“So?”
Dave shook his head in exasperation. “Seems as apparently it’s out in the open now, I may as well tell you, along with warning the lot of us off touching you, Jake’s made it perfectly clear that if you come on these nights out, we’re expected to see that you don’t get into any trouble.”
“Trouble?” she queried, a frown forming between her eyes. “What sort of trouble?”
Dave nodded in the direction of the dark-haired man at the bar. “That sort of trouble.”
“I don’t believe this. Who does Jake think he is? My father?”
“I doubt that’s quite the role he has in mind,” Dave said wryly. “But you’d better talk to him about that.”
“I will,” she promised. “In the meantime, let me make it quite clear—you are now all relieved of babysitting duties.”
She put her drink on the bar and slowly and defiantly peeled off her jacket, exposing large amounts of naked flesh to the gawking group.
“Could you hold this for me a minute?” she asked nonchalantly, handing the jacket to Steve, whose stare was riveted on her bare midriff.
“Where are you going?” he asked suspiciously.
“The ladies’ room. Why? You want to come with me?”
He shook his head. Kim glanced around at the others. “Anybody? No? Well, I’ll see you all in a minute, and I promise to do my best to stay out of trouble. Honest.”
The route to the ladies’ took her right past the “trouble.” She peeked at him out of the corner of her eyes as she passed, gratified he was still paying attention. In the ladies’, she stared at herself in the mirror. A stranger stared back, her long hair loose and tousled around her face, her normally calm eyes stormy.
On her way back to the bar, she purposefully raised an eyebrow at her admirer, who tilted his glass again and indicated the empty seat next to him. Kim perched on the barstool and smiled. She risked a quick glance at her own group but ignored the black looks.
“Hi, I’m Tony.”
“Kim.”
“Can I get you a drink, Kim?”
“Sure. I’ll have a red wine.”
Tony gave the order, turned back to her, and made a slow inventory of her body. “Do you know,” he murmured, “that you are the sexiest thing I have ever seen?”
“Really?” Kim positively beamed at him and took a big swallow of her wine. It was nice to hear all her hard work was successful.
“Mmm. But tell me—those men over there—is one of them your boyfriend?”
Kim sniffed dismissively. “No. I work with them.”
“Well, they’re giving me some pretty strong looks. Especially that guy who just joined them. I wouldn’t like to think I was stepping on his toes.”
Kim glanced over and couldn’t prevent an involuntary spark of delight at seeing Jake had joined the group. His gaze flickered from her, to the man beside her, and back to her. He lifted his eyebrows in question before putting his drink on the bar and heading in their direction.
“Sorry,” Kim lied. “Thanks for the drink, Tony, but I’ll have to go. It’s my boss.”
She needed to talk to him about the babysitting thing. But more than that, she wanted to see his reaction to her makeover. Wanted to see the moment he realized that she so wasn’t his type.
And if that thought caused her a twinge of pain, then she would just have to get over it.
Chapter Eight
Holy shit.
She was like a wet dream, and if she didn’t get away from that guy any time soon, Jake would stomp over there, beat the shit out of him, toss her over his shoulder, and haul her away.
What the hell had she done to herself?
Luckily, before he had to resort to caveman tactics, she glanced up and caught sight of him. A smile flashed across her face, quickly replaced by a scowl. But at least she got up from the stool, spoke briefly to her companion, and headed on over.
Her hair was multicolored, different shades of red. It matched her crimson top, which was tight and short, revealing the smooth, white skin of her stomach right down to her navel. Christ—she’d had it pierced. A small red stone nestled in the indentation, and his dick actually twitched.
He forced his gaze lower. The black pants looked like they’d been painted on, and she wore high heels that made her hips sway as she walked. The effect was spoiled a little as she tripped and swore. But she eventually came to a halt in front of him. He put a hand on the bare skin of her waist and led her to a dark corner.
“Who was that?” he asked, nodding toward the bar.
“Just a man who reckons I’m the sexiest thing he’s ever seen.”
“Quite a transformation.” He smoothed a strand of her hair. “I especially like this.”
Her brows drew together. “You like it?”
Why did he get the impression that his liking it hadn’t been the purpose of the exercise? But he did like it. “Very sexy.”
“It’s the ‘just got out of bed’ look.”
He had an image of that multicolored hair spilling over his pillow. “We’ll see.”
Alarm flashed across her face, and she took a step back, then swore. “These goddamn shoes are killing me.” She perched on the stool behind her and exhaled.
“So what’s with the makeover?” he asked.
He had no clue what was going through her mind. Obviously, yesterday had had a profound effect on her. Why else had she suddenly decided to face Michael after all these years? Then when he’d seen her later at the office, he’d known she wanted him, could almost scent her arousal, and he’d needed all his willpower not to take her right there.
But she’d run again.
Now this.
If she’d changed her look for some other man, he was dead. Jake had seen all the men watching her. Who could blame them? All the same, they might look, but they’d better not touch.
Maybe it was time to make that clear to Kim. She beat him to it.
“So what’s this about you getting the guys to babysit me?” she asked, a scowl on her face. “Dave said you gave orders that they’re to ‘keep me out of trouble.’”
Ah. He narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying you want that sort of trouble?” He took a step closer. “I thought I made it clear yesterday. You want a lover, then that’s me.”
“That is just Neanderthal.” She shook her head. “I don’t get why you’re being like this. I’m so not your type.”