"Cowboys on the Prowl"
Copyright 2007 Penn O'Hara
T
Usual disclaimers apply.
Hehe... my Aussie-ism monitor hasn't surfaced yet. Is this because none have slipped out? I'm doubting it. You're lurking there somewhere...
oOo
Chapter Four
Alex envied the abandoned way Carolyn had been all over her 'date' despite her only meeting Mike that evening. Alex wanted to get to know Bobby more and wished she could feel that comfortable with him, but he had built barriers around him that she had no idea how to bring down.
But she intended to keep him there as long as she could, to see what would happen.
Putting the drink Bobby had bought for her onto the table, Alex nodded toward her friend. "Carolyn…how 'bout you and I go order some food from Ben? You haven't eaten yet?"
Alex didn't miss Mike's arch look at Carolyn as his thumb swiped her lipstick from his mouth.
"Sure." Carolyn smiled at Mike before sliding out of the cubicle, and Alex led the way to the bar.
"You're getting along well," she said, signaling Ben while he poured a beer for another patron.
"He's nice. How's Bobby?"
Alex paused, debating whether to be honest or open-minded. "Buttoned-up. But, with possibilities. You've changed your opinion about picking up men?"
Carolyn chuckled. "I wondered how long before you threw that one in my face. No, I haven't. But I've got a good feeling about this one."
"Noticed his wedding finger? There's been a ring there. Recently."
"I noticed. But it was a large ring, not a band. Maybe, a college ring. I don't think he's married."
"You haven't asked?"
"We've had too many other things to talk about." Carolyn greeted Ben as he made his way toward them. "A chili pot, Ben, to share four."
Alex shuddered. "Chili?"
"We aren't going to satisfy these guys with our usual rabbit food. Besides, I might need my strength later."
"Carolyn…"
Carolyn laughed. "Stop worrying, Mom, I'm only yanking your chain." Carolyn leaned against the bar and gave Alex a long look. "So other than 'buttoned-up', what's your impression of Bobby?"
"A wonderful dancer. Loads of grace for such a big man. And he knows his stuff. Said he learned to dance while he was in Germany. Army. Or ex-Army—"
"You didn't ask either!"
"I didn't want to bring up the subject. As soon as a guy knows I'm a cop, he runs in the other direction." Alex pushed herself away from the bar and headed back to the table.
"You don't think it's your independent nature coupled with an abrupt personality and no-nonsense outlook on anything that remotely resembles fun that scares them away, then?" Carolyn called from behind.
Alex tossed a look over her shoulder. "Screw you," she said amicably.
oOo
"How're you doing, buddy?"
Logan grinned at Goren from the other side of the table, and Goren cringed. He only came out tonight as a service to a visiting member of the Force. He had no real desire to fraternize with the two-seven's black sheep and it had nothing to do with the man's service record or the fact that he was now banished to Staten Island.
"Logan…we're work colleagues. Temporary ones at that. I'm not your buddy."
"Well, if you like your blonde as much as I like Carolyn, that could change, seeing how they are friends."
Goren fidgeted with a drink coaster. He hadn't considered that. And he did like Alex. Whether it would go beyond tonight, he couldn't guess. He let the silence between them extend, feigning an interest in the bar and its décor of polished wooden cubicles, scuffed floor, wall length mirrors and dimly lit hanging lanterns.
"Well, I wouldn't worry about giving me that lift home," Logan sliced the moment. "I get this feeling I'll be spending the night somewhere else. You gonna try?"
"I wouldn't presume—"
"I'd be surprised you get much action then."
Goren closed his eyes in defeat. They were chalk and cheese and he wouldn't even start to defend his position with women.
"Hey! Miss me?" Carolyn slid back into her seat beside Mike and Goren made room for Alex beside him.
"I was just telling Bobby how much," Mike said, putting his arm around her.
"Smooth, very smooth. Mike…" Carolyn performed the introductions, "this is my friend, Alex. Bobby? Hi, I'm Carolyn."
She held out her hand to Goren and he took it, returning her grip.
"Alex tells me you're a great dancer," she said. "I'm glad. Next time she wants to go to that place, you can take her. I'm not going anywhere near it again."
"I'll second that," Mike said. "I was only there to give my bud…Bobby, some dutch courage to ask a girl to dance."
Goren glowered at Logan but it bounced off the man's thick hide without a dent.
"I'm sensing friction here," Carolyn said. "I thought you two were friends?"
Goren said nothing, bypassing unfelt platitudes.
"Not exactly," Mike grinned. "I wouldn't be surprised if they drew straws at the Precinct to see who would get landed with me, and Bobby here got the short one."
"The Precinct?"
Goren felt Alex jerk beside him.
"You're cops?" she asked. "You let me think you were in the Army."
"I was."
"Oh, shit."
"Double shit," Carolyn added. "We're—"
Goren heard Carolyn grunt as if in pain and saw her eyes dart to Alex.
"Um, we love cops, don't we, Alex?" Carolyn said. "In fact, we're cop groupies. But we never guessed—"
"Excuse me."
Alex stood suddenly and walked toward the restroom, leaving Goren confused and looking for an explanation from Carolyn.
Carolyn shrugged. "She likes you, Bobby, but you're not exactly making a good impression. I saw you take off on her at the dance studio, now she thinks you misled her, and I know she thinks you're wound up too tight."
Logan held up a hand to brake her character assassination of him so that Carolyn finished lamely. "She thinks you're a great dancer, though."
"I…I should go," Goren offered, but then was surprised by the reluctance with which he said it. Remembering the feel of Alex against him during their dances, the perfection of her following his steps and her apparent interest in him, he realized she was worth staying for.
"Door's that way, Goren," Logan said, pointing behind him, "or have you changed your mind? You don't want the loser's way out?"
Goren wiped a hand across his face and rolled his shoulders, doing his best to ignore Logan's insult. "No. I'll apologize. If she comes back."
"She'll come back," Carolyn assured him. "Give her time. Meanwhile, here's Tina with our chili."
Logan pulled Carolyn into his side. "Maybe I can give you some pointers while you wait—"
Goren gritted his teeth. "No…I…think I can…manage."
oOo
Returning to their table, Alex expected to see Bobby gone. She wasn't hoping for it, but she wouldn't have blamed him. She couldn't explain her disappointment that he was a cop any more than she could explain why she'd kicked Carolyn under the table when the latter was going to divulge they, too, were police. She could only hope that no one questioned her reason for leaving, and so decided to bluff her way out of it.
"Uniforms or detectives?" she asked, sliding back onto the seat beside Bobby.
Mike leaned across the table, his hand extended. "Detective Mike Logan, one-two-eight, Staten Island, currently on loan to Goren's crew. We're not partners, but he did offer to let me tag along tonight, more for his amusement than mine, considering where he took me."
Alex shook his hand, but looked at Bobby, waiting for him to say something.
"I'm sorry I mislead you," was all he said, and that surprised her. She was the one who was guilty of bad manners here, leaving the table without explanation. She nodded and helped herself to a bowl of chili and rice, glancing at Carolyn's making a show of feeding Mike. Again, she felt a strange twist in her stomach at how natural they were together.
If I could have that again…
She jumped at the touch of cool fingers on her left hand, a light stroke and then her hand was gently grasped and lifted. Lifted slowly toward Bobby's mouth. Alex' other hand froze mid-way to bringing a spoon of chili to her mouth, and her lips parted, not to receive the food, but by the sheer exquisiteness of feeling his lips on her fingertips.
Her widened eyes must have demanded an explanation.
"I…wanted…to apologize. Properly," he murmured. He gave her hand back and Alex felt bereft. She left it lightly on the table between them, should he want to repeat the gesture.
Alex gave him a quick sideways glance and smiled nervously. "Apology accepted."
"Does it matter…so much?" he asked, his voice low, the hesitancy appealing.
"N…no, not really. My husband was a cop. Shot in the line of duty. I vowed—"
"You wouldn't love another…you might lose like that," he finished for her.
She nodded, jerkily. "Something like that. Although, it's not exactly a hard and fast rule. It never occurred to me you were… I didn't think—"
"And now? You would consider…?"
Alex gazed into his eyes, sincere and clear, all defenses dropped. "Is that what you want?" she asked, not committing herself.
"Yes. Yes, I do."
Amazingly, Alex could feel a blush spreading up her neck. She hastily looked at Carolyn, expecting her friend to be grinning with amusement, but Carolyn was almost in Mike's lap, tonguing chili from the side of his mouth and giggling. She'd never seen her friend so unselfconscious. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to enjoy these men and the moment.
"Then maybe we can go dancing again. Or something else," she said, and smiled as his brows shot high. "No, I wasn't propositioning you."
Not yet, anyway.
She flicked another glance toward Carolyn and Mike and wasn't surprised to see them passionately kissing each other.
"Feel like the fifth wheel?" she asked Bobby.
"I've seen worse in the red light districts in Germany…"
"We might leave them to it," Alex ventured. "What do you think?"
"You want me…to take you…home?" The message behind his eyes made her heart jump, falter then beat faster.
She smiled, feeling her reservation drop from her like a cape. "What sort of music do you like?"
oOo
Is this done or should I take it further?