“I warned you before about touching me or anyone else without permission, Jerry.” Eve twisted her foot, and the pointed heel, to the right.
“I didn’t mean any harm,” Jerry yelped, tears in his eyes. “Never again. I promise.”
“What do you say, Pauline?” Eve asked. “Should I let him go?”
“Spear his family jewels,” Pauline shouted. “With my blessing.”
“Mom!” Jerry sobbed. “You can’t be serious.”
“Hell. Between your brother and two sisters, I have enough grandkids to spoil.” Pauline shrugged. “Or, you could have Dan ban Jerry from the bar. A year might do the trick. Your decision, Eve.”
“Blood would ruin my shoe,” Eve decided.
After Eve pulled her foot away, Jerry rolled to his side, curling into a ball. Looking at his pitiful figure, she sighed. Then, with an evil smile, she kicked him in the butt and walked away.
“Eve can handle herself,” Pauline said, observing the expression of awe on Dylan’s face. “She’s quite a woman.”
Heart pounding, Dylan nodded. Eve was more than special. She was spectacular.
▲ ▼ ▲ ▼ ▲
CHAPTER SIX
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EVE SMOOTHED A bit of color onto her lips. Brazen Red, according to the tube of lip gloss. The effect was okay, she thought, their almost kiss was still fresh in her mind. All things considered, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to draw Dylan’s attention to her mouth.
“You put Jerry Walton in his place,” Lana Engels said as she packed her uniform into a black duffle bag. She fluffed her blonde hair and sighed. “Whenever he comes into the bar, I dread walking the floor.”
“My ass is always black and blue the next day,” Terry O’Hara agreed as she shimmied out of her shorts and into a pair of comfortable sweatpants. “Thank goodness Pauline took your side, Eve. A year without handsy Jerry will be a treat.”
“Forget Jerry.” Sharla Kaye nudged Eve’s arm. “When you said you needed to borrow a dress, you didn’t mention your date was such a yummy dreamboat.”
“He isn’t my date.” The thought made Eve’s insides queasy. “Dylan is an acquaintance. Nothing more.”
“Since when do you get dolled up for a mere acquaintance?” Sharla wanted to know.
“Or for anyone?” Lana brushed a touch of blush onto Eve’s cheeks. “I’ll say one thing. When you break out of a dating slump, you go in style. Dylan is so handsome. And a professional athlete.”
“And rich. And famous,” Terry chimed in. She was the youngest of the group. With little baggage to wear her down, the stars in her eyes were particularly bright. “With a body to drool over.”
“He’s tall,” Sharla nodded. “And knows how to wear a suit. But there’s no way to tell what he looks like naked. Could be all flash and no follow-through.”
“Oh, he has the goods,” Terry assured her friends. She held out her phone. “I Googled Dylan Montgomery. So many pictures. So little time.”
“Gimme,” Lana said, snatching the phone before Sharla could beat her to it. Fanning herself, she gasped, collapsing onto the dressing room sofa. “Holy mother of all that’s good and plenty. I always thought spontaneous orgasms were a myth. After looking at your Dylan, I’m a believer.”
“Give Eve a gander,” Terry said.
“Why would she need to look at pictures when she has access to the real thing?” Lana sent Eve a speculative look. “Please tell me you at least took a sneak peek. For my sake, and the sake of women everywhere, if you don’t unwrap that hunkalicious package, it will be a crime against humanity.”
“We just met,” Eve said with as much nonchalance as she could muster. “Besides, if you’ve seen one shirtless man, you’ve seen them all.”
“Be prepared to eat your words.”
Taking the phone from Lana, Eve glanced at the screen. The air rushed from her lungs drying out her mouth. God had to be a woman, she thought as she scrolled through one photo after another of Dylan in various stages of undress.
“What do you think?” Sharla asked with a knowing laugh as she pried the phone from Eve’s fingers. “Care to rethink your opinion?”
Eve felt light-headed. Weak in the knees, she searched for a chair then realized she was already sitting down.
“If every shirtless man you’ve seen looks like Dylan Montgomery,” Lana said with a wink. “I want to know where you hang out so I can get me a ticket.”
“Seduce him,” Sharla exclaimed out of nowhere.
Convinced she’d suddenly lost the ability to understand the English language, Eve wondered if the affliction was a side effect of viewing too much beefcake in one sitting.
“What did you say?” she asked, needing clarification.
“You’re worried Dylan will take Daisy, right?” Sharla asked.
“If the DNA test show’s Daisy is his niece,” Eve said, still confused. “What does one thing have to do with the other?”
“Persuade Dylan not to take her with some good loving.”
“You’ve lost your mind,” Eve scoffed.
“Sharla might be on to something.” Terry shrugged. “Why not use the gift Mother Nature gave you.”
“To be fair, you don’t have as many gifts as the rest of us,” Lana said, patting Eve on the head, her gaze filled with sympathy. “But you never know, maybe Dylan prefers a less-obvious display of feminine attributes.”
“Where men are concerned, obvious beats subtle every time. Tell you what,” Sharla said, adjusting her ample cleavage. “Because I feel generous, I’ll seduce him. What’s the saying? I’ll take one for the team. Or two, depending on Dylan’s recuperative powers.”
“Stop dipping your toe in someone else’s water,” Lana warned the buxom waitress. “Eve will do the seducing.”
“No, she won’t.” Eve, embarrassed, and maybe a little jealous of Sharla’s bustline, surged to her feet. Looking at her friends, she couldn’t hide her disappointment. “What kind of example would I set for Daisy if I used my body to manipulate Dylan?”
“Daisy would never know,” Lana pointed out. “And you’d have a damn good time.”
“I’m leaving.” Eve slipped her feet into a pair of black stilettoes. She smiled at Terry. “Thanks for the dress. And shoes. And the purse.
