Free One Touch More by Mandy Baxter Page B

go.”
    â€œYeah, right.” Thug number two let out a disbelieving bark of laughter. Dude was either incredibly brave or goddamned stupid. “I’m not going anywhere until you hand over the shit you got in the backseat. I didn’t come all the way out here to go home empty-handed again.”
    Damien lunged in with an elbow and caught the guy under the chin. The gangbanger spun away, his 9mm dropping from his grasp as he slumped to the ground beside his buddy. Small-time gangster bullshit. Damien hated dealing with this petty crap, but at least a clueless thug was easier to take down than a seasoned dealer. Tonight could have easily gone south. Joey was damned lucky.
    â€œFuck yeah!” Joey shouted as he hopped up into the truck. “You’re a certifiable badass, Evans!” Damien hustled back to his side of the truck and hopped in. Joey threw the truck into gear and peeled out onto Federal Way, the tires squealing in his haste. “Damn, am I glad I brought you with me tonight.”
    Damien stowed his gun and rolled down the window to let the chill wind cool his heated face. Funny, none of what he’d just done made him feel like a badass.
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    Why had she agreed to a blind date? Or even a double date, for that matter? Lila was chatting up a storm with Charlie, the guy she’d met at Liquid a couple of weeks ago. They’d been going strong since that night, and now Tabitha was being forced to endure small talk with Charlie’s friend—what in the hell was his name again? Josh?—while Lila seductively fed her date calamari from across the table. Ugh.
    â€œSo you’re a nurse?”
    â€œI’m sorry, what?” Tabitha dragged her eyes from the spectacle of Lila feeding Charlie and turned her attention back to her date.
    He flashed her a knowing smile, as though watching her friend behave like a horny vixen was turning her on or something. Gross. “I said that Lila mentioned you were a nurse.”
    â€œI’m still in school.” She reached for her wineglass and drained it in a couple of swallows. Where in the hell is the waiter when you need him? “I just finished up the current semester and I’m about to start my clinical rotations in a month.”
    â€œCool. So, if I passed out, could you do mouth-to-mouth on me?”
    It took all of the self-control she could muster not to roll her eyes. “Only if you stopped breathing,” she said, refusing to take his bait.
    Josh deflated a little but continued in his valiant attempt to make small talk. “Do you want to take care of babies or work in a swanky downtown clinic?”
    She opted to ignore his veiled misogyny. “My specialty is going to be trauma. I want to work in the ER.”
    â€œTriage.” Ooh, Josh was throwing down the twenty-five-cent words now. “Right?”
    â€œYou’ve got it.”
    Conversation dwindled and Tabitha caught their waiter’s eye. She raised her glass and he gave her a curt nod. It was going to take an entire bottle of wine to get her through tonight. Since yesterday, all she’d been able to think about was Damien. The intense and instant attraction she felt for him had thrown her for a loop. Her body came alive just at the sight of him, and last night’s episode in the parking lot had only served to solidify her infatuation. Every solid inch of him was masculine perfection, and Tabitha found herself wanting to reach out and test each and every hard edge.
    â€œHellllloooo? Earth to Tabitha. Did you hear me?”
    Jeez, she must’ve been coming across like a total flake tonight. “Sorry, I was zoned out there for a second. What did you say?”
    Lila cut her a look and let out a slow breath. “I asked if you wanted to order another appetizer.”
    Not if she had to endure watching Lila hand-feed her date like he was a baby bird. “No, I’m good, but if you guys want something, go ahead