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“He surprised me here. I told you the success of any tour business stands on public relations. I can’t make enemies for the heck of it.”
“Hogwash.” Mitch pointed at her. “You know what your problem is?”
She crossed her arms. “Big, bossy men.”
He harrumphed. “If you’d wanted him to leave you alone, you should have told him. You haven’t had any trouble telling me off.”
“That’s because…” She shrugged.
Not good enough. He didn’t know if he had the stamina for this right now. The barkeep set his beer in front of him with the peanuts. He offered her a package. When she declined, he ripped off the top and dumped some nuts into his hand. “You were saying?”
She tucked her hair behind both ears and hefted her handbag higher. “I… We… Our situation is different.”
Mitch folded his arms. “Because we slept together?”
Two women turned around to stare. Cath looked like she’d swallowed a goldfish, but she soon recovered fighting form. He prepared for a right jab. “You acted like a caveman with Paul.”
“I followed your lead and figured you wanted me to be convincing. A Southern gentleman rises to any challenge.”
“You just wanted to grab me.”
“That too.” Praise be he could find some humor in this situation.
“You talk the Southern gentleman talk”—she raised her eyebrows—“but you walk the caveman walk instead?”
Pow, right in the kisser. He grinned. “I reserve my gentlemanly behavior for ladies, but you don’t earn a ladyship badge by breaking promises.”
“Oh, that.”
“Yeah.” He took a long pull of his beer. “That.”
“I’m sorry about running off.”
She thought she could blow this trust issue off that simply? He lowered the level in his glass another third and waited for her to say more.
“We didn’t pinkie swear.”
“You should be glad. Any swearing raises the bar.” He hooked a boot on the barstool next to them.
She grimaced. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
He scanned the room behind her. Beyond the heads of two guys wearing rubber masks and dancing to some private music, a college-aged girl rushed inside to show her friends a fistful of parade throws.
“Couldn’t we consider a compromise?” She touched his arm.
His sleeve. Not even bare skin, but his body reacted instantly. He breathed in the floral scent of her bath powder, mixed with her own unique scent. She’d smelled this way in the alley that first night. When he should have been focused on his job.
“Do you know what that word means?” Mitch crumpled the empty peanut package. “I compromised on going to your brother’s house first. I agreed to go to the wharf. What you did tonight was completely unilateral, and you know it.”
He ought to let this go. Let her go, or at least his efforts to make nice. Cath had proved to be nothing but a distraction. Exactly as his brothers had warned him. He finished his beer. “I saw you checking your phone. You get any calls from me?”
She pulled her cell from her pocket and made a few swipes. “Looks like ten.”
“Usually when a person gets a call, they answer the call. That is my understanding, anyway.”
“Mine too.” She smiled and sighed. “But I couldn’t take the call. I couldn’t take any of them.”
Now they were getting somewhere. “Why not?”