Huffing at his cryptic response, she snapped, “I literally do not have time for you.”
He reached out and grasped her chin, bringing her attention solely to him. Her eyes widened at his demonstrative display. “What you thought you heard the other day, you didn’t.”
She grasped his wrist. “Seriously? Do you need to upset menow?”
“Thought you were already upset; thought I’d clear that up.”
She jerked her chin out of his grasp. “You suck at un-upsetting someone.” She tried to gauge where Jemma was at with orders’ status and saw Darlene at the other end of the bar, staring at them. She mouthed something that might have been: “Are you okay?”
Cassidy shrugged before nodding.
“Jemma, I’ll be back. I’m going to do another sweep for empties.”
Jemma made a sign indicating she’d heard her.
“Not running away from me, are you?”
There was a taunt in his voice. Cassidy leaned into him, pressing against his side. His hand went to her waist, setting off a maelstrom of sensation in her as she looked at him. “Didn’t you tell me to pay attention to my instinct to run from you?” And then she lurched away, glancing back to catch how he’d ducked his head to watch her go.
The night dragged by, the score was pretty one-sided. The local team kicked some butt, causing the drinks to flow more liberally and the patrons to become rowdier. The noise level was almost deafening. Cassidy and Darlene began collecting car and boat keys along with credit cards.
By the time Cassidy returned to the bar, Mac had disappeared. Cassidy assumed he’d found a woman, and they’d left for the evening. She started unloading her tray, trying hard not to give him another thought. She glanced down the short bar at David. “You still doing okay?”
David frowned. “What?” He indicated the general atmosphere.
Leaving her tray, Cassidy took the few steps down the bar to him and leaned in, matching his leaning pose, shouting into his ear, “Are you doing okay?”
David looked up into her eyes and kept smiling. He shifted on his stool. “Well, there’s this…”
Cassidy gave him an encouraging nod, shifting closer to hear.
He placed his hand on her hip as he started talking again. His eyes dropped to the front of her jersey, staring at her breasts instead of her eyes. “There’s this thing I’ve been wanting to ask.”
“What?” She moved, hoping to dislodge his hand, but it slid lower.
“With you being out at the lake house all by yourself, and all…”
Cassidy took a step back, instinct kicking in that this wasn’t a question she wanted him to finish, but his hand behind her held her in place. She gasped when his other hand landed on her thigh while he asked, “Do you get lonely out there, now your man’s gone?”
His hand began sliding up between her legs before she slammed her legs shut. “David! Stop it!” She grasped his wrist to stop his upward progress, her panicked gaze flying toward Darlene. She didn’t want to cause a scene, not with a regular customer, but there was ass-grabbing, and there was straight-up accosting. He was inches from an unwelcome invasion.
A warm body pressed against her back, and David’s hand was removed from her bottom. A reassuring one rode her opposite hip. Her tingling told her who it was before she heard the deadly warning over her shoulder, “Take your hands off her.”
David glared at Mac, his eyes shifting between them. “This isn’t any of your business.”
“You touch her when she doesn’t want it; it’s my business,” Mac assured him.
Cassidy pushed again at the hand between her legs while pressing back against Mac to create distance between herself and David. “David, please.”
David stood up, his beef now more with Mac than with her, his fingers digging into her thigh, causing her to cringe. “Hear that? She’s begging for it.”
Cassidy could feel Mac’s body go rigid. His voice was like ice as he asked, “You want this man’s hands on you, Day?”
“No!”
David snarled at her, “You’ve been making eyes at me all night, you little whore.”
Mac moved so fast Cassidy didn’t have time to react. He spun her away with a single jerk on her arm and, with the same movement, landed a solid punch to David’s face. The man stumbled over his barstool with a roar and swayed. Mac was ready with another punch when David tried to attack, sending the man back into the darkened alcove.