“I think it’d be nice, too. What better place to try it than here? In my hotel where I’m familiar.”
She had a point there. But bars…they were my specialty, but also my trigger. What if someone got out of hand in there? Scared her? I might not be able to talk myself out of hammering anyone who harmed her.
“You did say you were feeling brave.” I took in the sight of her in that dress and kick ass boots. “And you look so sexy, I wouldn’t mind showing you off.”
“And I’m with you.”
We stopped directly outside the entryway to the bar, and I faced her. “You are with me, Lina. I’ll keep you safe. No matter what. You say the word and we’ll get out of there.”
“What’s the word?”
“What do you mean what’s the word?”
“You said say the word and we’ll leave, so what’s the word?”
I laughed, and she followed suit.
“Candy Corn.” She smiled as she nodded. “I think that’s a good word.”
“I’d say that’s perfect. Ready?” I faced the bar, and she sidled up next to me.
At first glance it appeared to be active with about twenty or so people dispersed throughout the small establishment. Mostly men, probably the business guys the girl at the front desk had alluded to. A few couples sat at the six booths along the far wall, eating.
Around the mahogany bar that was the centerpiece to the room off to the left, a handful of guys sat on barstools, hunched over their pints. In the back, there were three couples dancing to a slow song beneath the flashing lights of a disco ball.
“Wow. They redid the dance floor. I remember hearing about that.” She clutched my hand as we walked in.
The bartender nodded her greeting, and I held my hand up, “Two Cokes, please.” And I pointed to the two-person table closest to the dance floor. “Doing okay?”
“Great. It’s so pretty in here. Oh! Check it out.” She pointed to the wall. “That’s me and Sylvester Stallone.” She laughed. “Oh my gosh. I remember that.”
We walked toward the wall filled with various framed pictures of famous hotel visitors. “Sly Stallone, huh?”
“Dad was a huge fan of his, so he absolutely had to get a picture of him with his little girl.”
I leaned in and that’s when I saw her true smile. I’d seen plenty of them over the past months, but this one, this was bright, untainted by the events of her life. Genuine, carefree, and totally trusting.
Stallone had her propped on his shoulder, and she had her hands up like he’d done in Rocky. I’d seen her do that a few times when she’d mastered a self-defense move during our training. Or when she’d first gotten three blocks away from the hotel without a panic attack.
This girl was a survivor. And here she was experimenting on New Year’s Eve by walking into a bar to make me happy, because I’d mentioned how it’d be nice to go out with her and do a little dancing someday.
Pride for her swelled thick in my chest—along with my desire for her. Inching in front of me, she pointed to another picture. “There. That’s Dad with Tom Hanks. Cool. I didn’t realize these were here.”
“He’s proud of you.”
“Even if I was a total flop for a daughter.”
“Lina!”
“Sorry. Negative Nellie strikes again. But it’s hard, you know?” She turned around and looked up at me, standing so close I felt the heat radiating off her body. “He—they—have no association with me. Other than a monthly package.” Her jaw clenched. “Did you know…well, you couldn’t, but he even…changed my last name.”
I did know, but she didn’t need to know that, and from the sad look in her eyes, she didn’t know it was done to protect her. “Go on.”
“It’s nothing.” She inched closer to me and wove her arms around my waist. “No more Negative Nellie tonight.” Soft lips touched my neck. It was as high as she could reach without getting up on her tiptoes or wearing heels.
I held still while she peppered kisses along my neckline and pulled herself flush against me. While we might have some similarities in our past prisons, we were quite the contrast in body type. Hers was soft, mine hard. She had no tattoos, and I was covered in them. She was dainty where I was a big thug.
As her warmth seeped into me, my body tightened, wanting no barriers between us, wanting only to feel her bare skin. My hands itched to touch every part of her, to make her feel good.