Fangs But No Fangs. Kathy Love

had he missed this place?

      The gravel parking lot to the left of the building had several cars lined up. Music drifted out from the open windows, as did the sound of voices. Suddenly he sensed Jolee’s presence; he could feel her in the warm air. Christian frowned. This was where she went every night?

      He wandered closer. Peeking in a window, he saw a large open room with more Christmas lights lining the rafters. Several groups of people sat at nicked wooden tables, drinks in their hands. Two men played a game of pool in the far corner. Farther down in the opposite corner was an open space with a booth next to it. There was a monitor affixed to one of the ceiling beams and another large monitor behind that on the wall, facing out into the room. The monitor was dark, and the booth empty. A few more patrons sat on stools at a long bar at the very end of the room. And behind the bar was…Jolee.

      “Jolee girl, you need to be home in bed,” Jed commented, not for the first time tonight.

      Earlier Jolee had just laughed off his advice; she’d been hurting but she could handle it. However, after a few long reaches for liquor bottles on the shelves behind her and lifting a couple heavy trays, she was really hurting now.

      But she forced a smile and said, “This is the best night I’ve had. I can handle it.”

      Jed shook his head. “Well, let me help you.”

      He’d offered that already, too, and she’d turned him down. The poor old guy was stiff enough after mopping and taking out the trash at the end of the night. She hadn’t wanted him overextending himself. But maybe just for tonight.

      “No, I’ll help her,” a voice stated before she could relent.

      Jolee turned to see Christian standing at the end of the bar. She walked over to him and whispered, “What are you doing here?”

      “The better question is what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be resting.”

      “Well, some of us have jobs,” she said pointedly.

      He didn’t seem to notice the jab. “Surely, your boss would understand that you need a couple nights off.”

      “I am the boss.”

      Christian stared at her for a moment, then cast a look around the bar. “You own this place?” Confusion was clear in his eyes.

      “What? You don’t think a woman can run a bar?”

      “No, I just can’t imagine why you’d want to.” He cast another disparaging look around the place.

      Anger rose in her chest, and made her pounding head feel like it was going to explode. “You know what, I really don’t need your rude comments. Just because you’re a pretentious jerk, doesn’t mean you can come in here and criticize my place. So just—”

      “That was rude. Forgive me.”

      She snapped her mouth closed and glared at him. “Thanks for stopping by. Now you can leave.”

      “Nope,” he said as he unbuttoned the sleeves of another tailored shirt and rolled them up. This shirt was dark blue and made his pale blue eyes even more striking. The pushed-back sleeves revealed his leanly muscled forearms. She noticed the cut from Vance’s knife was totally gone. It must have been even smaller than she’d thought. She also noticed how good his muscles looked. Damn it.

      She forced her gaze back to his face and demanded, “What are you doing?”

      “I’m going to help you.” He braced his arms on the bar and swung himself over to her side with the agility of a gymnast.

      “There’s an entrance down there,” she pointed out grumpily. Not that she hadn’t done the same thing many times, of course certainly not with his grace. And with the way her shoulder felt at the moment, she wouldn’t be doing it again anytime soon.

      He offered her a small smile, nothing more than the quirk of one side of his lips, but it still made her breath catch.

      “I’ll remember that next time.”

      “Well, actually if you want to hop right back over the bar and leave, that’s fine.”

      “No.” His amazing eyes held hers. “Let me help you.”

      Her gaze roamed his face. He looked sincere and even a bit desperate.

      She wanted help. She needed it. “For tonight.”

      He nodded.

      “All right.” But Jolee had the feeling that she’d just agreed to a whole lot more than just tonight.