A Perfect Ten (Forbidden Men 5)

He smiled back, though his eyes had a hard time staying on mine. They liked to wander and dip, checking out my chest. He definitely wasn’t uninterested. If I wanted him, I could probably snag him. Now, I just had to figure out if I really wanted him.

“What about you?” I asked.

He paused before answering, flagging down a waitress and taking two bottles off her tray before paying for them.

As he turned back to me, offering me one of them, I bit my lip. He hadn’t bothered to ask if I wanted this brand of beer, or even if the drink I preferred was beer. That had to be a mark on the con side of my list. But he did have an awfully pretty smile and very expressive eyes that let me know just how much he liked what he saw when he looked at me. That tallied two checkmarks on the pro side. I decided to give him another chance before I made my final decision.

“Thanks,” I said and reached for the bottle. But before I could gain possession, another hand swooped in and took it from him.

My stomach sank into my knees.

Busted.

I looked up, expecting to find a furious Noel, but was shocked to see Oren instead. Ignoring me, he glared down my prospective one-night stand as if he wanted to kick Trey’s ass.

A bubble of excitement bounced around in my chest. Was he jealous? He kind of looked jealous. A mad jealous. I hoped he was jealous and swept me away, forgetting about his four skanks, and took me home with him instead.

“Are you fucking blind, asshole?” Grabbing my elbow, he lifted my arm and waved my bare wrist in Trey’s face. “Do you want to go to jail tonight for giving alcohol to a minor?”

My mouth fell open as hypocrite Tenning continued to glower at Trey, because Oren just happened to be one of Noel’s coworkers who gave me free alcohol whenever he was working the bar and Noel was not.

“I...I...” Face flooding a bright, embarrassed red, Trey glanced at me, his eyes wide with alarm. I could tell by the look on his face he’d just realized I’d played him. “I didn’t know she was a minor. I’m sorry.”

“Well, maybe you would’ve gotten the clue if you’d been able to stop staring at her tits long enough to see that she wasn’t wearing a wristband, fuckwad.”

I tried to jerk my arm out of Oren’s grip

, but he refused to let go. Taking a step closer to Trey, he asked, “Do you even know who her brother is?”

Oh God. He just had to go there, didn’t he?

Even more worry lit Trey’s face as he gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing quickly. “N-no.” He darted a glance toward me. “Who’s her brother?”

Oren grinned. “The name Noel Gamble ring a bell?”

“Shit,” Trey croaked. “You mean the football quarterback?”

“Mmm hmm.” Oren hitched his face to the side, motioning toward the bar. “And he’s right over there, behind the bar.”

We all looked—Trey, his two friends, me, even Oren—and yep, there was Noel watching us, his expression pissed and his arms crossed stonily over his chest in his signature disappointed big brother stance.

The three guys Oren was intimidating whimpered, “Oh shit,” together.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Trey turned to me to offer his apologies, but I guess he was too worried about talking directly to me because he hesitated and promptly turned back to Oren. “I’ll never talk to her again. I swear.”

“You better not, scumbag. Now get lost.” When he made a dismissive motion with his chin, Trey and his friends cleared out, tripping over each other in their haste.

My face flooded with heat. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever felt so humiliated in my life, like a little girl who’d just been reprimanded for misbehaving.

Oren puffed out his chest in self-congratulations. “Damn that was easy.” He grinned at me. “But what a bunch of pussies, huh?” Then he took a big, long swig of the beer that had been meant for me.

As I watched him laugh and wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, my humiliation morphed into red, hot rage.

“What...the...hell?” I shoved him right in the chest, using both hands and trying not to notice how defined his pecs felt under my palms. So much better than Trey’s had been—even though that was so not the point.

My beer he had confiscated sloshed onto him, in his face and down his shirt.

He leapt back, jerking the bottle upright. “Easy, woman! This is my favorite shirt.”