Completely Smitten

Bullies moving in for the kill.

He swore under his breath as he set his mug on the bar and pulled off his cap. The one with U.S. Marshals embroidered on the front. He was hot, he was tired, he was hungry. The last thing he wanted tonight was a fight.

Since when did fate pay any attention to what he wanted?

He turned on the bar stool and surveyed the situation. The blonde stood between two big guys with more tattoos than sense. A third, smaller man, had his hand on her arm.

She was of medium height, maybe five-four or five-five, with short hair and big eyes, more blue than hazel. There wasn’t a speck of makeup on her face, but she was still attractive, with full lips and a stubborn-looking chin.

Her clothing choices made him wince. The shapeless short-sleeved dress she wore fell nearly to her ankles. It looked ugly enough to be embarrassed to be a dust cloth—with a white lace collar and some god-awful flower print. What was it about women and clothes with plants on them?

Kevin approached the quartet. The blonde struggled to break free of the little guy’s hold. When she looked up and saw him, relief filled her eyes.

“You with them?” he asked, getting more tired by the second.

She shook her head.

Kevin turned his full attention on the man holding her arm. “Then, son, you’d best let the lady go.”

One of the big guys took a step toward him. Kevin flexed his hands.

“I’ve had a bad day, gentlemen. I’m hungry, tired, and not in the mood. So you can walk away right now, or we can move it outside. I feel obliged to warn you that if we take this to the next level, the only one walking away will be me.”

Haley couldn’t believe it. She felt as if she was in one of those Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry movies her dad liked so much. She half expected to see the dark-haired man pull out a .357 Magnum and ask someone to make his day.

Instead, the skinny man with rabbit teeth who’d been holding her arm let go. He took a step back, holding up his hands and trying to smile.

“We didn’t mean nothin’. Just thought the lady would like some company.”

His two friends nodded. They were big. Bigger than her rescuer. A couple of their tattoos had interesting swearwords woven into the designs. She’d been trying to read them when Mr. Rabbit Teeth had grabbed her.

The three of them threw some bills on their table and left. Haley breathed a sigh of relief.

“That was something,” she said earnestly. “I didn’t know what to do. I mean, when he wouldn’t let go. I thought about screaming, but it’s kind of embarrassing to have to do that. I didn’t want to make a fuss.”

The man who had come to her assistance didn’t say anything. Instead, he headed back toward the bar and slid onto his stool. She followed.

“Thank you for rescuing me,” she said.

“Make a fuss,” he said, reaching for his beer.

She sat next to him. “What?”

He took a long swallow, then stared at her over the mug. “Next time you get in trouble, make a fuss. Better yet, next time stay out of bars.”

Haley reached out to tug on a strand of her hair, only to remember too late that she’d cut it all off the previous afternoon. Instead of a long braid nearly to her waist, she had short bits of fluff flying around her head.

She smoothed what was left of her bangs, then nodded. Stay out of bars. It was probably good advice. “I just can’t,” she said with a sigh. “Not yet.”

The man stared at her. “You have a death wish?”

She laughed. “I’m not going to get killed. I just need to handle things better.” She scooted a little closer and lowered her voice. “Can you believe that until two days ago I’d never been in a bar before?”

Her rescuer stared at her in shock.

“I know,” she said. “I’ve led a very sheltered life. It’s pathetic. I mean, I’m twenty-five years old and I’ve been living like a nun.” She shrugged. “Not that I’m Catholic. We’re Baptists. My dad’s a minister at our church.”

The man didn’t say anything. He turned his attention to the baseball game on the television. Haley studied his strong profile. He was handsome, in a rugged, cigarette-advertisement sort of way. There was an air of strength about him. He looked people in the eye when he spoke and she liked that. He wore his dark hair short.

She reached over and picked up his U.S. Marshals cap, then ran her fingers along the stitching. “So you’re like a cop?”

“Sort of.”

“I’ll bet you’re a good one.”

He turned his attention back to her. She noticed he had brown eyes the color of chocolate, and while he’d yet to smile at her, she liked the shape of his mouth.

“How the hell would you know that?” he asked, sounding gruff and annoyed.

His tone made her spine stiffen just a little, while the swearword startled her. He’d said the H-word. Just like that. She would bet that he hadn’t even planned it. The word had just come out.

One day she was going to swear, too. She would casually drop the H-word or the D-word into conversation. But that was all. Swearing was one thing, but really bad words were just ugly.

He waved a hand in front of her face. “Are you still in there?”

“Oh. Sorry. What was the question?”

“Never mind.”

She put his hat back on the bar. “I’m Haley Foster.” She held out her hand.

He stared at it for a long time before taking it in his and shaking. “Kevin Harmon.”

“Nice to meet you, Kevin.”

He grunted and turned back to the television.

Haley shifted slightly on her stool and took in the ambience of the location. There were several posters of various sports, some advertisements for alcoholic beverages. The floor was dirty, and some of the tables looked as if they hadn’t been wiped off in a while. Except for a woman with an incredibly large bosom in the corner, she seemed to be the only female in the place.

She glanced at her watch. It was nearly eight. “Why aren’t there more women here?” she asked.

Kevin never took his gaze off the game. “It’s not that kind of place.”

“What kind of place?”

“This isn’t the kind of bar where you bring a date.”

There were different kinds of bars? “How do you know that?”