Page 63 of Make Me Crazy (Loco, Texas 2)

“So what are you making?” Rand asked Jake, glaring at Red.

He held up the box of bake and serve orange chicken and fried rice. “Chinese.”

She put the shaken beer in the fridge and grabbed a new one. “So what’s on the movie menu then?”

Red grinned and reached into the bag. “The Hangover, The Hangover Part two, and Bridesmaids for your enjoyment. Oh, that reminds me, my sisters offered to help you get ready if you want.”

Rand looked towards Jake in alarm and he just laughed. Coughing, she asked Red, “All of them?”

The Calhoun sisters were nice enough girls, but all four of them in one room with her?

Red laughed. “Actually just M.J. and Tabby.”

Rand’s sigh of relief was audible and the two men grinned at each other when she said, “Okay, I’d appreciate the help.”

Jake turned on the oven and walked over to her, leaning over to give her a deep searching kiss that had her holding on for dear life. When he pulled back, he was smiling. “I missed you.”

“Alright, if you guys are going to make out all night, I’m going to take my food to go.” Red made a gagging noise and Rand, her insides a pile of mush at Jake’s admission, flipped him the bird.

Jake laughed and pulled back from Rand with a kiss on her forehead. She didn’t know why the loss of his warmth affected her so, but she suddenly wished they were alone.

He couldn’t seem to stop watching her. When Red reached out and pulled her into a bear hug, giving her a smacking kiss on the cheek, his fingers twitched with the urge to pull her away from him. Everything she did was distracting, the way she lifted her arms to rearrange the topknot on her head, her full breasts rising with them. When she bent over to put the DVD into the player and the curve of her bottom rose into the air, his palms started sweating.

When Rand came back to the couch and slid in next to his side, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders naturally. She turned to lay her head on his chest as the menu came on the screen and after pressing the play button, she snuggled back in, wrapping her arm around his waist.

They had been friends for twenty years, held each other, comforted each other, but this was different. The way they fit, the way she smelled, and even the press on her lips against the side of his neck had him thinking lots of crazy things.

The craziest one being that she felt like coming home. Warmth and comfort and rightness.

He looked over at Red and as if he read his thoughts, he raised his eyebrow and pretended to hang himself.

I’m in trouble. Big trouble.

Chapter Fifteen

Their wedding day dawned sunny and cold, which was just fine since the ceremony wasn’t going to start until two that afternoon. Rand had been surprised by the arrival of Red’s two sisters and Jamie at nine. What in the name of all that was holy did they need to be there five hours before the ceremony?

She was coming up from the barn when she spotted the two red heads and Jamie waiting patiently on her porch. Heading up the steps with a tentative smile, she said, “Hi ya’ll. What’s going on?”

M.J. held up some kind of large suitcase. “Red told us you needed help getting ready.”

Jamie stepped up and slid her arm through Rand’s. “And as Maid of Honor, it is my job to make sure you stay calm and relaxed.”

Rand smiled, unsure how anyone was going to manage that feat. “Well come on in. Are you hungry?”

Jamie held up a white pastry sack. “I picked up some doughnuts at Nuttier’s.”

Rand’s mouth watered as she looked at the bag and M.J. led the way inside. “Where do you want me to set up?”

Set up? “Um, I guess in my bedroom.” She led the trio down the hallway to her room and M.J. started unpacking her giant suitcase.

“Why don’t I make coffee to go with these? Where’s your pot?” Jamie walked out with the white bag without waiting for an answer. “Where the hell do you keep the coffee?”

Rand took the opportunity to run out to help her, terrified of the torture the two sisters’ had in store for her over the next few hours.They were supposed to be at the church at one thirty. What could possibly take so long?

Rand never thought she’d be standing in the middle of the Sunday school room, surrounded by a roomful of women from town and having them fawn over her like she had always belonged. After four hours of preparation and the last forty five minutes of smiling and nodding, she was exhausted. She stood in front of the mirror, staring at herself.

M.J. had styled her hair in a riot of curls falling from a French twist at the back of her head. Bits of white flowers, rhinestone pins, and glitter brightened the brown strands and she was wearing more makeup than a clown. Thankfully she didn’t look like one, but her face felt like someone had put a layer of dirt on it. M.J. had used some kind of mineral based make up on her until her freckles were almost nonexistent and she’d applied three shades of dark shadow to her eyelids to make her eyes “pop”. Rand had to admit it did make her eyes stand out and her lips were glossed with a plumping agent that made them tingle weirdly.

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