Page 2

Danny snorted. Not even when pigs fly.

She spun and had taken one step when a big, meaty hand slapped her on the ass.

Danny went from flight to fight in a tenth of a second flat. She set her full tray on a neighboring table, whipped around, planted her hands on Bobby Ray’s chest and shoved as hard as she could.

The man toppled over, chair and all.

“Told ya,” his buddy said.

When Bobby Ray rolled over to get up, Danny launched onto his back and shoved his face into the grass. “Don’t ever touch me again,” she said, and pressed her forearm against the back of his neck until he was eating dirt. “Do. You. Understand?”

“Get off me, bitch,” he swore, his voice muffled by turf.

“Since your mama didn’t educate you on how to treat women, let me,” she said through clenched teeth.

He bucked beneath her. “Fuck you.” He swung his arm out, trying to grab her.

Danny snagged his wrist and moved enough to swing his arm around and up between his shoulder blades.

“God damn it, woman,” he yelled.

“First, you don’t curse when there are children present,” she instructed. “For that matter, at all. It shows your ignorance and bad manners.”

His body rocked beneath her.

She shoved his arm up higher.

With a grunt, he stilled.

“Second,” she said between her teeth. “Never touch a woman without her permission. Not even your wife.”

“You tell ’em, Danny!” Claudine raised her fist.

“Get ’em, Danny,” Claudine’s friend seconded. “Serves him right.”

“Are you going to be nice?” Danny asked.

“Fuck no,” he said, his voice strained and pitched higher than normal.

“Wrong answer.” Danny cranked his arm higher.

“Okay. Okay,” he hissed out. “Yes.”

Danny eased back a little.

The man bucked beneath her. “Bitch, I’m gonna kill⁠—”

Danny ratcheted his arm up higher. “What was that?”

“I’ll be nice,” he forced out between clenched teeth.

“See that you are,” Danny said. She eased off his back, still holding his arm tightly between his shoulder blades until she was on her feet.

When she released his arm, she stepped out of reach. “How do you like someone holding your arm, refusing to let go?”

Bobby Ray staggered to his feet, his face red, his fists clenched.

“Doesn’t feel good, does it?” Danny stood with her feet slightly apart, her hands free and ready, while inside she was shaking at the big man towering over her. When he’d been seated, he hadn’t seemed as big a threat as he was now. He was easily twice her size and weight. A man who could easily take her down and force himself on her.