Page 64 of No Place Like Home
Rowan gestured to the tables and I gladly obliged. “I need to use the lady’s room and grab a drink. Want me to grab you anything?”
“A beer, please.” He kissed me. “Hurry back.”
I was beaming and floating on a cloud. Who knew being with an amazing man could make a woman fell like this. My eyes caught Kora and Kai, and Darlene and Bryson on the dance floor. Okay, Kora and Darlene. That’s who.
There was a spring in my step when I got out of the restroom and stopped at the bar to order our drinks. I doubted anything could bring me down to earth, and I wasn’t going to complain.
Lance joined me as I waited for my drinks. I glanced at his face. It was swollen and bruising. “I’m surprised you’re still here,” I said, wincing. “Thought you’d need to go lay down. It looks like it hurts.”
“Just a bit.” He asked the bartender for a beer. “Can’t miss this wedding, though.” Lance leaned against the bar. “Don’t know what you did to get Rowan to bow at your feet, but he’s pretty smitten with you.”
“Smitten?” I asked, and thanked the bartender as he placed our drinks on the counter.
“Yeah. He must be, with how quickly he was willing to stand up for you.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, well he shouldn’t have to stand up for me.” I narrowed my eyes. “What did you say that got him so pissed off?”
“Doesn’t matter. Just trying to rile him up, you know—pick on him like the good ol’ days.”
“Yeah, well looks like that was a piss-poor idea.”
“Nice language.”
“No worse than the trash you date.”
“You would know.”
Yeah, that dig hit home, but there was no way I’d ever let Lance know how much his words hurt. “What you think of me has never bothered me. Too bad you can’t have some of your mother in you. I guess Lilly took all the good DNA.”
Lance took a deep sip of his beer, and I walked back to the table, which had been filled in at one end with James, Lena, Madelyne, Darcie, and Skylar. I sat next to Skylar and gave Rowan his beer.
“Well, if it isn’t the most beautiful princesses of Orlinda Valley—and James, of course,” I said.
“Hi Summer,” Darcie said. “We saw you kissing my Uncle Rowan.”
“Yeah,” James said, his voice suspicious. “Why were you kissing him? You aren’t married.”
I glanced at Rowan, and he hid his face in his beer, a sexy smirk plastered on it.
“Duh,” Madelyne said as she rolled her eyes dramatically. “You don’t have to be married to kiss.”
“Yeah,” Skylar agreed. “Don’t you know anything?”
“Boys are so stupid,” Darcie said.
“I’m not stupid. Kissing is gross, and you shouldn’t kiss anyone until you’re ready to have babies,” James insisted.
“Uh, who told you that?” I asked.
“My grammy, and she knows everything.”
“I love Grammy,” Madelyne said, “but she said that Summer had a bad attitude, and that’s not true.” She turned to me. “You don’t, Summer.”
“Attitude? What’s that?” James asked.
“OMG, James. You really don’t know anything, do you?” Darcie teased.
“Y’all . . .” I tried to calm them down as Rowan shook with laughter. I gave him a side-eyed glance. He was no help.
