“I agree itisa wonder,” Glory said ironically.
Glenn bustled over, looking mostly unruffled. It wasn’t the first melee the Misty Cat had seen over its storied history, not by a long shot, and probably wouldn’t be its last. Most of the damage could just be swept up off the floor.
“Hey, kiddo. We haven’t had a fight in here in a long time, so I guess we were overdue. You gonna help clean up some of this mess? Mop’s in the back.”
Life, such as hers was, went on. She was probably lucky he didn’t fire her for being drunken Mick’s muse.
“Sure,” she said glumly. “Of course.”
Glenn pivoted around and raised his arms up into the air like Moses accepting the commandments. “OUT! Unless you’re a deputy or one of my employees or the deputies need to talk to you, time to get on out! Good night and thanks for coming!”
Glory looked back at Eli.
Eli’s head was ducked close to Bethany’s, the better to hear what she was saying. They were walking as they talked, drifting closer and closer to the door. What on earth did they talk about? Eli probably did a lot of listening.
But it wasn’t hard to see why Eli would like Bethany. Not only was she both genuinely nice and hot, she was probably pretty soothing company. And, as she’d said, she’d never incited a riot, thereby making his job a little harder to do.
Her head felt peculiarly light.
And then she realized she’d tightened every muscle in her body as she watched Eli with Bethany. As if she was literally bracing for or about to withstand a knife attack.
Franco slid gracefully forward and took Eli’s place next to her. He was close enough to her now that she could smell him. And he smelled clean and expensive and exotic.
She sincerely doubtedshesmelled anywhere near as good at the moment. Unless he considered a splash of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale an aphrodisiac.
He seemed to be considering what to say. He leaned forward and folded his hands on his knees.
“Glory... you’re astonishingly talented. I was just blown away. I’m not just saying that, even though it would be like me to just say that.”
“Thank you,” she said carefully. After a moment. She cast a sidelong look at him, reluctant to give him her full attention. For some reason, it seemed critical to keep Eli and Bethany in her sights. “That means a good deal.”
“Listen,” Franco said suddenly. “I want to take you out to dinner. I want to discover more reasons to like you.”
She pivoted toward him, for some reason stung. “Some invitation, Franco. I might be no angel but I sure as hell don’t jump just because a hot actor ‘wants’ me to.” She putwantsin air quotes.
He blinked.
She immediately regretted the outburst.
He regarded her for one assessing moment, and then his mouth quirked wryly.
“You’re absolutely right, Glory. I apologize. You’ve had a rough night, and I could have done and should have done that with more grace. I was just trying to be macho, like that cop. He really doesn’t like me, does he?”
“Deputy,” she corrected. “And nope. He really doesn’t.”
Franco gave a short, humorless laugh at that.
“You’re just... very different guys,” she tried to explain. “Oil and water.”
“I’ll say,” Franco muttered.
Franco swung his legs, and the heels of his boots thumped the stage.
“Okay. I get why you wouldn’t believe me when I say this, and why it sounds like a line, but I genuinely want to know you. I suspect you don’t have a boring bone in your admittedly very appealing body. Is it okay if I point out that last part?”
She sighed. She turned to look at him full on. He was worth looking at, for sure.
He was amusing, she’d hand him that. She could field his kind of flirtation until the cows came home.