Luke wasn’t much of a drinker, but being from Vegas, he was familiar with singles bar dynamics. There was a way men acted around women they’d already had, women they knew they could have again through very little effort. None of the men at the Round-Up treated Shay with disrespect or nonchalance. If anything, they seemed afraid to approach her, like she might incinerate them if they got too close.
Well, she did look hot.
The first thing she’d done, after telling him he wouldn’t get anywhere with the locals if he didn’t sit down and order a beer, was engage Clay Trujillo in a game of pool. Yes, it was provocative, to show up with one man and flirt with another, and it was naughty to stretch across the pool table in a skirt that short. But she and Clay, Luke finally realized, had about as much chemistry as siblings. Every time she bent forward, Clay looked around the bar warily, daring the patrons to ogle her tush.
They still did, just not as openly as they wanted to.
There were only two other women in the bar, a raspy-voiced cougar who’d already propositioned him, and a busy, busty waitress. Both had seen Yesenia Montes leave with Jesse Ryan on Friday night.
Lots of the men had seen her, too. Yesenia got around in more ways than one, and she’d been spotted several times over the course of the evening, standing outside the bar, strolling along Tenaja’s main drag, and waiting in front of the cafe. No one had admitted to picking her up or seeing her get picked up, so Luke made a mental log of the sightings and moved on.
He was no closer to solving the case, no more able to control the intensity of his attraction to Shay, no less conflicted by his feelings for her.
As he watched her lean across the table to hit the eight ball into the corner pocket, calves flexing, tattoo on her lower back flashing, he had to admit he was no longer concerned about her sexual history. He didn’t really care how many men she’d been with in the past. He just wanted to be the only man in her future.
Luke almost sputtered out a mouthful of beer at the untoward thought.
This morning seemed like a hundred years ago, but he’d been very clear about not wanting to repeat the mistake they’d made. They were all wrong for each other. Christ, she was ten years younger than he was, and ten times more wild. He wasn’t sure he was going to stay in Tenaja Falls, and she was a hometown girl through and through.
Even if he wanted to settle down, he wouldn’t choose a woman like her to do it with. She was too hot to handle.
Wasn’t she?
Shay made her shot and looked up, her laser blue eyes zeroing in on Luke. With some difficulty, he swallowed, replacing the bottle of Bud on the top of the bar because his hands were shaking. As if sensing his sudden vulnerability, she straightened, handing off her cue to Clay and moving in for the kill.
Luke watched her approach, unable to tear his eyes away from her body. Her faded black T-shirt was vintage Stones, the infamous image of the wagging tongue. He knew by the way her breasts moved beneath it that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
When she maneuvered onto the bar stool next to him, he had to wonder if she was similarly bare under that tiny skirt.
Sweat broke out on his forehead.
With a knowing smile, she grabbed his bottle of Bud and took a sip. Her hair was loose tonight, falling in sexy waves to the middle of her back. He wanted to stick his hands in it. Her mouth was plump and moist and red, and when he thought about what he wanted to do to it, his skin overheated and his jeans got tight.
She let her lips linger on the rim of the brown bottle, torturing him. “You want to dance?”
Dance? He couldn’t even stand. “No.”
“Why are you here?” she asked suddenly.
“Here, in this bar?”
“In this town.”
He took the bottle away from her, plagued by dirty fantasies in which she ran her tongue up and down the neck. “I needed a job.”
“Did you get fired?”
Luke hesitated, caught off guard by her question.
“Las Vegas is the city of vice,” she murmured, studying his face. “What’s yours? You don’t strike me as a gambler. Too uptight. And it can’t be alcohol. You’ve been nursing the same drink for an hour.”
“Maybe it was drugs,” he said glibly.
“Please. You’re so in love with being in control, I bet you’ve never even tried pot.”
He shrugged, too proud to admit she was right.
She lowered her voice. “Was it women? There are plenty of those in Sin City. Exotic dancers, professional escorts…”
“Whores,” he finished for her, getting annoyed.
“So that’s it? You were fired for being a sex addict?” She shook her head, the lights above the bar making the golden strands in her hair shimmer. “I can’t say I’m surprised. I mean, every time I turn around you’re staring at my-”
“I didn’t get fired,” he ground out. “I got shot.”
Her eyes rounded with dismay.
Luke pulled his gaze away from her, smothering a groan. He hadn’t meant to say that. There was no admission guaranteed to soften a woman up more, and he needed Shay to stay mad at him. If she didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her. He was a hair’s breadth from hauling her out of here and giving in to his baser instincts right now.
“Where?”
“Nowhere,” he said, cursing his own stupidity. “Never mind.”
“Where?” she repeated.
“In the back,” he admitted, feeling a phantom ache between his shoulder blades. “But I was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time.”
Her gaze wandered over him. She looked as though she wanted to pull up his shirt and rain kisses along the length of his spine. He remembered her fingernails digging into his skin last night and tightened his hand around the bottle, so wound up he felt like he might explode.
“It didn’t leave a mark?”
“Nothing permanent.”
“So that’s why you left?”
“No,” he admitted. “I’d been investigating some high-profile criminals. Casino guys with deep pockets. There was a hit out on me, I guess. The shooter was never caught, and the department decided I was a liability.”
“Oh, Luke,” she said.
He shrugged off her pity. “I was transferred to a ‘safer, less visible position,’ as they put it, so I tendered my resignation.”
She bit down on her lush lower lip, obviously feeling sorry for him.
Grinding his teeth, Luke downed the rest of his beer. “I think I’m done here. Are you going to catch a ride with Clay?”
Her soft expression and boo-hoo eyes hardened instantly. “Sure.”
Luke hated himself for hurting her, even though it was for her own good. If they slept together again, he wouldn’t be able to remain emotionally uninvolved. Hell, he was
Besides, he couldn’t do right by her unless he decided to stay.
Feeling like a lowlife, a user, and a jerk, he stood to leave, walking away from her at the same time Jesse Ryan came through the door.
Whenever Shay thought a situation couldn’t get any worse, her ex-boyfriend showed up to prove her wrong.
Jesse stopped in his tracks at the front entrance, feet braced wide. He looked from her to Luke, nostrils flaring, dark hair falling over one eye. The belligerent, combative expression on his face was one Shay knew all too well.
