Shay nods and Emmy grimaces, but agrees quietly. Even Gemma looks torn.
My body shakes with the effort of staying in my seat. Of not running to some dark corner to cry. Of not jumping up and yelling at them—telling them to shut up and keep Kade and Aurora out of their mouths.
My brain reminds me it’s not my place to speak for him—not my battle to fight. But my heart? The same heart Kade reached into last night with those gentle, calloused hands and held like it was something worth keeping? It’s screaming that this is wrong.
Thatthey’rewrong.
But before I can act on the fire building in my chest, it’s Loretta who speaks—and what she says stops me cold, confirming my biggest fear where Kade is concerned.
“I’m not so much worried about your brother. He’s a damn good man. Stepping up is in his blood. Never would’ve taken him for the type to back down from a challenge.” She takes a slow sip of her margarita, then sighs. “I’m just worried about the woman who comesafterMarlee May. Far as I know, Kade hasn’t been with anyone since her—and now that he’s got her baby? Ain’t a woman alive who could ever fill those shoes.”
Everything around me blurs, and it takes a minute to realize I’m on the verge of crying.
Crying over a man I can’t stand half the time, and feel way too damn much for the rest of it. A man I want, and like I told Kade…
Wanting gets me nowhere.
After a long, tense moment, I jump up, plaster a fake as fuck smile on my face and snag the bottle of tequila. “Enough with the sad shit! Who wants a shot?”
Because getting stupidly drunk is about the only thing in my life I can control right now.
After that, time passes in a blur of shots, chaos and random men. Men who come up to the table, asking for dances. Men who pout and flirt and buy drinks.
The first guy who asked me to join him on the dancefloor was yelled at by Hazel. Apparently STD-Stan is abadman. The next guy got a thumbs-up from the Archer sisters but a no from me. Before he could feel sad about the rejection, Shay was crawling into his lap, and they’ve been making out ever since.
Clearly, he’s not sad over me, and I’m… fine with being on my own. Been doing it my whole life.
The place is packed. I’m way past buzzed—probably drunk, laughing freely, and for once, not thinking about work or responsibilities, or what brought me to this town in the first place.
Definitely not thinking about Kade or how badly I wishhewas here so I could crawl into his lap and kiss his stupidly perfect beard off his stupidly handsome face. It’s probably for the best, though, because I don’t trust myself right now.
The longer the night’s stretched on, the more reckless my intentions have become. Pretty sure if I saw him right now, I’d do a hell of a lot more than kiss him, and I doubt I’d stop with sex.
No, knowing me, and the way my heart supposedly lives in my vagina, I’d probably go and admit all the crazy things I feel for the man.
Stupid, crazy, annoying feelings.
I hate them.
Still, every now and then, I catch myself glancing toward the door, stomach twisting, heart thudding.
Hazel catches me on the third sweep. “You looking for someone?”
“What? Me?” I press a hand to my chest and gasp. “No! I’m just taking it all in! It’ssooopretty here! So sparkly and dustyand—” I roll my empty shot glass between my fingers and grin. “Drinky.”
Her head falls back with a deep, smoky laugh that’s all sex and fantasies for half the cowboys in the room. I glance around again and,yep—several men have stopped mid-sip or mid-step to watch her. One of them even has his mouth open.
“Close it, Wayne, or you’ll catch flies!” Loretta hollers.
The man jerks and practically scrambles away.
A snort escapes me before I can stop it, and I slap a hand over my mouth. But it’s too late. Everyone at the table turns to look at me for one beat, then two, before we all burst into laughter again.
I feel it before I see it.
The shift in the air. A ripple of attention. The subtle hush that happens when someone walks in who changes the temperature of a room just by existing.
Kade.
