Page 4 of The Catch

He tipped back his cup and swallowed the last of his drink, catching her gaze again over the conversation that had sprung up around them. Feeling emboldened by the rum burning in his chest, and her apparent immunity to Dylan, he stepped around Dani and Emma and pressed a finger to the back of Cat’s arm.

“Cat,” he said, trying her name out on his tongue.

She turned to face him, her chest just inches from his, and her chin tipped upward. “Hey.”

“Would you let me buy you a drink?”

Cat brought her cup to her lips, draining it, then gave him a cautious smile. She was trying to get a read on him, he figured, after the situation with Snake Guy, and he wanted nothing more than to be a book that she could browse all night long.

“We still owe you,” she said. “You should let me buy.”

“You don’t owe me anything.” In fact, if Cat was going to give him her time, he might owe Dani drinks for life. “Please?”

“Okay, sure. You can buy me a drink.”

Josh gestured for her to lead the way, letting his hand graze the small of her back as they wove through the crowd. She stood on her toes, leaning over the bar, and the bartender made a beeline for her. “Rum punch, please.”

Josh held up two fingers and handed the bartender his card.

When their drinks arrived, Cat tipped her cup to his and smiled. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“That was kind of you,” she said. “Helping us out with that guy.”

“It was no big deal.”

“Do you always go around rescuing girls at bars?”

“First time, actually. And you don’t look like you need rescuing that often.”

“Maybe not.”

He took in the square of her shoulders, and her chin held high. He could already tell she was the type of woman who could make you melt or kick your ass, depending on how much she liked you. “I bet you could have handled that guy,” he said.

“Probably, but I really didn’t want to.” She sighed wearily as a guy in a trucker hat elbowed his way into the space beside her and raked his eyes down her front.

Josh shot him a possessive look that he had no business doling out, considering he’d known Cat for about ten minutes. As insane as it sounded, though, he already felt some way about her.

Crazy or not, no one was going to look at her like that while she was talking to him. He angled himself between her and the crowd, and Cat settled into the little space he’d made for her. “This place is like a meat market,” he said.

“Right? That’s what I told Dani.”

“That’s what I told Dylan.”

“So how’d you end up here?”

He groaned. “I was outvoted. You?”

“Pretty much the same.” She smiled up at him mischievously, leaning into his arm. “Given how my night has gone so far, I guess I’ll just have to take your word for it that you’re the one guy in here who’s not a total creep.”

Josh laughed, narrowly avoiding spitting his drink out. She was adorable. “Come on now. Would Dani have dated me for these last few minutes if I was a creep?”

“Oh, you don’t know Dani,” she shot back, joining in his laughter. She turned her shoulders toward him and held her cup up to her neck, letting the condensation drip down her skin.Jesus.“So, what do you do, Josh? You said you were here for work.”

“I’m an architect. We were down here for a training on windows and tropical wind ratings.”

“Fascinating.”

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