“Good. Right. So everyone understands they’ll be keeping their hands to themselves from now on?”
“I’m sorry, but I’ve got a problem with that,” I call out, and Banner glances over her shoulder at me.
“Is that right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.” I stalk forward and lift her off the chair. “If you haven’t already heard the gossip, I’ve got a pretty powerful need to have my hands on you.”
My declaration sends the crowd into another roar.
Banner’s eyes widen. “And here I thought you didn’t want anyone to know about that little problem of yours.”
Everyone in the bar quiets to hear us.
“It’s only a problem if I can’t have the woman I want.”
“I guess you’re going to have to wait and see what she wants.” Banner pushes out of my arms to land on her own two feet.
“I know what she wants, but we’re both too hardheaded sometimes.”
“Hardheaded? Is that another way of saying you were an asshole?” she asks as she turns away to walk toward the bar and pick up another round of drinks.
I follow her. “Yes. I was an asshole, and I’m apologizing for it.”
“Is that why you couldn’t manage to reply to me all damned day?”
The vehemence in her tone takes me by surprise, but instead of following her again, Nicole distracts me.
“You have any fucking clue what you just did?” she asks.
“What are you talking about?”
“This whole town thinks you and Emmy Harris are going to end up getting married and having babies, and you just told an entire bar full of people that you’re after this girl from New York. The gossips are going to have a field day with that.”
I didn’t exactly think about my words before I spoke them, but I’m not taking them back. Do I feel bad that Emmy is going to hear it secondhand from someone else approximately five minutes from now? Yes. She’s a good woman, and she deserves to hear it from me that my interests lie elsewhere.
Nicole is filling pint glasses under the tap and waiting for an answer.
“It’s not like I planned this.”
She raises an eyebrow. “When does a man ever plan anything?”
Banner returns with an empty tray and reaches over the bar to grab a cocktail and take a sip. “I’m not leaving until this crowd clears out, so you can either wait or we can talk tomorrow.”
“Since when do you work here? And if you work here, why the hell are you drinking on the job?”
“Who would work here without perks?” Nicole lifts a shot glass to catch my attention and tosses it back.
Banner jerks her head toward Nicole. “What she said.”
“Then I guess you better get me a Coke, because if you’re drinking, I’m driving you home.”
Banner cocks a hip and stares me down. “You think I can’t get myself home?”
“I think it’s a miracle that you even know how to drive after living in New York your whole life.”
“I drove outside the city sometimes.”
“Either way, you’re not a regular behind the wheel, and the last thing I want is to see you wrapped around a tree somewhere because neither your skills nor your reaction time is up to par.”