They dropped down into seats beside us, both with smiles on their faces. I wasn’t sure if it was my daiquiri or Alex’s smile, but more warmth shot through me. If he was pissed about our little fight on Thursday, he wasn’t showing it.
It also helped that he had on jeans he must have ordered from some tight-ass jeans company. Now, I knew the daiquiri was helping me appreciate his ass more than I probably should have, given our particular situation, but it didn’t hurt to look and not touch.
I sucked in a breath.
“Good evening, ladies,” Carl said with a grin. “I see you got started without us.”
“’Cause you guys can’t get your asses here on time,” I said.
Alex smirked. “Looking this good takes time.”
I rolled my eyes, and Perri laughed.
Just as I was about to say something else, Joe rolled in. It took him a couple minutes to get over to us because he had to go through his normal mayora
l greeting ritual.
When he finally sat down at our table, an abashed look settled over his face. “My wife sends her apologies. She wasn’t supposed to be on call tonight, but someone got sick.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “We all understand.”
The waitress stopped by, and we ordered a couple pitchers of beer. A bonus, I thought, as it’d be easier to pace myself with beer rather than mixed drinks. The sweetness could sneak up on me too easily.
Once our beers were delivered, we settled into a comfortable rhythm, just talking about things. Carl and Alex discussed their plans for expanding the ranch, and the rest of us talked about life at city hall.
It really was like old times. Without the cloud of a big secret drowning us all, it was easy for us to open up.
“So I’m thinking we should call our ranch partnership Ranch 2.0,” Carl said, after downing half a beer in one gulp.
“Ranch 2.0?” Alex said, his tone skeptical. “Just like we’re the Fabulous Five?”
Carl laughed, his face already very red. “It’s good, and you know it.”
The next thing I knew, I was laughing, then Joe, and Perri. Even Alex joined in. No worries, no fears, just five friends laughing at some stupid joke. It really did feel like high school again.
It was about then I noticed Alex had scooted his chair a bit closer to me. The alcohol singing in my blood beat down the defensiveness that wanted to pop up. Instead, I could appreciate those muscled tattooed arms and the woodsy scent of his cologne.
I still kept enough of my wits to tell myself I would not sleep with him that night, but damned if the idea didn’t keep popping into my head, leaving my center a little slicker and warmer than I would have liked.
Carl and Alex shared a look. Alex nodded once to Carl, and the other man’s face turned serious.
I glanced between them, wondering what the hell I’d just seen.
Alex leaned in to whisper in my ear, his hot breath fanning across the side of my face. “Things are about to get interesting.”
I was about to turn and ask him what the hell he was talking about when Carl shot up out of his chair after taking another sip of beer. The drunken ranch bro from before had vanished, replaced by a man whose face was a mask of rigid determination.
He took a few solid steps over toward Perri. She looked up at him, a quizzical expression on her face.
“Carl? What’s going on?”
He dropped to one knee, and everyone in the bar fell silent. Someone even turned the radio off.
Chapter 24
Alex
I couldn’t help my shit-eating grin as Carl dropped to one knee, and Perri gasped. Maybe that made me a hypocrite. After all, I’d tried to stop this moment.