Harmony and High Heels (Fort Worth Wranglers 2)

“I call shotgun.” He raised his hand.

“You know you’re our family now. All holidays will be spent under this roof. No exceptions.” She pulled him in for a hug.

“Now, Super Girl, don’t make me cry. I don’t have time for a breakdown. I’ve got to get you ready for the ball.” He tugged the clip out of her hair. “What were you thinking, up or down?”

“Before you Tre-ed the dress, I was going to wear it down so I could cover at least some of that blue balloon. Now I want it up so everyone can see an original Tre in all of its glory.”

He hip-bumped her. “You’re just flattering me so I’ll make you a matching purse.” He pointed to something on the bed. “Oops, already made one.”

“Oh my God.” She picked it up. The delicate fabric had been shaped into a drawstring bag. The silver duct tape behind it deepened the color. “How do you know how to do this?”

He was truly gifted.

“Just comes to me. Kinda like baking for you and math to Lyric. It’s just in us.” He beamed. He was so proud.

Twenty minutes before the party started, Dalton parked his Maserati in his reserved parking space and helped Harmony out of the car. “You are so beautiful. I knew that dress would flatter you.”

She glanced away, which was so un-Harmony-like that it gave him pause. She wasn’t exactly the shrinking violet type, so there had to be something else going on for her to be acting so weird.

He just wished he knew what it was.

He’d complimented her numerous times since he’d picked her up, and while she’d always responded to the compliment, something hadn’t felt right. She’d been quiet, off, and he wasn’t sure what the problem was. He only knew that he didn’t like it.

Where was his Harmony? The woman with the big attitude and even bigger mouth? The one who teased him, who challenged him, who gave a million times better than she got? He missed her.

“You doing okay?” he asked as he escorted her toward the front door of the complex. “You’re awfully quiet.”

“I’m good. Just trying to tone things down a bit.” Her eyes met his for the first time all night, and he felt the sizzle all the way to his bones. At least, until he caught the wariness behind her smile.

It hit him down low and had him pulling her aside only a few yards from the center’s entrance.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, nodding toward the lights sparkling right in front of them.

“That’s what I want to ask you. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, of course. Why?”

“I don’t know. Something is telling me I’m missing something.” He cupped her cheek, ran his thumb along the seam of her lips. “I know I’ve been busy these last few days and I’m sorry about that. Now that the opening is done, things should go back to normal.”

“I know what it is to be wrapped up in a project, Dalton. I don’t mind that you had to work.”

“Are you sure about that?” He didn’t know what else could be making her look so … reticent, for lack of a better word.

“Of course I’m sure.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and then pulled his head down to give him a kiss. For a few seconds, he let himself luxuriate in the feel of her mouth under his. In the fantasy of pulling her into the building and up to his office, where he could bury himself inside of her so deeply, so completely, that she could never get him out.

But duty called, and as he heard voices coming up the walkway behind him, he forced himself to pull away. The last thing the Wranglers’ GM should be doing was all but devouring a woman on the front steps of the Lasso Center. No matter how much he wanted to do just that.

And reporters were going to be here tonight, along with a bunch of high-society types, and the last thing he wanted to do was make Harmony feel uncomfortable. Especially when he knew how guilty she still felt about everything that had happened with Lyric these last few days.

Reluctantly, he pulled away, disengaging himself one agonizing piece at a time. “Sorry, baby.” He smoothed a hand over his hair to try to smooth out the furrows Harmony’s fingers had caused . “We should probably tone it—”

“Down,” she interrupted. “Yeah, I know. We don’t want anyone watching to get the wrong idea.”

She gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and then turned and marched into the building, leaving him no choice but to follow her.

He started to tell her that wasn’t what he’d meant—he was proud as hell to have her on his arm, and he didn’t give a shit if all of Fort Worth knew about it. Actually, he wanted them to know about it. But he didn’t want to cause any more problems for Harmony either, and he knew she was trying to walk the straight and narrow until Food Network signed on definitively for Badass Baker.