Page 63 of Mister Cowboy
January froze, waiting for his answer. Did he want to get married? Have kids? Holding her breath, she trained her eyes on the table as she wiped it with a wet rag.
“I’d rather have one big engagement party with family and friends.”
“What? Come on. No strippers dressed as nurses? Ooh, or cops telling you you’ve been a bad, bad boy? The bachelor party is the last chance to see another woman naked without any guilt. It’s bigger than you. You have to do it for your male friends. The bachelor party is as much about them as it is for you.”
Rolling her eyes, she threw the rag at Michael. “What are you… twenty again?”
She finally let her eyes travel over to Brecken as he easily flipped two chairs at once. His eyes never leaving hers as his lips pulled into a big smile. “Nah, strippers don’t appeal to me, but stripping… now, that’s a good idea.”
“Easy, you two. I’d like to save what dignity this bar has left.”
Her face warmed as she looked from Michael to Brecken, but the playful grins on their faces made her feel light. Happier than she could ever remember being. She’d done it. She had found two great men, and they had a genuine comradery that she had always dreamed of finding for the roles of her best friend and boyfriend.
Boyfriend? Is that what he was? Her boyfriend? The word seemed too insignificant for the way he made her feel and too significant for the time they’d been seeing one another. As usual, her ability to contradict the situation was as consistent as she was inconsistent.
“Get out of here, you two. I’ll lock up,” Michael said, picking the last chair up off the floor.
“Did you walk? We can wait and give you a lift?” Brecken offered.
“Appreciate it, but I’m staying at Carrie’s tonight. Plus, I feel bad enough I ruined your night, but I don’t know what I would have done without your help, so thank you.”
“I will always be here if you need me.” January stepped forward and hugged him tightly, hoping Michael understood how much he meant to her.
35
Brecken
“You still smell like limes.” She nuzzled against him, intertwining their legs and pressing her body flush against his. “Thank you for tonight. You didn’t have to help, but it means a lot that you did.”
“I’m not sure how helpful I was,” he admitted.
“Are you kidding?” She lifted her head and looked from his eyes to lips. “Besides your impressive lime wedge cutting skills, you had those bachelorettes eating out of your palm. What did you say to them anyway?”
Brushing a soft kiss against her lips, he slid from the bed and pulled on his boxer briefs.
“Tell me,” she pleaded, leaning back on her elbows and staring up at him with big eyes.
“It was nothing. They were drunk and looking for attention. I just gave them what they wanted.”
“No. It was more than that. They weren’t looking at you like they wanted to rip your clothes off, they were in awe. They looked up at you like you had restored their faith in all that was good.”
Chuckling, he laid back down beside her and pushed a loose curl of hair away from her face. “Apparently, I need to up my game.Noneof them were looking at me like they wanted to rip my clothes off.”
She slapped him playfully. “Seriously. What did you say?”
He cleared his throat, not able to remove the lump that had been lodged there all night. Torn between pouring out the emotions that oozed from his pores and holding back for the right moment, he let out a breath, puffing out his cheeks as the air exited.The hell with it.
“They asked me what I was doing working behind the bar.” He looked down his nose. “Either my outfit or maybe my clumsy bartending skills gave away the fact that I’m not exactly a master mixologist.”
“Okay, so what did you say that had them so entertained by your answer? Did you woo them with your talk of custom suits or the enthralling world of software coding?”
He shook his head. “No, I told them the truth.”
A small smirk on her face, she waved her hand for him to continue.
“I told them that I was there so I could be near the woman I love.”
Inhaling audibly, January’s eyes went wide, and her lips parted. Brecken smiled, pleased with her shock and lowered his mouth to hers.
