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“Hey!” he protested, but Rayleen laughed harder.
“Look at his face, poor thing!” the woman hooted.
Charlie shook her head in mock sympathy. “Too bad. I’ll have to find another partner.”
“I’m nimble as hell,” he grouched. “I’ve never had any complaints.”
He should have known by the thrilled smile on Rayleen’s face that she was about to cause trouble, but he didn’t move fast enough to stop it. “Naw,” she drawled, “he comes with good reviews. Just like a nice hotel. With pictures online and everything.”
Charlie’s eyes lit up. “What?” she gasped.
“Damn it, Rayleen, that is not true!” He took off his hat and scrubbed a hand through his hair. He couldn’t believe they were having this conversation again. And this time it was in front of Charlie.
But Rayleen was relentless. “You know when men sometimes take pictures of their—”
“That is not what happened!” He cringed at the volume of his own voice and muttered, “Pardon me, ma’am,” but Rayleen was howling and slapping the table while Charlie looked from her to Walker, her jaw dropped open in a wide smile.
“Seriously?” she gasped.
“No! Not seriously! There is no picture of my...” He glanced at Rayleen, self-conscious about his language even if she did have the mouth of an old sailor. “...manhood online. Or anywhere else. As far as I know.”
“Ah. Cell phone cameras are tricky beasts, aren’t they?” Charlie tried to make her words sound sympathetic. It didn’t work. She broke down in laughter.
No, there were no cock shots of him anywhere, but there was one small problem that—
Rayleen cupped her hand around her mouth as if she were going to whisper a secret. “Someone posted a picture of his naked ass on Facebook.”
“Rayleen,” he groaned.
“Took me a few days to find it, but it was worth the work.”
Walker closed his eyes against the sight of Charlie’s horrified delight. He shook his head. “Why do you have to tell everyone? It’s just a picture of an ass, for God’s sake.”
“Just a picture of your ass while you were sleeping naked on some girl’s bed.”
Not for the first time, he said a quick prayer of thanks that he was a stomach sleeper. He should’ve known that woman would be trouble. She’d started texting her friends five seconds after orgasm.
“Oh, Walker,” Charlie said, her voice closer than it had been. But he didn’t open his eyes, even when her hand patted his cheek. “You haven’t changed at all.”
Much as he’d like to, there was no denying the truth. When he’d woken this morning, he’d greeted the day with exactly as much to his name as he’d had when Charlie had left town for college: a big truck, a strong back, good hands and some almost-promising ranch work lined up. The only thing he’d managed to add were a few aches and pains, a small savings and a little regret.
He suddenly remembered that he’d been too tired to hang out tonight.
When he opened his eyes he found that everyone had moved on. Rayleen was reabsorbed in her game of solitaire. Nate and Merry were propped on bar stools, laughing with Jenny, and Charlie...Charlie had cleared a small space near the jukebox and pulled some cowboy into her arms to two-step.
“You were right about her,” Rayleen said without looking up. “She’s all right. Bought me a drink and everything. In my own bar. My best Scotch.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
Rayleen nodded. “Yep. You were right. I like that girl.”
Yeah. Unfortunately for his pride, so did he.
CHAPTER FOUR
CHARLIE STARED DOWN her hangover in the mirror. Unless Rayleen had installed fluorescent bulbs in the bathroom, her face was a damn unattractive color this morning. She looked closer, scowling down her own bad mood and
daring her stomach to rebel.
