Page 9 of Flick

“You can listen to my idea without rolling your eyes, shaking your head no, or tuning me out?” he said.

He waited to see what she’d do. She breathed deeply and stared into his eyes. If looks could kill, umm, yeah, he’d be singed and possibly lying incapacitated.

“I’m getting the feeling I’m not going to appreciate what you have to say, and if you don’t want me shaking my head no, it’s probably some scheme you’ve decided will help me,” she grumbled, then nodded her agreement. Whew, this almost seemed too easy. Had he missed something she could do to not listen?

“It’s been a while since you kicked Kerwin to the curb,” he said, pausing to make sure she wasn’t going to do anything, then continued. “I’ve decided I need to help you, and the best way to help you is to set you up with men I think are appropriate and I believe you might find an interest in.”

He finished and considered getting up off the couch and running into the night. The glare she was giving him had heated more, if that was possible. He swallowed and considered all his options. If he took off running, she could give the dogs one command, and Moss and Dolly would take him down, nohesitation. If he stayed, he might end up being kicked in the balls. Granted, she’d never done it before, but Remi had done it to War, and the women all trained together.

“Okay,” she said.

Did he hear that right? She agreed and didn’t do anything to him? Was he dreaming? This wasn’t remotely close to how he thought this conversation would go, and he knew his best friend. This was unlike her.

“Okay?” he questioned.

“Yeah, I think it’s something friends do for each other, and I agree with your reasoning. You can select someone for me to go out with, and I’ll select someone for you. After we’ve both gone out with our ‘dates,’” she said, air quoting, “then we’ll meet to chat and see if we’ll continue dating the person or if we need to be set up with someone new.”

Flick sat and waited to respond. Didn’t it figure that she’d come up with some way to agree that he couldn’t refute? If he said no, he wasn’t going to do it, then she’d decline because he did. If he said yes, who knew who she’d have him go out with, but he didn’t really have a choice.

“I appreciate you being open to my idea, and I accept your conditions,” Flick said. He was going to count this as a win, though he only hoped he didn’t hate the woman she picked for him.

Chapter Seven

Did she really have to do this? In the two months since she and Flick had made their Christmas bargain, things had been busy. He’d set her up with his partner from work. The man was a single father, and he had the worst luck. Despite his kids being vaccinated, the chickenpox had run through them, followed by a respiratory illness. The illnesses had stretched over four weeks because of the kids trading illnesses back and forth; then he’d become ill, too.

Beth had finally told Flick enough. Flick had decided to move on to his next victim. At least that was how she viewed them. So tonight, she was going out with Dex while Flick was going out with a woman Beth knew from Dodge City. She wasn’t sure where they were going, but Dex wanted to take her to Nelson’s, which she was good with.

Dex was cute, but he was quite vocal about not settling down. Beth wasn’t looking for three kids and a picket fence, but she wasn’t just going to date someone so she wouldn’t be alone.She wanted someone to share her day with, to scream about injustices with, and to get down and dirty with. Dex would probably be good for some down and dirty times, but she wasn’t sure he’d be interested in anything more. He’d offered to have her ride on the back of his bike or ride in his truck. She giggled a little that he didn’t offer to have her ride her motorcycle with him. She’d chosen the truck, so she had on a snug, thin, deep mahogany sweater with her jeans and cute brown boots. She slipped her bronze wrap whip bracelet on.

Dodge from their Texas Chapter had finally come through with the self-defense whip bracelets they’d ordered. They’d arrived in a box after Christmas. His note apologized for the delay, but he knew he couldn’t send one of the sisters’ orders without the others. Beth and Rose had ordered the bracelets in three different colors—bronze, silver, and gold. Although they all looked like the metal of their color, Dodge had explained he’d applied color to some of them because he had a special metal he used for strength and flexibility.

She glanced at the dogs. They’d been out and were now lying on the couch, watching her.

“Lilly, Dolly, Moss—I expect you all to be good tonight. No knocking the trash can over and no peeing on my bed, got it? I won’t leave you that long. I’m guessing we’ll get bored with each other pretty quick,” she said as the doorbell rang.

She opened the door, and Dex stood there in boots, jeans, and a short-sleeve T-shirt. He looked nice, but there wasn’t a flutter anywhere for him.

“Hi, Beth, are you ready?” he asked.

His voice was deep and gravelly, but it had the same effect her brothers-in-law had on her. Zilch. Nada. Nothing.

“Sure, dogs are good to go,” she said, pulling the door closed and locking it. Dex walked beside her and opened the door for her. She nodded at him and got in.

Once he was in the truck, they got on their way, and it was silence, which normally she was comfortable with, but with Dex, it was that tense silence where they didn’t know what to say to each other. Jobs were always good things to talk about.

“How’s the range?” she asked.

“Oh man,” he said and talked, explaining all that was going on. Beth felt horrible, but she couldn’t even keep her concentration on him because it was a date. She’d talked to him multiple times and enjoyed it—as part of the MC, not as a possible date.

He was good-looking if she thought of him that way. She finally realized it was dead quiet.

“So, I’m thinking you really didn’t want to go out with me tonight and only did it because Flick set it up.”

“I’m thinking you didn’t really want to go out with me either but were doing a solid for your brother,” Beth replied.

Dex glanced at her, then back at the road. “Yes.”

“Okay, then let’s go eat, play some pool or darts as friends, and see what kind of trouble we can get into at Nelson’s. Then afterwards we can tell Flick it just wouldn’t work. I’ll even pay my half,” she said.

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