What She Wants Tonight

by Jillian Neal

  “This is beautiful,” Meridian complimented the scenery before she went on with her interrogation. “But explain what you just said.”

  He held out his free hand, and she quickly laced their fingers together. “Don’t mess up my ring,” she instructed.

  “I promise.” He considered for another few moments. “I didn’t grow up the way you did, but for a long time I thought I had. Every single person I thought was supposed to be a role model for me had fallen from grace before I was even born. They just did a hell of a job keeping that from me. But when I found out that the cards I’d been given were from a marked deck, I hope people remember that I demanded a new deck. I reshuffled the cards. I walked away, and I’d do it again a thousand times over.”

  Amazed at his fortitude, she squeezed his hand. “That’s impressive as hell. I hope you know that. Everything about you is impressive.” That fact was getting harder and harder to deny. “And I don’t think you should hate to be called a bourbon baron. You didn’t ask to be born into your family or for them to do the things they’ve done. You know not every Holder was the pinnacle of morality. Some of my ancestors were kind of terrible.”

  “Maybe, but the current generations put an end to that. Mine chose to make things worse. What we had wasn’t enough. We wanted more. That’s the thing with greed. There will never be enough money, or enough brands, or enough of anything to ever make them step back and say, we have enough, now let’s do something for someone else.”

  “Okay, but you did walk away from all of that, and I think you should give yourself more credit.”

  He gave her that sexy smirk that did dangerous, stupid things to her. “I’m glad you’re impressed. Now, would my cowgirl rather head over to Keeneland and lose some money on some thoroughbreds or go shopping for some ridiculously clichéd Kentucky souvenirs?”

  She pretended to consider. “You know, I have always aspired to being one of those old ladies that has a spoon from every state. I don’t have Kentucky yet. Oh, and one of those tiny Derby hats with the feather fascinator things that I can hang from the rearview of my truck.”

  Jack’s chuckle was yet another thing that did those stupid, dangerous things to her heart. “I can get you a shot glass from River Chase to go with your spoon collection.”

  “Wow. A free shot glass and a paper ring. I’m really being spoiled here.”

  “I know how to woo my lady,” he teased.

  “Clearly. I want to go to the track, but I’ve never ever gambled on anything so I’m sure I’ll be bad at it.”

  His brow furrowed like he found that odd. “Never?”

  “Nope. I only like sure things. I don’t like to lose, remember?”

  “Of course. But I would be more than happy to give you a little guidance. You know good horses. I know good jockeys. We make a damn good team. Maybe we’ll win.”

  “Are we going to drink mint juleps while we’re there?”

  “Naturally. To do otherwise would be completely uncouth.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t want to be uncouth.”

  “Not until we get back to my bed anyway.” Jack winked at her.

  Meridian couldn’t recall the last time she’d spent an entire day laughing. Everything about being with Jack made her happy, and that was probably the stupidest most dangerous thing of all.

  He sent her another flirtatious grin. “You know the way you really win at Keeneland is to bet on the long shot.”

  “Is that so?”

  “It is. Between the two of us we can analyze breeds, jockeys, trainers, and we can calculate speed, but a long shot that wins—nothing beats that.”

  “Sounds a little dangerous. Why not bet on the sure win?”

  “Life never has sure wins, honey. That’s why everyone likes a long shot.”

  Jack escorted her into The Watershed Bar twenty minutes late that evening. When she’d invited him into the shower with her, he’d had no hope of turning her down. They were still laughing and teasing about his fifty-dollar win on a horse named Boots and Heels.

  He’d left the winnings in the paper cup of a man near the track who was down on his luck. After that, they’d split up for a half hour while Jack went to buy the man cold weather gear and Meridian purchased him three hot plates from the local diner. They’d ended their afternoon letting the man use Jack’s phone to call his son who’d been searching for him.

  To say they were high on life would’ve been a significant understatement. Jack couldn’t recall ever enjoying a day more. A tinge of nerves twisted in his gut as he led her into the bar, but he couldn’t quite determine why.

  Meridian’s bottom lip slipped through her teeth as they stepped inside. She was nervous too, then. Jack pulled her closer in a side hug. “They’ll love you,” he reassured.

  “I hope so.”

  For all of her adamance that she never cared what anyone thought of her, he was touched that she wanted people who meant the world to him to like her.

  Watershed was the perfect upscale bar, an eclectic mix of subdued class and neon lights that somehow all seemed to work together. Aged barrel casks turned tables mixed with corrugated sheet metal fixtures. The walls were created of ancient stacked stone and bedecked with vintage sepia photos of couples in love in all its many forms. The upstairs portion was much quieter than the honky-tonk bars back in Oklahoma but every bit as comfortable. The dance floor was on the opposite side, down a wide staircase that led to a whole other world—more neon and less subdued, more carnal dungeon and less intimate gathering area. Two pool tables were situated in another corner near two old guys throwing darts.

  The owner/bartender, Margie, had been a fixture at Watershed since its inception in the late eighties. She grinned at Jack and Meridian as they entered. “They’ve been waiting on you.”

  She pointed to the large booth in the back under the custom stained glass chandelier that sported vintage Denton bottles of bourbon. Every major bourbon family had their old bottles in design somewhere in the bar. Whether or not that was an honor or a “fuck you” to the family was entirely up to the patrons.

  Jack guided Meridian back to their established table. Finn was shaking his head and laughing. “I was a little worried you were late because you were digging a Dad-shaped hole somewhere at River Chase.” He stood and hugged Jack. “How are you, bro?”

  “I’m good. Great, actually. Finn, this is my…uh, fiancée, Meridian Holder.” He paused, not wanting to lie to his favorite brother. Directing Meridian to the table at large, he went on with introductions. “Honey, these are my brothers Finn and Drew. You already met Sloan, and this is Sloan’s younger sister, Lila.”

  Finn laughed. “The Bourbon Bastards.” He gestured around the table.

  “Some of us a little more literally than the others,” Drew harassed.

  Meridian beamed while Jack prayed his half brother’s dark humor wasn’t indicative of a deeper problem. “I’m so glad to finally meet all of you,” she gushed.

  “Sit.” Finn forcefully scooted Lila over to make room for Jack and Meridian. “It’s nice to finally meet you as well. Jack never shuts up about you.” Confusion furrowed Meridian’s brow. Jack wondered what Finn was referring to as he continued, “He failed to let me know he was engaged, but I guess I should’ve figured that out on my own.”

  “Well, it’s…kind of a new development,” Meridian offered feebly.

  “I guess I bring you up more than I was aware,” Jack whispered near her ear. How many times had he discussed Meridian in the last few years? Clearly enough for Finn to have expected them to get together at some point.

  She turned to face him while he was still leaning close, and the invitation to take advantage of the close proximity of her lips wasn’t something Jack could deny himself. He did try to keep this kiss somewhat chaste, but the Bastards all laughed and shook their heads anyway.

  A warm flush crept to Meridian’s cheeks. Jack’s dick stirred in his jeans. “I’m sorry,” he offered the table. “I’ll tr
y to keep my hands to myself.”

  Lila rolled her eyes. “It’s not your hands, duff-ball, it’s your lips. And what do we care? Isn’t part of the reason we’re here because you should be able to kiss whoever the hell you want? I will say, though, Aunt Bev is fit to be tied over you two. Good for you, Jack.”

  Finn chuckled as he eyed the bar. “Mom was holding out hope for you and Tiff, man. She may never get over the money you’re losing her, and you’re obviously doing it on purpose.”

  His mockery of their mother sounded just like her. This time it was Jack who rolled his eyes. “I’m sure she’ll just transfer her shallow hopes to Greer. Maybe he’ll come through for her.”

  Finn’s face morphed to shock before he responded. “Uh, I’m not so sure about that. He just walked in.”

  A contagion of heads turning to stare at Greer whipped around the table. Jack recognized the determined discomfort his brother was trying to conceal behind a tense smile. Finn offered Greer a slight wave. Relief flooded Greer’s features as he headed their way. “May I?” He cleared his throat like he wasn’t entirely certain they would let him enter the Bastards’ domain. Jack wasn’t entirely sure they should.

  “Sure.” Once again, Finn scooted Lila closer to Sloan and made room for Greer. The question on everyone’s minds—why was he here?—hung in the whiskey-soaked air.

  “I…just…thought I’d come see where you all sneak off to every time Jack comes home.”

  Finn slapped him on the shoulder. “Welcome. Haven’t seen you in a while.” The hurt over that truth pierced Finn’s words.

  “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. I need to get over to your place more often. It’s difficult when I’m the one they keep the closest watch over.”

  Jack hadn’t ever really considered what his departure, followed so closely after Finn’s, might’ve done to Greer. “Do they know where you are?” Jack wondered.

  “They’re having dinner at Bellemenson with the Fitzgeralds to discuss the implications of their divorce, according to Frank.”

  Frank was Jack’s parents’ personal secretary.

  “Interesting.” Jack waved a waiter over. “What can I get you, honey?” He’d steadfastly kept an eye on Meridian as she took in all of the information coming to light at the table.

  Offering a polite smile to the waiter, she shrugged. “A whiskey sour.”

  The waiter gestured to Greer. “With Denton Reserve, I assume?”

  Meridian shook her head. “No. With Maker’s Mark, if you don’t mind.”

  Greer gave a weary headshake while the rest of the table chuckled.

  “I’ll have the same,” Jack added.

  Greer chimed in, “Make it a round for the table. All Maker’s Mark.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Meridian wondered if she was the only one who’d noticed how extremely uncomfortable Sloan had become at Greer’s appearance. This family had more secrets than whiskey barrels. Searching the recesses of her mind, she discovered that she wanted two things primarily—to help Jack hide the ones that needed to remain hidden, and to go home.

  She and Jack hadn’t officially decided to throw all caution to the wind and keep dating back in Holder County, though. She knew he was waiting on her to okay that, because it was her, after all, that would be giving up ever becoming the DA as soon as they were outed, not that she ever had much of a chance even if they never dated. Was it really too much to ask to have a killer career and magical love story? Then again, did she already have that? If only she could make sense of how he so thoroughly undid her that she was willing to give up lifelong dreams, this would be much easier.

  Sloan scooted abruptly out of the booth. “I just need to make a quick phone call.”

  Lila frowned. “No business tonight. You know the rules.”

  “This isn’t business.” His words were clipped. The hardened edges seemed to irritate his little sister. Meridian offered her an understanding smile. Brothers were massive pains in the ass most of the time.

  Lila took another quick sip of her drink. “I wish I knew what he was up to.”

  “You probably really don’t,” Meridian assured her.

  She grinned. “You’re probably right. Do you have brothers?”

  “Several of them.”

  “I’ll buy your next drink.” Lila laughed.

  They all slid quick glances to Sloan standing at the entrance door with his phone pressed to his ear. His jaw was clamped tight, and his eyes betrayed his panic.

  Whomever he was trying to get on the phone didn’t seem to be answering. He shoved the door open to step outside but was met by a woman coming inside. They collided in the middle.

  Everyone at the table gave up pretending not to notice and watched the show from their seats. The extremely attractive woman smiled and embraced him, but Sloan looked morose. They clearly knew each other, but Meridian had no idea if Sloan was pleased with that.

  After a long-drawn minute, he finally embraced her tenderly.

  “What the hell is going on?” Meridian asked Jack between her teeth.

  “I have no idea.”

  It appeared that Sloan was whispering something in the woman’s ear. She lifted her head from his chest, and all of her earlier pleasure bled from her features as she glanced at the table.

  Both Sloan and the woman seemed frozen in that time and space. Jack stood and took Meridian’s hand. They hightailed it to them.

  Jack offered the woman a polite smile. “Are you two okay?”

  “Jack,” the woman returned his grin. “It’s…nice to see you again.” She didn’t seem too certain of that.

  Meridian noted Jack’s stiffening in concern. He didn’t know who she was. “I’m Meridian Holder. It’s nice to meet you…?” She offered her hand.

  “I had no idea Greer was going to show up here,” Sloan cut off the introductions.

  “None of us did,” Jack assured him.

  “I’m Sophia Willamon,” the woman offered Meridian.

  Jack gasped, “Sophie?”

  She grinned at him again, this time a little more genuinely. “We haven’t seen each other in a few decades. If I hadn’t known you were coming tonight, I wouldn’t have been able to pick you out of a lineup, so no apologies.”

  Instead of that putting Jack at ease, it seemed to elicit more panic. “And you two are…? Together?”

  “For about a year now,” Sloan spoke like he was being strangled. “I’d planned to tell you all tonight. Obviously.”

  Meridian tried to keep her temper at bay over not having any idea what was going on. She proved more successful than she had the day before, so she was proud of that. “I take it you two dating isn’t something Greer should know about.”

  “Sophie’s father is Marcus Willamon,” Jack explained, “River Chase’s master gardener.”

  Sophie added, “Three time award winner of the Build Magazine Gardening Award, merit award recipient of American Private Gardens Award, and featured in Southern Living seven times.”

  Meridian appreciated that she was proud of her father’s incredible work, but she wasn’t sure how that was going to help them out of this situation. Unless Marcus could whip up a hedge row that Sloan and Sophie could use to escape behind or knew how to grow and brew something to make Greer forget that he’d seen her, gardening wasn’t going to solve their problem.

  Sophie seemed to realize this too. “What do you want to do?” she asked Sloan.

  “How bad would it be for your parents to know about this?” Meridian asked Jack.

  “It’s not just his parents, or his aunt and uncle,” Sophie merged the conversations. “My father will be furious.”

  Sloan was Denton’s head accountant. He was in charge of her father’s paycheck. It was definitely more complicated than dating your boss’s daughter. This had much further reaching implications. Sloan was who made sure that Jack was able to come in and give bonuses out to the staff. If his parents found out about Sophie…. As Meridian began to cons
ider all of the implications of their relationship, she, too, descended into a spiral of panic.

  “We have to get you out of here,” she urged. “We’ll pretend that you two just happened to walk into each other and recognized each other.”

  “Or you could just ask me to keep my mouth shut,” Greer’s voice sounded from behind them.

  They all spun. Sloan stepped in front of all of them. “I hate to ask you to keep it a secret. We hate that it has to be a secret, but for now it does.”

  Greer shrugged. “It’d be nice to finally be included in a secret from the part of the family I actually like. Come sit down with us, Sophie. Even though no one ever bothered to ask me, I do know where my loyalties lie, and it’s not with my parents.”

  As they all headed back to the large booth, Jack spoke quietly, “Hey, Greer.”

  Greer slowed his pace and joined Jack and Meridian. “Yeah?”

  “I’m sorry we never made you feel a part of things. We never quite know where you stand,” Jack explained.

  “I forgive you. I just hope Finn will eventually forgive me. It caught me off guard when he came out. I was an ass. I didn’t understand it, so I decided I didn’t like it. I know why you did what you did.”

  “Did it really catch you off guard?” Jack inquired.

  “You two were a lot closer growing up. You’re a lot younger than me. I was away at college during his high school years.”

  “Yeah, I guess I never considered that either.”

  “I guess we all have regrets,” Greer concurred.

  The tension abated at the table somewhat. They all dispersed to either the pool tables or to head to the bar for food and more drinks.

  Meridian and Jack watched Finn chat up a guy seated at the bar. Meridian couldn’t help but chuckle to herself.

  “What’s so funny?” Jack put his arm around her.

  “I just noticed that the guy Finn is talking to was downing that bottle of beer like he was trying to make it come.”

  “I wouldn’t want to deny him that.” Jack joined her laughter.