“Why so glum, chum?” J.T. asked as he sipped from a bottle and kept a watchful eye on the gorgeous blond he’d arrived with, who stood chatting with Rena, Lara, and a bunch of the bar’s riffraff.
“You’re very annoying.”And in love.
The blond turned to wink at J.T., and he smiled back at her. “So says the guy not getting any. Aw, damn. Hope is so fine. I am the luckiest man alive.” He patted Axel on the back. “Can you believe she and I are engaged?”
“No.”
“I mean, she’s beautiful and built and so smart.”
“Yet she is with you?”
That too went right over J.T.’s head. “And she’s a Donnigan. I thought for sure I could distance myself from all those clingy McCauleys despite Del being married to one. Then I had to fall for Hope.” J.T. sighed, but Axel knew he loved the McCauleys and Donnigans like his own family. “Guess I’m gonna be stuck for life.”
“Braggart.”
J.T. gave him a smug smile. “Yeah, I know. I’m trying to make a point.”
“That I should shove my fist in your face to shut you up?” Axel drank more, his mood simultaneously dark and uplifted, because watching Rena smile made him warm all over.
“That you can have what I have—not with Hope but with your own woman.Ifyou’d grow some stones and make a move.”
“You have a death wish?”
J.T. shook his head. “Heller, you need to do something. Tonight is her last night here. She’s ready to start dating again… And you’re not on the list.”
Axel tensed. “What?”
“She was telling me last night she’s done being single. Del’s going to set her up with—” He grabbed Axel by the arm. “Wait a minute. Hold on.”
Axel let J.T. hold him back, though his instinct was to go over to Rena and glare her many admirers into submission. As archaic, moronic, and chauvinistic as he knew the action to be, he couldn’t help feeling like others crowded his woman.His.
“Man, you have to be smart. I think she’s got a thing for you, but she’s pissed you haven’t made a move.”
Axel hated that his cheeks heated.
“It’s been a year.” J.T. wouldn’t shut up. “What are you waiting for?”
Axel blurted, “I just don’t want to mess it up.” Didn’t want to messherup, the way his father had hurt his mother. “She’s too good for me.”
“Yeah, she is,” J.T. agreed. “But don’t you think she deserves someone who’d fight to protect her? Who’d put Fletcher and guys like him in their place?”
“Yes.”
“Who’d always put her first?” J.T. gentled his tone. “That’s you, isn’t it?”
“Ja.”
“But if you don’t let her know you want a future with her, she’ll end up finding some douchebag who’ll treat her wrong. Or worse, she’ll find some rich city boy who’ll make her into a trophy wife. And Rena would eat that shit up because he’d act all nice, but inside she’d be dying because he’d never seeher, only who he’d want her to be.”
“What the hell is coming out of your mouth?” Del asked before Axel could. He’d been with J.T. about the douchebag part but lost the rest of the thread.
Delilah McCauley, Axel’s business rival, had joined her brother. She was glowing, pregnancy agreeing with her. Behind her stood her behemoth of a husband. Axel had thought that marriage would settle Del down. If anything, the she-wolf bared her teeth more, though her bite felt less sharp.
He snorted in her direction, knowing if he told her how lovely she looked or how much he admired her work at the garage he’d probably give her a heart attack. That or she’d go for his throat.
She snorted back then ignored him in favor of her brother. “Rena deserves to find a man who’ll give her that romantic happily-ever-after bullshit—no offense, Mike—that she deserves.”
Her husband strangled on a laugh. “Oh, uh, sure, Del. None taken. I’m gonna grab a beer. I’ll get you a seltzer water.” He took a step away then paused. “And if you need anything at all, you’ll let me know?” Mike met J.T.’s eyes for a moment then Axel’s, as if to saywatch over my mean-ass wife.
