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Shane wasn’t in the mood for sermons or
warnings or any of that crap. The past week had been bad enough. In
a town the size of a peanut, he had more than earned the title of
resident bad boy. And now he had solidified the crown by taking
away the reformed princess from the local good boy. It didn’t
matter that he’d had no part in Bobbi’s fleeing the wedding, the
fact that she’d ended up at his place afterward—had been seen
leaving his house in his fucking T-shirt and not much else—painted
him with the same brush he’d been trying to avoid since he had
returned home.

The black one. The one that spelled
trouble.

A loud round of laughter drew both of their
eyes and Shane watched Bobbi toss back a shot of…Holy Christ, was
she really going to start with the tequila again? He ground his
teeth together. Hadn’t she learned anything from The Hard Rock?

He caught the frown on Billie’s face as she
looked at Logan.

If Bobbi kept this up she would end up going
home with someone else – again. Not that he cared. As he’d told
Logan, Bobbi wasn’t his concern. Not anymore.

Not even if his guts burned hot at just the
sight of her.

“I should leave,” he said abruptly.

“What happened between you two? After you
found her at The Hard Rock.” Logan’s gaze was fixed on the beer in
front of him, fingers slowly peeling off the label.

Shane’s eyebrows shot up. “Shit, Forest. Are
we gonna share our feelings? Is that what we’re going to do? Do you
want to hold hands and sing Kumbaya?”

“Nah,” Logan replied with a grin. “I’ve heard
you sing.”

All around them conversations rose and fell,
traveling along the ebb and flow of energy in the room. People
laughed. And snorted. And argued. And sang along to whatever the
hell the dance shit was that Duke had spewing from the bar’s sound
system.

“Nothing happened. I brought her back from
Chesterfield because if I didn’t she would have ended up back at
some loser’s place getting a hell of a lot more than she’d
bargained for. It was the right thing to do. Anyone else would have
done the same thing. She crashed at my place. End of story.”

“So, there’s no chance that the two of
you…”

Shane shook his head, his thoughts darkening.
“Not a chance in hell.”

They both glanced up as Billie slid between
Logan’s legs and Bobbi hung back a few feet. Billie looked
uncomfortable. So did Logan.

But not Bobbi. She tossed her hair around
like she was a filly in a race and slipped her leather jacket off.
The blue silk shirt she wore clung to her curves and Shane noticed
more than a few heads swivel around for a peak. The top buttons
were undone, leaving the soft swell of her breasts on display and
he had to stop himself from reaching out and yanking the gap
closed.

“Seth, your tongue just fell out of your
head. I suggest you put it back in. Not exactly a good look for
you.” Shane eyeballed the man as Seth’s chest heaved and he turned
back to his buddies, a loud guffaw following a few moments
later.

“I thought you were out of town,” Bobbi said
slowly as she stepped up to the bar. She was now inches from him
and her scent filled the air around him. It was cold as hell
outside and she smelled like summer.
Hot-as-fucking-hell-summer.

Why couldn’t she smell like dead, rotted
leaves? Or stale musty crap? It would make things so much easier
for him.

“Nice to know you’re keeping tabs on me,” he
answered.

“I wasn’t,” she said quickly and paused. Then
she licked her lips.

Why did women always feel the need to lick
their lips? It’s like they wanted men to focus on them. To think of
things they shouldn’t be thinking of. Of places those lips
shouldn’t be. Things those lips shouldn’t be doing.

“I wasn’t keeping tabs. Billie told me in
passing you were out of town.”

“I was,” he offered and tossed some cash onto
the bar to pay for his one and only drink. He was ready to
leave.

Bobbi slipped onto the barstool beside him
and grabbed a handful of peanuts.

“So, where did you go?”

Shane was aware that Billie and Logan had
moved away and since they were at the end of the bar—even though
the room was full—with the empty barstool on the other side of him,
they had a modicum of privacy.

Especially since Seth had shoved his tongue
back into his mouth and the guys he sat with were avidly watching
the game on one of the overhead flat screen televisions.

“I had a meeting with my grandfather’s
attorney.”

She paused with the munching of the peanuts,
“Oh.”

For a few moments he concentrated on nothing
but her painted nails picking through the bowl of peanuts. Vibrant
red among the dull, brown shells.

She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, I know he
meant a lot to you.”

Pain lanced across Shane’s chest. “Yeah,” was
all he managed to say before his throat closed up.

His grandfather Niall Gallagher, the one man
who had believed in him when no one else did, had died while Shane
was still serving his sentence. It had only been a few months
before his release and the fact that he hadn’t been allowed to
attend the funeral was one hell of a bitter pill to swallow.

So bitter in fact that it had taken this long
for him to even acknowledge his grandfather’s last wishes and
attend a meeting with his lawyers.

Shane’s head was still spinning at everything
he’d learned.

“So, how is the old step-monster these
days?”

Shane took a moment. He pushed at his empty
beer glass and stared into eyes that could make any man forget his
head. Were they going to do this? This friendly conversation
thing?

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen
my father or his wife since...” He thought about it. “Since I don’t
remember.”

“So they never came to, um, visit you when
you were…away.”

“No,” he said softly. “They didn’t come visit
me when I was in
jail
.”

“Hmm.” It was obvious she wasn’t surprised.
But then why should she be? Bobbi more than anyone, knew of the
tangled lines that ran through his family. There was no love lost
between him and his father. None at all.

“Do you remember that time when,” her finger
ran along the top of the bar. “Do you remember that night when I
snuck up to your room?

“There was a lot more than one time,
Bobbi.”

She giggled and for a second his world tilted
a little off its axis. How long had that sound echoed in his head
like a whisper from the past?

“I know, but I’m talking about the first
time.”

He glanced at her sharply. Inhaled that scent
that was so wonderful and unique, and he watched as she continued
to twirl her fingers along the wet rim of her glass. Seriously, the
woman could drive a priest insane.

“I was eighteen and we’d been fooling around
for months doing everything but the deed.” She grinned and paused.
“You kept telling me I was too young and there was no way in hell
you were going to have sex with me, but I was always used to
getting what I wanted and that night I snuck into your house and
came up the back stairs, remember?”

She glanced up at him and his chest
tightened. They were in the middle of a crowded bar and yet it felt
as if they were alone in the world. Just the two of them and a host
of memories that might seem to be wonderful and amazing, but he
knew them for what they were. Bittersweet and heartbreaking.

“I remember.”

Hell yes, did he remember. He’d been
twenty-three, had just been kicked out of Michigan State and was
back in New Waterford trying to get his shit together. He had come
home to crash after a night out snowmobiling with his buddies, and
was just getting into bed when she slipped into his bedroom.

Before he’d had a chance to protest she was
naked and when she climbed on top of him, with her electric blue
eyes, breasts that begged to be touched…when she’d opened her legs
and let him see exactly what he was missing out on…he’d folded.

Like a stack of cards.

They’d spent the next four hours having all
kinds of hot, horny sex. And then…

Bobbi giggled again. “Your step-monster came
up the stairs and I managed to hide in the closet just before she
knocked on your door. God, I can’t remember what she wanted but I
remember you did everything in your power to make me laugh while
she was on the other side of the closet door. I was terrified she’d
find me in there naked and you were cracking jokes. You kept asking
her questions about the latest Jackass movie and she thought you
were talking about a cartoon donkey.”

She glanced up and caught him off guard
because he couldn’t look away. He couldn’t do anything but stare
into her eyes and remember how it felt to just be with her.

To hold her.

To be inside her.

But along with all those feelings came the
darkness. Because as much as they’d had their share of good times,
it was equaled out by all the crap. The fighting. The making up.
The hurting.

He thought of Dooley and his eyes dropped to
her ring finger. The one that was glaringly bare.

“So what happened with your fiancé?”

They both glanced toward the door as a second
wave of hockey players entered the bar. Boisterous and loud the
noise level ramped up several notches in seconds.

“You were right,” Bobbi said softly. “Getting
stood up at the altar was bad enough but he thinks we slept
together and that was just too much for him to handle.” She
finished her glass. “It’s over.”

Shane would have liked to say he was sorry
for her, but the truth of it was, he wasn’t. He wasn’t sorry at
all. Bobbi Jo did not belong with a guy like Dooley. Hell, if
anything the guy should be thanking his lucky stars. She would have
chewed him up and spit him out within the first year.

“You can say, ‘I told you so’. I don’t really
care,” Bobbi said dryly.

“You don’t seem too broken up about it.”

Bobbi sighed and stood up. Some fleeting
emotion flickered in the depths of her eyes and for the first time
Shane became aware of the sizzling electricity between them. Had it
been there all along?

“I’m not, which is pretty pathetic when you
consider the fact that if I’d gone through with the wedding I would
be his wife right now.”

Her eyes widened and damn if she didn’t lick
her bottom lip.

“Hey Barker, you want to join us for a
drink?”

They both ignored Seth Longwood.

“I don’t like the person I’ve become and
though Gerald wasn’t responsible for it, he certainly was a part of
it. Does that make sense?”

He watched her closely but remained silent.
Something had just changed and he wasn’t sure if it was a good
thing or not.

Bobbi moistened her lips and exhaled, her
huge eyes as blue was the Arctic Ocean.

“Are you with anyone?” she asked
abruptly.

Okay, he wasn’t sure where this was heading
but he was on alert. “I’m here, talking to you.”

“I don’t mean here, I mean…are you seeing
anyone?”

“No,” Shane said carefully. They were trading
dangerous waters here.

“Why not?”

Shane’s eyes narrowed. “What are you
asking?”

Bobbi grabbed her jacket. “You’re still
interested in women aren’t you? No conversion in jail? No boyfriend
I should know about?”

His frown deepened. She was being
ridiculous.

“No, I’ve not tested those waters yet.”

“Good to know.” She slipped her arms into her
leather jacket and grabbed her purse. “Do you want to get out of
here?”

Okay. That wasn’t what he’d expected to hear
come out of her mouth. But then, when had Bobbi Jo ever done
anything in the conventional sense?

“And go where?” he asked dryly.

“Where else,” she said stepping around him.
“Your place.”

Annoyance stung him hard. “I’m not playing
whatever game this is, Bobbi.”

Bobbi smiled back at him, though it wasn’t
happiness or amusement in her eyes. There was something desperate
and hungry. Something so similar to the way he felt inside that for
a moment it felt as if he was gazing into a mirror.

“This isn’t a game, Shane. A game would mean
one of us will lose, but trust me, tonight is all about win for
both of us.”

“You want to go back to my place.”

She nodded.

“And do what?”

A smile curved that generous bottom lip. It
was a sexy, wet smile and one meant to tease. But all it did was
piss Shane off even more. He couldn’t believe it. She was serious.
He should walk the hell away.

“All sorts of things, Gallagher.”

She took that moment to tuck a strand of hair
behind her ear and he thought of the tattoo that was there, just
out of view. His tattoo. His mark.

And something primal rolled through him.
Something hot and dangerous.

“Everyone already thinks we’re sleeping
together,” she continued. “Why not give them something other than
speculation to talk about?”

Give the crowd something to talk about? Hell,
this would fuel the rumor mill for weeks to come.

Bobbi hiked her purse up onto her shoulder.
“Are you coming?”

He might have been out of his fucking
mind—halfway to Crazyville—and yet as she turned and headed for the
door, waving goodbye to her sister and Logan, Shane was already two
steps behind.

He could tell himself it was because he was
curious. He wanted to see just how far Bobbi would go, except that
was bullshit and he knew it.

Shane Gallagher followed Bobbi out of The
Grill for one reason, and one reason only. He hadn’t been able to
get the woman out of his mind since he’d come home and the
shenanigans from her wedding night had only managed to burn that
need deeper inside him.

Maybe tonight…maybe after tasting her again
he’d banish her memory. Maybe tonight, he could take her. Enjoy the
physical without the emotional crap.