Kate already had a beer for Dani when she got there. She nudged it across the table. “Drink up! You’re behind! I have the night off. Jake’s on call, so he can’t drink. But I sure can. And after that gig, hell yeah, I’m drinking tonight.” Her gaze trailed beyond Dani’s shoulders, and she snorted.
Jonah was at the entrance, and a toned brunette rubbed against him. Jonah remained still, leaning against the wall as he watched. Her coy smile added in the seduction, but Hawk and another friend seemed to enjoy the show more.
Aiden groaned. “Where do these girls come from?”
As if by some unspoken agreement, all heads turned in Dani’s direction. She knew they were looking at her. She could tell from the corner of her eye, but she couldn’t move. She was frozen, her own eyes glued to a person who pushed his way through the crowd. Four others followed behind, and Dani felt her world shut down.
Her arms started to tremble.
Lori grabbed her hand. “Hey.” She leaned closer, lowering her voice. “You okay?”
“Dani?” Both Aiden and Kate were watching. Their smiles faded, as did everyone else’s. Kate asked, “Dani, what is it?”
Aiden followed Dani’s gaze, but turned back with a frown. “Who is it? Is it Julia again?”
“Worse.” She bit down on her lip, and her mouth dried up. “My ex-fiancé.”
Boone had just walked into her beer gardens.
It wasn’t one of those moments when a person feels the eyes. He didn’t look up like he sensed her presence. He looked up to skim the room, and his gaze passed over her. He crossed the room, heading into the parallel corner of where she sat. The room started to swim, Dani felt like she was being pulled under the surface, but her eyes fell down the length of his arm. He was holding hands with a woman, a redhead. Dani’s lips curled up in a sneer. Boone looked so happy. An empty table opened, and his group quickly nabbed it. The redhead sat beside him and caressed his arm.
Dani needed to look elsewhere. The woman slid her hand to his waist. He sat sideways to where Dani sat. She was getting the whole view. Then the woman’s hand dipped even more south, and that was enough.
Dani shot out of her chair.
Boone. He was here.
She started for them, but rational thinking clicked back in, and she took an abrupt left. She went outside instead.
He was so happy. He was—her chest felt tight—what she wasn’t.
“Hey, wait up.”
Dani ignored Jonah, almost sprinting for her car. Just as her hand grasped the door handle, Jonah grabbed her other arm. He whirled her to him, her back now against the Mustang.
“Whoa.” He caught her face. “Whoa. Whoa.”
She tried to look away. He didn’t allow it. He forced her to look up at him, and what he saw—he cursed. “Hey.” He gentled his tone. “What happened? Tell me. What’s wrong?”
“I can’t.”
Dani tried to shove him away, but he grasped her other arm and leaned against her, trapping her.
He murmured next to her ear, “I’m really sorry to do this. This is against my character, but letting you drive out of here in this state is worse. I can’t let you do that, not until you talk to me. What happened in there? What did you see that the rest of us didn’t?”
Didn’t he know?
Dani tried to slide out the side, but Jonah trapped her again. He settled his legs on either side of her. Every inch of his body was plastered against her now.
Dani’s chest rose up in short breaths. “You know.” She tried to shove him back. He didn’t budge.
“I don’t. I was at a different table. Remember?” His breath teased her ear, and Dani couldn’t suppress the full-body shiver. “What happened back there?”
Her voice hitched on a sob. “Let me go.”
She was crumbling. She was under the water again, sinking deeper and deeper.
“You’re going to run.” He was soothing her. His thumbs began running up and down her arms. “I don’t want you to run. Tell me what happened in there.”
“I’m fine.”
“Dani.” His hands slid down, landing with hers. His fingers slid down hers and intertwined them. “Tell me what happened.”
“Really.” She pulled her hands from his, and tried to push him back again. “I’m fine.”
Even she didn’t believe herself.
Jonah cursed. He tipped his head back and met her gaze. Then his eyes slid to her lips, and Dani was hot all over. She felt the cut of his jeans, his hands as he caught her hands on his chest, his abdominal muscles. She watched him, her body responding on its own. Jonah slid one of his hands up her arm and curved against her back, moving its way underneath her shirt against her naked skin.
Dani glanced from his eyes to his lips and back.
His eyes never moved, they were steady on her lips. His other hand had started a slow pattern on her back, and Dani closed her eyes, feeling his hand brush against her shoulders and back down to circle her waist. It moved to the front and rested atop her stomach.
He leaned in.
She sucked in her breath. This… This wasn’t what she expected to happen.
Jonah touched his lips to hers. Gently, they tasted each other. A slight nip and then another. Dani tasted back and felt her arms move of their own volition. They wrapped around his shoulders. He deepened the kiss, and she felt his tongue slide inside.
Her insides were melting, but a sudden burst of laughter drenched them like a bucket of cold water. They were both brought back to reality.