Jack leaned an elbow on the wooden edge of the table and nodded at Mallory. “She looks like a customer to me.”
Mallory narrowed her gaze and shot him a scathing glance.
“She’s a guest of the house. You can come back tomorrow night. Drinks on the house.” The bartender turned his concentration back to Mallory, or rather, to her waist. He gripped his hands around the bare skin of her midriff, where her shirt had drifted upward.
Anger Jack hadn’t experienced in ages rushed to the surface along with another memory—of coming home early from school at age fifteen to find a stranger and his mother exiting the bedroom she shared with Jack’s father, the stranger’s hands on his mother’s waist as he helped her snap her pants closed.
But unlike his mother, Mallory didn’t giggle and lean closer. She stiffened and would have moved away but for the pool table in front of her and the bartender’s strong arms holding her in place. Whatever her earlier act, she was obviously through with the man now.
“Doesn’t look like she wants to be that kind of a guest.” Jack spoke through clenched teeth.
Sparks flashed in Mallory’s blue eyes, emotion and anger aimed at him. “She can speak for herself.”
She turned her gaze to the bartender and fluttered her lashes in a gesture Jack had never witnessed from Mallory before. “Looks like my friend doesn’t know when a lady’s playing hard to get, Jimmy,” she said in a lazy drawl. But she casually moved his hand away from her waist.
“You know this guy?” The bartender jerked a finger Jack’s way. From the sneer on the man’s face, Jack figured any hope he’d had of gleaning information about Lederman was long gone.
“We work together.” Mallory let out a long-suffering sigh and took a step back from Jimmy, tripping over his sneakered feet and nearly toppling to the floor in the process. Jack tried to reach for her at the same time as the bartender but she lunged onto the pool table and steadied herself first.
“Oops.” She let out an un-Mallory-like laugh. “Those darn Long Island Iced Teas.” She batted her eyelashes again and glanced at Jack. “Did you know they have a drink named after this area? Well sort of this area. Long Island Iced Tea. He makes them extra special,” she said, smiling at the bartender. “Think I can have the recipe?”
“I think you’ve had enough.” Jack had no doubt she wasn’t drunk, just trying to keep the bartender off balance and intrigued. He stepped forward and grabbed her elbow before his competition could get to Mallory first.
“Don’t you think the lady can decide when she has or hasn’t had enough?” the bartender spoke.
Mallory bestowed her sweetest smile upon him. “A man who respects a lady’s mind. I like that.”
“Did you forget our early morning meeting?” Jack asked pointedly. “With Mr. Lederman?” He tossed Jimmy’s employer’s name into the mix and got the reaction he’d hoped for.
Jimmy stiffened. “You work with Lederman?”
Mallory clenched her jaw, clearly unhappy with Jack invading her territory. “He’s considering using my firm. I thought I mentioned that.”
“Before or after you pumped me for information?”
Mallory shrugged and smiled sweetly. “I’m a people watcher by nature. You wouldn’t hold that against me, would you? Tell you what, why don’t we meet up again when he’s not around?” She elbowed Jack in the side.
Jack stifled a grunt but before he could speak, the bartender shook his head. “The boss’ll have my head for consorting with the guests,” he muttered. “Not that he wouldn’t appreciate your charms himself but I need this job.”
“Smart move,” Jack said, making note of his reference to Lederman’s taste for the ladies.
Jimmy scowled. “She’s all yours, buddy.”
“I’m not anyone’s,” Mallory muttered. “Especially his.”
Jack grinned. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying, do you sweetheart?”
The bartender cursed beneath his breath and headed back to the bar to clean up for the night. Obviously he didn’t like the idea of Jack getting the better of him, but when he put his testosterone aside, he knew his job came first.
Jack turned to his colleague. “Time to get you upstairs.” Without waiting for a reply he lifted her into his arms and over one shoulder. “See ya around,” he called out to the bartender who was still cursing and nursing his wounded pride.
Jimmy glanced over and caught sight of Jack’s caveman routine and Mallory’s flailing fists. He laughed hard. “Maybe you’re not so bad. You come by tomorrow,” he said to Jack. “Drinks are still on the house.”
Mallory punched helplessly at Jack’s back until the last shot hit a kidney.
Jack grunted. “You got it,” he called. “Maybe we can compare notes.”
“Put me down,” Mallory yelled at him.