Page 90 of Mystery in the Mountains

“Hey! Cool it or get the fuck out!” Asher said, stepping in between the men.

The two men just glared at each other.

“I mean it. It ends now.”

They turned away from each other and went about their business.

After he settled a scuffle, he came back to the bar, where Nox and Dusty were talking about something, but his eyes were on Sunny.

What the fuck was she doing? She was at the end of the bar, leaning over to talk to some of the patrons. As she leaned down to talk to him, he knew he would be able to see right down her shirt, and that’s right where he was looking.

Asher saw red as Sunny threw her head back, laughing. Then she rested her hand on the man’s forearm.

Asher stood, his barstool clambering to the floor behind him.

Sunny glanced at him in panic.

Did she forget I was here? She must have.

Asher grabbed the guy by his shirt and started walking him out the door.

“Asher!” Sunny yelled in protest.

But he wasn’t going to let this man touch what was his.

He threw him out the door and turned back to a stunned Sunny.

“What the hell are you doing?” she shouted.

“What’s going on?” Dusty asked.

“That man was bothering her.”

Dusty turned to Sunny. “Was he bothering you?”

“No, he wasn’t.”

“Hmmm . . . must have been a misunderstanding, then.”

“Can you give us a minute?” Sunny said to Dusty before coming around the bar and pulling Asher into the storeroom. “What the fuck was that about?”

Is she mad at me?

“Why the fuck were you flirting with him?”

She huffed. “Are you serious?”

“Dead fucking serious.” He glared at her.

“Asher, number one, I’m a bartender. I’m going to flirt with people. Number two, I was only flirting with him so I could try and hear what Dusty and Nox were talking about.”

The anger he felt about another man’s hands on his mate was real, but it used to be something he let go.

With his brow still furrowed, he evaluated her. “Sunny, I don’t know how to let other men touch you.”

The anger left her gaze as she gave him a small smile. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I never liked it, but I don’t know how to explain it. It just made me so angry . . . I . . . You can’t leave me again.”

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