Out of Reach by Jocelyn Stover Page B

tell her. It was completely shameful on our part but
immensely funny at the same time. As I recall, Melanie won that
bet, picking a time closest to the actual time of fifteen minutes
and having guessed one of the firemen would chivalrously point out
the problem to the woman.
    Sliding onto our stools, Melanie nods to the
bartender. “Do the boys have reservations tonight?”
    Rolling his eyes, José says, “Yes, for eight
o’clock.”
    Glancing at the clock on the wall then back
at each other, Melanie and I say, “Perfect!” in unison. We order a
couple beers and sit back to scope out the room. Women are slowly
starting to trickle in, anxious for the muscular pageantry that’s
about to begin. We watch and laugh as they vie for seating, trying
to position themselves in line of sight of the tables by the
windows with the reserved signs on them.
    Unexpectedly and unnoticed, Kade slips onto
the barstool next to me and insinuates himself into the
conversation.
    “Are we taking bets yet?”
    Startled, I jump slightly in my chair.
    “Well if it isn’t our dark knight. And where
have you been?”
    “You know I can’t leave the bike just
anywhere. She has special needs.”
    Well aware of her special needs, I let that
one slide.
    “I see my ladies haven’t even ordered me a
beer! Not very thoughtful if you ask me.” Kade grins wickedly.
    “We didn’t know how long you’d be,” I
counter.
    “And we didn’t want it to get warm,” Melanie
adds quickly.
    “Well look at that, you were being
thoughtful after all!” Flagging down José, Kade orders a round of
beers. “Well, the fans certainly are out in force tonight.” Kade’s
gaze sweeps across the ever-growing female population of the
crowd.
    “Yes,” Melanie agrees polishing off her
bottle. Kade hands her a fresh one as he stands up.
    “You ladies going to behave yourselves
tonight, or am I going to have to drive you home ... again?”
    Melanie rolls her eyes. “Not if all goes
well tonight.” Hopping down off her stool, she gives us a big wink
before heading off in the direction of the restroom.
    I rest a hand on Kade’s arm. “You’re not
sitting with us tonight,” I say, more as a statement of fact than
an actual question.
    “No, I don’t feel like ogling the firemen’s
reflections tonight,” he chuckles.
    “Hey, it’s better than outright staring at
them,” I say stifling a laugh.
    Looking down at me he responds, “Whatever
you say, Gwen, but I find direct eye contact to be much more
effective.” And with that he strides purposefully to the back of
the room, claiming one of the open booths.
    Catching Melanie’s reflection in the mirror
above me, I grab my beer and turn on my stool to face her as she
approaches and settles back down onto her seat. We chat mindlessly
for a bit about our upcoming shopping extravaganza and my mind
begins to wander. Eavesdropping on several of the women around us,
I notice many of them have honed in on Kade.
    Nudging Melanie, I lean closer and whisper,
“Our Kade seems to have quite a few admirers tonight.”
    “Of course he does, he’s hot,” she answers
without looking at me, remaining engaged in her current eye flirt
with a short stocky guy across the way.
    “Huh,” is all I can get out. Finally looking
my direction, she continues her thought.
    “Come on, Gwen, the guy’s a wall of solid
muscle, with the whole dark, mysterious thing going on. And those
rich amber eyes, I’d swear they glow.”
    I must have continued to stare at her like
she was from another planet because the next thing I know she’s
shaking me, “Gwen, you okay?”
    “Um, yeah,” I mumble. She’s laughing at me
now.
    “You know, for a scientist your powers of
observation really suck sometimes.”
    I catch her giggles, joining in a little too
eagerly, more than happy that my response has been so completely
misinterpreted. Leaning over the counter, I slowly sip my beer,
trying to gain some perspective from the cluster fuck of