Free Heading East (Part 2 of 2) (The True North Series) by June Gray Page A

said, then motioned to the taller Asian guy. “This is Nathan Lowe, but we like to call him Lowest of the Lowe.”
    Lowe grinned, holding out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Kat. Luke has not told me one thing about you.”
    “Probably for the best,” she mumbled.
    Decker glanced at me before turning to Kat. “And we’ve met before. Unfortunately under terrible circumstances.”
    Her jaw muscles worked but she nodded. I could feel her anger simmering under her skin and wondered for a moment if she would unleash the fury. But she only stretched her lips into a smile and walked past him towards the bar. “Glass of merlot please,” she said to the bartender, then turned to me. “What do you want?”
    You. I want you. “Jack and Coke.”
    We took our drinks to a rounded booth, Kat taking the edge of the seat farthest from the other two. Though she was trying to be discreet, her constant tugging at her collar revealed the extent of her discomfort.
    I stretched my arm on the seat behind her, then leaned over and whispered, “If you’re uncomfortable, just say the word and we’ll leave.”
    With her jaw set to the Stubborn setting, she shook her head. “I’m fine.”
    Half an hour later, two other guys arrived—Dustin and Ledford—and joined us at the table. After introductions, Kat asked, “So are you all single?”
    Ledford said, “I’m married. But these three losers are.”
    “Who’s the loser in this scenario?” Dustin asked with a laugh. “We don’t have to answer to anyone.”
    Kat, not looking too impressed with my friends, excused herself to go to the bathroom. All eyes were on her as she walked away. To anyone else she appeared confident and self-assured, but to someone who’d seen her at her best, Kat was unsteady. I suspected that, no matter how much I wanted it, she might never fit in this lifestyle.
    “She is sexy as hell,” Dustin said, his eyes still on Kat’s departing form. “So that’s the girl you’ve been mooning over?”
    I leaned back. “I wasn’t mooning over her. She was in Alaska until recently.”
    “She moved here for you?” Lowe asked.
    “No. She’s here for fashion school.”
    “Oh, you like ‘ em young!” Dustin said, laughing. “Are you also taking her to prom then popping her cherry after?”
    “Shut up. She’s twenty-five,” I said and knocked back half of my drink.
    Decker watched me, flashing a look that conveyed he could sense what I was thinking. Out of our group of friends he was the only one who knew the entire story and, thankfully, he knew not to share it with anyone else.
    “Oh shit.”
    I followed Decker’s gaze to the beautiful blonde woman across the room who’d been stopped by a man wearing a tight shirt that revealed how much time he spent at the gym. He was leaning down, saying something close to her ear, and she was smiling and nodding.
    And I was out of my seat and across the room in mere seconds.
    “Kat, there you are,” I said, approaching casually.
    The other guy straightened and gave me the once-over. “Oh, I didn’t know you were here with someone,” he said to Kat.
    “We’re not together,” she said, her eyes narrowing slightly in my direction. She turned her attention back to him. “He and I are just friends.”
    I rose to the unspoken challenge and took a step closer, slipping a hand around her waist. “Is that what we were last night, when we were naked and coming all over each other?” I asked, then brushed her hair away from her neck to press a kiss against the soft skin under her jaw.
    Her gasp let beefy guy know exactly where he stood with her, which was on the other side of the room.
    “Why did you do that?” she asked, coming to her senses as she watched the guy turn his back and walk away.
    I straightened, a grin on my face. “When I told you last night that you could do whatever you wanted, I didn’t specify that that also meant I could do the same.”
    “So you’re going to hang around, marking me