Jenny nodded, eyes dancing.
“I was born in Oklahoma. And I don’t admit that to just anyone.”
Jenny laughed, an unlady-like snort of pure humor. “I can see why.”
Tex straightened up again. “Now you know all my secrets!”
“I won’t tell a soul,” Jenny promised. She rubbed her temples ruefully. “I don’t think I will ever drink again, so I promise that this secret will be better kept.”
“Circumstances were stacked against you,” Tex drawled understandingly. “And anyway, it was part of the whole escape out of character.”
Jenny cast her eyes down, giving a little half-smile. “It would be out of character for me not to go home alone, too,” she suggested with an unexpected invitation.
Tex actually considered it. She was sober enough now that he trusted the offer was made with sound mind, and she was utterly, completely gorgeous, with warm brown eyes and dark, thick, shoulder-length brown hair. Her skin was a rich mahogany, the magenta shirt did little to hide the swell of perfect, overflowing breasts, and the tiny skirt hugged the sexiest hips Tex could imagine. In every way, she was everything he’d envisioned in his perfect mate. But something was holding him back, some sense that she wasn’t quite right for him, and the only feelings she activated were protective.
“You don’t want me, honey,” he told her gently. “I’m unlucky in love. And I wouldn’t want to be mixed up in the hangover you’re going to have.”
She looked disappointed, but accepting, and when Tex refilled her water glass, she gratefully drank it.
“Can I call you a cab?” Tex suggested gently.
This time Jenny nodded. “My sister was supposed to meet me here, but I’m guessing something came up with her job. I’ll read her the riot act tomorrow, let me tell you.”
She slipped off of her barstool to use the ladies room while Tex made the call, and he was pleased to see that her steps were no longer more wobbly than strange, high-heeled boots would indicate.
He finished cleaning the bar while she was busy, and when she came out, the cab was already waiting at the curb.
Tex came around the bar to unlock the front door for her.
“Thanks,” she said shyly, looking up at him with those beautiful brown eyes. “I feel like you came to my rescue tonight.”
Tex tipped his hat at her. “Just doing my job, ma’am.”
Jenny stretched up on her tiptoes and planted a chaste kiss on his stubbly cheek. “You’re my hero,” she told him.
Then she was slipping out the door for the cab, and Tex was locking the door behind her in bemusement. Somehow, he didn’t think he’d seen the last of her.
Chapter 1
PRESENT DAY
Laurelangelina Smith woke in a hot panic, every one of her senses blazing, and she was out of bed and running into an unfamiliar wall before she remembered that she was not at her tiny condo, she was at Jenny’s apartment, and… Jenny.
Laura reached for the odd psychic connection that she shared with her twin and found only emptiness.
Jenny was gone. There was no sense of her, anywhere that Laura could reach.
Still disoriented, Laur
a pulled one of Jenny’s sensible bathrobes on and staggered out to the kitchen. Her head was pounding, but she knew that wasn’t the reason that she’d woken up, or the reason that Jenny was so gone from her head.
You’re an idiot, she railed at herself. How could you have trusted those jerks? You knew better than to get mixed up in that scene.
She expected a snarky response from her wolf, but only got wordless worry and grief in return.
Laura shuddered and opened the fridge. Nothing looked appetizing, and there was no Irish cream for her coffee. A drink, maybe a drink would calm the whirlwind in her head.
There was nothing more alcoholic in the cabinet than a rum fruitcake leftover from Christmas.