Page 45 of Big & Bossy

She giggled again, the unmistakable lilt to her voice that told me she had a straw between her teeth. “Don’t be silly, Jackson. I’m all the way out in Denver. That’s, like, almost forty minutes away.”

“Not with me behind the wheel.”

“You’re so dramatic. I’m fine, Jack. I’ll find someone nice enough to drive me to the hotel?—”

“Absolutely fucking not. You’re staying exactly where you are and you’re going to send me your location. Now.” I ripped the driver’s side door of my Ferrari open, wishing I’d had a spare five minutes to pre-warm the car, but it would warm up soon enough. She was silly drunk and a fucking target.

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I will check every single fucking bar in Denver until I find you.”

“Can I tell you a secret, Jack?” She asked, her voice fading into the background noise.

I took a deep breath as I started the engine, switching the phone to Bluetooth, her voice coming out of my car speakers instead. “If you send me your location.”

She was silent for a moment, just a few faint noises making their way through. I could hear Shania Twain in the background, so I was guessing she was in a southern-themed bar. My phone lit up with a text from her with her exact location. The Grizzly Rose. I sighed a breath of relief.

“Okay, you can tell me your secret now.”

“Wait, there’s one of those electric bull riding things here?—”

“Mandy, no. Tell me your secret.”

She hiccupped. “I miss you.”

She’s just drunk. She doesn’t mean it.

“And I kind of wanted you to come get me tonight.”

My fingers gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles going white. “Well, it’s a good thing that I’m on my way, princess.”

————

I waded through the sea of people crowding the bar, men in cowboy hats line dancing and women in their daisy dukes bouncing along with them. I glanced at the electric bull as I passed, half expecting her to be on it, but thankfully, it was empty.

I spotted her bun first, loose and nearly falling out. She was wearing the sequined black dress I’d bought her, one strap was falling off, and her heels were resting on the floor beneath her. Her head rested heavily against the likely sticky counter, a half-drunk glass of rum and coke next to her. Even drunk off her ass and half-dead on the counter of a random bar, she still looked beautiful. She was lucky that the press hadn’t found her.

I came up behind her, my hand landing on her bare shoulder blades, her body jumping beneath my fingertips. “There you are, princess,” I drawled, leaning over her as she lifted her head toward me. A little trail of drool hung from her red lips, far too enticing for my own good and hers considering how absolutely plastered she was.

“Jack,” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the blare of Toby Keith. Her gaze met mine, eyes wide as saucers as I dragged my thumb under her lip and wiped away the saliva. “You came.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Of course I did. Did you think I was going to let you wander around Denver at the start of winter, alone, in the middle of the goddamn night?”

“What time is it?” She asked. The glare of the spinning lights overhead landed on her, lighting every inch of her beautiful face, every spot of her flawless makeup that had somehow stood the test of whatever had gone down throughout the evening.

“About three in the morning.”

“Shit,” she mumbled, scooting her butt to the edge of the barstool and stretching her feet down to reach the floor. She slid her shoes on one at a time, her fingers fumbling with the little straps until I reached down to help her. We needed to get out of there and into the privacy of my car as quickly as we could before anyone noticed who we were. The last thing either of us needed was more publicity, drunken at that. “Thanks, panda bear.”

The breath left my lungs as the words crossed her lips.

She was just drunk. Yeah, but it’s been ten years. It didn’t mean anything. You know it meant something. She didn’t know what she was saying. She couldn’t control her mouth. Isn’t that exactly what you wanted? The truth from her?

I released a breath as I stood straight, my leather jacket crinkling uncomfortably against her sequined dress as I wrapped one arm around her waist, hoisting her up and onto her feet. “Can you walk?”

She snorted as she took one wobbly step. “Obviously. I’m not a baby.”

One more step and her heel snapped to the side, her foot going out from under her, my arm sweeping her back to her feet. “So that was a lie, then.”

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