AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She is, huh?” Mike took in her smiling face, thinking the woman pretty and considerate. Unusual traits for a woman picked up in a bar.
Mike shrugged and turned to walk off. He could find a ride. Jared stopped him.
“Something’s got under your skin. If I had to guess, I’d say a female. Maybe one of those gals we met at the Mexican restaurant.” He cocked his head and one corner of his mouth lifted in a taunting grin. “I left you alone with that blonde. I have to wonder, Mike. That babe was smokin’.”
Resentment struck him. An unknown feeling, a lot like jealously. “Keep your blasted mind where it belongs,” he barked in a sharp tone.
Jared didn’t take offense. He smiled, as if Mike had just revealed something he shouldn’t have.
“Come on.” Jared clapped him on the back. “Let’s get you home.”
“I’m not drunk. And I’m not some child you have to take care of.”
“No one said you were. You’d do the same thing if it were one of the guys.”
Ass. Didn’t matter that he was right.
Mike fitted his frame into his truck on the passenger side. “What makes you think you’re fit to drive?”
Jared started the engine. “You know me. I spend most of my time sipping on one bottle and checking out the women.” As he pulled into traffic, he continued, “I know. Sipping is for ladies. Not men.”
“Hell. If it works …” Mike never paid much attention other than Jared always had a bottle in his hand. Although, Mike had never seen Jared drunk. Always in control. Never made a scene. His pretty boy face had women flocking around him like chicken after feed. Even in the dark, Mike saw Jared’s teeth flash in an invigorating grin.
Mike pushed a button on the dash and Hank Williams, Jr. blared in the cab. He turned the volume down to a reasonable level. When he was by himself, he usually had the windows down and the wind in his hair, so the music had to be cranked up just to be heard. Lately, the volume hadn’t mattered. His attention had been elsewhere. Damn, if Cassie didn’t have the most arresting eyes.
“Are you going to share?” Jared’s question came from out of nowhere.
“Share what,” Mike growled. He’d never shared a woman and damned if he would start now.
“Information, you dope. Not the woman you obviously have on your mind.” Jared’s chuckle filled the cab.
Hell. He’d jumped the gun. If the woman wasn’t constantly in his head—
“She’s what’s got you preoccupied, isn’t she? You haven’t been yourself for days.”
Mike had never let a female get under his skin. He sighed as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. He scrubbed a hand over his face. Confession time.
“Yeah. Cassie.”
“Cassie? The blonde from the Mexican restaurant.”
“Yep.” Mike put his window down and rested his elbow in the open space. “Can’t stop thinking about her.”
“She is a looker. Nice jugs, too.”
A flame of resentment shot through Mike, but he quickly shook it off. Any man with eyes would look. He turned in his seat. “How come you didn’t make a play for her?”
Jared glanced out his window, put on the turn signal and pulled over in the next lane of traffic. “She wasn’t interested. Now the redhead, she’s another story.”
“You seemed to hit it off with Tammy.”
“She could give as good as she got.” Jared checked his rearview mirror. “But we didn’t hook up. She seems like a nice girl and I’m not into nice.”
Nice—as in, doesn’t sleep around.
“I know what you mean. Cassie is nice.” Which didn’t mean a damn, because he still wanted her. Redheads, brunettes, blondes, he’d worshipped them all at one time or another. Yet here he sat, like a lovesick fool pining about a woman he didn’t know and couldn’t have.
Forget her.
