Page 76 of Bourbon and Secrets

I give her a leveling glare. “You try telling them no. It’s the one thing aside from the blonde curls that they inherited from Olivia. Couldn’t tell that woman no either. I swear, I’m raising con artists.”

“It tracks.”

A voice crackles over the loudspeaker:LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, WELCOME TO FIASCO’S RODEO PRO-AM NIGHT! ALL PROCEEDS TONIGHT WILL BE DONATED...

She knocks my knee. “You look like there’s a lot working around in that big head of yours. And maybe it has nothing to do with the woman you can’t stop looking at down there, but I knowwhat a great sex glow looks like, Linc. And there’s definitely some of that billowing off of you.”

I glance at her smiling face, not giving anything away. I don’t know what the hell I’m thinking right now. After that conversation with Lark, and now this one...

“Okay,” Hadley says, lips pursing in thought. “Don’t take this the wrong way.”

“You realize when you say shit like that, it has the opposite effect.”

She pops a piece of popcorn into her mouth. “Lincoln, you’re very good at leading people to believe you’re happy. But you forget that I know you. I remember what you looked like on your wedding day. I remember what you looked like when your girls were born. The same way I know when you’re flirting with someone you’re barely interested in. Years from now, I’ll remember what you looked like when you were looking at Faye Calloway.”

I glance at my best friend, feeling exactly what she means. “I slept with her.”

She smacks my arm. “I knew it. Was it hot? I bet it was ridiculously hot.”

“Shhh. Can you not be so loud right now,” I say through a chuckle. Unable to stop smiling, I wipe my hand over my mouth and give Hadley a side-eye as I answer her question. “Yeah, it was fucking hot. I can’t stop thinking about it. About her.”

My gaze travels to Faye again.What is she up to now?It’s like she senses my eyes on her because she turns her head, looking over her shoulder. It takes a second for her to find me in the crowd. When she does, the beautiful smile that kicks up on the side of her mouth makes my chest thump and my dick kick my thigh.

“I mean, just look at her.”

Hadley hums, nodding with exaggeration. “Oh, I am. I have a big, fat crush on her. Don’t tell Laney.” My best friend has always been great at making me feel better while asking the obvious questions. “So is that all it is? A little crush and just a good time?”

I move my thumb against my empty ring finger. My life is complicated. I have kids and a whole world of love and heartbreak from before Faye ever stumbled into my life, but dammit, I like her in it now. I don’t need to hide that from her. “Might be the best time I’ve ever had. I’m not sure I want to let something like that go.”

Hadley leans into me and smiles, holding out her fist. I bump it, and then we follow with the finger hooks and elbow tap combination.

My attention wanders back to Faye, who’s side-eyeing two women to her right, while Cortez chats with a bull rider. And then Faye snakes her hand toward Cortez’s back pocket and plucks out his cell phone. My mouth drops open. “What is she...” I say quietly to myself. What the hell is she doing? She messes around with his phone for just a moment and then slides it back into his pocket. Cortez is none the wiser. This woman gets more interesting by the moment.

Laney calls out from the far end of the bleachers we’re sitting on, pulling my attention. “Hey, Lincoln, mind if we take the girls for a sleepover tonight? I think Julep is missing Little Miss Kit.”

“You’re taking the dog too?”

She looks up at Grant, and he just kisses the top of her head. He calls out, “Yeah, Kit, too.”

“You’re good with skipping the after party at the distillery, brother?”

Grant waves the question off like it’s obvious. “The second that Lark mentioned something called a candy salad to Laney, Iknew our plans were changing tonight.” Then a smile pulls at his mouth. “I’ve got my girl. So yeah, I’m good.”

I like how that sounds—my girl.Looking down the bleachers, I watch the beautiful woman who’s breezed into my life all over again and think...mine.

Chapter 26

Faye

“Maggie, wait up,”I say, calling after her.

She keeps walking like she doesn’t hear me, hustling toward the stables where the horses are being groomed and shined up for their barrel races.

“You know women like that only gossip because their lives are boring as shit, right?”

She spins around on the ball of her foot, the hint of a smile starts to escape the corner of her mouth before she pulls it back. “What women?”

I have to smile at that.

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