He was still beautiful and now he looked slightly pissed, definitely impatient and that meant, as close as he was, he was even more beautiful. He was also the perfect height, well taller than me but I knew, just tipping up on my toes, I could round his shoulders with my arms. A slight bend of his neck, he could kiss me.

My palms started sweating again.

"Coat, scarf, purse, get them, get them on. Take the money, stow it and get outta here," he ordered. "Do not delay. Walk fast, get to the hotel, chain and lock the door."

That didn't sound good.

"This guy trouble?" I asked.

"You know he is, dollface," he answered quietly.

He called me dollface.

I liked that.

I swallowed.

"Okay, is this guy more trouble than I thought he was?"

"Yeah," he answered instantly.

"Right then since I knew he was definitely trouble and not the good kind, how much more is he?"

"On the trouble scale of one to ten?" Gray asked and I nodded. "A hundred and fifty."

That surprised me. I rarely underestimated anybody and especially not trouble.

I felt my brows go up. "Seriously?"

His face underlined his one word answer, "Seriously."

Wow.

"You're not getting your stuff," he prompted, letting my elbow go.

I held his eyes then walked to the stool where I put my stuff. I pulled on and buttoned up my jeans jacket, wrapped my scarf around my neck and pulled the strap of my purse over my head.

Once I'd done this, my eyes went back to Gray who hadn't moved. The minute they hit him, he lifted a hand, index finger extended and he moved it back and forth, indicating I should go there.

And when he did that, I knew I was definitely stupid. Not the game of pool with Cocky Guy stupid. Coming to the bar stupid. Coming to the bar to get exactly what I got. Another eyeful (and then some) of Gray.

And I knew this because him wagging a long, handsome finger at me in that self-assured, manly way of his made things happen to me I'd never felt in my life. Not once. They happened on the inside in a way that I wasn't certain I could hide on the outside. And I also wasn't certain if my suddenly trembling legs would keep me standing.

I went there.

When I got there, again his hand came to my elbow but this time I felt it, every centimeter. The touch was light, he wasn't manhandling me, he wasn't making a point. But I felt every centimeter of his fingers that were touching me.

Every centimeter.

"You and your partner didn't leave town," he remarked.

"Uh...he had something he wanted to do. We're gone first thing in the morning."

"He at your hotel room now?"

I didn't want to share this.

I had to share this.

"Doubtfully."

Gray studied me. Then he nodded.

Then he ordered, "Don't leave your hotel room unless he's with you. No visit to the diner for breakfast. Nothing. Yeah?"

Wow.

"Is he really that serious of a problem?" I asked.

"Absolutely," Gray answered.

Hells bells.

I looked away and whispered, "Darn."

"Dollface," he called, my belly shifted in a way that felt really nice and I looked back to him. "I didn't think you'd make the bet."

I stared. Then I asked, "Sorry?"

"You were blowin' him off. Then suddenly you made the bet. I didn't think you'd make the bet."

He was saying he would have stepped in if he knew I was going to give in.

This was nice too.

He was just nice.

I liked that.

Stupid, stupid me.

I nodded.

Cocky Guy showed and wasted no time glaring at us and shoving bills at me.

Gray let me go and took them.

"Good you're just passin' through," he said to me and his meaning was clear. I wasn't welcome in his town.

I didn't reply.

I noted out of the corner of my eye that Gray was counting the money.

Then he said softly, "It's all there, darlin'."

I looked at him, nodded, looked down, took the money, looked to my purse and used both hands to stow it in my wallet without taking my wallet out of my bag.

Then I looked at Cocky Guy. "Nice to meet you."

"Bite me," he muttered and moved away.

Well there it was. Rude.

Then I looked to Gray.

"Thanks again," I whispered.

"Get gone," he whispered back.

Not two words I wanted him to say to me but now, essentially, he'd said them twice.

I wished I was the kind of girl who had the gumption to lean in and kiss him. Even if it was just his cheek to say thanks.

I wasn't that kind of girl. I'd never kissed a man, never been kissed.

So I didn't.

I just took in a deep breath and then I got out of there.

Chapter Five.

Scoop Up All the Pretty Ones Eighteen minutes later...

"Bud, not good."

Lying on my back in my bed in my darkened hotel room, I sighed.

That didn't take long. I was in my hotel room maybe, at most, fifteen minutes.

And those words, said by who I knew was Gray, came from outside my closed and locked door.

"Fuck you, Cody. Go home. You don't know this bitch. Don't get involved."

That was Cocky Guy.

I had the lights out. Boots on. Coat on. Baseball bat in my hand.

Casey had a gun. I didn't do guns.

I did baseball bats.

I lifted up, throwing my legs to the side and twisting my hips. My cowboy boots hit floor silently. My hand gripped the handle of the bat tightly.

"Not movin', you know it, you want in there you gotta go through me."

That was Gray.

"Honest to God, you're one mean fucker but you can't take four of us."

That wasn't Cocky Guy. That was a sidekick.

They'd all come.

Gray was right, not good.

"Not sure you want to find out."

That was Gray.

I pushed to my feet.

Then I heard the grunt of pain.

Hells bells!

I rushed to the door and looked through the peephole.

There they were; all four of them on Gray.

Gray.

Gray, a man who had seen me three times, looked out for me three times and on the fourth was being beat up in the parking lot of a small town hotel to protect me.

I shouldn't get involved. I should call the front office. I should tell them to call the cops. Or I should just call the cops.

I didn't.

I pulled back the chain, turned the lock and charged out.

I advanced swinging.

I aimed low and caught one of the sidekicks on the side of the knee. He yowled and scuttled sideways. I left him, swung back and then connected with sidekick two's back. Another howl, he jerked around and advanced with the other guy I nailed who'd recovered.