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I recognized the country song playing instantly as I followed the Hawke brothers into the bar and to a round booth in the back corner. Remington had me slip in before him and I ended up between him and Boone. Wells sat on the other side of Boone and immediately busied his hands with the drink menu.
It seemed like the silence had followed us and I could feel an inappropriate laugh bubbling inside of me. I tried to stop it. It was insane to laugh after what we’d just gone through. The guys were all clearly frustrated. It didn’t matter, though. The laugh was building. When it finally escaped my mouth, Remington flinched like I’d scared him.
The laugh started big and stayed that way until tears leaked from my eyes and I had to hold my stomach from the pain in my weak muscles. I even snorted once and buried my face in my hands, trying to make myself stop, but it was useless. I was slaphappy.
Wells joined me first. He chuckled once and it quickly became as out of control as my laughter. Boone followed almost immediately. The three of us guffawed like idiots while Remington seemed to fight to keep a straight face. When he finally cracked and laughed with us, it was like the spell broke and the tension evaporated.
Remington sat back in the booth and stretched his arm out behind me. “That was fucking humiliating.”
Tammy Wynette sang in the background as I giggled once more. “Did y’all not look into the process?”
Wells groaned. “Not exactly. I thought today was just a discussion. When that nurse handed me the sample cup and asked if I’d like a magazine, I thought I was missing something.”
“You p-peed in it!” I was crying again, nearly doubled over.
“Yeah, it’s hilarious now. I didn’t see you laughing when she asked you which one of us you’d like to assist.” Boone rubbed his hands down his face. “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to fight for your honor or flee the building.”
Remington growled as he shifted in his seat. “I never thought it would be so fucking awkward to have a conversation about jacking off as a forty-year-old.”
“Oh!” A waitress in a pearl-buttoned shirt and cowboy boots had decided to join our table at the wrong time. “Um. What can I get you to drink?”
I sank lower in the booth as I laughed harder. I was crossing over the line from giggle to gargoyle-laugh and I’d never planned to share that part of myself with the Hawke brothers.
“Whiskey. The entire fucking bottle.” Remington handed her his credit card and looked down at me. “What would you like, Memphis?”
I waved him away as I fought to control my laughter. I managed to get something out that got across that I’d drink the same. Ladylike? Probably not. I’d just sat with the three hottest men I’d ever seen while a doctor talked to us about masturbation and sex schedules. When it became clear to me that the doctor thought we were all in a relationship, I was too embarrassed to correct her. I wasn’t sure what they thought we were seeing them for exactly, but if I just needed their sperm to put inside me, I’d just have sex with them. If we were in a relationship, I mean…I flushed hotter as that thought banged around my head.
“What did you tell them we were coming in for, Remy?” Wells shuddered. “I’ll never forgive you for having to see the look on that nurse's face when I handed her back a cup of urine.”
“I didn’t set it up. My assistant worked with the surrogacy agency to get everything worked out.” He ground his teeth together. “Ex-assistant.”
I made myself sit up and fanned my eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember the last time I’ve laughed like that.”
Boone looked down at me and smiled. “You have an interesting laugh.”
I scoffed and made a show of inching closer to Remington. “Interesting. Thanks a lot. Just what a woman wants to hear.”
Remington shifted and his thigh pressed into mine. “It’s a great laugh. Especially if you’re ever lost and we need a signal to find you.”
I looked at Wells. “Anything you’d like to add?”
He quirked an eyebrow and slowly shook his head. “Not about your laugh.”
A wave of heat hit me just as the bottle of whiskey showed up. I’d never been so grateful for strong liquor. I barely waited for Remington to finish pouring my shot before I threw it back and put my empty glass back on the table. “Again.”
He filled my shot glass again and held my gaze. “Shots without a toast is like sex without foreplay, Ms. King.”
I wanted desperately to look away, but something at my base being told me looking away would mean losing. I didn’t know what was on the line, but I suddenly, desperately wanted to win. “So, like sex.”
Laughing easily, he licked his lips. “Maybe with the wrong man.”
I gripped my glass harder. “Go on then.”
With a teasing smile, he leaned in closer. “No matter how beautiful, smart and full of class, to somebody, somewhere, she’s a major pain in the ass.”
Wells and Boone both laughed and took their shots. I took mine and kept my stare-off with Remington going. When he refilled the glass, I lifted mine to his. “Slainte bradan bod mor agus bas in Eireann.”
We took the shot and he pushed the bottle away. “What was that?”
