****
R.J. loved a woman who could eat. Most women were too afraid to fill up in front of guys, instead waiting until they got home and pigged out. Not Denise. She polished off a container of chicken with broccoli by herself. Well, she had a little help from Barkley who was now asleep on the couch, his head resting on her lap.
He couldn’t blame Barkley. He liked Denise too. She was surprisingly easy to talk to and had the cutest bubbly laugh. He could listen to her voice all day.
They loved some of the same movies and music, shared a love for working out. R.J. could definitely appreciate Denise’s toned body. He had yet to touch it, not even in a hug, but he was dying to.
“It’s not as exciting as everyone thinks,” she was saying. It took a minute for him to get back on the subject at hand and stop staring at her pouty, full mouth. “Sometimes I think my job intimidates men. Other times I think they only want to go out with me because of it.”
A muscle in R.J.’s jaw ticked as he thought of other men asking Denise out. She was a beautiful and accomplished woman. Of course, he wasn’t the only man attracted to her. She’d told him she was single earlier. However, his heart sped up double time, thinking that those men she dated weren’t him. Tone it down, he told himself. And get a fricking hold of yourself.
“Enough about me. What’s being a bartender like?” Her deep green eyes sparkled as if she was actually interested.
He shrugged. “Depends on how you look at it. I get to sleep in and then go to a big party nearly every night. Meet a lot of great people.” He nudged her with his elbow and she smiled. “It doesn’t take long to learn that a lot of people aren’t that great.”
“Tell me about it,” she agreed. “How’d you fall into bartending?”
“It was my college job.”
Her eyes widened. “You went to college?”
The shock on her face made him laugh. “Hard to believe, huh?”
Heat blossomed in her cheeks, giving them a pink tint. “I didn’t mean anything by that. I just meant that many bartenders don’t have college educations. Well, not that I know many bartenders. Actually, I don’t know any except for you. And I’m making a fool of myself again.” She lowered her head.
More than anything, R.J. wanted to lift her chin and kiss away her shame. He fought the urge, keeping his hands in his lap. Denise made it obvious she wasn’t interested in him. The only reason she was at his place was because she wanted to pay for his groceries, not because she was attracted to him. If that didn’t pound into his ego, he didn’t know what did.
“Don’t be ashamed. For the most part, you’re correct. A degree is not a prerequisite to bartend. However, I went to college. Graduated too.”
She raised her head, confusion etched into her face. “Could you not find any other job?”
“Actually, I went to law school. Took the bar exam thrice and failed just as many times.”
“So you gave up?” Her face contorted in disgust.
“Yep.” Now he was embarrassed. Here was a successful woman who was looking at him like the failure his parents told him he was. “Kind of ironic, right? I can’t pass the bar so I work in a bar.” R.J. laughed, though nothing about this conversation was funny.
Her face softened with compassion. “Quitting is not the answer. I didn’t take you for a dark horse.” She placed her hand atop his. He jerked from the contact, lightening slicing up his arm all the way to his heart.
“Sorry.” Denise quickly said, snatching her hand away.
“No, no. It’s okay.” More than okay. It felt right.
She didn’t touch him again but stated, “You should take the exam again. You’ll pass. I know it.”
He shook his head, amused at her optimism. “No thanks. That’s just wasting time and money that I don’t have.”
“You never know. Many people have difficulties with test taking, but they don’t quit. You were smart enough to get into law school and graduate. You’re smart enough to pass the bar. I’ll help you.”
This time R.J. wasn’t just amused, he chuckled. “You don’t know about the law.”
She arched a perfectly sculpted brow. “Don’t I? I enforce the law and go after those who abuse it.”
R.J never thought of it that way. He supposed Denise did know a thing or two. Still, that didn’t mean he was ready to get his hopes up again, only to have them crushed when he failed.
“What do you say?” she prompted.
“I’ll think about it.” That was the best answer he could give.
“You’re not just saying that, are you?” Those emerald eyes bore into him, dared him to lie to her. He could see why she was an agent. She could scare people spineless.
He placed his hand over his heart. “I promise to think about it.”
“Good.” She turned away from him, scratched Barkley behind the ears. He opened one eye, checked out the scratcher and fell back asleep.
“Since you’re getting tough on me, how about you tell me why you were getting drunk in a club the other day.”
Not only did he see Denise close up, he felt it. The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees.
“It was nothing really.” She raised one of her small shoulders, a faint movement that he wouldn’t have seen had he not been staring so intently at her.
“You must have thought it was something. Denise, you can tell me. I won’t judge you.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Try me.”
She snorted. “I’ve been in love with a man for the last three and a half years.”
R.J. felt like she’d just dropkicked him in the gut. If Denise said she was an alien he wouldn’t have been as shocked. It took two times to get his words out.
He cleared his throat. “Why is that a problem?”
She looked away, focused on the baseball game on television.
“Denise, why is loving that man an issue?” he pressed.
“Because he doesn’t love me,” she whispered. “Never did. Now he’s gone. Ran off with the woman he actually loves. Didn’t even say goodbye.”
R.J. felt the overwhelming need to find this guy who broke Denise’s heart and break his legs. How could he not want a quality woman such as her?
She sniffled and R.J. melted. Women crying were distressing. This woman crying was heartrending.
Before he was fully aware of his actions, R.J. gathered Denise in his arms. Barkley woofed then jumped off the couch to find a more comfortable napping spot.
Denise didn’t pull away and he didn’t want her to. He simply held her and murmured to her as she cried on his shoulder. This wasn’t how he pictured getting close to Denise. But if R.J. could bring comfort to her then so be it. There was no romance on his mind. Nothing beyond calming the woman who fit in his arms like that was where she was made to be.
Eventually she stopped crying. R.J. didn’t know when. Her trembling ceased and her tears dried. Still, he didn’t let her go and she didn’t try to leave. He eased back on the couch so that her head rested on his chest. She sighed.
Denise’s luscious brown hair was too tempting to resist. R.J. found himself running his fingers through the silky strands, twirling pieces around his fingers.
As he looked down at her, he noticed she was asleep. He smiled. Her dark lashes fanned across her high cheekbones. She finally found some peace. R.J. pulled the quilt his grandmother knitted for him from the back of the couch and covered both of them with it.
He closed his eyes, feeling warmth seep into him that had nothing to do with the quilt.