Free Human Interaction by Cheyenne Meadows Page A

you." Perplexed, I didn't know what to say and possessed no clue why he apologized for something when he stood blameless.
    He lowered his gaze. "I don't drug women. Not my thing and I abhor those that do."
    I nodded. "I understand."
    He glanced around once more then returned to his feet. "It won't happen again. I can assure you that. They made sure of it."
    "They?"
    Alex nodded, shot me a quick half grin, before heading off to a nearby table whose patrons waved demandingly.
    The thump of the bass ceased abruptly, noting the end of Meat's set. I relaxed back in my seat, watching the mass of women return to their tables, fanning themselves, and clamoring about the quality of dancers.
    Lights dimmed once more and the music turned up as another man took the stage.
    A large body plopped down into the chair opposite me. An all too familiar body. One that dressed in record time. "Hi."
    My head tilted in his direction. "Hi again."
    He leaned back in the chair, hands resting on those now jean-covered thighs. Deep blue eyes met mine. "Missed me?"
    My mouth dropped open. Talk about cutting to the chase. Haughtily, I stuck my nose in the air and answered. "I have my paper to finish." A shrug followed.
    His dimples flashed as he grinned, eyes dancing with amusement. "Uh huh."
    I snorted in return. What does one do with a self-confident man? Not sure what to say, I peered out at the stage once more. Women lined up, shaking their hard-earned money madly in the air. The new dancer smiled and gyrated in their direction, seemingly happy to appease them.
    Meat followed my gaze, then leaned forward, resting those big hands on the table. "He stuffs his thong with a sock." The low voice carried, sincere and serious.
    I blinked. How did he know? On second thought, I'm not sure I really wanted to know. Taking the thread, I ran with it. "I see. Too bad." Tapping my fingers, I met his eyes. "So what do you stuff your thong with?"
    The animal just angled back and laughed. Personally, I found the question realistic and reasonable, not worth amusement. Must be a male thing.
    "Oh, babe." His chuckling continued as a wry smile appeared. "Is that an invitation?"
    "Why can't you just tell me?" I nervously picked at an invisible mark on the table.
    He moved in closer, our noses a couple of inches apart. The low rumble reminded me of a big jungle cat communicating with others of his kind. "Showing you would be much more fun. You. Naked. Under me."
    Oh, boy.
    I resisted the urge to fan my suddenly burning face. I swallowed and stuttered. "Umm. Well… you see…"
    He continued to stare, although his gaze drifted a bit lower. "Yes?" he purred.
    A burning question popped out. "Did you drug me the first night?"
    "What?" He transformed from sensual teasing to offended astonishment in the blink of an eye.
    "My water was spiked. Were you responsible?"
    "Hell no. You think I can only get women by drugging them?"
    "Alex said that spiked bottle of water was from you," I said, even as I mentally recalled the rest of Alex's words about Meat knowing nothing about the laced drink at the time.
    Meat ran his fingers through his shoulder-length dark hair in agitation. His body tensed as he leaned in my direction. "I'm sure that lowdown asshole bartender used my name and the names of the other dancers frequently. Anything to get the woman to drink and another bounty in his pocket," he snarled.
    Realization struck. "Then you weren't drugged?"
    He snorted. "As if. We saw that mangy rat dragging you through the back door. We followed, thinking he was going to take advantage of you. Instead, we heard him selling you to the intermediaries and accepting his money."
    "And?" I waited for more.
    "We knew this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. And, if we managed to infiltrate, we could recover some other innocent victims. So, we 'accidentally' stumbled into the fray, appearing intoxicated. Luckily, they believed our act and didn't shoot us right away. The rest of it