Crazy Hot Love (Dirty Dicks 2)

“Everett.”

She looks at me and smiles. “He’s tall, handsome, and super nice. Oh, and he’s a doctor so he falls within your occupational guidelines, and he’s a foster dad to two of my rescue dogs.”

I want to tell her that my rules are not being very well enforced right now, and my version of perfect is tall, handsome, and super nice, but also a firefighter and a rancher and every time he walks into a room I get butterflies.

“I’m not going on a date with Everett. I’m not going to sit by him or talk to him or flirt with him—”

“You don’t have to be mean.”

“I’m not going to be mean, but I’m also not going to encourage something that will not happen.”

“Okay, fine.” She takes a hand off the wheel, holding it up. “But I have a feeling you’re going to change your mind once you see him.”

“And I have a feeling you’re going to be eating your words later tonight,” I mumble.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Just drive. The sooner I get an appletini the better.”

35

Trevor

“You’re going to laugh about this,” Rhett says, catching me as soon as I walk through the doors of Dirty Dicks.

“I’m going to laugh about what?”

He shoves a beer in my hand and spins me around. I take a drink, wondering what is so amusing when I see it—or rather who. The whole gang is sitting at a round table. Cooper, Mo, Adley, Lincoln—and Tess even made it out tonight. And then there’s Claire. A smile stretches across my face until I see the man sitting next to her lean in close.

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that by the look on your face, you’ve staked a claim on Claire since the last time we talked,” Rhett says.

“I have. Who is that guy?”

“That’s what makes this so funny. Y

ou see, this is what happens when you keep things from Mo. My lovely girlfriend has taken it upon herself to parade another single, successful man in front of Claire.” I open my mouth, but Rhett continues. “Lucky for you, I had a clue as to what was going on, and I managed to keep the doctor away from your woman. But you should know that the second I got up, he moved over to my seat.”

Lifting my beer, I drain the rest in three large gulps. I’ve never had a girlfriend before—or a woman I’ve claimed as my own—so I’m not sure what the proper etiquette is for getting upset about this sort of thing. But when I look at Claire with her arms folded tight over her chest and her legs crossed, it’s clear that she’s about as far away from this doctor as she can be.

“I’m not worried. And it’s going to be fun to play with her and Mo.”

“Shit. Do you have to bring Mo into this?”

“She tried to set my woman up with another man. I thought you told me she was putting an end to this shit.”

Rhett shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair. “She said she was, but I’ve got about as much control over her as I do over you.”

“That’s not much.”

“My point exactly. Just go gentle on her, okay? I’d really like to get lucky tonight, and when she finds out I knew about you and Claire before her, she’s going to flip a lid.”

“You didn’t know about Claire and me,” I say, pulling my eyes away from Claire.

Rhett rolls his eyes. “Close enough. So, how are things going anyway?”

“Great. She’s perfect, bro.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that. And I’m sorry if I ever led you to believe you weren’t good enough for her.”