Page 125 of Just This Once

Faith nodded, approving the idea. “And then you’ll see just how many other fish are out there in the sea when they all come swarming in to hit on you.”

Xander winced, looking uncertain. “Where…exactly do you want to go?”

Faith, Raina, Oaklynn, and I exchanged a questioning glance before I remembered, “Oh, hey. I drove by this bar and grill today that said it was having a karaoke night. How about we check it out?”

Oaklynn sighed. “I do love me some good karaoke.”

But Xander bit her lip. “I don’t know,” she hedged.

“We could begin safe,” I suggested. “Like invite our boys to meet us there. You could practice flirting with them while their presence intimidates most of the other guys away. I mean, we can definitely count on Keene to hit on you.” I winked at Xander.“And then, if you decide that’s too much, he’ll stop. Just like that. You can always trust him or any of the others to stop on command. They’re, like, the perfect guinea pig/starter kit to see if you can even stomach the idea of moving on.”

“Yes,” Raina praised. “I like it. Let’s do that.”

“Iwouldlike to see Hudson take a turn at karaoke,” Faith mused with a nod.

“I just want to see Damien, period,” Oaklynn said. “All this penis and orgasm talk got me missing him hard.”

And I wanted to see Parker. Even if it was just at the other end of a table where he’d be surrounded by the guys and I couldn’t even talk to him. I needed to be in his presence again.

“Not fair,” Raina whined. “Foster’s out of town for an away football game tomorrow. I won’t be able to see him no matter what.”

“Fear not.” Faith hooked her arm through Raina’s to jostle her into cheering up. “I’m sure Keene will happily hit on you too.”

Raina only rolled her eyes. “Oh Lord. Probably.”

31

HOPE

We rode to Cowpoke’s Bar and Grill on the Bay together in Xander’s orange SUV.

From the street-facing view, the place looked as if it were made entirely of wood, like an ark or something. But once we waded through some sand and climbed the outer staircase, we came out on the upper portion of a two-level, open-air restaurant, fashioned like a dock.

We paused to glance over the beauty of the water at sunset before we made our way down to the bottom portion, where wooden swings saddled up to the bar, and beyond that, karaoke night was being set up on the stage.

I went straight to the emcee to put in my first request, and he sent me a head bob in acknowledgment as he wound a black cord around his arm.

So I turned away to find us some seats.

Two long tables had already been pushed together and looked as if they could seat at least ten people. After claiming them, I joined the others at the bar to order drinks. Faith and Oaklynn got themselves mixed cocktails, but Raina, Xander, and I ordered lemonade and sodas.

We had decided to stay in the spirit of girls’ night, even after we’d invited the guys to join us, and we didn’t change out of our crazy outfits.

I’d lost the oven mitts, but I still sported my tutu and tights with the lime green eyeshadow, star wand, pearls, and off-the-shoulder gold top.

Faith said the scarf would overheat her, but she stayed in her short, denim skirt, white halter, and cowboy hat and boots.

Raina kept her pigtails, sunglasses, hoop earrings, bow tie, and strapless rainbow dress, while the only thing Oaklynn didn’t bring along was her cleaning gloves. Her sash and tiara looked great over theStarry Nightthemed romper she wore.

Xander was the only one of us who looked absolutely normal.

Which just might be why the rest of the bar sent us confused glances before they focused solely on her. Or maybe it was just because she was that pretty. Either way, some dude swaggered over almost immediately to ask if he could buy her a drink.

She merely picked hers up to show him she already had one before lifting her brows meaningfully, and he slunk off rejected.

“Something tells me you won’t have any problems moving on whenever youareready,” Faith spoke up dryly just as Oaklynn leaped from her chair with a happy squeal, slopping some of her drink over the side.

“Incoming,” she cried, setting the glass down and racing off.

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