Page 11 of A Rancher's Bride
The jerk in front of her edged away slowly after sending one final snarl her direction.
Kelli didn’t look away. Didn’t give the idiot a chance to make a lunge, because bullies like him were the type who could be stupid right up to the final second.
When the side door closed behind him, that was good.
Bad—? Even as the asshole left the vicinity, the owner of the bar was fast approaching, and the good looking Asian-Canadian was scowling hard.
“Shit.” Kelli took a deep breath and straightened, easing away from the oversized presence at her back far enough to twist her head and confirm her suspicions.
Yup. Luke was glaring at her. “What the fuck were you doing?” he demanded, pulling her toward an open space at the side of the room.
“Kelli.” Ryan Zhao addressed her sharply as he intercepted them. He lowered his voice as he looked around, making sure no one was close enough to overhear. “We set up safe words for a reason.”
Kelli threw her hands in the air, snapping her head back and forth between the two of them. “Hey, I’m not the bad guy here.” She glanced over Ryan’s shoulder. “Did Chelsey get away okay?”
“She’s in my office,” Ryan confirmed. “But that doesn’t answer the question of why you were acting as my self-appointed bouncer.”
Luke folded his arms across his chest and glared at her as if she were a leftover pile of manure in a stall.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” she began.
Luke pressed a hand to her lower back to guide her from the room. “I’ll take care of this, if you don’t mind, Ryan.”
“Fine. Kelli, call me later,” Ryan snapped, and then Kelli couldn’t see anything because she was being ushered out the front door with zero recourse. Her overreacting protector wasn’t being rough, but she couldn’t turn around unless she wanted to pull some self-defense moves.
The fact Josiah left the building hard on their heels made the whole situation that much more awkward.
“Good grief, you guys. We don’t need to empty the dance floor.” She checked the area quickly, but the overgrown ass from the bar was nowhere in sight.
“Shut up, Kelli,” Josiah said softly before turning to Luke and laying a hand on his arm. “Take a slow breath,” he warned. “She doesn’t need you going off the deep end.”
Luke’s hand was plastered to her lower back, and he was damn near vibrating. “She deliberately stepped into a situation where she could’ve gotten hurt.”
“Sheknew what she was doing,” Kelli snapped. “Come on, Luke. That guy was hurting her.”
He tugged her to face him, pivoting her so fast her braid whirled over her shoulder. “Which is exactly the type of guy who could have hurtyou. If I hadn’t been watching, what do you think he would’ve done?”
“What any bully does when confronted by a woman in a crowded place. He would’ve made some rude comment and then left. Mean words won’t break me,” she told him forcefully.
The two of them glared daggers at each other until Josiah broke the standoff. “You both need a timeout. Luke, she did it for a good reason, although, honey, your acting needs a little work. Drunks can’t turn off a stagger that fast.”
Luke glared at his friend, finally peeling his attention off Kelli. “You’re not seriously giving her an acting critique.”
“I’m saying Kelli helped somebody tonight, and while I might not approve of how she stepped in, giving her shit is not going to change her impulse. Plus, it’s not what she needs right now.” Josiah reached for Kelli and tugged her against him, hugging her tight.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. A shudder shook her from head to toe. She pressed her forehead against his chest and took a second to calm herself.
When she finally managed to get her racing heart to slow, she gave him a squeeze and he let go.
Kelli looked up with a grateful smile. “Okay, point made. I will work on less dangerous impulses,andmy acting.”
Josiah tweaked her nose and turned to Luke. “What about you?”
“Gee, do I get a hug too?” Luke snapped.
Good grief.“And on that note, I’m going home. You can stay here and be Mr. Cranky Pants without me.”
She really didn’t care why Luke had such a stick up his butt right then. She’d done the right thing, but as Josiah had somehow realized, the adrenaline rush was fading and she was close to crashing. It would be far better if she was in her room before that happened.
