Always His (Crazed Devotion #1) Read Online Free Page B

see,” he said to Liz, and she shrugged like she wasn’t surprised to be referred to that way. “But to answer your earlier question, no, I don’t give up easily.”
    It took everything I had not to argue with that comment. He sure as shit didn’t find it hard to let go of me once before. I looked up just in time to meet his gaze. He winked, and I rolled my eyes, busying myself again. Why did he still affect me like he did? Avoiding him was going to be a whole lot harder than I thought.
    “I need another shot over here, hot stuff,” Liz hollered in my direction as she slapped the bar.
    “I think you need a bottle of water or a steaming pot of coffee,” I told her without looking up.
    “You said if I came tonight and ran interference you would supply the booze. Now that Mr. Buff and Yummy is here, you can’t just cut me off.”
    I hung my head in embarrassment. I guess I’d completely forgotten about her loud mouth when alcohol was involved. I looked up and narrowed my eyes at her, trying to force her to shut up, but she just grinned as if she’d completed a goal, and I knew then what she was doing. I snagged her half-empty beer out of her hand just as she lifted it to her mouth.
    “Hey,” she protested. “That’s mine.”
    “It was yours. That was before you set some matchmaker plan into action, which I can assure you isn’t gonna work,” I told her as I moved down the bar, dropping her beer in the garbage on the way. I busied myself waiting on customers and avoiding anyone near Ryker or looking in his direction.
    I could still feel his eyes on me, and on occasion he would chuckle at something Liz said. She and I were going to have a long talk about her loyalty to her best friend when she was sober tomorrow.
    Elle stepped up to the bar, rattling off the drink order for one of her tables, and I began mixing the drinks and placing them on her tray.
    “I have to admit Liz is right.” I looked up from the drink I was preparing and arched an eyebrow in question. Elle was staring in Ryker’s direction, and I knew immediately what she was referring to. Averting my eyes once more, I chose not to respond, only it didn’t stop her from continuing. “The Marines have done him well. I mean, look at those arms. You can’t pretend he doesn’t get your blood boiling.”
    “That was a long time ago, Elle. Things change,” I told her as I set the last drink on her tray and dried my hands on the towel I’d thrown over my shoulder.
    “Well, then you wouldn’t mind if I gave it a shot, right?” she asked and clicked her tongue on the last word.
    When I looked at her with a panicked expression, she laughed. “That’s what I thought.” She picked up her tray and smiled. “Darlin’, you can keep trying to pretend, but I see right through you.”
    I took a chance and looked back down the bar, only to find that Ryker was still watching me. Part of me wanted to go around the bar, walk right up to him, and tell him how badly he had hurt me, yet another part of me wanted to climb over the bar and straight in to his lap. I had missed him with every fiber of my body for so long that having him this close made going to him so hard to resist.
    A large hand slapped down on the edge of the bar, and I jumped in surprise. It shoved a fifty dollar bill toward me, and I looked up into Tyler’s eyes. “What’s this?”
    “You said you needed money.” He was drunk. I could tell from his bloodshot eyes.
    “No, I said you needed to start supporting your daughter. I never said I needed money.”
    “You need to fucking make up your mind,” he said as he pulled back the fifty.
    “I need to make up my mind?” I said in disbelief, and all the irritation that had been wound up in me so tight broke free. “Your sorry ass needs to be a man. I’ve raised Tori on my own since she was born. I work and do all I can to give her a home and everything she needs to be happy. And her pitiful excuse for a father shows up every few