It wasn’t until someone tugged at her arm that she realized she’d lost her mind. Kissing a total stranger. At work. Insane. Barely cognizant of the whoops and whistles, Rita slowly pulled back to stare up into blue eyes she recognized from her naughtiest secret dreams.
Tyler? Tyler Ramsey? No way. Had Santa come early?
“What the hell d’ya think you’re doing?” Benny yelped, his voice breaking through the sex haze fogging Rita’s mind.
“Benny…” She trailed off, not sure what she wanted to say since her brain was still stuttering.
“You…he…how could you…?” Benny babbled, his eyes huge behind thick lenses.
The hurt in his glare made her realize that she was still plastered against the best kisser her mouth had ever encountered. Her breath shuddered when she forced herself to peel her breasts off his chest. Rita took two steps back and blinked a few times, trying to shake off the fog of lust.
“Tyler Ramsey?” she breathed, her eyes as big as Benny’s. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Screwing me over’s what he’s doing,” Benny growled.
“C’mon, Ben, you saw for yourself how that went down,” Tyler drawled, shoving one hand through the sandy hair that had fallen over his sky-blue eyes. “All I did was prove my point.”
“What point?” Rita asked, her back going up at the dismissal in Tyler’s voice. She tried to ignore the familiar pain, but, dammit, she recognized that tone. It was the same one he’d always used when referencing her.
“You betrayed me,” the little guy whined, glaring at her. Then he turned the evil eye on Tyler. “Fine. You want her? Then you can take her home.”
“Huh?” Betrayed?
Ignoring her, the men faced off. Tyler reached out as if to give Benny a calming pat on the head at the same time that Benny swung his fist.
“Aw, Ben,” he said with a wince as they all watched Benny miss, thumping a huge bruiser of a guy in the back of the head instead of Tyler. Furious, the man turned. His gaze slid past Benny as if he wasn’t even there, landing accusingly on Tyler instead.
With a sigh, Tyler ducked the guy’s massive punch. Coming up, fists swinging and wearing a huge grin, he proved his hometown rep as an ass-kicker was still valid when he dove into the brawl.
Yelping, Rita barely made it back against the bar before the fight went viral. Grunts and crunching groans sounded over the taunting cheers of the onlookers.
Ten minutes, a bloody lip and a few broken bar stools later, Tyler finished his chat with the local cops. Rita’s boss stood in the still-crowded space, looking furious under his Santa hat. While he chewed Tyler out, Rita tried to calm a sputtering Benny.
“Look, blame it on the mistletoe,” Tyler interrupted Larson’s lecture. “It’s no big. I’ll pay for damages. Kissing Rita was worth every penny.”
“What?” In the middle of assuring Benny that Tyler had just been saying hi and didn’t mean anything by the kiss, Rita turned to stare into her longtime crush’s sexy blue eyes. She saw the desire battling with amusement there, and couldn’t hold back an answering smile. “Worth every penny, hmm?”
She hadn’t meant to sound so flirtatious, but she couldn’t help it. Tyler Ramsey always made her feel she had something to prove. But her comments were the final straw for Benny. He threw up his puny arms as if shouting betrayal, and stormed out. Rita’s protest was lost on his departing back.
“Miss Cole, were you the center of this altercation?”
It suddenly hit home just what that kiss had cost her. Rita’s lust melted fast as she glared at Tyler. He wiped his swollen lip with the back of his hand and grinned. Desperate, she gave her boss a hopeful little smile and tried to BS her way out of the mess.
“Now Mr. Larson, you know how these things go…”
“Are you trying to say you were innocent?”
Tyler’s snort of laughter made Rita grind her teeth.
“You know the rules, Miss Cole,” Larson shot back, not waiting for her answer. “Get your personal effects and meet me upstairs in ten minutes. I’ll have your final wages prepared.”
Ignoring her protests, as well as the echoing arguments from the surrounding waitresses and the bartender, the manager swept through the crowd toward a door marked Private. Fighting off despair, Rita watched him go. Then she sucked in a breath deep enough to make Tyler’s eyes glint in heated appreciation.
“I hope you’re happy,” she muttered. “You couldn’t just say hello like a normal person?”
“I thought you liked the kiss.” Looking just as cocky as he had when he’d raided the girls’ locker room, Tyler leaned his hip on a bar stool and gave her his patented aw, shucks smile.