“Hey, honey.” He took the kiss she offered, tasting her happily.
“Pervs. Can’t you two be less gooey?”
Addie chuckled into his kiss. He did, too, giving Maddie the finger behind Addie’s back.
Having Maddie around was surprisingly fun. The woman had a wicked sense of humor. Hell, he liked hanging out with the girls and learning about their family.
He came up for air, cheek on the top of Addie’s head a second, breathing in the fruity scent of her. Then he gave her a good squeeze. “Can the hero get a beer?”
“Maybe. Hell, I might get you a Shiner.”
“Ooh. Going high class on me.” He grinned, settling on a stool.
“That’s me. I’m a classy fucking broad.” Addie twirled around, little skirt going a little high.
“Hey, now.” He pulled her in, staring down a couple of cowboys watching a bit too close.
“Jealous, Bodie?” Maddie gave him a look, a grin, then headed for the bartender.
“She’s got my number. I don’t want anyone getting ideas about my girl.”
Addie chuckled. “Your girl, am I?” She kissed the corner of his mouth. “I like it.”
“Yep. I might as well just admit it.” He licked his lips, wincing when Maddie put a cold beer against the back of his neck.
“You two either cool off or get a room.”
“Oh, no. I want a dance. I want to flirt with my cowboy,” Addie said.
“Hell, yes. We dance well together, huh?”
Maddie rolled her eyes and handed out beer. “Man, I need to get a dog.”
“You just need to get laid. I hear Rick Sheehan’s interested.”
Oh, Maddie was gonna kick Addie’s pretty little butt. It was gonna be fun to watch. If he weren’t so possessive, he’d sell tickets. He wisely kept his mouth shut, sipping his beer.
“I will wash all your panties in Tide and give you a rash.”
Addie gasped. “You would not.”
“She’s allergic? I thought it was ragweed and cashews? Wait. You’re not?” he asked Maddie. Huh. He guessed that was the way of not-identical twins. Bodie also made a mental note not to buy Tide. He liked that unscented stuff anyway.
“She is. Is makes her swell up,” Maddie confided.
“Don’t tell all my secrets.”
Maddie grinned, evilly. “She’s also scared to death of clowns.”
“Clowns are unnatural,” Bodie agreed, nodding hard. “Even rodeo clowns freak me out.”
Addie nodded, stuck her tongue out at Maddie. “See? Dance with me, cowboy?”
“You know it, honey.” He held out a hand and pulled her out on the dance floor.
She settled, right against him, snuggling in and following. Hot little number. He loved dancing with her; he’d never had a lady who thought he was good at it, or who’d had the energy, or whatever. She seemed to crave it, humming with the music, lips brushing his collarbone.
Bodie touched her, his hands sliding up and down her back when the music went slow and easy, their bodies rubbing together.
Dancing with her was like making love—right and good, not frantic, not wild, but perfect. They just fit together, puzzle pieces that connected so smoothly. He spun her around, their bellies rubbing, her breasts pressing to his chest. A man could embarrass himself with a woman like her.
“Mmm. Love dancing with you, Bodie.”
“Good, because it’s becoming one of my favorite things. You make me happy, honey.”
“I love to hear that.”
Someone bumped into them, jostling Addie into him. “Careful, you might get hurt, dancing with him.”
Addie snorted, rolled her eyes.
Bodie stiffened right up, trying not to bristle too hard. Damn it, he was just dancing.
“Shh. They’re drunk bitches who are jealous of me.” Addie didn’t sound too worried.
“Jealous? You think so? Maybe you’re just braver than them.”
“Maybe.” She looked totally unconcerned. “It doesn’t really matter. I know who I want.”
“Then that works for me.” He swung her into a two-step when the music changed again, old King George singing away.
Soon she was laughing again, face gleaming in the neon lights. Her hair had come free of the ponytail she’d stuffed it into, and her pretty mouth was begging for a kiss. He pulled her in and gave it to her, kissing her like she was the last girl on earth.
There were a few hoots and hollers, but for the most part they were alone there on the floor. Bodie ignored everything but Addie.
“Jesus, you’re all sorts of a slut, aren’t you? Walk out on a man in Boston and hook up here. Bitch.”
They both stopped short, and Bodie looked over at the stranger standing like a bulldog, huffing and blowing his lips at them. Whoever the asshole was, he wasn’t local. Who the fuck wore a shiny silk shirt in July?
Addie knew who he was, though, because her eyes went wide, skin paling almost to the color of milk. “Jim, you have a lot of fucking nerve coming around…”
He never even saw Maddie move, but he sure as shit heard her fist slam into the stranger’s face. Bodie put Addie behind him, his body between her and the falling man. “What the hell?”
“This is her fucking ex-fiancé.” Maddie cocked her fist back, looking fully ready to hit him again. “He hit her, threw her out. He hurt her hand. He’s a fucking psycho.”
Bodie stared at the man, his hands clenching into fists. He’d dislike the guy just on the ex-fiancé thing, but it had to be bad if both the girls were this upset. “Well, then, you got no right to see her. I got this, Maddie.”
The feller gave him a twisted little smile, blood dripping where Maddie had hit him. “You think so? She’ll cheat on you, then steal you blind.”
Addie gasped. “I didn’t take a thing that wasn’t mine.”
“Bullshit. You’re a fucking thief, you little bitch.”
Oh, now. That was enough. “Back off, man.”
Maddie growled. “You get the fuck out of here of I will rip off your head and shit down your neck, you hear me? She came home with broken bones from you hitting her!”
Broken bones? His girl?
“I’ve been trying to call you, damn it. Just fucking listen to me.” Jim stumbled to his feet and reached for Addie, and Bodie lost it. He hit the man right in the same spot Maddie had landed her blow, sending the fucker staggering back. When the idiot didn’t stay down, Bodie hit him again, then again, dodging when the asshole tried to cheat and kick him.
Bodie just kept at the guy, landing punches on his chest and face. “Stay. Away. From my girl.” Each word was punctuated by the sound of his fist hitting flesh, by the jeers of the crowd that had formed.
He didn’t let up until someone bigger than him grabbed his arm. “Bodie. Bodie, stop it before you kill him, and I have to haul you in.”
“He tried to touch her, John. He already assaulted her once, back in Boston.” His knuckles stung and ached.
“And I’ll deal with it from here, okay? You get the hell out of here.”
Bodie glanced at Maddie. “You okay, Mads?”
“I am.” Man, that was one tough broad. Rodeoing was hard on a woman. “Go on. John and I can handle it.”
“You’re the best.” He didn’t even look back. He just grabbed Addie’s hand and tugged her out of the club, adrenaline rushing through his veins.
“Oh, God. Did that just happen?” Addie sounded just pure-D stunned.
“Are you all right, honey?” He stopped, hands on her shoulders, so he could look her in the eye. She looked a little shocky.
“What the hell is he doing here? That asshole. Accusing me of stealing from him?” And pissed off. She looked furious.
“Come on, honey.” He tugged her to the truck, getting her inside. They’d go to the Dairy Dart, get some food and a shake and sit in the truck. He probably needed to know more about this ex.
Hell, he needed to know why he didn’t know there was an ex.
“You okay?” he asked once they’d backed out of the lot and hit the open road. He’d ease into the questions.
“I’m not sure. I’m a little wigged. Did you see Maddie? She was something else.”
“I did.” He chuckled a little. “She never would have gotten a shot at him if I’d known you had an ex.”
“I didn’t ever expect to see him again. He threw me out.”
“Were y’all serious?” How had she never mentioned that there was a serious guy?
“We were fixin’ to get married. I moved to Massachusetts for him after I resigned at the paper.” Addie sighed, the sound damn near lost under the roar of the engine. “It was a huge mistake.”
“What happened, honey?” He was clenching the steering wheel hard, and he had to let loose a little, breathe.
“You…you see, it’s a little funny, because it’s sort of like us, in a backward way, I mean. I was late and, unlike us, we were engaged and not using protection. I got a pregnancy test and he found it. I wasn’t pregnant, but he was…well, he’d gotten fixed and he hadn’t told me.”
He blinked at the road a minute. “He’d gotten a vasectomy? That seems like something you might want to know if you were getting married.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that’s big, you know? Do you want babies, don’t you want babies. Can you have babies, can’t you?”
“I know. It is important.” Scary. But important. And something he’d thought on more than once since their argument.
“That’s what I said, and then…things got ugly, and suddenly I was on the steps of the Boston Public Library with everything in my car. He lost his shit altogether, screaming about me sleeping around, being a whore and all.”
Bodie frowned hard. “Define ugly, honey.”
She shrugged. “Black eye and two broken fingers.”
Jesus. Maddie had said he’d hit her, but that hadn’t registered until now. He burned a U-turn, heading back to the club.
“Bodie?” Addie was holding onto the oh-shit handle.
“I’m going to kill him.”
“I think you made a valiant effort to do that, but John says you can’t.”
“That was before he hit you.” Bodie growled when she laughed. “You know what I mean!”
“I do. I do, but John will deal with it, okay? He’s probably not even there anymore.”
“Oh.” Man, he felt like a pinball. Ping, ping. “Sure. Okay.”
“I’m sorry, Bodie. I never…” She shrugged. “Shit, to be honest, I just don’t think about him, unless he’s texting or calling. He’s just not that important.”
His arms relaxed a little, his shoulders coming down from around his ears. He burned another turnaround. “Screw him, huh? Dairy Dart it is.”
“Onion rings sound like heaven.” Her hand was on his thigh, warm and solid. “You know, Maddie’s the good twin, right?”
“Good at what? Kicking ass?” He chuckled.
“Apparently. She’s a stud.”
“She is.” They pulled up at the Dairy Dart, and it was still early enough that they weren’t fighting the teenagers. “Onion rings? Anything else but a shake?”
Addie looked at the menu, lips twisting. “Oh, what the hell, I’ll take a patty melt.”
“That’s my girl.” Bodie hooted.
She gave him a half-grin, a wink. “Delicate and retiring, that’s me.”
“Oh, hell, you’re perfect, At least for me,” He kissed her real quick, tugging her across the seat before settling her back and pulling into the drive through window.
Her hand was on his leg again, fingers tracing the seam of his jeans. She made him so stupid he damned near took off his side view mirror at the window.
Her soft giggle made him grin, like he was a teenager again. He pondered taking her parking, just because he could. How fun would that be? Drive them out to the pond out on his land, make out like mad things. He loved the whole idea. Bodie handed her the bags of food. “Wanna go park somewhere and eat?”
“You know it.”
“Cool. I was thinking out by the pond. We’ll eat in the back of the truck, huh?” He took off, zipping along, ready to get that hamburger while it was hot and then get his girl.
“Works for me. The nights are finally trying to cool off some.”
“They are. Good thing, too. We’re hot enough as it is.”
“Yeah.” Her phone beeped and Addie grabbed it. “Jim’s in the clink. Maddie talked John into it for Jim’s safety. All blinky and girly.”
“Texas girls.” Bodie snorted. “Good thing us Texas men never learn better.”
“You know it,” she repeated, as her eyelashes fluttered, playfully.
“Hey, go her.” That meant he was less likely to go back to the club later looking to wipe up the floor with a certain ex. Fucker. Coming here and bothering his woman. He wouldn’t have that shit.
“Maddie says I should have known better, than to date a Yankee.” She chuckled. “Of course, my best friend from high school, Marjorie? She lives in New Jersey. Has a wife and three kids, and just loves it, so everyone has a place they belong.”
“There you go.” He patted her leg, getting a little grease on his hand from the Dairy Dart bag. Lord.
She grabbed a napkin, handed it over. “I’m going to have to take my shirt off to eat.”
“I won’t tell.” He might stare. Maybe lick things.
“Somehow I don’t see you as the type of guy that eats half naked and tells.”
“No, ma’am. I don’t kiss and tell either.”
She offered him another of those sweet, slow caresses. “I know, cowboy.”
He turned into his property, truck bouncing over the cattle guard.
“I’m glad you were there tonight.”
“So am I.” He was. Amazing, how quickly he was getting past the not knowing and into the righteous rage on her behalf. He guessed that was how it went with love. Oh, man. He loved Addie. Like one hundred percent, bone-deep, forever, fuck him he was caught through the balls in love.
Shit, marthy.
He just let everything go but the moment, parking out by the pond and pulling out a couple of battery operated lamps he kept back in the back.
He had partially naked hamburger eating to look forward to. He’d worry about being in love tomorrow.
Chapter Ten
“Oh, Daddy Chris, that smells so good.” She bounced into the house, arms full of an ice cream cake—half lemon, half chocolate. “We love your lasagna.”
“I know. That’s why I’m making it. Did you get bread and stuff for salad?”
“Yes, sir. Maddie says she’ll be in in about an hour. She’s helping Dad unload those calves, then she’ll need a shower.”
She felt a little giddy, really. The dads always celebrated Maddie and Addie’s birthdays together, whenever they could, but this would be the first one where Bodie was coming. Bodie, Maddie’s best friend Carrie Ann, even Uncle Mark was threatening to show up.