This Love (Cowboys & Angels 6)

His gaze fell to the floor and then back to me. His mouth opened, but he stopped himself. “I’m sure I’ll be back later.”

I nodded. “Okay, see you later. Tell Scarlett I said hello, and I hope she feels better.”

The corners of his mouth rose. “I will. Later.”

Trevor quickly walked through the crowd and out the door. Something was going on, and I wanted to dig deeper into it, but a pretty little redhead stepped up to the bar.

“Can I get something sweet?” she called out over the music.

“Sweet?” I asked.

She nodded.

“You mean like sangria or a daiquiri?”

“I guess. I don’t know. This is my first ever drink, and they told me to order something sweet.”

I grinned. “What’s your favorite color?”

Now it was her turn to grin. “Blue.”

“I’ll make you a Blue Hawaiian. You’ll like it.” I looked over at the table where Trevor had been sitting and motioned with my chin. “Are you with all of them?”

She glanced over her shoulder and then back at me. Rolling her eyes, she huffed. “Yes. And they wouldn’t let me order with the waitress. They said I had to come up and order with you. They all think you’re cute and said I wouldn’t have the nerve to talk to you.”

I gave her a wink. “But you did.”

She let out an exasperated sigh. “I had to! They wouldn’t leave me alone. They think because we all turned twenty-one we have to come to a bar and get toasted. I don’t want to get toasted, but they insisted I have one drink, at least. I don’t want to hook-up with some random guy, so they said I had to at least kiss one guy. I sure don’t want a shit kicker kissing me!”

I laughed. “A shit kicker? Where are shit kickers?”

She pointed over to a group of guys who were staring back at her friends. They were all local.

“You called it. Those are all shit kickers.”

Her face beamed. “I’m good at reading people.”

“I see that. Let me get your drink going.”

After making her drink, I slid it to her.

“Oh! It’s pretty. What does it taste like?”

I shrugged. “Sort of like a piña colada.”

She slid me a twenty and told me to keep the change. I put the whole twenty into the tip jar shared between the waitresses and bartenders like I always did.

Her brows lifted. “Shit, that’s good.”

“So, you ordered your first fruity girly drink. Now you need the kiss.”

The way her shoulders sagged told me she really didn’t want to tackle that one.

“I guess I might as well make my way over to one of those guys and ask.”

“Or…” I jumped over the bar and stood in front of her. “You let me kiss you.”

Her eyes widened, and she took a step away from me.

“Y-you? You’re so hot. Hotter even than your brother. I’m not…I don’t know. The shit kickers seem like a more appropriate choice.”

I shook my head. “You’re a beautiful young lady, so stop putting yourself down. And for the love of God, stop letting your friends tell you what to do. Be yourself and don’t be pressured to do anything you don’t want to do. Do you want me to kiss you?”

She nodded and I took a step closer. I cupped her face and leaned down. I brushed my lips over hers, causing her to shake a little. Then I kissed her softly. She kept her mouth closed, so I didn’t press her for more.

“Do that again,” she whispered. “The shock faded, and now I really want a proper kiss.”

I laughed and deepened the second kiss. Her free hand came up and landed on my chest and she groaned into my mouth.

Time to stop.

Stepping back, I smiled and she swayed a little.

“Holy crap. Best kiss of my life. You must have kissed a lot of women to get that damn good.”

I winked. “You could say that, darlin’. Glad to hear you liked it.”

Turning on her heels, she rushed back to the table where all her friends were laughing and whistling. I turned to see Amelia, Wade, and…fuck my life…Maebh. They stood at the opposite end of the bar, looking at me. At first, I couldn’t pull my eyes off of Maebh. She looked beautiful, and my cock agreed. But she was also acting like she’d seen a ghost. When I flicked my eyes over to Amelia, she looked like she wanted to kick me in the balls. Wade shook his head and looked down at the floor. What was wrong with this sad group?

The music started up so I shouted, “Hey, y’all. What’s going on? Want something to drink?”

Amelia huffed, and Maebh’s eyes turned sad, like they had earlier when she thought I was making fun of her.

Talking over the music, Maebh said, “Amelia, I think I’m going to head on home.”