Page 31 of Any Cowboy of Mine
“I did fine,” Brad interjected, “but you had no way of knowing it would have turned out that way. You were supposed to be my wingman. Keep Julia off my back.”
“I know and I’m sorry, but there was no way I was letting this woman go.”
“You know you sound crazy, right? You just freaking met.” Brad was yelling now. Sam looked up, keeping a tighter watch on the four of them.
“So did you and Sophie, and you were just making out. What’s the difference?”
Sophie leaned in, interested in hearing what Brad might have to say about this, because to passersby Brad sounded pretty hypocritical. They’d been talking about what might transpire between them after the wedding was over, which wasn’t too different to what Steve and Jackie were doing, with the exception of the skipping the wedding part.
She held her breath as she waited to hear what he thought.
“It was just kissing,” Brad said, pulling away from her—not enough for Jackie or Steve to notice, but Sophie felt it and her heart sank. After all the wishy-washy, back-and-forth play between them, he’d landed on Sophie just being a convenient hookup.Well, fine.At least she figured that out now and not the next morning when she might have already done something she regretted. A few kisses—albeit damn good kisses—weren’t anything to get worked up over. Brad glanced at her, shuffling his feet, and she tried to wipe the hurt from her face. “No offense,” he added.
“None taken.”
He was right. They were a little buzzed and sure, they were attracted to each other, but it was a wedding between his ex and his ex-best friend. What did she expect? A proposal? She turned towards Jackie, desperate to shift the conversation away from her and Brad. “So, talk. You owe me that much, roomie.”
“From best friend to roomie. Wow, you must be pissed.”
Sophie shook her head. “No, not pissed. Just concerned. Forgive me for saying this isn’t at all like you. You know you’d have some questions for me if I was acting this out-of-sorts.”
“It’s not my normal forte, I’ll give you that,” Jackie said, a loud, joy-filled laugh filling the room. “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t real.” Jackie smiled as Steve rubbed her shoulders, her hands reaching up to touch his.
“What do you mean,real?” Brad interrupted, his finger waving in Steve’s face.
“I mean, we’ve decided that this is it. We’ve been playing around for long enough, just long enough to bring us together, and there’s no more need for either of us to do that.”
Sophie’s breath threatened to stop all together. Brad tensed beside her.
“What is that supposed to mean, Steve?” Brad barely got the words out through clenched teeth.
“It means what I said. This is it. I’ve been waiting my whole life to meet a woman like Jackie, and I’m not going to let her get away.”
“No, I heard that part the first time. What does itmeanthough? Don’t be a vague prick, Steve. We’ve been through too much together.” Brad was up in Steve’s face now, arms out, and out of the corner of her eye Sophie watched Sam saunter over to their side of the bar, lingering there.
“Okay. I can do that. But you need to hear me when I tell you I am walking away if you get weird and paternal on me. Jackie and I have made up our minds about this, and as crazy as it might sound, we’re one hundred percent sure of each other.”
“Fine. I’ll be calm. Sophie?” he asked. She nodded, held her arms up in the air as if to say, “Duh,” knowing full well she wasn’t the one Steve was talking to.
“Sure. I’ll listen.”
Steve took a deep breath and cracked his knuckles. Jackie rose out of her seat and put her arm around his waist, pinched his side playfully and gazed up at him like he solved world peace himself. It would have made Sophie gag if she weren’t so jealous.
“Here goes.” There was a slight lilt in Jackie’s speech, as if she was nervous. Not that Sophie would know if her friend really was—Jackie was the most confident woman she’d ever met. Sophie didn’t think she’d ever given any of her ideas a second thought, let alone carefully thought out what she was going to say.
Steve cleared his throat and took over, much to Jackie’s delight it seemed. She kissed his shoulder and exhaled a long slow breath. “So, we hit it off, got to talking, and both of us sort of knew at different points in the night that this was it for us. I’m not sure when, but I told Jackie that she was the most amazing woman I’d ever met, she returned the sentiment and asked what I was doing the rest of the weekend. I told her I was going to be spending it with her, obviously, and then I had a question for her.”
At this, Steve looked down at Jackie, a sweet smile playing on the corners of his lips that still held all the happiness of his toothy grin, but Sophie could tell this one was meant only for Jackie. Had she ever reserved a smile just for one person? She didn’t think so, and the realization made her chest ache with remorse and longing. There was no way she wanted Drew back, but she missed the promise of going home to someone, of knowing that her future was certain. But nothing was certain, was it?
“And?” Brad asked, gesturing for them to get a move on. He’d jolted Sophie from her daydream; she was captivated by the story Steve was telling, her romance-obsessed side taking over the more recent cynical one. She sipped her lemon drop shot like it was a martini and she was watching a Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan film.
“And, I asked Jackie if she had any plans after this weekend. More specifically, every day for the rest of her life.”
Sophie choked on her drink.Wow.That wasn’t at all what she saw coming next, even though her mind was in full romcom mode. Steve was even stealing lines from Mr. Hanks.
“I’m sorry, butwhat?!” she asked.
“I asked Jackie to marry me, and she said yes.”
