Page 39 of Just (Fake) Married
As if she became aware at the same time, she stiffened.
Drunk cowboy got bored and wandered off, taking his friends with him, but still I stood there locked in a full head to toe embrace with Harmony Calloway.
“Honestly,” Harmony said, her skin still dewy with sweat, hair falling out of her ponytail and stuck along her neck. “You did not have to go all caveman on them.”
“I don’t know. It seemed to work. My first time Protectin’. My. Woman.” I said like a true cowboy. “How did I do?”
She sighed heavily and shook her head. Because I couldn’t help myself, I pulled a lock of bright red hair off her cheek, tucking it behind her ear.
“You’re pretty when you’re tipsy and having fun,” I told her.
“Oh no,” she said, and pushed away. She stumbled a bit as she did. “None of that nice stuff.”
“What nice stuff?” I asked. Damn, she was cute when she was a little drunk.
“That party shit you do. Thatcome with me to the pantrynonsense. I’m not falling for it again.” She put her hand up and pointed a finger right at my nose. I grinned and caught it in my fist.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Harmony. Why don’t you tell me what happens when we find ourselves in a pantry together?”
It occurred to me that if she was any other woman, and I was any other man, this would be flirting. This would be such high-octane flirting that I’d be looking for a dark corner so I could get my mouth on hers. My hands in that hair.
“I’ll tell you what happens-”
“Hey!” Bliss was suddenly there, slinging an arm around Harmony’s neck, nearly knocking both of them to the floor. I caught them, trying to keep them upright. Amity piled on and it got a little harder, but I managed to keep the entire Calloway coven on their feet.
Alone, they were pretty women.
Together, drunk in the middle of a bar, they were knockouts. They needed a keeper and, suddenly, that was me. I looked around for some backup and caught Mac’s eye at the pool table. He shook his head no, but was putting down his pool cue.
“I’m talking to you, Mr. Doctor,” Bliss said.
Oh. This should be good.
“Okay,” I said. “What did you want to say?”
“You better not be an asshole to Harmony.”
“I have no intention of being an asshole.”
“You McGraws can’t help it,” Amity said. “Like you have to actively work against your asshole nature.”
“I will actively work against my nature.” I said it like a solemn vow.
Harmony, for her part, was digging through the tiny little purse she had strung across her body. It was so small, I wasn’t sure what she could be looking for that might fit inside of it. A lighter?
A thought occurred to me. Harmony wouldn’t tell me what happened in that pantry all those years ago, but had she told her sisters?
“Any chance Harmony told either of you about a party she went to in high school where she ended up punching me in the face?”
“Ha!” Amity said. “Like we don’t know the entire high school called her the pantry puncher for a year.J’accuse! That’s French for you suck, Mr. Doctor.”
“Yes, but did she tell youwhyshe punched me?” I asked both her and Bliss.
“I have my suspicions,” Bliss said ominously. “It might have had something to do with the C&C.”
“What the heck is the C&C?” I asked, suddenly wishing I’d had more than one tequila shot, and was as drunk as these ladies.
With tremendous victory, Harmony pulled a ChapStick out of her little purse and began to apply it with relish.
