Page 26 of Any Cowboy of Mine
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to send them.”
Brad stopped them in the middle of the dance floor, tilting her head up so that he could make sure she was looking right at him.
“But you did, Jules,” he said, his voice stern and direct. “You sent two texts right before you got married to the guy you cheated on me with. One of them said ‘I miss you.’ What the hell is that?” His voice was raised, and he could feel the heat of dozens of eyes on him, waiting to see what he was upset about, what he would do next, if he would lose his cool.
He didn’t give a shit. Not anymore.
“Because I do miss you. I know that the timing sucks and it won’t make a difference, but when I was getting dressed…” She whispered, clearly embarrassed by the new and unwanted attention. She paused, plastering a fake, pageant-girl smile on her face. He stopped moving around the floor again. She’d better not finish that sentence the way he thought she might. “I thought aboutyou, Brad.” She exhaled, a soft whine that had always grated on his nerves. He, conversely, held his breath, afraid of what he might say. After counting slowly to five, he let out his own breath, along with any empathy he felt toward her.
“You’re right, Jules. The timing does suck. And you’re the one who just admitted that you and I were done long before we broke up, beforeyoubroke us up. How dare you throw this on me now.” Brad’s hands trembled on her lower back. He glanced over at his dad and Sophie. Sophie’s eyes bored into his, a curious expression playing on her soft features.
Brad took a deep breath and released Julia, whose glassy stare was punctuated by feverish, darting looks around her. She wrung her hands, petrified. She was always in control, and it scared the hell out of her to not be the one calling the shots this time.
Too bad. She’d done this to herself.
“I’m sorry, Brad. I am,” she tried to whisper, but now her voice was laced with desperation, raising it a few octaves. “But,please. Don’t leave me out here. Not today.” Her eyes watered, eliciting the familiar pang of guilt that Julia was a damn professional at drawing out of him.
He made sure he was within whispering range, but certainly not for her benefit.
“Just tell me one thing. Where the hell is Chris? Why isn’theout here with you?” he hissed through clenched teeth.
Brad followed Julia’s sad gaze to the bar, where Chris was bellied up with some familiar buddies he’d had in college, dozens of shot glasses lined up in front of them. They laughed about something, Chris’s hand on one of their shoulders, holding himself upright. Brad closed his eyes. Of course Chris was getting hammered at his own wedding, forgetting about his bride.Jesus.Some things never changed.
The couple hadn’t even had their first dance yet, and the reception was half over. The crowd had lost its first layer of insulation, the grandparents bowing out. His folks and their friends would be the next group to leave, and still Chris hadn’t so much as brought his bride a glass of champagne. Pity was all that kept Brad talking to Julia.
“What do you want, Jules? Tell me right now. What do you want from me?”
“I don’t know, Brad,” Jules stammered, her voice cracking. “I do know I still love you, though.” And with that, the spell was broken, and Brad could see through to the Julia who had always been there, the selfish woman whose own needs always superseded those around her.
“Well, that’s not good enough. It never has been. I know now that it never will be, either.” He let out the remainder of a deep breath of air that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in this whole time. “Take care, Jules.”
Without turning around to see her expression, which would be more than he could handle, Brad strode up to Sophie and his dad. He hid his shaking hands by shoving them in his pockets, and bit down on his bottom lip that trembled.
“Hey there, old man. Quit hogging the prettiest woman here.” He hoped he sounded half as calm as his dad looked.
“Well, it seemed only right that she learn how a real man should move.” His dad’s eyes were positively shining, and Brad laughed, the conversation with Julia sliding off his back like unwanted weight. He still had his family, the people he knew he could count on no matter what else was going to hell.
“Oh, Dad. That white-man shuffle isn’t dancing. It barely counts as more than a safety hazard.”
“Now, you be kind.” Brad’s dad frowned at him, but the twinkle in his eyes betrayed his good humor. “Young lady, thank you for entertaining, as Brad so aptly put it, an old man.” His dad turned towards Brad. “Son, treat this one right. She’s special.” Alan winked at Sophie, and Brad watched with entertainment as she gave an exaggerated wink and a wide, toothy grin back.
“I know.” Brad looked right at Sophie when he said this and was pleased to see her cheeks flush crimson, her hand back over her mouth, hiding her gorgeous smile. God, he wished she wouldn’t do that. Her smile was the only thing that gave the starched, pale-pink room any life.
“You two be good. I’m going to go try to wrestle that grimace off your mother’s face before the night’s over. Wish me luck.” Alan walked off, and Brad took Sophie’s hand, heading towards the door.
His dad’s mission would be much harder to complete than the self-imposed task he’d given himself of wooing Sophie, a job he hoped took an indefinite amount of time. The time passed too quickly with her, and with trepidation, he looked at his watch, afraid of the morning and what it might bring. If it included this woman whose hand he gripped, he’d take anything that came his way.
“Where are we heading, mister?” Sophie asked him, tangling her fingers in his. He didn’t care that he’d only been reacquainted with her a little more than an hour—this time he wasn’t letting her go.
“Out of here. Are you game?”
Sophie snuck a peek back into the reception hall, a slight frown flashing across her face, but she recovered and turned back to him, the look passed.
“Am I ever. I’d follow you anywhere tonight, Connors.” She winked, a much sexier and subtler wink than the one she’d playfully tossed his father. His heart beat faster, and his palms began to sweat. God, every cell of his reacted to Sophie in a visceral way that left him breathless and wanting more.
“Good to know, Kellerman,” he teased back. “How about we start with the hotel bar and find those wayward friends of ours, then see where the night takes us?”
“Oh my God,” Sophie giggled. “I completely forgot about those traitors! So much for being Jackie’s date.”
