Diesel was packed wall-to-wall with people. Everything in the bar was metal and brick and leather, dark and inky. The light fixtures were made of machine parts with naked bulbs and glowing filaments, and the bar itself was black brushed metal and my destination from the second we walked in the door.
We wormed our way up to the bar with smiles and arm touches, parting the crowd like Moses. Veronica pushed me in front, and I squeezed in between a couple of guys to lean on the bar, rack on display.
I spotted Cody at the other end of the bar, and he glanced at me and away before looking back to me with a whip of his head that was so fast, he might have sprained something. A slow smile spread across his face, and he jerked his chin at me in greeting.
Cody was one of those gritty, dirty tattooed types with the irreverent beard and hair a little too long, pushed back from his face with ruts from his fingers. The gauges in his ears were just big enough to be big without being obscene, and he not only had his nostril and septum pierced, but he also had snakebites — two rings on his bottom lip where, if he were a rattlesnake, his fangs would rest.
I’d had a boner for Cody since the first time I ever laid eyes on him, but he’d always had a girlfriend. I might love me some dick, but I’d never knowingly hook up with a guy with a girlfriend, so we’d kept it to flirting, but he was the number one reason why we used to come to Diesel. And when he made his way over, my insides went ballistic because:
1. He was gorgeous.
2. His eyes pinned me to the spot.
3. He wasn’t Bodie, and him even looking at me like he was made me feel nineteen ways to wrong.
Cody leaned on the bar right across from me, ignoring everyone around me who’d been waiting.
“Damn, it’s good to see you, Penny. Where the hell have you been?”
The guy next to me huffed and slapped a hand on the bar. “What the fuck, man? We’ve all been waiting longer than her.”
Cody’s eyes went hard as he glared at the guy. “You don’t let a girl like this stand at the bar without giving her your full attention. And if you want a drink the rest of the night, I suggest you shut the fuck up and wait until I address you.”
The guy pointed at Cody. “This is fucked up. Fuck this place!” And with that eloquent goodbye, he turned around and left.
Cody turned back to me, his gaze smoldering again. “Double Patrón, chilled?”
I smiled as discomfort twisted around in my stomach like snakes. “You remembered.”
“Psh. You’re impossible to forget, Pen,” he said with a smirk, leaning a little closer. “Lean over.”
I did, against my better judgment, and when I was half-bent over the bar, he leaned in close, his lips brushing my ear.
“Alley-oop,” he said softly as he grabbed me by the waist and pulled.
I took the cue and lifted myself as he helped me onto the bar. I spun around on my butt until my legs were on his side of the counter and my feet dangled just outside the shelves of liquor and glasses tucked under the bar top.
My heart thundered its warning as I hung onto the edge and crossed my legs, locking my elbows and straightening my back. I felt like a pinup girl, and was pretty sure every eyeball in the bar was on me. A month ago, I would have been in hog heaven. In that moment, I’d rather be in a pig pen.
Cody kept on smirking, pouring well more than two shots of Patrón into a shaker. “How’ve you been? It’s been too long since you’ve been in.”
“Oh, I’ve been good. Just surviving.” Surviving Bodie was the rest of that sentence, but, color me crazy, it seemed like the wrong thing to say in the moment. “How about you?”
He shook up my drink with his eyes dragging a path from my heels to the hem of my shorts, which were regrettably short. Sitting on a bar might sound sexy and brash and cavalier, but the truth was that it was sticky as fuck. I just hoped there was no grenadine. All I needed was a cherry stain on my ass to end the week on a high note.
“I’ve been waiting for you to come in. Sheila and I broke up.”
My mouth popped open, and I blinked, noticing that he was shaking that shaker at his waist like he was pumping his dick.
“You’re kidding.” I had no idea what else to say.
He shook his head, not looking sad in the slightest, probably because he had me sitting on the bar like a trophy. “It’s been over for a long time. Plus, I’ve had my sights set somewhere else.”