“It’s just a drink,” Tripp countered.
“And yet you’re shaving,” Cash said. “Sounds like more than a drink.”
Tripp glared, and Cash held up his hands.
“He has a point,” Bo said. “You haven’t been with a girl in a while.”
“I’m with a girl every day,” Tripp shot back. “I’m trying to raise her.”
“Which is commendable, but it’s about time you’re going out with a real woman,” Bo said.
“Why are you going out now?” Cash asked. “Is she not sticking around?”
“I don’t know how long she’s here, but my guess is not long. She’s clearly just visiting,” Tripp said, trying to replay their exchange from earlier today, but he kept getting hung up on the woman herself. She was gorgeous. All dark eyes and hair and long legs. And her mouth was full in a way he’d never seen on a woman in person. Like two bee-stung lips that could probably do amazing things to a man…
He tapped his razor on the side of the sink. He needed to get his mind right. Yes, he was meeting a woman. But there would still be boundaries. Like always.
“Well, that solves your getting attached or roped into the PTA dilemma,” Bo said. “Smart.”
“It’s. Just. A. Drink.”
Cash and Bo exchanged a look.
“Admit it, she fits all the criteria you need to get laid,” Bo said
, and hung a thumb in his belt loop.
“I wouldn’t treat a woman that way,” Tripp said. But my God he hoped he got his hands on her. In any way. She was beautiful and had just the right amount of sass that drove him wild. And yes, if things got physical, Tripp could actually allow himself to enjoy the night without worrying about small-town side effects. She wasn’t even from Wyoming. He was in the clear.
If, that was, things got that far.
“Look, I’m just going out for a couple hours with a woman. No strings. But very much respectful and cordial.”
Bo cocked an eyebrow. “Wow, keep talking like that and you’ll be sure to melt her panties right off.”
“He still has to be practical,” Cash said, “but the opportunity is prime perfection.”
No shit. Tripp was well aware he had a shot to feel like a damn man tonight. Not just because he was thinking of her thighs or lush mouth.
He loved Gracie. Would do anything for her. But tonight he could just be himself for a couple hours and have a drink with a woman who didn’t know him, didn’t want anything from him, and had no expectations. She had no power to hurt him or to leave him and Gracie. It was surface with no consequence. And Tripp could use some surface tonight.
“Thanks for watching Gracie,” he said to his friends. They were the best a guy could ask for, and Gracie loved them. They’d been there since her birth and weren’t going anywhere. Two guys Tripp could always count on.
“Of course!” Bo said. “In the quest for you to get laid, many a man will sacrifice. Good luck, my brother. May you find your way.”
Tripp rolled his eyes.
Cash slapped Bo’s back. “Someone’s been watching Lord of the Rings on his phone again, hasn’t he?”
“Maybe…” Bo grumbled.
Tripp pushed his friends out of the doorway, shut it, and got dressed. He found his least-worn looking pair of jeans and blue pearl snap shirt. Then he put on his clean Stetson, not the one he worked in that was dirty and smelled like sweat. He ran a hand over his clean-shaven face. Shit, he hadn’t been on a date in a while.
Good thing this wasn’t a date.
“It’s just a drink,” he said to the mirror. But Miss City Charlotte had him thinking of things he hadn’t had the time for in a while. Starting with the taste of those perfect lips of hers.
He made his way out of his room and headed straight for Gracie’s.