Page 4 of Offside Possession
Did she just… dismiss me?
Had I just been fully affected by a woman head to toe and brushed off?
I shook the rejection away, for some reason now remotivated to stay just a little longer. I turned to look at her, but Miss Trouble was now focused on trying to get a bartender’s attention.
I looked behind her trying to figure out what party she belonged to because there was no way a woman as stunning as the one next to me would go to a place like this all alone.
“What can I get you, gorgeous?” Greg, the bartender on shift, came over and asked, leaning his muscular forearms on the bar, showing off the veins and tats. Her laughter sounded like the tinkling of a bell, something that with any other woman would have annoyed me, but with her I found so damn endearing, the green-eyed monster I didn’t know lived inside of me reared its ugly head.
“What’s good here?” she asked with a smirk I felt at the base of my balls despite not being on the receiving end of it. Her tone was so full of confidence and innuendo, there was no way she didn’t know exactly what she was doing.
Trouble was a flirt.
“That depends.” Greg smiled. His eyes skated down her body. My hand clenched tighter around my bottle. I didn’t like him looking at her.
“On?” Her head tilted with interest. The action made her silky dark hair sway to one side.
“She’ll have a mojito on the rocks,” I interrupted like a complete and utter jackass. She turned to look at me and blinked.
“Excuse me?” She frowned; the cutest little lines formed on her forehead.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” I challenged. Miss Trouble rolled her eyes.
“Some guys,” she muttered under her breath before returning her attention to Greg. “I’ll take a soda water with lime and a cherry and your brisket platter, if you still have it.”
“We got it,” Greg said and walked away to put her order in.
“Brisket platter?” I asked. She didn’t bother to look at me.
“Let me guess, you’re all about not eating things with a face?” she asked, and I chuckled.
“Not at all. Speaking of faces and eating, you have a pretty one.” A horrifying moment of silence fell between us. Shit, had I just made it sound like I was some kind of cannibal?
“Excuse me?” She frowned, looking at me as her hands moved inside the purse she had on her lap.
“Shit, I just meant eating faces.” Fuck me, I was making it worse, but the horrified expression was slowly melting away to what I could only hope was amusement. “Can I start over?”
“I hope so.”
“You’re beautiful,” I blurted out like some green-behind-the-ears boy around the first girl he ever found himself crushing on. A slight tinge of pink colored her cheeks, which surprised me. She was a woman used to compliments; there was no way she wasn’t with how fucking beautiful she was. Yet I’d made her blush. Gold star for me!
“Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself, I guess… in the looks department, that is.”
“My pick-up lines need a little work.” It wasn’t like I had to usually use them.
“I would say so.” The genuine smile on her face shifted to the polite one before Greg returned with a brisket platter and her drink.
“Here you go. Brisket platter with all the fixings.” The asshole had the nerve to wink at her. My nose flared as I bit down on my tongue.
“Thanks, it looks amazing.” She smiled.
“Just holler if you need anything else,” he said before walking away, leaving us alone.
“That’s a lot of food,” I noted and winced at myself again. What the hell is wrong with me? I held a finger up between us, and before she could say anything, I spoke again, “Let me take my size-thirteen boots out of my mouth.” Thankfully, this made her laugh. Loud and carefree to the point she wiped tears away from the edges of her eyes.
“Wanna share?” she offered. I looked at the plate. I didn’t need the macros or the carbs, but fuck me, I’d find a way to burn off the calories before meeting my buddy’s baby sister tomorrow.
“Thanks.” I reached over and grabbed a fry, popping it into my mouth. A deep groan escaped from me at the taste of the salty crispiness. When I looked at her again, she was staring at me.
