Joel turned to his friend. "I used to know her. We went to high school together."

"Why don't you go talk to her?" Frank poured drinks into the cups and handed one to Joel. "She's quite a looker. Darryl sure thinks so."

Joel saw Darryl lean up against Colleen and nearly knock her from the stool. She had a hand flat against his chest and appeared to push him back, but he was so much larger, stronger, that it had little effect.

Joel watched as she got up from the stool and headed for the exit. Darryl trailed right behind her.

What an ass. Why would he continue to bother her once she made it clear she wasn't interested? Men like Darryl gave any decent guy a bad rep, Joel thought.

Colleen made her way through the crowd and reached the door. Darryl couldn't be but a foot away from her. Then the crush of the crowd grew around the table and obscured the couple from view.

Joel bolted to his feet. "I've gotta..." he started to say. "See ya tomorrow."

He pushed his way through the people. When he got out of the bar, he couldn't see anyone but heard Darryl's harsh voice.

"You've been coming on to me all night."

"I don't know what you've been drinking, but you're hallucinating."

Joel ran in the direction of the voices.

"I'm not hallucinating this."

Joel heard Colleen gasp.

I'm going to kick your ass, Darryl.

Joel rounded the corner to find Colleen up against the wall with Darryl's hands pressed next to her shoulders. Darryl sneered down at the woman.

Damn.

"Darryl!" Joel grabbed the man's collar and jerked him back. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What ... you." Darryl's eyes narrowed into devilish slits as he shoved Joel aside. "Go away, man, I'm busy."

Joel pushed his way between the two, his body a shield for Colleen. "Leave her alone."

"Get out of the way." Darryl fisted his hands on Joel's shirtfront and pulled him up nose to nose. Hot bourbon breath assaulted Joel. "This has nothing to do with you. Go away."

"You're drunk, Darryl." Joel pushed Darryl's hands away. "Back off, man. She can press charges the way you're acting."

"No. That won't be necessary." Colleen touched Joel's arm.

"You just lucked out. Why don't you go up to your room and sleep it off?" Joel never realized how much bigger Darryl was than he. He was a big man, six foot two and just under two hundred pounds, but Darryl towered over him.

Before he could decide how to defuse the situation, Colleen's warm breath blew across his neck. Too damn distracted to think straight, he turned his head to look at her. Fear crinkled the corners of her eyes.

All of a sudden, an explosion of color danced through Joel's mind and he fell back against Colleen. Her arms came around his waist and held onto him.

A burning pain radiated from his cheek. It took his mind a moment to clear and connect. Darryl hit him! Before Joel regained his feet, Darryl hit him again square in the nose.

Colleen still held onto him, probably the only thing that kept him on his feet. "Oh, my. Oh, geez." He heard her say when the bell in his ears silenced. "Get up. Here he comes again. Get up, please."

He fought to his feet and blocked Darryl's next punch despite his rattled brain. "If you leave now, I won't write you up for insubordination." Joel didn't want to get into a sparring match with Darryl. Hell, he wasn't sure he would come out on top much less all in one piece. So he used the only tactic he had to scare off Darryl. "You know I've been itching to bust your ass back down the ranks, Darryl."

"You wouldn't." Darryl sounded truly indignant despite the alcohol induced slurring.

"Try me." Joel held his breath until Darryl finally turned, swore a colorful streak, and headed for the bank of elevators at the end of the hall.

Joel's shoulders sank with an exhaled breath. He nearly collapsed on the floor but he remembered Colleen. "Are you okay?" he asked even as he swayed on his feet.

She held onto his arm to steady him. "I should ask you that. Oh gosh, your nose is bleeding."

Joel swiped at his nose. The crisp white cotton of his shirtsleeve came away soaked in dark red blood.

"Lean forward. You need to find something to cover it."

With his tie pinched to his nose, Joel stuck his hand in his pocket in hopes he might have a tissue. He didn't. He only found the keycard to the empty suite on the tenth floor they'd used for meetings.

"I can't believe this." Colleen dug in her handbag. "I don't have a single tissue."

With his head tilted forward, he watched items fall to the beige carpet. Lipstick followed by a nail file and a roll of cherry Life Savors. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt her hand on his back.

"I feel so bad. This is all my fault."

"Don't be ridiculous. Darryl is an ass."

He heard her soft laugh. "Yeah, that would be putting it mildly."

Though his throat tightened with pain, he needed to keep talking to her. "You sure you don't want to press charges?"

"Positive. What about you? You probably have a decent case. I can be a witness if you decide to."

"No. Like you said, he's drunk."

"Yep." She removed her hand and bent to pick up her stuff off the floor. "Would you like me to help you up to your room?"

"I'm not..." He started to tell Colleen he didn't have a room in the hotel, but he stopped. The plastic keycard in his pocket taunted him. "I'm not sure I can find it myself. That would be great."