Bella nodded her head furiously. “I start my new job at the special needs preschool down on Tenth Street.”
Wow. They were like polar opposites. But then Brock stood, helped Bella off the barstool and into her jacket.
“Thank you,” she said and kissed him on the cheek.
“See you tomorrow,” Shayla said.
The two of them made their way out of the bar with Brock nodding at all the men he passed. Rookie was practically stamped on his forehead.
“He’s quite the trip,” Shayla said.
“I’ve seen the type, wants attention and thinks a badge and gun will make up for his other . . . shortcomings.”
Shayla nearly spat out her beer. “And what about Bella?”
“Opposites attract, I guess.” I shrugged.
“Maybe she knows something we don’t . . .”
“Who knows.” I raised my glass. “To first weeks.”
She brought her glass up and clinked it against mine. “To first weeks.”
“Hear, hear!” A familiar voice behind me sent tingles down my spine. “Hey, Shayla. Long time.”
Shayla stood and wrapped her arms around Luke—my Luke.
No. I couldn’t think of him like that. You’d think after all this time I’d have learned to let him go. There was no way I could get involved with him again. I’d already done too much damage there.
I watched in shock as he hugged her back and kissed her on top of her head. “How’s your mom?”
“Good. Enjoying retirement,” Shayla sat back down. “How’s life without her?”
“Not nearly as entertaining,” Luke said. He wore jeans and a nice sweater with a button-down underneath. I silently wished I’d worn something other than my uniform pants and the plain navy blue t-shirt that went under my button down uniform shirt.
“How do you know Rylie?” he asked, not looking at me for more than a few seconds.
Shayla glanced at me and then back at him. “She’s a ranger—a summer ranger—with me.”
“Ah, so you got the job. That’s great, Shay.” He hugged her again. What was with all the hugging? And Shay? Really?
I knew I shouldn’t be jealous, but did he really have to ignore me completely?
“Well, I’ll leave the two of you to it,” he said. “Have a good night.” He walked over to the bar where he was greeted by the testosterone-laden sound of men cheering. Luke had always been Mr. Popular.
“So, how do you know Luke?” Shayla asked me.
“We dated in high school. It wasn’t anything serious.”
Recognition followed by disappointment washed over her face. “You’re Rylie.” She said my name as if it was a curse word.
“He talked about me?” I asked.
“Oh yeah, my mom heard all about the infamous Rylie. We actually joked that he’d made you up. He joined the force almost directly out of high school and was assigned as my mom’s partner until she retired.”
That explained their bond.
“He’s a really great guy. I think you did a number on him.”
“What do you mean?” I slipped a glance over at the bar where he stood, his back to me.
“As far as I know, he hasn’t seriously dated anyone since you.”
“But it’s been years. There’s no way—I’m sure he—”
“Nope, trust me, some of us would kill to have a guy look at us like he looks at you.” She motioned toward the bar where Luke now stood staring at us—at me.
“I should probably go. I have a long drive home.” I stood from my chair and pulled on my favorite Denver Broncos hoodie. “Thanks for bringing me here. It was fun.”
“No problem, we’ll have to do it again sometime.”
As I walked toward the door, I watched Shayla go right over to Luke and tuck herself under his arm. Her earlier timidity vanished in his presence. For the slightest moment, the jealousy returned until I ran smack dab into a wall.
At least, I thought it was a wall.
But when I looked up, the wall was strangely shaped like an Italian bodybuilder. Antonio stared down at me, a grin spreading across his face.
I took two steps back.
“Just the girl I was looking for.” He took a step closer. “You’re not leaving are you?”
“Yeah, I . . .” A bead of sweat trickled down my back.
“The Broncos, huh? You a fan?”
“Isn’t everyone?” I let out a giggle like a schoolgirl and then silently chided myself for being such an idiot. What was it about me that was attracted to cheaters?
“We should catch a game together sometime.”
I shrugged. The smell of his cologne was as intoxicating as his smile.
“Don’t go.” He draped an arm across my shoulders. “It looks like Shayla’s made some friends. Let’s go talk to them.”
My head screamed objections, but before I could come to my senses, we were standing face to face with a very confused-looking Luke, who still had his arm around Shayla.
Luke eyed Antonio and then me. My stomach sank.
“Hello again,” Luke finally said, more to Antonio than to me.
The weight of Antonio’s arm was starting to crush me. I shrugged him off. “I take it you’ve met?”
Antonio stuck out a hand and Luke took it, their knuckles white with effort. “He interrogated me today.”
Of course, because Antonio and Kyle had been working that day too.
“It was more of an interview than an interrogation,” Luke said. “Trust me. You’d know if you were being interrogated.”
Shayla’s eyes darted toward the door as the silence stretched out—the two men staring each other down.
“I’ve never seen you here before. What brings you to our hideaway?” Luke finally asked, grabbing a new beer from the bar and taking his arm off Shayla’s shoulder. Her face dropped slightly.
“Shayla invited me. Said it was the place to be.” Antonio’s voice was deeper than it had been moments before.
I couldn’t stand there anymore and watch their whose-is-bigger competition.
“I have to go. You guys have fun,” I said with a quick wave to Shayla.
As I turned, Antonio caught my arm. “But you haven’t even had a beer with us.”
I pulled my arm away just in time to see Luke grab Antonio’s wrist. “She said she had to go,” he hissed.
Antonio yanked his arm from Luke’s grasp. “Okay.” He raised his hands in surrender. “Geeze. I
