Zander swung her out of the truck so that when he slowly let her down, she had to slide down his body. When her feet hit the ground, it was all she could do to regain her balance. There was no way she could miss the impressive bulge that teased her as she slid down his torso. By the way her face burned, she was sure she was red as an apple.
Tag walked around to where she and Zander were standing and the three of them walked across the street to the bar. Even before Tag pulled the door open, the deep bass beat of whatever was playing inside reverberated in her chest. It had been a very long time since she’d actually been in a bar as a patron and not as a waitress. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust so that she could see in the dim interior.
“Zander, keep a grip on her. I don’t want to lose her in this crowd,” Tag shouted to be heard over the music.
“I’ve got her. Find us a place to sit,” Zander shouted back.
Tessa struggled to keep up with the men as they wove their way through the crowd. Even with Zander holding tightly to her hand, she was nearly pulled from his grip twice by the constantly moving crowd. If they had a dance floor, it was either full or people didn’t bother using it because they were dancing everywhere.
Finally, just when Tessa thought her arm was going to end up jerked out of its socket, Tag located a round table with four chairs. They had her sit in the middle while they slid in close on either side. She couldn’t complain since they would have to shout as it was to be heard and between them, no one would bother her. Zander gave the fourth chair to another table where there were people standing around it talking.
Almost before they’d settled in, a waitress appeared in front of them. “What can I get you guys?”
“Know what you want, Tessa, or do you want a menu?” Zander asked her.
“Just get me whatever you guys are getting except a smaller size and a Diet Coke.” She wasn’t sure what that would end up being, but she was too nervous to think about food right then.
“We’ll all three have the barbeque ribs, fries, and baked beans. She wants a Diet Coke and we’ll take Bud on tap,” Zander told her. The waitress nodded and hurried off.
“There’s no way I can eat all of that, Zander.” Tessa was appalled at how much she’d end up wasting.
“Don’t worry, baby girl. Between Zander and I, we’ll eat any leftovers you have.” Tag told her with a grin.
She just smiled and shook her head. It wasn’t worth arguing with him when she had to shout to be heard. She looked over toward the dance floor and the small stage against the wall. There were instruments set up, but the band must have been on break since there was no one there. The loud music was coming from the jukebox in the opposite corner next to the bathrooms. She was happy to see where they were for later. If they stayed any length of time, she would need them.
“It’s been a while since we’ve been here on a weekend night,” Tag yelled in her ear. “It didn’t used to be this busy or this loud.”
She smiled and yelled back, “It’s going to make talking a little hard.”
He nodded with a frown then looked like he was going to say something else, but the waitress returned with their drinks. Once she’d left again, he leaned in again.
“We’ll have to talk later. We’ll eat and maybe dance then head somewhere else to talk after a while,” he said.
Zander leaned over next. “I guess he’s figured out this wasn’t a good idea.”
She couldn’t stop the smile. “Yeah. He said we’d eat and go somewhere else later to talk.”
“We don’t usually come here on the weekends,” he said.
“Where do you go if not here?” she asked then almost cringed. She knew where they spent their weekends.
“Golden Shackles,” Zander said with a smile. “We didn’t figure you wanted to go there until you got to know us a little better. I’m thinking we’d have done better to have gone ahead and gone. At least we would have had a place to talk without all this noise.”
“I’m not interested in your club, Zander.” She wanted to be sure he understood that from the beginning. She’d thought she’d made it clear she wasn’t into the entire scene already.
“Let’s dance while we wait on our meal,” he said instead of answering.
Before she could protest, Zander was standing and pulling her to her feet. He shouted at Tag that they were dancing and to watch the table. She saw Tag give her that half smile of his that said any number of things. She didn’t have time to worry about what it meant this time as Zander hauled her through the growing crowd to the dance floor.