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The place was packed when she walked in, but she spotted Grace over in Rayleen’s designated corner of the bar and worked her way through the crowd.
“Hey, you made it!” Grace cried. She was obviously already tipsy. “How was your museum thing?”
“Fascinating!”
“Good. Have a drink. Jenny’s making us some sort of special martinis.” She pointed to the bar and Merry turned to see Jenny holding out a pink martini.
“Thank you!” she shouted as she took the drink. With one tiny sip she gave Jenny an enthusiastic thumbs-up. The martini was delicious and had just enough sweetness to mask the fact that they were nearly pure alcohol. No wonder Grace was in such a good mood.
“Have you met Walker yet?” Grace said over the music.
Merry turned to find that Walker was standing on the other side of Rayleen’s chair, a delicate pink martini in his big hand. “Howdy,” he said with a wink.
“We met earlier,” she said, “but I don’t mind running into him again.”
He took her offered hand and turned it up to kiss her knuckles. “Good to hear, Miss Merry.”
Grace raised her chin even as the edges of her mouth lowered. “And Shane’s here.” She left off the last word of that sentence, which was obviously supposed to be unfortunately.
Shane was frowning even harder than Grace, his eyes on the way Walker still held Merry’s hand.
But screw Shane. She couldn’t be a buddy to every man just because she was a buddy to him. If Walker thought she was nice and soft and worthy of flirtation, she was going to enjoy the hell out of it. Heck, maybe after a martini or three, she’d take it even further. He was hot as hell, and somehow didn’t make her feel nervous the way Shane did. She felt more in control with Walker. More confident. Like she could be friends with benefits and it’d be no big deal. No pressure. No awkward hurt she’d have to hide.
“Hey, Christmas!” Rayleen said. “Get your hands off the real tenants. I ain’t running a community exchange program.”
Walker finally let her go then bent down to give Rayleen a kiss on the cheek. “Come on, Rayleen. You know you’re my gal.”
“Jesus Christ and cheese and crackers,” Rayleen snarled, but her cheeks went as pink as the martini. “You’re the most ridiculous man I’ve ever met. I bet there’s naked photos of you on the internets.”
Walker made a strange choking sound and his hands jerked away from Rayleen’s shoulders.
The old woman’s face brightened and she hooted. “There are, aren’t there?”
“No!” he said emphatically.
“Young man, did you send out some of them cock shots to your lady friends?”
He shook his head, his cheeks heating as Merry pressed a hand to her mouth to hide her hysterical giggles. She couldn’t tell if he was horrified to hear this seventy-year-old lady talk about cock shots or if he was mortified because he’d done exactly what she’d accused him of.
“Hoo boy,” Rayleen crowed. “I’m going to do an image search as soon as I get home tonight. Get a better feel for my new tenant.”
His wide eyes caught Merry’s. “I swear it’s not true.”
“I believe you,” she said, but she’d do a quick search herself. She could see the tiniest glimmer of doubt in his eyes, as if he couldn’t quite remember if a lover had ever snapped a nude pic of him. Poor guy. Merry had better check just so she could reassure him.
She and Grace grinned at each other. “Where’s your man?” Merry asked.
“Working late. He’ll be here soon. You’re coming out on Sunday, right?”
“I am. I love Cole’s house. It’s so cute.” Cole lived in the ranch manager’s house, set just a little apart from the “big house” on the Easy Creek Ranch. Cole owned the ranch now, but he seemed more than happy with keeping the old arrangement with Easy, who was like a father to him.
Merry edged a little closer to her friend. “Are you thinking about moving? You sure spend a lot of nights out there.”
Grace shook her head. “You just want my place.”
“Well, the views get better every day.”
“Yeah.” They both took a moment to stare at the latest big hunk of manflesh to move in. When her gaze swept over to find Shane glaring at her from his post against the wall, she raised her drink and sipped from it. He took a long draw from his beer and turned away.
