He looked to me, and I nodded, holding my breath. Was he actually going to come out to a teammate?
“Yeah, we’re together. Rusty and Carina are only friends, but the rest of us are together.”
The breath rushed out of my lungs, and it took everything in me to stop myself from kissing him. But I didn’t need to. Icouldkiss him. I prowled over to him, cupped his nape, and drew him in for a kiss. Jacques deepened it immediately, parting his lips and snaking his tongue out to touch and tease mine.
“Ew. Mom, Dad’s kissing my other daddy,” Hux teased.
I couldn’t help the bark of laughter that bubbled up from my chest, and it only got louder as Jacques pulled back and banged his head on my shoulder.
“Please make him stop talking,” he begged.
I hugged him tight to me and chuckled more. “He called me daddy,” I teased Jacques, wiggling my brows when he pulled back to look at me, horrified.
“Don’t you start!”
“Hey,” Rusty said as he walked inside from the back door. He took in the room, his gaze bouncing from Jacques and me to Carina’s soft smile and then Hux, who was wearing a shameless grin. He pressed his lips into a tight smile and went for the refrigerator, taking out one of the glass bottles we kept sweet tea in. He poured himself a glass without another word, his shoulders rigid and his jaw clenched.
Jacques went to him and touched his cheek. Rusty turned to him, his eyes filled with a pain that stole my breath. Jacques didn’t hesitate, taking the glass out of his hand before cupping his cheeks and drawing their lips together. He kissed him slowly, deeply, banishing the hurt in Rusty’s pale-green eyes. After a moment’s hesitation, Rusty wound his arms around Jacques’s back, and he held onto Jacques’s shirt in a white-knuckled grip.
“Hi,” Jacques whispered when they finally pulled apart, still with only a hair’s breadth of distance between their faces.
“Hi,” Rusty replied, his voice barely more than a rough rasp.
Carina quietly wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. She’d been watching them, pride shining in her eyes and a small smile tilting her lips up. She and Rusty may not be together, but they both adored each other in their own way.
“So Hux knows about us,” I supplied, stating the obvious and trying to take down the UST a notch.
Rusty laughed and pressed his lips to Jacques’s again, lingering a moment longer like he couldn’t get enough. “I can see that,” he said with a grin that lit up the room. “How was the pound?”
“So many gorgeous pups,” Jacques said. “I wanted to bring all of them home, but this one talked me out of it.” He gestured to Hux, who rolled his eyes.
“You’ve picked out at least five dogs every time we’ve been there. You’ll have a menagerie if someone doesn’t stop you.”
“Anyway,” I interjected—Jacques really would bring home every animal in the shelter if given the chance. “I was thinking we should have a few drinks and go dancing tonight.”
“You’ve got a shift tomorrow, don’t you?”
I nodded and grinned. “Whiskey Riders are playing at the roadhouse.”
I’d had a visitor from the band and a personal invite to their Sunday session. Jacques rolled his eyes and huffed. “Of course they are, and let me guess, good ol’ Billy came down to the firehouse to personally invite y’all line dancing.”
“Why, he did. How did you guess?” My smile had turned wicked, and I didn’t even feel guilty about pushing his buttons. Billy was a friend, nothing more. Jacques thought he was trying to hook up with me, but Billy wasn’t my type. He reminded me too much of my older brother.
“Where’s the roadhouse, and who is Billy?” Carina asked, picking up on the tension between us.
“Billy has been trying to get into Travis’s pants for years.” Jacques raised a brow at me, waiting for me to object.
I didn’t bother. I kind of liked Jacques and especially Rusty jealous. They liked to stake their claim clearly and unequivocally whenever we got home after watching the band play.
“And the roadhouse is our local bar,” Jacques continued. “It’s only ten minutes away.”
“I’ve never line danced before,” Cara mused.
“We have to try it, then,” I decided.
“Alec, would you like to join us?” she asked.
He looked between us and laughed. “Sure, if it means I can see Gauthier getting all jealous without being able to do a damn thing about it.”
