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“With those shitheads driving around like fucking maniacs, she shouldn’t be outside the truck.” Drake turned his head to see Colt craning his neck to gaze out the tinted back window. Paige was pacing behind the SUV, her hands holding her head. “Let’s take her home.”
All over again, Drake was filled with the rightness of what he’d suggested. It wasn’t traditional maybe, but when had he ever been? True, he hadn’t considered the ins and outs and all the ramifications. It didn’t change the fact that he wanted Paige, with her luscious curves and smart, sassy mouth and sunset hair.
Deliberately, he pretended to misunderstand Colt’s suggestion. “Yes, let’s.”
Colt
sighed and pressed his fingers into his eyes. “Today is the day you spring this on me? Today, of all days? When I probably have scotch dick and my head’s all screwed up.”
“That’s what makes it the best day. You think I can’t see some of what’s in your head on your face? You need a distraction. You need her.” And me.
“She’s Char’s.”
“She may be her best friend, but she’s a grown woman and she knows her own mind. And excuse me for saying so, but Charlene has clearly moved on.”
After checking on Paige one more time, Colt slumped in his seat. “She loved my brother first. I just got in the way.”
Irritation sizzled along Drake’s spine. The dude wasn’t always a prize, but deep down he was a good guy. He didn’t like the idea of him being hurt, even incidentally. “No wonder you don’t want to fuck tonight. Sounds like you had a party for one planned.”
Colt’s head snapped up. “She’s not someone you fuck. Have you seen her with anyone in the past three years? Because I sure as hell haven’t.”
“Been looking that close, huh?”
Colt didn’t reply.
“You ask me, if it’s true it’s been a while for her, she needs a good fuck even more then. It’s been too long for me too.”
Colt snorted. “Too long being what? A week? Or did you hook up when you were in San Antonio?”
Drake didn’t respond, because he was pretty sure Colt didn’t want to know how long it had really been for him. “There’s no shame in being honest about our needs.” Christ, he was a hypocrite, but what choice did he have? “No shame in telling her we want her and waiting for her to make up her mind,” he added.
The passenger door flew open before Colt had a chance to shoot him down once again. Paige leaned inside the vehicle and planted her hands flat on the seat, her hair tumbling over her shoulders like ribbons. She sucked in a breath and nodded. “Okay.”
Drake smiled and glanced back at his best friend.
Your move, tough guy.
* * *
Paige swallowed hard and wondered once more if she was insane.
She had to be insane.
She should be going home to collapse in bed. Alone. She was exhausted. Strung out. She’d been hammered by too many emotions today. Joy, excitement, fun. Then later, a touch of sadness. A tinge of regret that she’d never managed to make things work out with any of the guys in her past. That none of them had been her Wade, capable of making her cry at the idea of marrying him like Charlene had on and off all afternoon.
Naturally a little self-pity had sneaked in there too. She’d been alone for so long, without even a date or someone to have a harmless one-nighter with, that she’d begun to think she wasn’t even sexual anymore. Sure she had needs, lots of them, but they’d been stuffed down under work for what seemed like forever.
There was always so much work to do, and if she was busy, she didn’t have to think about what she was missing out on. Like she’d been doing for oh, the past fifteen minutes or so.
But now she wasn’t considering numbers on profit-and-loss sheets or buying inventory or trying to please her customers. She was thinking about pleasing herself…and God, that was terrifying. These weren’t just two cowboys passing through town. These were men she knew and trusted. Men she liked, in the case of Drake, and liked to tease and rile up, in the case of Colt.
And man, could he ever kiss.
Drake wasn’t the problem or the reason she’d had to pace off her worry for ten plus minutes. He was a decent guy, and a night with him wouldn’t cause her undue angst. She had faith that they could sleep together, enjoy themselves and part as friends.
Colt, on the other hand, was trouble. So much trouble she couldn’t even begin to get her arms around it.
He’d been Charlene’s. Hell, he’d been half the town’s at one point or another. The man got around as much as the tires on her good ol’ truck. She didn’t really want to be another notch on his bedpost, but more than that, she didn’t want to have to tell Charli what she’d done. And she would have to tell her, because she’d never be able to keep a secret this big from her bestie. Wouldn’t want to.
