn’t been a monk since his divorce five years ago, but lately it seemed he couldn’t get a certain redhead out of his mind.
Another daily struggle, thanks to the fact she worked for him. For them.
For the family business, which meant hands off.
He’d thought he’d gotten a handle on whatever it was he felt for Katie, especially since her last relationship seemed to be the real thing, but now—
Nolan cut off the thought. It didn’t make any sense to go down a path that could only lead to trouble.
Not just for him. Or her.
There was a whole group of people who’d be affected if he allowed—
Damn, there I go again!
He curled his fingers into a tight fist and pushed aside one image for another, bringing to mind the one person who’d caught—and held—his attention tonight.
And who explained his surprising state of arousal.
Everyone was here to be looked at. It was the point of a costume party, he guessed. When he felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck, despite the crazy wig, he turned and found her staring.
His first thought had been she was a pretty sexy-looking clown, until the pieces of her outfit came together as a Batman villainess, a cool throwback to his youthful preference for the bad girl.
Temptation to lessen the distance between them had filled him.
Surprised him.
So much so that when she got lost in the crowd moments later, he decided he would finish his beer and end the evening before he did something stupid.
He needed to call one of his brothers. Driving home was out of the question.
He slapped the pirate hat back on and started walking along the edge of the dance floor, holding tight to the costume’s overcoat. There was no way he’d let anything happen to it, considering this wasn’t a run-of-the-mill rental getup.
“There you are, lover!”
Luscious curves, warm and radiating a sexy scent of spicy vanilla and lime, slammed into his chest. Nolan instinctively wrapped his free arm around the woman’s svelte waistline, mostly to keep the both of them from toppling to the ground.
His first thought was that she must have mistaken him for someone else, but then her lips brushed at his ear. “Play along, please.”
Her whispered words, a fiery blast on his skin, surprised him. Her voice almost sounded familiar. “Hey, do I know—”
“But no booze. Whaz up with that?” The blonde switched to a nasally accent, her voice loud again as she gave him a quick squeeze and whirled back around, grabbing at his waist as she stumbled. “Ya see? Not for nuttin’, but I told yuz I had a fellow here. Now, amscray.”
Nolan had no idea what was going on.
The costumed guy standing in front of him resembled a deranged clown with his red hair and yellow jumpsuit. He was eyeing the beauty hanging on to Nolan with a nasty glare.
He pulled her closer and looked down, surprised to find he was holding the lady he’d caught checking him out earlier. A sexy Harley Quinn, right down to the character’s Brooklyn accent and attitude.
An attitude with a hint of fear.
“Me and my captain’s gotz plans. So yuz can move on,” she slurred, waving an empty glass jar in the air. “No interest here.”
“You were interested a few minutes ago,” the clown said.
“N-not really.” She dismissed him as she handed off the jar to a waitress. “Jusz passing time.”
“Just a tease,” the guy growled and took a step forward. “Typical of a drunken girl on the prowl—”
“That’s enough, matey.” Nolan slipped back into full pirate mode with the fake British tenor, his voice low as he angled himself between the clown and the lady. “The lass is taken. So you take a walk.”
“Or what? You’ll challenge me to a duel, Captain Kangaroo?”
The sword hanging from Nolan’s waist was a prop, but it’d do some damage. Still, he didn’t plan to be goaded into a fight.
He had no idea who this guy was, but he figured the jerk wasn’t a local. Hell, she probably wasn’t, either, but she obviously didn’t want anything to do with this clown.
“Oh, get lost.” Miss Quinn grabbed at Nolan’s vest, pressing those curves against him once more. “Come on, Cap’n Jack. Let’z dance.”
Dancing was the last thing Nolan wanted to do. Okay, last after fighting.
He was too old, too tired to deal with either tonight.
Yet he shuffled backward, watching the pissed-off clown stomping off into the crowd. Nolan could’ve escaped then from the slightly tipsy and very sexy bad girl in his arms and been on his way, too.
Instead he tossed common sense to the wind, cursed the booze floating in his veins and pulled her in close.
“It’z not Sinatra, but it’z slow.” Katie enjoyed the solid feel of the sexy pirate. She hoped she still sounded like the Brooklyn villainess she was pretending to be. This guy was as much of a stranger to her as that jerk from a moment ago. Her instincts told her she could trust him, but still... “Hang on, sailor. Thingz might get bumpy.”
“Don’t
