now on, she’d have to be more careful. No more walking out to the bus alone. No more getting to her apartment unprepared for the worst.
“All right, enough.” Rowdy took her shoulders. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
And no reason to share her absurd past with Rowdy. “Nothing is wrong.” Nothing that he could fix. Not that she’d let him anyway.
She’d gotten along well enough before meeting Rowdy.
And since he didn’t want to get tied down, well, she’d get along fine and dandy without him still.
“Nothing, huh? That’s why you’re strangling the phone?” He took the receiver from her, put it to his ear.
“He hung up.” Avery turned to do a few refills along the bar. When she finished, Rowdy still stood there. Waiting. Maybe she’d misunderstood. “You say he asked for me? Like, he asked to speak to the bartender?”
“Actually, he asked if Avery Mullins was working.”
Well...that sucked. Not many ways she could spin that, except for assuming the worst.
Someone had found her.
Rowdy caught her arm and gently pulled her around. “You work for me.”
“Seriously? How did I miss that?”
His gaze narrowed with bad attitude. “Don’t be a smart-ass.”
“Sorry. Right, I work for you.” She loved her job, so she should really be tending customers instead of fretting. “If you’d get out of my way, I could get more done.”
He searched her face, realized she wouldn’t be swayed and growled a sound of exasperation. “Stick around tonight after we close. I need to talk to you.”
She opened her mouth to refuse him, but he cut her off before she could say a single word.
“Work related.” The bad attitude remained. “Ella will be there, too.”
Oh. Well, then...“I can only stay till two-thirty.” After that, she’d miss the bus, and no way did she want to pay for cab fare.
He nodded his acceptance of that. “Won’t take long.”
“Okay, then.”
Still holding her arm, he brushed his thumb over her skin. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
Ahhh. Rowdy had his faults, sure, but he was also caring, protective.
And he possessed more raw masculine appeal than should be legal.
“I’m absolutely positive.” She’d worked hard to get her life together. No way would she backslide now.
Someone said, “Rowdy!” with far too much familiarity. They both turned to look, seeking out the voice.
Two blondes and a brunette waved at him, but Avery didn’t see a redhead anywhere. She crossed her arms and curled her lip. “If you decide to use your office again, I suggest you lock the door.”
Rowdy touched her chin, lifting her face. “We’ll talk after work.”
“About work,” she clarified, but he’d already left her, circling out from behind the bar to greet the trio of women.
* * *
THE MOON AND a flickering lamppost illuminated the dark night. A cold wind cut through his coat. He turned up his collar and, shoes crunching on the gravel lot, paced away from the pay phone. Churning satisfaction almost brought him to a laugh.
He had her now.
Avery Mullins might have thought herself well hidden, but with enough money he could uncover anyone—or hide the darkest secret. It had taken a year, but soon it’d all be over.
He couldn’t wait to see her again. Everyone would be happier when she returned to her rightful place. Never again would he be so careless. They’d both miscalculated in a big way: he’d underestimated her resourcefulness, she’d misjudged his determination.
He’d match his bank account to her gumption any day.
Soon, he’d right the wrongs. Avery would never again play him for a fool.
CHAPTER TWO
AVERY LOCKED HER teeth together and tried to ignore them. Impossible. The women hanging on Rowdy were pretty, sexy and on the make. If Rowdy started for his office with them, she’d...what? Quit? Not likely.
She could just throw cold water on them. She eyed the seltzer water under the bar. It had possibilities.
But as she waited on customers, Rowdy disengaged from the women and then had to dodge others who tried to cling to him. He was polite to them all, but only polite.
Not that it mattered, she reminded herself. Not to her.
He glanced up and caught her scowl. With a wink and a small smile, he went about greeting customers.
Since they’d opened a few weeks ago, Rowdy made a point of doing every job, overseeing every aspect of the operation and mingling with the crowd. The men enjoyed the casual setup of the bar, but Avery suspected the women came as much for Rowdy as for anything else the bar offered.
It had taken a while to get the interior refurbished. A lot of the equipment had to be repaired, and what couldn’t be fixed Rowdy had replaced with used. To save money, he’d done much of the work himself, putting fresh paint on the walls, scrubbing the floors and windows, making sure everything was as shiny and clean as he could make it.
Whenever possible, Avery had pitched in, working side by side with him...and falling harder every second.
She couldn’t pinpoint what it was about Rowdy, but from the day she’d met him, she’d been sinking under his rough-edged charm. Add his gorgeous face to that strong, honed body, and he made spectacular eye candy.
But it was so much more than his physical appeal. Rowdy smiled as if he knew all her secrets, looked at her as if they’d already been intimate. He had confidence down to a fine art, and faced each day with a fearless type of daring.
She knew he did his best to hide it, but there was something supersensitive and attentive in the way he treated life—his own and others.
When Rowdy’s sister had married Detective Logan Riske, Rowdy had inherited a cop as a brother-in-law. She smiled, thinking of how he’d reacted to that. Overall, he didn’t trust the police. But from what she’d seen, he got along well with Logan, and with Detective Reese Bareden, Logan’s partner.
The majority of Rowdy’s background remained a mystery to her, but it didn’t take a psychic to know he’d had a rough life, that he was street-smart and survival savvy. Odds were he’d spent some time on the wrong side of the law, and that accounted for his feelings toward police officers.
Busy washing glasses, Avery didn’t see Rowdy when he came around the back of the bar with her.
