Page 49 of Nixon’s Promise

“It used to be a chicken house,” he informed me.

“A chicken house?”

“Yeah, you know, where chickens live.”

“But you don’t have chickens,” I lamely told him.

“My dad used to.”

“Do they really jump around after their heads are chopped off?”

I went from mentally celebrating to wanting to crawl under a rock, that fast. God, I sounded like a stupid city girl.

“They do,” he confirmed.

“I wanna see. Will you…” I wasn’t sure how to pose my question—asking if he’d cut a chicken’s head off sounded a little gross.

“Will you clean it and eat it?” he returned.

I could feel my eyes bugging out of my head and got the heebie-jeebies just thinking about plucking a chicken.

“Um. I’m a girl.” I tried Mandy’s excuse.

“And?” he asked as his lips curved up into a smile.

“And I thought you wanted me sitting on the porch with a beer in my hand.”

“Rule around the Swagger farm is: you kill it, you clean and butcher it.”

“You sure do have a lot of rules. Is there a Swagger Rule Book lying around? Maybe a CliffsNotes version?”

“Smartass.” He pulled me closer, which was seriously close—hips-to-chest close. “You can think of my rules as a road map to success.”

This time, it was my turn to laugh.

“Jesus. You’re beautiful, but when you laugh and your face lights up, you’re seriously the sexiest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

Holy shit.

I was totally right; Nixon Swagger could catch panties on fire. And the man didn’t even need to touch you to make you go up in flames.

20

Nixon had spent his morning making phone calls. He still had one more to make, then he was heading over to McKenna’s. Last night, they’d been interrupted. And as disappointed as he was that they’d never progressed to his bedroom, he couldn’t say he hadn’t enjoyed himself.

Zack had been his normal self, if not a touch more watchful, but Mandy was a totally different person. She was friendly and even joked with McKenna and Zack. She’d been a little standoffish toward Nixon, but considering she barely knew him, it was understandable.

All eyes had swung their way when they’d entered. The Freeze was small; a baseball team including coaches, sans parents, could barely squeeze into the iconic eatery. There was no seating. You ordered, waited, took your food, and left. It was also always packed. The name had changed over the years but it was no less popular than when Nix was a kid.

Nixon was pleased as fuck when he saw Mandy bump McKenna’s shoulder and whisper something to her sister before they both broke into a fit of laughter. He had a feeling that was how the two used to interact before their parents had passed.

So on a Sunday night, there had been a crush of people waiting on their orders. That meant no one missed the girls’ antics. It also meant every male in the joint was openly staring at McKenna.

A bizarre feeling had washed over Nix. It’d felt a lot like the possessiveness that had overwhelmed him when Alec had smiled at McKenna. But it went beyond that—he hated that other men were looking. He also didn’t like the appreciative glances Mandy was receiving.

The last thing Nixon was, was stupid. He knew the phone-tree had been activated and everyone would be talking about their appearance. And for the first time in his life, he didn’t give a shit if people were talking about him, or McKenna.

He hoped that the news spread far and wide that McKenna was his.