Somehow saying hi had never sounded so much like “strip naked and fuck on the bar.” That was a lot of sexual tension happening and it was thick enough to fill the space separating the two of them. With the modern-day-mountain-man look Zeb was sporting and the clearly defined muscles straining against his plain, white T-shirt, I couldn’t say I blamed her. There was always something appealing about a man that looked like he could take care of business, no matter what that business might be.

Ayden pulled me to my feet and I suddenly found myself not only in the middle of bumping and grinding but also doing shots. The night faded into a blur of drinks and laughter, more dancing—who knew Ayden was a two-stepping machine?—and a lot of hugging, and hushed talk of what it was like to have sex with a guy that was pierced “down there.” It sounded like a whole lot of fun, but I would take a guy that whispered dirty, sexy things to me with a southern drawl over a guy with metal in his junk any day. There was also a lot of gushing about their men and babies, and of course everyone had to grill Cora on when she was actually gonna tie the knot. It was so much fun I couldn’t believe I had ever been hesitant to throw myself all in with this entire group. For someone that had never had friends, that had never really been comfortable around other girls like this, I hit it out of the park by being so fortunate to land with this crew.

Since Cora and Shaw couldn’t drink because of all the mommy stuff in their lives, they were tasked with getting Ayden and Salem back to their men in one piece. Sayer had slipped out at some point when we were all rocking out to Guns N’ Roses without saying good-bye. Though I could have easily hitched a ride with the other girls, Asa sent Dixie over while I was shimmying and shaking to an Eminem song to tell me that he wanted me to hang out until he was done closing the bar and that he fully expected me to go home with him. Uh, yes, please.

I told her to tell him that was fine, but if I was going to stick around he needed to make it worth my while. His response had been to send his bearded friend over with another round of shots and the order to keep me company and keep me out of trouble until he was done working.

Surprisingly, Zeb was really nice and superfunny beneath his intimidating appearance. I liked the way his emerald eyes glittered with easy humor and the way his teeth flashed straight and white in his ruggedly handsome face. Not to mention those muscles he had for days were drool-worthy and totally worth checking out every time they flexed as he brought the beer bottle up to his mouth. I had to give it to Sayer, she had good taste. He seemed fascinated by the fact I was a cop and asked me a hundred questions about my job. At some point in the conversation he mentioned that he had served time, which normally would have made me uncomfortable and turned the conversation awkward, but he was so open about it and so matter-of-fact that I just rolled with it and went on to ask him how he knew Rowdy’s sister.

Bringing up the icy-looking blonde shifted the mood of the conversation from mellow to something more intense. He told me Sayer had hired him to fix up her crumbling Victorian. He was obviously interested in the pretty lawyer and seemed slightly annoyed by the fact. It was really cute—well, as cute as a guy that was as masculine and burly as Zeb could be. We chitchatted until Dixie wandered over and told us that she was done and wanted to lock the door on her way out. Zeb told her he would walk her to her car as we all got to our feet.

I looked over to the bar, where Asa had braced his arms wide apart and was watching all of us. I smiled at him a little sloppily and he lifted a hand to crook a finger at me, beckoning me toward him.

I let out a breath and felt my heart flutter. “Holy hell, is that hot.”

Dixie snickered next to me and Zeb chuckled. She tugged the big guy’s arm. “Yeahhhhh … and that’s our cue to go. Have a good night, Royal.”

I absently waved at her and started toward the bar. Asa pushed off the bar rail and grabbed something from the back shelf behind him. When I reached the bar he had turned off most of the lights except for the ones that lit up the actual bar top and the space behind it. He had also come around the other side, so when he got to where I was waiting, he dropped his head and gave me a stinging kiss that made me grab on to the front of his plaid shirt with both hands.

“Everything go okay between you and Ayd?”

His voice was gruff as he pulled out a couple of the bar stools to make space at the bar for us and set down a small, squat bottle of something. I was more than a little bit drunk, so I just nodded and moved easily when he suddenly turned and put his hands on my waist to lift me up. I squeaked in surprise when he turned with me trapped in his grip and set me down on the edge of the bar with my legs dangling over the edge. He put his hands on either side of my hips and looked at me closely since we were eye to eye.

“Seriously. I know you were worried about what she was going to say about us spending time together and she can be pretty fierce when she wants to be.”

I leaned forward and shoved my hands into his thick, blond hair and sighed. “She loves you so much. She wants you to have a good life.”

I bent just a little bit so I could kiss him on the end of his nose.

“You have to be a good person in order to have a good life, so I think that’s a bit of a stretch.” His words rumbled out of his chest as he took a step closer to me, which forced my legs apart to make room for him. His words made me so sad that I suddenly wanted to cry, but that also could have been fueled by the copious amounts of tequila I had consumed over the night.

“There is good mixed in with all the bad, Asa. You just refuse to see it or acknowledge it.” He grunted at me and then skimmed his hands under the hem of the blousy, off-the-shoulder shirt I had worn over leggings for girls’ night. His palms were warm and rough as they traveled over my ribs, taking the fabric with them. My hair poofed up and fell in a static-y mess around my now-naked shoulders. His gaze went molten as it traveled over my bared torso and my breasts encased in a lacy, purple bra.

“I see you, Royal. There is so much good in you that I never really know what to do with it.”

His hands snaked around behind me and hit the clasp on my bra. It took my sluggish brain a second to realize what his intent was as I was suddenly topless on top of the bar. I gasped a little and my gaze automatically shot to the series of black orbs secured to the ceiling that hid the surveillance cameras I knew were all over the place. I automatically went to lift my arms to cover myself up but he wouldn’t let me.

“Asa, Big Brother is watching.” I sounded a little strangled because he had leaned forward and was rubbing the tip of his nose against the puckered peak of one breast.