“Okay. I need to dance, then maybe another margarita, then finding someone and getting laid would be awesome—”
My evening may be looking up. Julián bit back the urge to laugh as he reached out and gently ran his hand down her upper arm to get her attention.
Jayne turned and met his gaze, and he wondered for a moment if she would even remember him. Then her eyes lit up with recognition and she beamed the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. “Oh, hello!”
“Hello, darlin’. I’ve come to claim that dance from you, if you’re willing?” He looked from Jayne to the men sitting with her, one eyebrow raised. He’d already decided if either of them objected, he’d just go back to the bar and wait for the Benedicts and Martinezes to arrive. The last thing he wanted to do was cause trouble.
Jayne patted Buck’s and Chad’s shoulders. “Ready, willing, and able, cowboy! No hard feelings, guys.”
The men didn’t look too happy, but they sat back, clearly accepting the lady’s decision to dance with him.
Julián held her chair while she got down from it, took her hand, and led her to the dance floor.
He kissed her hand, introduced himself to her, then eased her into his arms and began to move in beat to “Kissed You Good Night” by Gloriana. Julián had been complimented more than once on his dancing prowess. His abuela had insisted he and his brothers learn how to dance “like proper American gentlemen.” Since they all three of them had adored their abuela and none of them wanted to disappoint her, the Alvarez boys danced, and danced well.
Jayne fit into his arms perfectly, and her beautiful smile soothed him and made him feel special at the same time.
Julián twirled her around in a big circle, a dance step she really seemed to enjoy, and then tucked her close again. He looked down at her when she didn’t seem to mind being snuggled right up flush against him. He couldn’t help but return her smile. Damn, this woman is sweet.
“So, Julián, where are you from?”
He grinned and replied, “Originally, I’m from Virginia. Born and raised there, but I’ve been on the rodeo circuit for several years now. I’ve settled, at least temporarily, on a horse ranch in Lusty, up near Waco. I’m in Divine visiting some old friends from the rodeo. Maybe you know them? Angel and Joaquin Martinez? They head up the Andalusian breeding outfit out at the Divine Creek Ranch.”
“Yes, I do know them. My cousin, Grace, is married to the owners of the Divine Creek Ranch.”
Julián blinked. He couldn’t have heard right, could he? Maybe my time in Lusty has impaired my hearing. “Did you say she’s married to the owners? As in plural?” When she nodded and looked a little discomfited, he said, “Divine has a lot in common with Lusty, I guess.”
“Yes, sorry. I forgot that might not be common knowledge. Angel and Joaquin are nice guys and they know all there is to know about horse porn—I mean horse breeding.” A giggle escaped her.
Julián tried not to laugh at her use of the phrase “horse porn.” “My employers, Brian and Chase Benedict, are interested in starting a breeding operation and I told them about the breeding techniques Angel and Joaquin use there. They talked to the owners who extended the invitation to visit.” He thought of the way both Buck and Chad had looked sad and disappointed. He wondered what kind of relationship Jayne was looking for. Casually, and quietly, he asked, “So ménages are common here?”
“There’s quite a few of them but they seem to stay under the radar. There’re a few judgmental people in town but for the most part it’s a wonderful place to live. So, is that what you’re interested in? A ménage, I mean?”
“Right now, pretty lady, all I’m interested in is you.” He loved the feel of her womanly curves pressing against his body. He couldn’t help the fact his cock had gotten hard. His body was simply reacting to holding this incredibly desirable woman in his arms.
Maybe we should sit down for a bit. If he wasn’t plastered against her, it might clue his little head in to the fact that it couldn’t always have what it wanted when it wanted it. He still didn’t know if he’d try to invite her back to his room later, or not.
Maybe the smartest thing he could do was just enjoy her company, and dancing, until his friends showed up.
Joaquin might be able to tell him if there was any reason for him not to make a move on her.
“What do you say we get you another drink, Jayne?”
She met his gaze and said, “That sounds great, Julián.”
Julián escorted her back to the bar, where his beer awaited, tiny beads of condensation decorating the bottle. He caught the eye of the bartender, held up one finger and pointed to Jayne. Julián felt pretty certain the man knew what she was drinking.
“Thank you,” she said when her drink arrived.
“You’re welcome.”
“So, you’ve ridden in the rodeo. That sounds exciting.”
There were times when a man who worked the circuit didn’t necessarily like to hear those words from a woman. Julián had endured his share of buckle bunnies offering themselves to him, and he had to say while the pure male animal part of him thought that was just fine, his intellectual side found it all a little disappointing.
He knew Jayne, however, was just trying to get to know him better. That boded well. It meant she was looking at him as a whole man, considering the entire package he was. Perhaps he’d misjudged the level of her inebriation. Maybe she wasn’t as tipsy as he thought. So he told her a bit about his life on the circuit, censoring his tales so as to respect her ladylike sensibilities.
He still planned to wait until Joaquin arrived and speak to him, but he was beginning to hope for a happy ending to his adventure in Divine.
It didn’t seem to take Jayne very long to finish her drink. She set the empty glass aside, and met his gaze. He thought her eyes seemed bright, but it was really hard to tell in the dim lighting of the bar.
“Come on, cowboy. Let’s get this over—I mean, let’s dance some more!” she said, and hopped down from the stool.
Dancing is good for taking the bite out of the alcohol even if it will be sweet torture to hold her close.
Julián figured he was a big boy—he tried not to snicker at his own pun—and he could take it.
Just his luck, the DJ decided to play a slow and sexy number, “What Does He Have” by River City Gang.
The humor of the entire situation finally hit him between the eyes. He was dancing with the most appealing woman he’d met in a long time, and he couldn’t decide if she was too tipsy to tip. Feeling completely in sync with the inanity of that, he looked down, about to say something he was likely going to regret, and noticed she wasn’t looking at him at all. He took a moment and looked over to what had snagged her attention. Her friends, Buck and Chad, had their eyes on her. One of the men wore an expression of concern and the other one looked guilty. I wonder why he would feel guilty?
Julián shrugged, looked down at Jayne, and said, “So did it hurt?”
She brought her gaze back to him and he wondered at the look in her eyes. “Huh?”
“When you fell from Heaven, angel girl. Did it hurt?”
Jayne burst into giggles. “That is the cheesiest pickup line I’ve ever heard. Not that I’ve heard that many. But I’ll give you an A-plus for your effort.”
Julián could have pointed out the time for a pickup line had passed. She was in his arms already.
Instead, he chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Is my charm working on you?” He held her close, and couldn’t resist the temptation to slide his hand down, over her hip, to caress her ass. He damn near tripped over his own feet. Miss Jayne had one damn fine ass. He would love to get down on his knees and sink his teeth into her. I need to get my mind off my cock. He smiled down at her, but then his gaze was drawn away from her.
A man had come into the bar, and seemed to be focused on the two of them. He couldn’t see him very clearly yet, but something about his stance set alarm bells ringing in Julián’s head.
Then the man began to move, and Julián realized he was headed straight for them. He looked over, and Buck and Chad had moved from their table and were standing at the edge of the dance floor, clearly following the progress of the unknown man, and very clearly feeling guilty as hell.
The new arrival was about six feet tall, lean and muscular, and wore a very serious expression on his face. His hair, black and straight, hung past his shoulders. His neatly trimmed beard underscored lips that were held pursed, as if in disapproval. He had the cuffs of his sleeves rolled up, and Julián realized that beneath his shirt, the man sported some pretty impressive tattoos.
He looked up and met the man’s cold gaze and a shaft of knowledge pierced him, a sense of feral communication between the male of the species that Julián had no trouble interpreting.
Mine.
Then Jayne said, “It’s just sex. Can’t I just get it over with?”
Julián’s gaze snapped to her, and the glaze in her eyes damn near made his heart stop. She blinked once, and her eyes began to roll back in her head.
He caught her in his arms the moment her knees let go.
Chapter 11
July bled into August, and the temperatures in Central Texas soared. When El Niño affected the weather patterns, there tended to be fewer thunderstorms—or so Carrie had read. She knew enough to look for violent weather whenever they experienced a heat wave. There’d been a pretty fierce thunderstorm just the week before.
Carrie didn’t mind the heat, and she didn’t even mind a heavy thunderstorm. During that last one, she’d actually sat out on the porch at the ranch and enjoyed the light show. Generally, as long as those suckers didn’t spawn tornadoes or straight-line winds, she was good.
She guessed her attitude would be different if she’d experienced the tornado that had taken her parents’ lives. But she’d been miles away from them, at home, just her and Chloe, going about their normal lives. Their weather had been overcast but nowhere near violent. And all the while, in another state, their reality was being wrenched apart.
Carrie pushed away the dark thoughts and stretched the muscles of her back, working the kink out that the last two hours of steady work had given her. She’d peeled and cut and shredded what had felt like a ton of veggies for the various salads to be made. She’d cooked potatoes and pasta, and had set her special marinara sauce on to simmer. The Sunday buffet would open exactly on time, in less than a half hour. Ginny, Michelle, and Carla would be in any moment, as would Lusty Appetites’ newest waitress, Emily Anne Bancroft.
The young woman—she’d shown her driver’s license, proving she really was twenty, even if she did look only about twelve—had shown up one day about two weeks before, looking for work, and Kelsey had hired her on the spot.
“It was her big brown doe eyes,” Kelsey said after the fact. Then the owner of Lusty Appetites shrugged. “Hell, I’m getting desperate. I’ve taken in résumés, studied them, conducted interviews, picked the best of the lot, only to end up having hired either a lazy Lois or a total twit. Why not try just taking a chance on someone who walks in off the street and asks for work?”
Emily Anne had proven, so far, to be an absolute treasure. She learned quickly, and had a nice way with the customers. Carrie liked her, as did everyone else who worked with her. The slightly plus-sized brunette had a dazzling smile and wasn’t afraid to work hard.
Carrie had a feeling the waitress was a definite keeper. She had rented the apartment across the hall from her—Carrie was in 110, the unit that Jillian Gillespie, soon-to-be-Jessop had previously occupied. Emily Anne was in apartment 103.
Carrie couldn’t say if her newest neighbor was rowdy or not, because Carrie was hardly ever home.
Just thinking about where she’d been spending almost every spare moment and every night over the last couple of weeks—ever since the cowboys had come back from their overnight trip to Divine—was enough to put a smile on her face.
“I know that kind of smile.” Tracy came over to join her at the large work table. Her coworker had just set a tray of tarts down, and was about to garnish them with whipped cream. They’d be kept in the fridge and put out on the buffet as needed.
The restaurant was cool, but they had to be extra careful of all the milk and milk products at this time of year.
Earlier, she and Tracy had worked together, mixing up enough pastry so she could make bite-sized sausage rolls. Those had now finished baking, and Carrie was transferring them from the baking sheets to the serving dish. The extras she’d put into a storage container.
Across the room, Kelsey was checking on the prime rib of beef and chickens she had roasting. At Tracy’s comment she looked over and said, “You should recognize that smile, Mrs. Alvarez-Kendall. You likely see it in the mirror yourself a lot.” Then Kelsey chuckled. “As do I.”
Carrie appreciated the gentle teasing as well as the sense that no one really pried. They’d all taken note of the fact that she’d started seeing those two cowboys, and had mostly respected her privacy. “The last couple of weeks especially have been wonderful.” Ever mindful that she tended to be stingy with personal information, she added, “I’ve never really had a relationship before. This is all new to me. We’re taking things one day at a time, for the moment.”
“And to think that not that long ago, you were doing everything in your power to avoid them.” Kelsey’s teasing reminded Carrie that the cowboys were her husbands’ cousins.
Carrie met Kelsey’s gaze. “That was on me, not them. They were never anything but respectful toward me. I just had…issues.” She had told her lovers about her past, but she still couldn’t bring herself to tell anyone else. And if she was going to share what had happened when she’d been a young teen, by rights the next person she should sit down with and do so was Chloe.
“You want to talk about issues,” Kelsey shrugged. “Mine were pretty entrenched.” Then she smiled, and ran her hand over her baby bump. “We all have them, Carrie. I’m glad, though, that y’all are working them out, and that you and those cowboys are spending time together. As far as one day at a time? I see nothing wrong with that. You don’t need to be rushing into things.”
Maybe in another circumstance Carrie would have felt as if those words were disingenuous. But in this quirky little town, and with these people, Carrie knew Kelsey’s sentiment was not only heartfelt, but likely shared by most.
“It always smells so good in this place.” Emily Anne came into the kitchen, her customary grin in place. “Good morning! I had the best sleep. There was a nice little breeze coming through the window all night long.”
“That was a nice breeze,” Carla agreed. She kept her red hair in a short bob, with bangs. She exhaled deeply, ruffling those strands of hair. “I didn’t get to bed until after three—I’m studying for an exam in that summer course I’m taking through the University of Texas. I get to write it tomorrow, which is good. More time to study. Easier to do when it’s cooler.”
“It is a good thing it’s been cooling off at nights lately,” Michelle said. She’d come in, too, and held the door open for Ginny.
“You can always run your AC at night.” Kelsey took a moment to go over to the kitchen air conditioner and turn it cooler by just a notch. “I know I do.”
“That’s just because you’re not Texan bred and born,” Tracy teased. “Though I think you should be used to the warm summers by now.”
“Hey, we had hot summers in Philadelphia, too, routinely into the nineties, and sometimes even into triple digits,” Kelsey shot back. “And our high temps were always dripping with humidity.”
“Well, boy howdy, if the heat is bothering you, you picked the wrong career.” Ginny’s laughter was infectious. The newly arrived staff stowed their purses and grabbed their aprons. Kelsey had instituted new hours for the Sunday buffet. In summer, it opened at eleven in the morning and ran until eight at night. That was a long nine hours to work, and Sunday was the one day it was generally al
l hands on deck.
But there was still plenty of time for fun and teasing.
Since she rarely had to work the dining room anymore, Carrie didn’t really have a sense of when the patrons started to come in, except for the fact everyone on staff started to move faster.
The waitresses would call out the need for a special order—diners could order from the menu if they didn’t like the buffet, but that happened rarely—and also would let them know when items on the counters ran low.
Carrie kept an eye on her pregnant coworkers—only she, Carla, and Emily Anne weren’t expecting—and also kept an eye on the supply of salads, sauce, and veggies. It was a hectic, busy time, yet Carrie thought this really was the best job she’d ever had.
“Hey, Carrie, there’s a lady out in the dining room who wants to see you.” Emily Anne came in with a tray laden with glasses and used dishes. “She’s sitting at the front, by the windows.” Then she looked concerned. “Either she’s sporting a heat rash, or she’s been crying.”
The mention of woman and tears gave Carrie a pretty good idea who’d come into Lusty Appetites. She took a moment to wash and dry her hands.
“Your sister?” Kelsey asked.
Carrie hadn’t gossiped, really, but she had mentioned in passing that Chloe had been thinking of coming to visit, and that she’d recently broken off with her boyfriend.
Carrie only shrugged as she headed toward the door.
“See that she eats and then have her come on back,” Kelsey called out.
Carrie appreciated the consideration.
It didn’t take her long to spot Chloe. Her sister sat alone at a corner table for two, staring out the window.
“Hey, big sister.”
Chloe turned to look at her, the smile in her eyes warring with her quivering bottom lip. Her sister was a woman of strength, and it didn’t surprise Carrie one whit when Chloe defeated the impending tears and turned her smile on full bright.
Covington, Cara - Love Under Two Cowboys [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 12
