“So, I’ll change my offer. If you ever want to hang out and not talk about it, you know where to find me.”
“Thanks.”
He appreciated her kindness, but he didn’t see himself taking her up on the offer. Logan was getting out of a three-year relationship. He needed time to recover and to get his shit together. Looking at Lacy tonight, Logan felt something he didn’t want to put a word to, simply because it would be too dangerous to acknowledge.
Once they reached the front of his apartment, he paused. “I really don’t mind walking you home, Lacy.”
She smiled, and then reached up on tiptoe to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “It’s Maris, Logan. I’ll be fine. Night.”
He watched as she walked away, not turning toward his front door until she was completely out of sight.
The second Lacy was gone, the heavy feeling he’d managed to keep at bay in the restaurant, returned, along with a new one.
Fuck it. He called it by name. He felt tempted. By Lacy Sparks. It was going to be a long night.
Chapter One
“This isn’t Vegas.”
Lacy rolled her eyes as Macie repeated the same sentiment she’d been muttering all night. Damn woman had been bemoaning the fact they were holding their cousin Sydney’s bachelorette party in boring old Maris, Texas, instead of Las Vegas for about six weeks now.
“Yeah. That’s totally not getting old, Mace,” Lacy said with a sigh. “Besides, I think Sydney is handling the disappointment just fine.” She lifted her chin toward the bar, where Sydney was giggling her fool head off while sporting a short white veil, jeans and a “Kiss Me, I’m the Bride” t-shirt covered with guys’ signatures in Sharpie. She was drinking blowjob shots with sexy ranch hands, Joel and Oakley, who were only too happy to celebrate with the tipsy bride-to-be.
“I bet she’d trade those two farm boys for male strippers any day of the week.”
Lacy laughed. “This is Sydney’s party, not yours. I suspect she’s perfectly happy right here. We’ll go to Vegas when you get married.”
Macie tipped back her beer. “That’s small comfort. I’ve done a thorough accounting of the stock around here and I’m fairly certain I’m never getting married.”
Lacy found it difficult to argue with her cousin. Macie had cut a wide swath through most of the available men in Maris. Not that Macie was a slut. Quite the contrary. She was very discerning when it came to her lovers. However, she was an equal opportunity dater, which meant she didn’t turn down many requests to go out. Only a handful had ever gotten a second date. “Maybe you should widen the search, check out some neighboring towns.”
Macie simply rolled her eyes. “Already done that.” Then, as so often happened with her cousin, Macie spotted a “squirrel” and changed topics. Shiny things constantly distracted her, too. “It’s good to see Coop out tonight.”
Lacy glanced toward where the rancher was sitting alone, nursing a beer. “Wonder how he’s doing.”
“Considering his wife died of breast cancer eleven months ago, I’m going to go out on a limb and say shitty.” Macie rose from her seat. “And since the pickings around here are so slim, I’m going to give up on getting lucky and go buy that man a beer. Looks like he could use some cheering up.”
Hank Cooper had always been a regular at Sparks Barbeque, the restaurant Lacy and her cousins operated, stopping in for lunch at least once a week. However, since his wife Sharon’s death, he’d become even more regular, sitting at the bar with a sandwich, plate of fries, and a beer nearly every single night as Macie held court.
While Macie was a terrible cook, she was one hell of a bartender. Lacy was pretty sure that, while people originally came for the delicious food Sydney and Jeannette prepared, they returned because of the fun Macie provided.
Lacy lifted her beer for a drink as her cousin walked away and took the opportunity to survey the bar. It was the first time she’d had five minutes to herself since they began this crazy adventure. Her boisterous cousins and several of their girlfriends had surrounded her all evening as they ran through the typical checklist of bachelorette insanity, complete with tequila shots and raunchy sex toy and negligee gifts. Then they started playing some silly game that Paige had found online, where Sydney had to find guys who fit certain characteristics to sign her t-shirt. She’d found men with tattoos, piercings and facial hair quickly, and had her pick of the litter on men wearing cowboy hats and boots. So far, she’d had no luck on finding a male prostitute or a drag queen—Macie’s additions to the list, items she insisted Sydney would have found easily in Vegas.
With the exceptions of Sydney at the bar and Macie sitting with Coop, most of their party was now out on the dance floor, shaking their booties, completely oblivious to how many cowboys currently stalked them. Lacy didn’t blame the guys. She’d always thought her cousins were beautiful women—inside and out. When they were out together in a pack, like they were now, they tended to turn more than a few heads.
Several men got bold and attempted to break into the circle, hoping to pick one of the women off and get her away from the others. It looked like one guy had just about managed to capture Adele’s attention before she shimmied back into the fold. Obviously tonight’s unspoken theme was chicks before dicks. Which suited Lacy fine, because there wasn’t anyone here she was interested in hooking up with.
A slow song started playing and most of the girls headed back toward the table. Only four of them made land as the rest found dance partners and stayed on the floor.
“Damn. It’s a total meat market out there,” Amanda said as she and her girlfriend Brandi returned, along with Jeannette and Gia, who, unlike the rest of their cousins, had steady boyfriends.
“Tell me about it. I’m pretty sure at least three different guys tried to grope my ass during that last song,” Gia added.
Amanda laughed. “Yeah. I saw that. One was my ex, Chuck, who’s actually here with his girlfriend, Paula.”
“Wait. You dated Chuck? Or Paula?” Jeannette asked, clearly thinking Amanda had misspoken.
Amanda waved away Jeannette’s confusion with a grin. “Chuck, but that was way back in two thousand and straight. And believe me, if I hadn’t already realized I was into girls way more than guys, Chuck would have pushed me into full-fledged lesbianism.”
