Right away, Alex’s patience was rewarded when the new guy got snippy with Chad. It seemed like he had quite the sharp tongue on him. [i]Wonder what else that tongue can do…[/i] she thought and then immediately furrowed her brows. [i]Damn, one drink hits hard when I haven’t eaten in two days.[/i] Realizing belatedly that she was a little tipsy, she made a mental note to slow down. She may have had her friends around to keep an eye on her while she drank, but that didn’t mean she could disregard her own safety. No more than fifteen minutes after she’d stepped into [i]Devil’s Share[/i], she was already the prize in a battle between brain vs brawn. She didn’t want to get wasted when she was surrounded by total strangers.

There were some obvious reasons for her caution, since she knew about date rape drugs just as much as any other girl did, but her leeriness to compromise her own state of mind in public stemmed from more than just a healthy fear of scumbags. She needed to be careful because she didn’t know who could be connected to Matt. Her ex-boyfriend had a lot of “friends” who might be just as eager as he was to get their hands on her, so, just in case any of them were around, she preferred not to let herself go and completely forget the danger that was going to chase her down for the rest of her life.

Listening passively while Chad and his competition took shots at each other, she glanced subtly up at the former when he was told to step aside, curious if he would back down. In the next moment, she blinked as she felt a meaty hand grab her by the hip and pull her into his side. Apparently not. His unsolicited touch made her skin crawl, and she seethed silently as he cocked his chin and sneered at the other man, “Entitled prick, it doesn’t matter what you want because I was here first. Beat it before I have to show you why she picked me and not you.” While he spoke, he flexed his swollen muscles, squishing her against his torso, and she wrinkled her nose. The competition had been fun while it had lasted, but now he’d gone too far.

“Hey, meathead, take your grubby hand off my ass,” she growled, firing a scowl his way.

“Come on, baby, you know you like it,” Chad purred disgustingly.

The instant she felt his fingers twitch in a manner that suggested he was going to squeeze her rear, Alex threw the remains of her Manhattan in his face and slipped out of his grasp while he spluttered. “What the hell?” he snapped, wiping bourbon off his brow. “I bought you that drink!”

“And you think that gives you a free ticket to do whatever you want to me?” she asked dryly. “Even the girls who sell it in the streets aren’t that cheap, dumbass. The only thing your seven dollars bought you was a ten minute conversation, which I only gave you because I was nice enough not to take the glass and walk away.”

Chad glared at her, “You owe me—”

“Don’t even go there,” Alex jabbed him in the chest with her finger, narrowing her eyes warningly. “I don’t owe you anything and, by the way, your ten minutes is up, so I suggest you make like a tree and leave… You’re certainly smart enough to be one.”

Chad stared at her, seeming unsure how to react now that she wasn’t pretending to be a sweet, naïve little girl anymore. When he gathered enough brain cells to make his mouth work, he tried a different approach, “You seriously want this guy over me? I can show you what it’s like to be with a [i]real[/i] man.”

[i]He just doesn’t give up, does he?[/i] She sighed. It looked like she was going to have to push him away one last time. “You know what? You’re right. Since you’ve got… so much to offer, I’ll cut you a deal. If you can tell me what my name is, I’ll skip right out of this bar and go with you back to your place.”

That seemed to work. Chad grew red in the face as it finally hit him that he didn’t know her first name after they’d spent ten minutes talking. He blubbered for a minute until he had to accept that he wasn’t going to win and then sneered, “Dumb bitch. You’re not worth my time anyway.” Casting one last glower at the other guy, he turned around and stormed off with his friend.

“Toodles,” Alex waggled her fingers in a cheeky wave as he left. A soon as he was gone, she turned to her better looking company and rolled her eyes. “Boy do I know how to pick ‘em, huh?” she snorted, setting her empty glass down on the counter and propping one hand on her hip as she eyed the fresh meat. Chad had struck her as the type of guy who liked an easy target, so she’d pretended to be one when she’d approached him. In contrast, the intelligence behind this man’s eyes told her he probably wasn’t looking for a woman who would giggle at everything he did and say ‘oh my god, you’re so funny!’ So, she adjusted herself accordingly.

Flashing him a coy smile, she asked, “To what do I owe the pleasure, hotshot? I hope you’re not here to buy me a drink and expect that I’ll tear off all my clothes for you like that idiot did.”