Page 22 of Tara's Warriors

Her words died in her mouth as she caught sight of the back of Karwin’s black and gray braid, then his profile as he and Phin walked out from behind the Barn and Tractor supply shop near the elementary school. They were easy to spot, not only heads taller than most of the people around them, but far more muscled, and so hot they made her hormones explode into a happy dance. Though she couldn’t see all of them thanks to the crowd, she caught a glimpse of well-fitting jeans, tight t-shirts in dark colors, and a delicious amount of tanned and toned arms showing beneath the straining sleeves of their shirts.

She could just imagine how warm the cotton covering their chests would feel, how it would absorb their unique scent, what it would feel like to rub her cheek against it.

“Holy jumpin’ frog on a griddle,” Melinda said in a soft voice. “Would you look at those tall drinks of water? That’s them, isn’t it? I recognize them from the pictures my mom sent me.”

Blinking hard, she tore her gaze away from the men to frown at her cousin. “Aunt Jean sent you pictures of them?”

“Course she did,” Melinda continued to stare in the direction of Phin and Karwin. “You don’t see one man, let alone two like that, but once in a lifetime. I’m a Christian married woman and all, but wwoooo-wheee they are fine.”

Betsy, who was recently divorced, eyed the two men with open avarice. “I’ll take the one on the right, the one with the beard. You can have the other one.”

An intense, almost incandescent anger lit Tara from within as she turned on her bitch cousin. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t care for long hair on a man.” Betsy ignored the other women as she quickly straightened her mint gray sundress. “Introduce us.”

“No,” Tara said in a growl so fierce Betsy froze and Melinda gaped at her. “No fucking way. You keep your skank hands off them.”

“Tara!” Melinda said in a shocked voice, even as she tried to hide her smile.

“I mean it.” Tara held Betsy’s gaze, letting her know she wasn’t bullshitting. “I will kick your scrawny ass from one side of the town to the other if you so much as touch one of them. Am I clear?”

Betsy’s mouth hung open, her eyes so wide with shock her forehead wrinkled.

Something that should have been impossible with all the Botox she’d had.

“Well, I never!” she huffed as she placed her hand on her chest.

“Bitch, please,” Tara rolled her eyes, then took a loud sip of her drink. “Go play that offended lady card with someone else. We grew up together, remember?”

Hectic blotches of red colored Betsy’s neck and chest as she leaned forward and hissed, “They’re probably gay, anyways. Look at them! Those are two hot gay men looking for a beard. Enjoy being their fag hag.”

Melinda’s lips firmed in a confusion. “A beard? But one of them already has a beard.”

Her cousin’s naivete helped Tara to calm down and not go after Betsy and kick her underfed butt. “It’s slang, for the woman a gay guy dates so he can pretend to the world he’s straight.”

“Oh…” Melinda said. “I don’t care if they are gay. I’d totally be their beard.”

Tara silently agreed with her cousin, then turned back to see that Phin and Karwin were almost to them.

“Act normal,” she whispered to her cousin who was back to open mouthed staring. “And close your mouth, you’re gonna catch a fly.”

Crossing the old-fashioned cobblestone street that surrounded the square, both men had their gaze focused on her, their attention so intense, it was like being captured in their strong arms.

Phin reached her first, his slow smile warming her heart and giving her delicious butterflies in the pit of her belly.

“Greetings, Tara,” he rumbled as he gave her a short bow.

“Greetings, Tara,” Karwin repeated, his voice deeper and his accent thicker.

Trying to go for nonchalance when all she wanted to do was literally bounce in place with joy, she smiled up at them. “Hey, guys. So glad you could make it.”

“Thank you for inviting us,” Karwin replied. His teal blue eyes caught the light of the setting sun, revealing the streaks of green among the blue.

Melinda gave her a subtle hip check, and she nudged her cousin back as she said, “This is my cousin, Melinda.”

Both men bowed. Melinda blushed hard as Karwin said, “It is our honor to meet you, family of Tara. My name is Karwin.”

“And I am Phin.” The bearded man gave Melinda his panty-dropping smile. “It is a pleasure to meet Tara’s kin.

---