Free One Night with Sole Regret 06 Tell Me by Olivia Cunning Page B

apparently she’d underestimated his talent for pissing her off. “ Little woman?”
    “Big woman?”
    “ Big woman !”
    “I’ll just shut up now. I came to offer a truce , and it seems I set off a couple of loose cannons instead. Maybe one day we’ll get off on the right foot.”
    “I doubt it.” She polished off the last swallow of Gabe’s beer.
    “If you weren’t dating the man I respect more than any other, I’d kiss the sass right out of you.”
    “And it would earn you a fat lip.”
    He chuckled. “I’m sure it would be worth it.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “If you really respected Gabe, you wouldn’t speak to me with such disrespect.”
    “I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. Usually when a beautiful woman talks to me the way you do, it’s to get my attention so I’ll fuck her senseless. But I think you genuinely hate my guts. I’m not sure how to handle you.”
    He was not helping his cause here. “You don’t need to handle me. You don’t even need to talk to me. What you need to do is apologize to Nikki, but I doubt you have the class.”
    A commotion at the entrance announced the arrival of the rest of the band and a few women Melanie didn’t recognize. She did spot a familiar mohawk above the crowd that was headed in her direction, however. When Gabe appeared at Shade’s shoulder, the exasperating vocalist looked glad to see him.
    “Does she bust your balls like this?” Shade asked.
    “She ’s more likely to lick them than bust them, but I’m not as stupid as you are.”
    Melanie saw the flash of hurt cross Shade’s face before he snatched his sunglasses from his neckband and crammed them back onto his face. “Yeah, well, we can’t all be fucking geniuses.” He was gone before Gabe could catch his arm.
    “I didn’t mean it that way,” Gabe called after him.
    Shade lifted his hand over his head and directed a pronounced middle finger in his direction.
    Gabe sighed and took his beer bottle from Melanie ’s hand, pressing it to his lips and tipping his head back and back until he realized it was empty. He shook the bottle at her, a brow arched in question.
    “Sorry,” she said. “I was thirsty.” She rose from the chair. “I’ll get you another.”
    “Are you tired of me playing my rock star card already?” he asked. “Jordan!”
    He extended his arm, holding the empty bottle out and waited and waited and waited some more. Melanie drew her lips further and further into her mouth with each passing moment to prevent herself from laughing. Eventually Gabe turned toward the bar and sighed at the young man talking to a very pretty and very pregnant woman.
    “Jordan!” Gabe called again.
    The young man started and cringed when he looked in Gabe’s direction. He was soon on his way across the room with a fresh Corona and an apology.
    “Sorry about that. Did you want anything?” he asked Melanie as he took Gabe’s empty and handed him a replacement.
    “I’ll just drink Gabe’s,” she said.
    “Not if I finish it before you get the chance,” Gabe said. He caught Jordan by the shirt when he started to hurry off again. “Bit of advice, Jordan.”
    “Huh?”
    “Don’t encourage the gold -digger.” He nodded slightly toward the pregnant woman who now had the band’s bassist by the arm. Owen looked like he was prepared to lop off the appendage just to escape her.
    “She’s sweet,” Jordan assured him. “And pretty.”
    “And pregnant.”
    Jordan shrugged. “So?”
    “And looking for someone to take care of her.”
    “Not really. She’s just down on her luck. Sorta like me. I don’t have any gold for her to dig. So no worries, right?”
    Gabe grunted and when the pregnant girl ’s gaze landed on him, he released Jordan’s shirt and immediately grabbed Melanie out of her chair. He gave her an enthusiastic hug, his beer bottle pressing against her lower back. She could feel the cold wetness through her shirt.
    The pregnant woman scowled at Gabe, but offered