One Night Rodeo (Blacktop Cowboys 4)

He’d smirked at her during lunch, but he’d only kissed her and played a little grab ass before they’d started prepping the living room for paint. A necessity before anything else, since on a whim he’d taken her to town and they’d ordered carpet and a new flat-screen TV.

“Kyle? Do you think there’s a Sawzall in the garage?”

His back stiffened, as she knew it would. She withheld a snicker.

“Why in the hell do you need a Sawzall?”

“To fix something.”

“The thought of you holding a power tool scares the crap outta me.”

“I know.” She laughed. “I’m thinking if we cut out this portion of the shelving”—she pointed to the center section—“we could put the TV here, and arrange the furniture to face this direction, to improve the flow of the room. That way, no one would walk in front of the TV and we’d save floor space.”

Kyle scratched his chin, studying the wall. “There is an outlet over here. We could get a stand for the TV instead of hanging it from the wall. Might have to shore up the base shelf with an extra piece of plywood. We’ve already gotta paint the whole damn thing…. So, yeah. That’d work.”

Celia was surprised that he’d agreed so easily. Her brothers had always dismissed her suggestions to them without consideration.

He faced her. “What?”

“Thank you for not calling it a stupid idea.”

“Hey.” He set a gloved hand on her cheek. “I ain’t gonna argue with you just to argue, Cele. We’re past that, aren’t we?”

“Yes.”

“Good. But, darlin’, no way in hell am I letting you run the Sawzall.”

He clamped his hand on her butt as he kissed her. He would’ve made good on his earlier promise if not for the sound of tires spinning up the driveway and two short honks.

They broke apart and peered out the picture window.

Not Josh’s truck as she expected, but Lainie’s car.

Her stomach cartwheeled.

Lainie exited the driver’s side and opened the rear door as Harper climbed out of the passenger’s side and her husband, Bran, from the rear.

She and Kyle looked at each other, then back at the people making their way up to the porch.

“Appears we have company,” Kyle remarked.

“Is it awful to say I’m glad it’s not Hank or Abe?”

“No, kitten, it’s not. I’m relieved too.”

Kyle held her hand as they opened the door, showing her—and their guests—a united front. “Come on in.”

Harper made a beeline for Celia. “Omigod, Celia, congratulations!”

Celia caught Kyle’s eye and smiled, before hugging her friend back.

Then Harper whapped her on the arm. “I cannot believe you didn’t tell me! You were my maid of honor, for crying out loud. I at least deserved a phone call, especially since no one had a clue you and Kyle were involved.”

“And we got such a fantastic reaction when we did tell folks,” Kyle said dryly.

Harper hugged Kyle too. “I’m thrilled for you both. Thrilled to the bottom of my heart. And as much as I’d like to claim I saw this one coming, I didn’t. Not at all.”

“The wild child’s been tamed, eh?” Bran blocked Celia’s stomach punch and laughed. “Not completely tamed, I see.” He thrust out his hand to Kyle. “Congrats, man. I gotta say I wasn’t nearly as surprised by this as some people. But I’ve been watchin’ sparks flying between you two for years. Figured there had to be fire under there somewhere.”

A whimper sounded and Celia whirled around to face Lainie, holding Brianna. A teary-eyed Lainie passed her daughter to Harper and practically threw herself at Celia. Celia just awkwardly patted her on the back while Harper, Brianna, and Bran disappeared into the kitchen.

Lainie stepped back and took both Celia’s hands in hers. “Congratulations. I’m so happy for both of you.” Lainie looked at Kyle. “Thrilled to my toes that two of my favorite people in the world found each other. Please believe that. And when I heard what Hank said, how he reacted to this news…” She shook her head.

Kyle moved in behind Celia and set his hands on her shoulders. “Thank you, Lainie. I—we—appreciate you coming here. But your husband is an ass**le.”

“Everyone has railed on Hank and Abe for how they mishandled the situation.” Lainie’s eyes were still leaking tears. “I won’t apologize for Hank, Celia. That’s his responsibility. But I had to come and tell you that I don’t feel that way. I know deep inside Hank doesn’t either; it just caught him and Abe off guard.”

“We understand that,” Kyle said. “But I’m not letting either one of them near my wife. She deserves better treatment and respect from her brothers. She always has and we both know it.”

Lainie nodded. “They were totally unprepared for the backlash. Evidently Janie heard the tail end of your conversation and she couldn’t waddle outside fast enough to stop it before it reached the point it did. Her pregnancy hormones took over. She was so incensed she punched Abe in the stomach and took a swing at Hank. Then she called me, so hysterical that I thought she was going into labor, so I hauled ass over there. That’s when they told me what’d happened. What they’d said. I lost my mind on them. I was upset, which upset Brianna, and Janie was still yelling…so they had to deal with all three of us. And then Eli showed up.”