Shaun could feel a muscle in her jaw twitch with how hard she was grinding her teeth together. His arrogant teasing this early in the morning was grating on her nerves. “I’m the maid of honor; of course I was invited. My parents are hosting. I just didn’t think you could carve time out of your busy, high falutin’ celebrity schedule to make it.”
“You wound me,” Kasey said, placing one hand, palm flat on his chest, in feigned pain.
Shaun rolled her eyes. “I doubt anything could puncture that giant ego of yours. I don’t need to stroke it.”
She stumbled over the last two words, the unintentionally provocative statement making little fireworks go off in her belly when his eyes darkened at her words. She held her breath as he leaned in closer again.
“You can stroke anythin’ you like, darlin’.”
That viciously delectable memory of a hard ridge pressed against her abdomen while they were dancing flashed, unbidden, into her mind, making her flush hot all over. For just a heartbeat, she imagined finally getting her hands on him, oneverything… and in the next second she straightened her spine, sitting up straighter in her seat as she hissed, “You’re disgusting. Does that line ever work for you?”
“Why don’t you tell me?” he drawled, winking at her. She put the truck in reverse, glaring stonily at him until he chuckled and leaned away, taking a step back from the side of the vehicle. “I’ll see you, Shaun.”
Hitting the accelerator with a little more gusto than intended, she peeled backward out of her parking spot before slamming on the brakes. Shifting into drive, she pulled away, leaving Kasey standing in the middle of the parking lot behind her.
THREE
Ten minutes later, Shaun pulled into her older sisters’ driveway. Shaun knocked and waited, and then a bleary-eyed Jodi opened the front door, her long, curly dark brown hair a sleep-tousled mess as it tumbled over her shoulders. She was still tugging one arm into the armhole of one of her fiancés t-shirts, which made Shaun smirk.
“Shaun?” Jodi mumbled, blinking several times. “What are you doing here? What time is it?”
“Early. Sorry. Got any coffee?” Shaun asked sheepishly.
Jodi groaned but opened the door wider to let her in. “Let me go put on some pants.”
Shaun walked into the kitchen as Jodi disappeared down the hallway, flipping the toggle on the coffee maker that sat on the counter, knowing her sister already had it prepped and ready to go. She heard Free’s deep voice from the bedroom, then a startled squeak and a giggle as the bed springs creaked. Shaun smiled. She was innately happy that her sister had finally found her happily ever after. She deserved it after leaving her abusive, douchebag ex-husband.
Several minutes later, Jodi reappeared just as Shaun was pouring a cup of steaming hot coffee into a mug, coming around the corner into the kitchen. Her hair was slightly more tousled than it had been before, and her cheeks were flushed. Shaun wiggled her eyebrows, and she laughed when Jodi blushed a deep crimson, hugging the folds of her long-sleeved cardigan over her middle.
Jodi reached into the cupboard and plucked a coffee mug off the shelf, then poured herself a cup before lightening it with a dash of French vanilla creamer. Turning, she settled her back against the counter and held the mug between both of her hands.Shaun sat at the little peninsula on a barstool, leaning on her elbows on the counter.
“What brings you out so early?” Jodi asked, and Shaun shrugged.
“Couldn’t sleep and then my coffee maker took a shit this morning,” she said, nodding in hello as Freeman walked around the corner, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt that fit snug across his chest and shoulders. He’d already tugged on well-worn, black cowboy boots, ready for his workday to begin at Blue Haven, Shaun and Jodi’s parent’s ranch. His dark hair was worn slightly longer, and the lower portion of his face was covered in a well-trimmed beard. Shaun had to admit that Freeman wasFine, with a capital F. And if what Jodi had let slip was true, their love life was far from lacking.
“Morning,” he murmured, crossing to the coffee maker and pouring himself a cup before leaning his hips against the counter next to Jodi, their shoulders nearly touching.
“That dream again?” Jodi guessed, and Shaun nodded, her eyes slicing over to Free before dropping back to her coffee. She woulddieif Jodi had told Free about her recurring dream, or that it centered around his arrogant, pain-in-the-ass cousin.
“Jodi has this recurring zombie nightmare,” Free murmured, bumping his shoulder into hers, and then grinned down at her when she glared at him out of the corner of her eye. Shaun laughed out loud.
“You’ve been having that nightmare since we were in high school!” Shaun cackled as she remembered the night she’d conned Jodi into watching World War Z.
“Well, why did they have to make themso fast?” she exclaimed, laughing too, then shuddered. “Urgh. Zombies are supposed to beslow!Those ones areterrifying!”
Shaun laughed as Free leaned down to press a smacking kiss to Jodi’s lips before pushing his hips away from the counter.“I’ve gotta go. You girls behave. No margaritas this early in the morning.”
“No promises,” Shaun called as he left the kitchen, and she heard him chuckle. A moment later, the front door opened and closed, and Jodi hopped up into the barstool next to Shaun. “You haven’t told him about the dreams, right?”
“Of course not,” Jodi said and waved her hand dismissively. “He might be my fiancé, but I don’t shareeverythingwith him. Your secret is safe with me.”
“I didn’t realize he was coming to the engagement party this weekend,” she said, taking a drink of her coffee.
“Free said he was trying to make it,” Jodi said and nodded around another sip of her own coffee. “I hadn’t heard if he was able to.”
“Oh, he definitely did,” Shaun muttered darkly. Jodi’s dark brows pulled together in confusion and Shaun sighed. “I had the unfortunate displeasure of running into our favorite arrogant Nascar driver already this morning.”
Jodi’s jaw dropped open. “What? Really? Where?”
