Page 22 of Tiger Bitten

“I saw some swings outside.”

He nodded, his jaw clenched hard. Without another word, he led her to the bar, ordered her a white wine, grabbed a second water for himself, and slid his big strong hand around hers, then led her outside at a pace she could manage in her heals.

Once to the edge of the grass, he hesitated. “Do you want to take them off?”

“Take what off?” she asked and took a sip of her wine.

“Your shoes? You’re limping.”

“Oh. I’m getting a blister.”

“Why isn’t your healing kicking in?” he asked, frowning down at her left foot.

She froze and nearly choked on another sip of wine. “Um, I probably don’t heal like you.”

His frown was deep, and his eyes were glowing so bright, they looked almost the color of snow.

She kicked out of her heals and bent down, picked them up and told him, “This way.” She groaned at how good the manicured grass felt under her bare feet.

The sun was setting on the horizon. A couple of others had meandered out here. One couple were sitting in the grass talking and watching the cloud smattered sunset, and a couple of women were sitting on one of the oversized freestanding swings, chatting.

The nearest one was open, and he held it steady while she sat down. Truth be told, she loved how smooth he was with the gentleman stuff.

She wouldn’t admit it, because they were here on a mission as friends, but she was starting to really like him. And scarier? She was feeling safe with him. Her mother was inside schmoozing her friends and was probably four glasses of wine deep, and she had beaten into Ren’s head how dangerous Cats were. But Mars didn’t feel dangerous. He felt important instead.

The swing creaked as he sat beside her and with one outstretched leg, he rocked them back and forth gently, eyes on the pretty orange and yellow streaks painting the sky.

“I’ve never been to a wedding like this,” he said low.

And she told him the story of why her Uncle Ronnie deserved this happy ending so much. Or happy beginning, more like. She told him about his awful first wife and what she’d done to his daughters mentally. She told him about how much Ren had appreciated his care as she’d been growing up, and how happy she was that he’d found Kelly. She found herself blabbing about little side stories from her youth. Funny stories from when he’d been coaching her softball team, and she told him about this one time he’d grounded her for meandering off into the woods and getting lost for four hours and scaring him half to death. He’d made her stay inside the whole next day but fed her tons of ice cream because he’d felt guilty about grounding her. He had spent the entire day watching movies with her and playing checkers, so it hadn’t really felt like grounding, and her mom had reprimanded him for being the worst at punishing her.

Mars’s chuckles encouraged her to open up more, and as the sun set completely, and the barn lights were turned on, she found herself snuggled closer to Mars’s side, with one leg drawn up and one bent and resting on his leg as she blabbed.

The wine was long gone, but the tipsiness she felt just made her bubbly with him.

Mars looked behind them and muttered an annoyed curse. When she looked back, Abe was leading Taryn to the lawn to sit on a blanket he’d grabbed at the door. As he unrolled it, he glanced over at Ren.

“You know, I was worried about seeing him again,” she murmured. “But I feel nothing.”

Mars rested his big hand on her knee, and it sent the butterflies in her stomach into a frenzy. Her stomach dipped like she was on a roller coaster as she looked up into his eyes.

The slow song from the speakers inside drifted to them on the breeze, and Mars stood, and offered his hand.

“What are you doing?” Ren asked.

“I want to dance with you again. When will we ever get this chance?”

She looked around, but no one seemed to be paying attention. With a soft smile, she slid her hand against his and allowed him to lift her off the swing.

He pulled her closer this time than when they were inside on the dance floor. He hugged her, swaying them side to side in rhythm with the song that filled the air. Her cheek rested against his chest and she closed her eyes, just enjoying the feel of him.

He was right.

When would they ever have a moment like this again? All dressed up, and dancing at a wedding, friends who were nearly strangers.

“Ren?” he asked.

“Yeah?” She looked up at him. He was so handsome as the last light of sunset warred with the barn lights for the shadows on his face.