Page 178 of Can't Always Get What You Want

There’s no guidebook for how to show up to your girlfriend’s family party two weeks after her twin brother gave you the green light to date her.

But here we are.

Pulling into a gravel parking lot surrounded by cowboy hats, worn-out boots, and what I can only describe as honky-tonk chaos.There's a banner out front that says“Happy Birthday, Austin!”with little boot and baby bottle graphics on it, which doesn’t totally make sense until I remember?—

She's pregnant. Again. After only a few months…

I park beside Gio’s truck and kill the engine.

Nova unbuckles and tosses me a look. “You good?”

I stare out the windshield, blinking rapidly. “There’s a mechanical bull.”

She grins. “Andline dancing.”

Shit.

I hate both of those things.

And before you start wondering how I know I hate both ofthose things, I have six words for you: Brett Higgins’ 26thNashville Bachelor Party.

I barely remember most of it because I blacked out somewhere between the mechanical bull and the third round of whiskey shots. Woke up with a sprained thumb andYeehaw, Motherfucker!written in black Sharpie marker across my pelvis, right above my dick that took two weeks to fade.

So yeah.

I don’t love a rodeo.

“Is Poppy already inside?”

“Oh, definitely.” Nova grabs the gift bag from the floor of my car, balancing it on her lap, fiddling with the pink ribbon she’d curled at the top. “And she’s waiting to judge you.”

Of course she is.

Because this isn’t just a birthday party: it’s our unofficial coming out and the first time I’m meeting Poppy, her best friend of all time.

Nova laughs, reaching across the center council to lace her fingers through mine. “You’ll be fine, babe. You survived my brother. You can survive a night of line dancing and my family.”

“Can I, though?”

“Yes.” She laughs. “This is a birthday party! Everyone but Austin will be drunk and in a good mood.” Her brows wiggle in my direction. “Maybe I’ll let you fuck me in the bathroom.”

She lifts the hem of her skirt, giving me a flirty peek of her white thong.

Well shit…

This cheers me up considerably. “All you’re making me want to do is spank you—and eat your ass out.”

She loves it when I talk dirty.

Nova tilts her head, biting down on her bottom lip. She glances around the parking lot—then at the entrance to the building as if she were debating letting me rail her in the parking lot.

“Crap. I like the sound of that.” She sighs, briefly considering her options.

“You’re not playing fair.”

“I’m not here to play fair,” she purrs before lowering her skirt and grabbing the gift bag, my eyes still homed on her smooth, silky thighs.

I love those thighs.

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