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“Um, so far, so good.” I pulled my wallet from my cross-body purse and waited for her to give me the total for my beers and BBQ. The food tent had been Lara’s and my first stop at the Arts and Oddities Fest. She said I’d need a couple of beers to truly appreciate the event.
“That Atley is yummy. Honey, if I were ten years younger, I’d have gone for him. Those silent ones are always the best in the sack.” Wanda giggled and pressed a few buttons on her register, and my total popped up on the tablet facing me.
I waved my card’s chip over the reader and struggled to find a reply for Wanda. Did I confirm her suspicions that he was excellent in bed? Or should I act offended, laugh, smile knowingly? I opted for a schoolgirl giggle that was so unlike me my toes, hidden in the cowboy boots Atley bought me, curled in horror.
“Wanda, you’re making her blush. Not everyone is like you, flaunting their hot man in front of us tragically single ladies.” Lara bumped me aside with her hip and took my place at the register.
“Melvin is a catch. But, honey, you’re only single because you want to be. The sheriff would be happy to—”
“Nope. Not open for conversation.” Lara cut off Wanda before she could detail the sheriff’s desires.
“Lara Phelps, you’re not getting any younger.” Wanda wagged her finger at Lara, and a collection of plastic bangle bracelets clattered to emphasize her scold.
“But I’m aging like a fine wine.” Lara paid for her meal with a smile and indicated I should follow her to a picnic table farther from the dance floor and band so we could talk.
“Don’t worry about Wanda, she is one of the biggest gossips in Elmer.” Lara sat, and I took my place across from her.
“But me and Atley, that’s an actual rumor?”
“Yes, and it’s fabulous. The most recent version I heard at The Pub last night was something about him sweeping you off your feet in the vineyard, plopping his hat on your head, and then the two of you galloped off into the sunset on Jet and were later caught making mad, passionate love in the barn by a few of the cowboys.”
I squeaked. That rumor had way too many tidbits of truth about it.
Lara cracked open my can of Lone Star and pushed it into my hand.
“Shit, I kind of thought you would laugh and tell me nothing was going on with you two. I’m impressed you cracked that nut. Atley’s been here for years, and I can’t think of more than a few women he’s gone out with—definitely none that got the D on the regular from him.”
I took a long, long sip of beer. And nearly choked when Lara asked her next question.
“Is he good in bed? Tell me he is, please? I want the sexy older cowboy fantasy to be real.”
“So good.” I couldn’t destroy her hot cowboy fantasy, not when I was living the dream. Or had lived the dream twice.
“Wow. I mean wow. I should have tried for him, but he’s so unnaturally quiet it makes me nervous. When I try to have a conversation with him, I start fidgeting and get all awkward.”
“It’s the whole yes, ma’am thing.” I wasn’t telling her how talkative he was when naked. I was pro-sharing, but there were limits.
“Yes, that!” She pointed at me with her fork, loaded down with coleslaw.
“I’ve gotten used to it.” I tried the BBQ brisket. It was almost as insanely good as what I had at the Fourth of July party. Smoky, spicy, and melt-in-your-mouth tender.
“Oh. My God, Wilson and Cameron are going to shit a brick.”
“They kind of already know.” I looked around, making sure no one could overhear, and I spilled. Way more details than I meant to share, but Lara made talking easy, and so did the beer. I told her all of it. The airport one-night stand. Me propositioning him in the barn. All of it.
“Damn. I’m the town relationship cynic thanks to my baby daddy and normally would say this is a bad idea. But since your time here is limited and you’ve already laid the ground rules, I say go for it. But I haven’t gotten laid in a really, really long time and that might be affecting my judgment. Pretty sure Ialmost came watching a promo for the World Series. Those tight baseball pants should be illegal.”
“Don’t get too excited. Even with ground rules, I might have already messed it up.” I gave her the highlights of my exit last night. Including leaving Atley naked in the shower. “I panicked and ran. It’s going to be awkward.”
“Oh shit. Maybe he’ll punish you.” She moaned like I did while eating good chocolate cake.
We laughed, and I hid my face in my hands. Lara was hilarious. And a bad influence…because now I had a montage of dirty thoughts in my head. I may not have read theFifty Shades of Greybooks, but I had an imagination, and right now it was in kinky overdrive wondering if Atley had a lasso and knew how to use it on more than cows.
“Sorry, like I said, I haven’t had sex, even bad sex, in a long time. Let alone toe-curling, off-the-charts, hot cowboy sex.” Lara patted her lips primly with a paper napkin.
“I could introduce you to some of the other guys at the ranch. What about Jameson? He’s kind of yummy. And Leroy is a great dancer.”
“Maybe.” She wrinkled her nose like she’d smelled something bad. For a woman in a dry spell, she was picky.
