Page 15 of Laying it Bare on the Run

“He uses my last name. I don’t rush anything.” He clapped the guy on the shoulder before pulling out a chair for me and then sitting down right beside me. “Mike, this is Harper.”

Back to shifting gears, he was going to give me whiplash. But at least I didn’t have to dwell on the comment that made my lady parts perk to attention.Down girls. The only reason we are out with him and his buddies tonight is to help me forget about my grief and trauma.

“I didn’t know Rush was seeing anyone. He’s been on shift for a week and a half so there’s no way he had time to find you. He’s trying to look cool in front of us, isn’t he? He grabbed you right off the street just now, huh?” A really tall blond smiled at me, his blue eyes scrutinizing my face. “I don’t remember seeing you around here and believe me I would have taken notice.” Smirking, he shot me a wink.

He didn’t know how close to the marker he was but surprisingly his joke didn’t make me too uncomfortable.

“Knock it off, Dickhead. I didn’t grab her right outside the entrance on my way in. She’s actually with me tonight. Jeez, Joe. Dial it down.”

“With you, with you?” Mike waggled his eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes. “So I guess cops have just as bad of manners as any other male?”

“We’re even worse because we know we have the goods to back up our mouths.”

“Both of you shut the fuck up. The only one who has a small amount of couth is Ben.” Cannon nodded with his head to the other guy at the table.

“That’s only because I agree with Rush here. Those two are dickheads.” He ran his hand through his unruly blond mop. “They are assholes who try to exclude me from everything. Like last night, I was left to watch the beers while they headed over to check out a possible vandalism. Not that it would have been very exciting but better than sitting watching beers. But that’s okay because I had the waitress dump out their almost full beers.” He shot a smug grin at his buddies.

I tensed a little at his mention of last night’s incident.

Cannon grabbed my hand and squeezed. “Did you guys order drinks yet?”

“No. We just got here about ten minutes before you.” Ben raised his arm to flag down a waitress.

A moment later, a young girl with long red hair walked over to our table. “Hey guys.” She ran her hand along Mike’s shoulder. “What can I get you?”

“Are we all good with Michelob?” Mike glanced around the table.

The guys nodded in agreement.

“Can I get a Coke?” I wasn’t sure if I was up for alcohol tonight. Cannon had wanted me to relax and let go but I wasn’t sure how my body would handle alcohol after not drinking for so long and the fact that I had lost a good bit of weight. I didn’t want to risk getting sick or even worse becoming loose lipped.

“Sure. I’ll be right back.”

“So, your date tonight wants to make sure she is in full control of her faculties.” Mike let out a burst of laughter. “I didn’t have to get Terri drunk to get her to go home with me last night.” He gestured with his thumb to the waitress who was carrying our drinks.

“Here you go guys.” She placed the pitcher of beer on the table before setting down mugs and then my glass of soda.

“Thank you.”

“Will I see you tonight, Mike? Or was that a onetime deal?” Terri raised her eyebrow at him.

His lips curled into a devious smile. “I’ll be back when you’re done here.”

She shot him a flirtatious smile. “Can I get you guys anything else?” She glanced around the table.

“How about an order of mozzarella sticks and an order of your pretzels with beer cheese?” Cannon looked over at me. “Something to munch on.” He leaned over to my ear and whispered, “In case you want to get something stronger to drink later.”

I smiled at him. He was incredibly intuitive and extremely sweet.

“So, honestly, where did you two meet? He hasn’t said anything about seeing someone.”

Before Cannon could answer Joe’s question, a tall girl with strawberry blonde hair sashayed her way over to our table, her boobs practically spilling out of her tight red dress. “Hey, guys. Hey, Cannon.” She ran her fingers – which were painted a bright red – over his bicep. Great. Here was the girl who was better for him than me and carried less baggage, I was sure. But oh God, her voice was so nasal I swear she had to have had a nose job. And why the hell was I being so catty. I had never been like that before. But then I’d never been so attracted to a guy before like I was with Cannon. And my emotions were on high alert and scattered about like a family of mice after the cat dropped in for a snack. I had no clue how to reign them in.

Cannon tightened his grip on my hand. “Hello, Kerena. How have you been?”

Kerena’s eyes narrowed briefly as her gaze caught Cannon’s hold on me. Then she shifted her brown eyes to me. “You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?” She tilted her head to the side and tossed her hair behind her shoulder as she studied my face.

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