I rolled my eyes at his obviousness. “That’s a stretch.”
Over his shoulder, I saw Ty watching me from across the room. He looked away, draining the last of the beer from his glass. Eden and Booker had deserted the table, leaving him by himself. Still scowling, burly Ty, but sitting alone, he looked forlorn and forgotten.
“Are you ready to make quick work of me at darts?” Isaiah asked, the caress of his fingers on my back coaxing me to say yes.
“I’m going to admit defeat and bow out now.” I eased away from his embrace, knowing half the women in this bar would have killed to trade places with me. He looked like he might try to convince me to stay, but Travis had already started herding the group over to the dartboards for the next phase of the bridal party competition. With a last glance back at me and a shake of his head over what I was missing, Isaiah joined them.
I returned to the table and took my seat next to Ty. “I’m not that great at bar games.”
His eyes flashed to the group at the dart boards. “Looks like you’ve got a willing teacher.”
“That’s why I hate bar games. They’re just in here so guys can coach the girls.”
“You’ve found out our secret.”
I faced him fully. “How bored are you?”
“A fair bit.”
“You could go home, you know.”
“Right when you’re making me feel so welcome?”
“You need to rest.” I whispered the suggestion, hoping not to dent his pride any more than it already had been.
“I’m doing fine.”
“So you keep saying.” I glared at him, trying to hypnotize him into confessing he was anything but fine. When he didn’t break down, I stared at him in earnest.
He was so handsome, it was criminal. The phraserugged good looksdidn’t do him justice. With his broad forehead and broody eyebrows, he deserved a whole new expression devoted just to him.Ty Hardy good looks.
So. I was still a little drunk. Good to know.
Sometime while I’d been playing shuffleboard, the pitcher of beer on the table had been transformed into a pitcher of water in a reverse miracle. I poured myself a glass and drank it down, willing it to rescue my slightly muddled brain. If I could just stop staring at Ty, that would be enough. But not staring right now proved so, so hard.
“So where are your parents?” I asked. He had never said where they’d gone on vacation, and the whereabouts of William and Rebecca Hardy seemed a safe enough topic of conversation. Otherwise, I might blurt out something about his great hair or broad shoulders, and I needed to keep a lid on drunken June tonight.
“Europe.” He said it like the word itself didn’t interest him. “An anniversary cruise.”
“Oh, that sounds romantic.”
He shifted a little like that word didn’t interest him, either. “If you say so. I’m not sure I’d want to be cooped up on a boat with a few hundred other germy tourists, but I’m sure they’re having the time of their lives.”
“Don’t you find anything romantic, Ty?”
The words escaped me before I could think them through properly, but I wanted to know the answer. Did a man like him think of romance at all? Or was he just work, horses, business, sex?
And now, I’d probably started blushing.Note to self: next time, lay off the sangria.
He stared at me, likely readying some gruff, sarcastic response. His mouth worked, drawing my entire attention to the movement. He had luscious lips, full and soft, but angled slightly off-center. I realized he couldn’t avoid his perpetual smirk, a permanent twist of his mouth whether he intended it or not. So maybe hewasn’talways thinking I was a ridiculous know-nothing city girl. A bright little wave of satisfaction—and was thathope?—swirled through me.
“Watching the sun set over my pastures,” he finally said. “That has its romantic moments.”
“Oh.” Ty’s sweet honesty surprised me. Something soft and warm seemed to fill me up, his confession turning my insides up to high heat. “That does sound nice.”
“And it’s free.”
I cooled right down again. “And now you’re back to being unromantic.”
