Any Way You Want It. Kathy Love

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СКАЧАТЬ to you. I promise. I’ll even admit that the sentiment of that one was a little presumptuous.” His grin widened to full Cheshire cat glory. “Although sincere.”

      Maggie felt her cheeks burn even more, if possible.

      “Okay,” she heard herself say, and that seemed to be all the encouragement he needed as he began to tug her down the street. His abruptness stunned her for a second, but she managed to gather her wits and dig in her heels.

      He halted, turning to give her an inquiring look.

      “I am going back with you,” she said. “But only because I left my friends there, and I don’t want to be rude.”

      Ren’s eyebrow raised, stating without words that he didn’t totally buy that, but then he said, “Like I said, whatever will get you back there works for me.”

      Again she found herself being towed toward the bar. As they got closer, she noticed that Erika and Jo waited in the doorway. Jo started forward, but Erika stopped her with a hand on her arm.

      Maggie looked at her own arm where Ren had touched her. The skin there still tingled, but the sensation was nothing when compared to how her fingers felt surrounded by his longer ones.

      “Hey, Erika and Jo,” Ren greeted her friends before Maggie could speak to them or they to her.

      “I really need to make up for upsetting Maggie here,” he said offering them an endearing smile. “Could you please make sure she stays so she can see that I’ll be on my best behavior?”

      Erika smiled back. “Sure.”

      “If she wants to stay,” Jo added. She wasn’t as impressed with his easy charm.

      Maggie appreciated both her friends’ attitudes. It was nice to be both defended and supported. And since her brain still wasn’t functioning properly, she could possibly need either one.

      They all entered the bar, and as soon as some of the patrons saw Maggie and Ren, they began to applaud.

      Heat burned Maggie’s cheeks once again, but Ren simply lifted a hand in greeting. He leaned toward her. “See, you’ve got to stay or everybody’s going to think I’m some kind of monster, driving away a sweet person like you.”

      Maggie didn’t respond, but the word sweet resonated with her. The fortune-teller, Hattie, had used that word to describe her too. Good Lord, now that was hardly a sign.

      He squeezed her hand, then released her. With a quick curl of a smile, he bounded back onto the stage.

      “Okay,” he called out over the microphone, “who wants some rock and roll?”

      The crowd cheered, and the band went right into a song. Maggie followed her friends to the bar, staring up at the stage, still not understanding everything that had just happened.

      She still couldn’t quite shake the feeling that the whole thing was some horrible trick.

      She turned to the bar and the bartender with the antenna hair came over immediately. The antennae were in full working order, obviously.

      “What can I get you?” She smiled widely, as if they were old friends.

      “Do you have wine?” Maggie asked, surprised her voice sounded so normal.

      “Really bad wine,” the bartender answered honestly.

      “I’ll take it.”

      The bartender bounced away.

      “So what did he say?” Jo asked.

      Maggie took a deep breath. “That he was interested in me.”

      “Just like the psychic said.” Erika grinned, then she glanced around the crowded room. “Maybe my blond-haired, dark-eyed prince is here too.”

      “What?” Jo asked, thoroughly confused. She hadn’t gotten the whole scoop on the readings, because upon returning to the hotel for a nap, she discovered her sailor waiting in the lobby. That did a whole lot to make up for him missing breakfast, so Jo had spent the day with him.

      “The psychic saw Ren in Maggie’s cup.”

      Jo still looked confused.

      Erika started to tell Jo about the reading Hattie had given, but Maggie cut her off. “The reading was just a fluke.”

      Erika gaped at her friend. “Having you look into the cup, pointing to a pattern in the leaves and saying ‘That looks like a face with long hair and an eye’ was a fluke?”

      All three friends looked up at the stage. Ren stood at the mic, his head down. When he lifted his head, his hair fell over one side of his face, leaving only his eye with the white lashes visible. He looked directly at Maggie, almost as if could hear them and was presenting the image that had been described.

      “And that happening, right this minute, that was a fluke too, right?” Erika said, still gaping up at the stage.

      “Here’s your wine,” the bartender shouted from behind the bar to be heard over the guitar solo taking place on the stage.

      Maggie gladly reached for the wine, taking a long gulp. Then she reached for her purse, but the bartender lifted a hand to stop her.

      “You’re Ren’s girl,” she called. “I’ll just put it on his tab.”

      Maggie started to tell her that, no, she wasn’t Ren’s girl, but apparently the hair antennae went off and the bartender bounded away to help another customer.

      “The psychic really said that?” Jo asked, seeming as stunned by the idea as Maggie had been—and still was. She took another swallow of the acrid wine, then nodded.

      Ever-practical Jo considered that for a moment, then stated quite reasonably, “Maybe we should stick around and check all this out.”

      Maggie just stared at the stage, gulping her wine like it was juice.

      Maggie now understood what the phrase “liquid courage” meant. She was sipping her third glass of the cheap, vinegary wine. It was tasting decidedly better with each glass.

      “I think you should slow down,” Jo warned her, leaning toward her to be heard over the loud notes of a Kansas song.

      Maggie nodded, but she felt a lot better than she had. She suspected there was a fine line, however, and if she kept going she might get a little outrageous.

      She looked back up at the stage, watching Ren’s every move. Would that necessarily be a bad thing? She grimaced at her own train of thought and resisted taking another sip of her drink.

      She really liked the way he moved, and his hair. Who knew hair could be so sensual? She swayed with the music. With him.

      She really liked the fact that his eyes kept finding hers in the crowded room.

      “I think I am going to have a fling with him,” she suddenly announced. Then she looked down at her plastic tumbler of wine. Okay, СКАЧАТЬ