How ridiculous am I, pining for a man who doesn’t want me?
Maybe Lindsay was right, and it was time Trixie stopped waiting for a man she could never have. So what if she was sure Nick’s kisses would be as hot as sunshine and as searing as whiskey? Couldn’t another man’s kisses be just as hot and delicious? She had never been shy about her sexuality, even if she’d kept it reined in most of the time around her gossipy hometown. She had ways of navigating that, like when she was seventeen and had dragged her friend Austin Andrews, a well-thought-out choice, into his barn to finally lose her virginity. Austin was smart, hot, and always prepared. More importantly, he’d never talked about his personal life the way most of the guys she’d grown up with had. She was fairly certain she’d taught Austin a thing or two that night.
And she’d only gotten better in the decade since. Not that she’d been with that many men, but it didn’t take many to know she liked intimacy and knew how to gain and give pleasure.
But she wanted more than sex with Nick. She wanted to climb beneath his skin and explore a relationship, to see if they could be as perfect together as she’d imagined. To see if he truly was The One.
There I go again.
Just as she rolled her eyes at herself, goose bumps chased up her arms the way they did only when she felt the pull of Nick’s stare. She turned and found his dark eyes locked on her from beneath his ever-present black cowboy hat. Her pulse quickened, and her hopeful heart had her thinking that one last flirtation wouldn’t hurt. Maybe he’d even realize there was more to her than her ability to run a ranch.
She began rolling her hips and swaying her shoulders, turning on her dirtiest dance moves. Nick’s eyes narrowed, shifting to the other men checking her out, his chest expanding with a deep inhalation. Ever my protector. She imagined him as a bull, pawing at the floor readying to charge through the crowd, scoop her up with his horns, and ride off into the mountains with her on his back.
If only the clench of his jaw and the restraint in his corded muscles had to do with her effect on him instead of his need to protect her from the other men ogling her.
As the song came to an end, Lindsay said, “Are you done eye-fucking him yet?”
“Lotta good it did me. You’re right, Linds. He’ll be hard to beat, but the man I need will see me as a woman first, which means Nick Braden is not everything I need.”
“Damn right. Come on, the band’s taking a break.”
“I could use a cold drink.” And a hot cowboy who’s actually attracted to me.
As they made their way toward the bar, her brothers were chatting up a group of girls, but Nick’s eyes remained trained on Trixie. He pushed from the bar. At well over six feet tall and as broad as a truck, with serious eyes and a square jaw, Nick always looked like he was ready for a fight. The people standing in front of him instinctively stepped back.
“Trix. Lindsay,” Nick said gruffly. He lifted his chin in a familiar greeting as he reached for Trixie’s hand and pulled her up to the bar. He guided Lindsay beside her, then stood behind them like their bodyguard. “JJ,” he called out to her brother behind the bar, and pointed at Trixie and Lindsay.
If she was going to move past the brooding Braden, she had to make it clear that she didn’t need watching over. “I can get my own drink, thanks.”
She hoisted her belly onto the bar, dragged herself across it, and reached for a couple of cold beers from the ice shelf beneath the ledge where JJ kept them for quick service. She quickly opened them, then wiggled back down to her feet as she handed a bottle to Lindsay. Nick looked like he was chewing on glass, eyeing the other men who had probably watched her go ass-up on the bar.
Trixie lifted the bottle to her lips, taking a long pull on her beer. “Ah,” she said dramatically. “Now, that hits the spot.” She feigned a sorrowful expression. “That was rude of me. Let me get you one, Nick.”
As she turned to climb back onto the bar, Nick clutched her waist with both hands, holding her in place, and practically growled in her ear, “That ass goes up one more time, I’m carrying it right out of this bar.”
Lindsay stifled a laugh as Trixie turned around. Nick was right there. He smelled musky and rugged, and all her neediest parts threw a little celebration.
Down, girl…
She reminded herself she was supposed to be getting over him.
Using her most seductive tone, because it was fun to get him riled up, she said, “Experience tells me that if that were to happen, at the end of the night I’d be very disappointed, Mr. Party Pooper.”
“Don’t play games with me, Trixie,” he warned. “You want every guy in here thinking they can get a piece of you?”
She stepped closer, her body brushing his. “I think you know me better than that, Nick. Nobody’s getting anything I don’t want them to.”
The muscles in his jaw bunched.
“I wish I had my camera to capture that look,” Lindsay teased.
Nick’s eyes remained trained on Trixie as he said, “She earns it often. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of other chances.”
Sable pushed through the crowd, eyeing them. Trixie’s brother Trace was married to one of Sable’s younger sisters, Brindle. Sable was as ballsy as any man, and the smirk she wore told Trixie she was in prime form tonight.
Sable crossed her arms, jutting out her hip, and drummed her fingers on her forearm. “What’s going on, Braden? You look like you either want to strip Trixie naked and bend her over the bar or take her over your knee and teach her a lesson.”
A slow grin curved his lips.
“Does that mean both?” Lindsay asked with a laugh.
“Any man who raises a hand to me won’t live to talk about it,” Trixie said. “Unless it’s a slap on my ass with my permission, of course.”
“Damn right,” Sable said, giving her a high five.
Nick gritted his teeth as Trixie pushed past him, giving Sable room to step up to the bar.
“You keep talking like that, sis, and I’ll drag you out of this bar myself,” Jeb said.
Trixie rolled her eyes at her oldest brother. Jeb, like Shane, who was giving her a warning look from behind Lindsay, was a pretty private guy when it came to his own dating life, but he had no trouble putting his nose in his siblings’ business.
“What is this, the fifties?” Lindsay said. “I’m so glad I don’t have brothers.”
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with taking care of our own,” Jeb said. “Right, Nick?”
“You got that right,” Nick said.
Sable turned around with a glass of water in her hand and said, “I’d better get back to the stage.” She dragged her eyes lustfully down Nick’s body. “If you want to give those hips a workout later, come find me.”
Jealousy clawed up Trixie’s spine as Sable headed back to the stage. Nick shook his head, his grin forcing those claws in deeper.
Jeb arched a brow. “You and Sable knocking boots?”
Shane stepped between Trixie and Lindsay, putting his arms around them, and said, “Careful, dude. Sable eats men for breakfast.”
“Not this man,” Nick said. “She’s a spitfire, and some man is going to get off on her unique brand of magic, but I’m not that guy.”