Because of Lila (Sea Breeze Meets Rosemary Beach 2)

The people around us cheered. After I slugged back that shot I handed her another twenty from my pocket and we did it one more time. The buzz from her large tan breasts in my face mixed with the whiskey had me feeling like myself. I winked at her, and she brushed her almost bare nipple over my mouth while smiling at me wickedly before climbing off me.

When I stood up, I had to take a moment to steady myself. “You come on back when you want some more,” she said her accent thick and exotic.

“You keep talking to me, and I might never leave,” I told her.

She lifted both breasts and shook them at me. Damn, I loved this place. I picked up my drink that was on the table and finished it off. I remembered Lila Kate, but the concern for her safety had eased off a bit. I scanned the area expecting to see her off dancing again with some stranger, but I didn’t see her at all. I was feeling relaxed and more than a little turned on. Not being able to spot her snatched that feeling away real damn fast.

I looked through the crowd again, but she was nowhere.

“Your girl left. Don’t think she was a fan of watching you drink from another woman’s boobs.” I jerked my head to the left to see a tall redhead with a disgusted look on her face. “Can’t say I blame her,” the woman said as she pointed at the exit to her right. “She went out there before the second shot.”

I should have thanked her or corrected her assumption, but I did neither. I hurried for the door Lila had left out of hoping she hadn’t gone far. This street was getting packed already and finding her among all these people and all these bars would be difficult if not impossible.

I just wanted to have some fun, and she couldn’t let me have it. She couldn’t stay fucking put for a few minutes. Jesus, she was more trouble than I’d anticipated. Her dark hair was the first thing I saw when I stepped out of the bar. She was standing by a street light only a few feet from the bar.

Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her shoulders slightly bent. Like she was cold and trying to keep warm. That couldn’t be it though because it was hot as fuck out here.

“Lila!” I called to her. She slowly turned to look at me and then resumed her stance—like she saw me but wasn’t interested in me at all. Or like she was pissed.

I took the few steps to reach her, ready to ask what the hell she had been thinking coming out here alone. But when I got to her she dropped her arms and kept her gaze on everything and anything but me. “Ready for the next bar?” she asked.

She was upset. It was in her tone. “Why did you just walk out?” I asked frustrated by this whole scenario. I’d just started enjoying myself.

“I didn’t like that bar.”

What? “You don’t like a place so you just leave. You couldn’t wait to tell me?”

“You were busy.” The sarcasm dripping from her voice wasn’t missed.

“I was just starting to enjoy myself. Jesus, Lila.”

She started walking away then. Like she was angry and wanted to get away from me. I’d done nothing wrong. “Then go back in there and have fun. If that’s what you want to do, I have no problem with it.” The tone or her voice didn’t sound like she had no problem with it.

I reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her. “What is with you? Are you pissed that I drank shots from that girl’s tits? That’s what she’s there for. Some of the bars here have a lot more than that. It was tame. I wasn’t hurting anyone.”

She sighed heavily, and then finally turned to look at me. “That’s what you like?”

“Drinking shots from a woman’s cleavage? Yes, so do all heterosexual men on the fucking planet.”

“You don’t know her.”

“No, but that doesn’t really matter.”

She studied me a moment. “Have you ever been in love, Cruz?”

What the fuck? How had we gone from me liking whiskey between tits to love? “No, but what the hell’s that got to do with this conversation?”

The way she was studying me made me uncomfortable. Like she could see more than I wanted. “Because it seems shallow.”

“It’s sexy, fun. It’s not supposed to be anything more.”

Lila didn’t reply to that. I let her pull her arm out of my grasp. She finally nodded. “Okay.” I wasn’t sure what she meant by “okay” and if that was her way of ending this ridiculous talk we were having then good.

“Let’s go find more sexy and fun things to do,” she said as she began walking again.