Before Shade could respond, Dalton found himself engulfed by the women who had come in with T.A.
The redhead stared at him so hard, Dalton wanted to straighten his shirt as she critically looked him over from head to toe.
“You look bigger in your movies.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you.”
“Didn’t say I was disappointed, just that you’re not big. I thought you were big like Knox. You’re the same height, but he has a good thirty pounds on you.”
“I bulk up more when I do movies.”
“Let me know when you’re going to do another one. I’ll work out with you and make sure you get it right.”
Dalton laughed. “I’m retired.”
“That’s bullshit. Actors don’t retire; they just don’t get hired anymore. Dude, I’d watch you make a remake of Popeye.”
The man holding the redhead pulled her closer to him when she gave Dalton a seductive wink.
“Behave, Sex Piston. I think you’re scaring him.”
“Shit, he’s not scared, are you?” The woman tried to pull away from his restraining hold, then gave up when another woman with brown hair stepped forward.
“Hi,” she breathed out, staring at him with an enraptured gaze. “I’m Fat Louise.”
He held his hand out to her. “Hello, I’m Dalton Andrews.”
“Yes, you are. Will you marry me?”
As soon as the words were out, Fat Louise was pulled backward to a man’s chest.
“You’re already married. Remember me?”
Fat Louise waved a hand over her shoulder. “This is Cade. Ignore him.”
Dalton couldn’t tell if she was trying to introduce him to Cade or was waving him away.
“He’s my ex-husband.”
“Since when?”
“Since about three minutes ago,” she said. The fact that Cade wasn’t upset at his wife’s behavior made Dalton instantly like him. All the men standing around with the women were confident and weren’t jealous of the women’s behavior.
Cade had reached around his wife to shake his hand, and the man who had gathered Sex Piston closer had reached out to shake his hand next.
“I’m Stud. Sorry about my wife and her friends. They should have waited for Lucky or Shade to introduce us.”
“It’s not a problem. I’m enjoying myself.”
“Let’s see if you can say that when you get to know them better,” Shade mumbled from behind the bar and pointed to the man standing by Stud. “This is Lucky, and the woman who won’t let your hand go is Crazy Bitch, and the guy who’s trying to get her away is her husband, Calder. You already met T.A., so I won’t introduce you. Dax, the woman standing behind Calder is T.A.”
Dalton shook hands as Shade made the introductions, watching from the corner of his eye as Dax stepped around him to shake T.A.’s hand.
“It nice to meet you, T.A. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”
Her mouth dropped open in surprise. “You have?”
“It’s not every day a woman can bring my dad to his knees. What’s your secret?”
7
T.A. clenched her hands inside her coat pockets, flushing at being the center of everyone’s attention. The room was overflowing with male testosterone; it was enough to go to a woman’s head.
Each of her friends had a few fantasies regarding Shade, which they had joked about when they were hanging around and getting drunk; they’d had even more about Dalton Andrews. More than once, they’d ended up at the Destructors’ club after watching one of his movies. Each of them had their own particular fantasy in which the man standing in front of them had played a pivotal role.
Feverishly, T.A. said the first thing that came to her mind.
“It was a lucky shot.”
“I don’t think Dad would agree.” Dax laughed, holding his hand out to shake hers.
Taking it, she forced herself not to look at Dalton. Dax resembled his father in height and features, but that was where the similarities ended. Dalton stood with bearing that alluded to strength and confidence while Dax was friendly and approachable.
“I don’t think he would either.” T.A. dropped Dax’s hand and moved closer to where Dalton was standing. “I want to apologize. I was angry that you wouldn’t help me out. I didn’t know I was making a fool of myself.”
His face went stern. “You didn’t make a fool of yourself. You didn’t know that I had contacted Grace and she told me what she had done. You’re the one who deserves an apology for frightening you enough that you lost your temper. I’m sorry.”
Smiling, she put her hand out. “If you forget I kneed you, we can call it even.”
Fascinated, she watched his eyes crinkle in the corners in amusement.
“I can do that. Deal. I was going to extend that to Killyama too, but I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her.”
“I don’t know if I’d call it a pleasure.”
T.A. gave Shade a killing look at his low mutter.
“She’s at home. She wasn’t feeling well. Hopefully, she’ll be able to meet you before you leave. Killy is your biggest fan.”