Page 39 of Guarded Knight

Just like nobody has for all these years.

I might have built a wall, but it did nothing to change the feelings behind it.

She shrugs. “It’s a distraction.”

I can’t tell her why I’m frustrated, not yet, maybe ever if I’m to spare her feelings, so I play along.

“You go first,” I insist.

“Okay.” She scans the room with a mischievous gleam. “Tall guy with the cowboy hat and the cocky lean at the jukebox.”

I flick a glance and laugh, digging my finger and thumb into my eye sockets.

Her brows rise. “What?”

Just then, someone familiar slides in next to her hot choice.

“Oh crap. Is that Kat?” She averts her eyes so Kat doesn’t catch her ogling.

“Appears so.” I laugh lightly. “And your pick is Santi. A Mendez.”

She lets out a low whistle. “Jeez, woman. What’s in the water in Starlight Canyon?”

The bartender puts our drinks down, interrupting yet another excursion for my brain to think about Gabriel.

“These have been paid for, ladies. Guess the new girls caught the attention of the new guy in town.” He tips his gaze behind me, apparently indicating the giver of said drinks.

Freya lifts her drink and smiles in a way of a thank you, and I turn, my gaze landing on a guy perched on the stool behind.

He’s a burly, blue-eyed giant with a deep-golden tan and a dark buzz cut. He has that generic, blue-collar guy thing about him, like I’ve seen him a thousand times before. He’s a decent-looking construction worker type that would turn your head for a moment but fade just as fast as footsteps.

I raise my glass. “Thank you.”

The bartender said he’s new in town, like us, and I’m not sure if he wants to make new friends or something more.

Blue Eyes tosses me a quirked eyebrow, and I turn back to Freya again, knowing this is pure trouble since Gabriel would have clocked the drinks. And the flirty smile.

Freya wiggles her eyebrows. “So were you rating Blue Eyes or your bodyguard?”

I roll my eyes playfully.

A hundred Blue Eyes wouldn’t stack up against Gabriel, and though usually harmless flirting cheers me up, I think this situation with Gabriel is beyond even that.

A song starts on the jukebox where Santi and Kat are, something old, bluesy, a little dangerous, and Freya swivels on her stool to face the room.

She hops off the stool with her drink in hand. “I’m going to say hi to Kat and meet this Santi guy. Maybe I can bag a trail ride at some point. Coming?”

“I’m good.”

I slide my fingers around the rim of my glass. I don’t feel much like socializing.

She asks one last time. “You sure you don’t want to come?”

“I’m sure.”

“K. Be right back.”

As soon as she leaves, a dark voice wafts over my shoulder. “Blue Eyes, eh? I’ve been called worse.”