Page 137 of Major Love

He tucked it in his back pocket. He isn’t wearing it.

Which means…

I blink up at him for a moment and my lips part, realising that he only brought the shirt so that he could keep me warm if I needed it.

Jason gives me a gentle squeeze as he steps up behind me, the warmth from his hard chest blanketing my exposed back.

“It’s not usually this busy,” he admits, as we slowly make our way toward the bar, my eyes flicking to the women watching us as Jason walks past them.

If he notices them, he doesn’t say anything, but he clutches me tighter against his chest, suggesting that maybe he can sense my brewing possessiveness.

By the time that we reach the bar I’m ready to leave kiss-prints all over his neck.

And he can tell.

Jason leans down, setting his elbows on the counter on either side of me, and he brushes a gentle kiss to the side of my temple, chuckling quietly.

I shoot a sharp glance at him over my shoulder and he shakes his head, trying not to smirk.

“If I knew that your claws were this sharp, I’d have brought you somewhere like this way sooner,” he murmurs, groaning out a laugh when I give him a nice shove in the abs.

“Shut up,” I whisper back to him, feeling my cheeks grow an even deeper shade of pink.

But he just squeezes me again, rubbing his thumb gently up and down the column of my throat.

He catches my eyes in the mirror behind the bar and rumbles huskily, “You’re so hot when you’re jealous.”

I roll my eyes like I don’t care but he gets a tiny smile out of me anyway, and then he’s fighting back a grin as he stands upright again, towering over me from behind as he signals for the server to grab us a drink.

And in the next second I’m hearing my name being called out from the other side of the bar, immediately snapping my attention back to reality and making me stand on my tip-toes to see where the sound came from.

Riley, in a brown cowboy jacket and pale denim jeans, gives me a lazy smile as he jogs over to us, weaving his way across the packed dancefloor.

I think that Jason was right about Riley having an inkling about our situation – which I assume is why he declined Jason’s offer to pick him up on the way here. Riley texted to say that he’d just grab a cab, which is probably the best option anyway seeing as he’ll no doubt be drinking.

And, as busy as this place is, Jason was right about another thing, too – no matter how famous Riley is in Nashville, in a small-town like this, people don’t care.

“Hey,” Riley says, his deep voice breathless as he finally reaches us, looking handsome and happy to see us as we share a quick smile.

Then he glances at Jason’s hands which are gripped firmly around my hips and he hesitates before leaning forward, giving me a quick one-armed hug. He pulls quickly away, flicking another glance up at Jason.

Back in Nashville, Riley was always the tallest guy in the room, so being towered over by Jason must be an unusual feeling for him.

Which is probably why Jason removes one hand from my waist, holding it out in front of me so that Riley can take it.

And after a cautious glance at me, Riley accepts, giving Jason his gravelly laugh.

“Hey,” Jason rumbles, gripping Riley’s hand like he’s trying to turn it into a diamond, and then he lets him go after a couple of seconds, glancing away from him, totally impassive.

“Nice place,” Riley drawls, turning on his country-boy smile as he looks down at me. “Giving you any ideas about the new bar, or will I just have to wait and see?”

I laugh nervously at that because, right now, I’ve got a couple of bars on my plate – the one that I’m being offered back in Nashville, and Casey’s place in the town square at Phoenix Falls.

Jason’s body shifts slightly behind me and I glance up at him just as he passes me a drink.

“Lemonade,” he murmurs quietly, and I sigh with relief, suddenly parched. Then he glances over at Riley as I sip on the straw and asks, “You know about the bar?”

I instantly choke on the soda, so not ready to have this conversation with the both of them.

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