Page 71 of Unguarded

Monroe chews her bottom lip, turning away from me.

This is fucking great.

Duke waltzes into the kitchen, muddy boots tracking all over the tiled floor and blood spattered across his chest.

“Hot damn, that dinner smells good. Kacie, baby, when’s the food gonna be ready?” He leans up against the countertop next to her.

Duke is the playboy out of all of us.

Kacie turns to him, rolling her eyes but leaning into him. “I’ll let you know when it’s ready, pretty boy. Now, get out of my space.” She shoos him away.

He pinches her waist before backing off. He spins around to face Monroe.

“So, Miss Blue, when you start your American leg, are we all invited to see you up in the spotlight? What’s a guy gotta do to get a few backstage passes?” He grins, grabbing a grape out of a bowl on the island and tossing it up in the air before catching it in his mouth.

“You could come with Dolly to New York in three weeks. I’m playing Madison Square Garden.”

“Hell yeah, baby. Count me in. Can I bring Sam? He’s a good time.”

“Sure. Who’s Sam?”

Dolly’s face reddens. “Sam is not going to go all the way to New York. He’d hate it there.”

Duke scoffs. “Sam would love it. He’s got a thing for supermodels. He’s not an animal.”

Dolly rolls her eyes, cheeks still pink.

“I invited him to lunch, so I’ll ask him when he gets here.”

Dolly suddenly looks like a deer in headlights, eyes wide and mouth slacked open. She spins around and flees the kitchen. “Let me know if you need help, Kacie. I’ll be right back!”

Monroe peers after her, crossing her arms like she doesn’t know what to do with herself. Awkward silence envelops us for the next few minutes, the sizzling venison the only buffer. I want to tell Monroe I’m finewith her inviting my sister, especially if Duke comes to keep an eye on her, but I can’t say it in front of Kacie.

Kacie spins around, placing the cooked venison sausage on the bar top. She opens a pan on the stove to check the contents, eyes settling on me.

“Cash, did you hear that Maribell and Hunter got engaged?”

I pull out one of the eight barstools at the oversize island, offering it to Monroe. I take the one next to it.

“No, I didn’t hear that.”

“I think she’s pregnant.”

I stare at her, not responding.

She smiles. “I mean, why would they be rushing to the altar if it wasn’t a shotgun wedding? They got together after we started talking.”

She lifts a glass of water to her lips, eyes lasered on mine. Monroe stiffens. I know what Kacie is trying to do. I don’t bite. She chews her gum, filling the kitchen with little smacking noises.

She continues her gossiping shit talk about a girl she used to say was her best friend. “Far be it from me to speculate, but it sure seems like they arerushing.”Her tone of voice rises as she singsongs the last word.

Monroe is a statue next to me. I want to reach over and hold her hand, touch her leg, or cup the back of her neck. Instead, I interlace my fingers on the bar in front of me.

“Remember when we went down to your creek to go hog hunting and they disappeared for twenty minutes in the brush?” She laughs, shaking her head. “She was never very particular, I guess.”

I have no idea what Monroe is thinking, except that I must date the worst kind of women who talk shit about their friends and make derogatory comments about a couple getting married for no apparent reason.

Dolly mercifully enters the kitchen, clearly having put on makeup and changed out of her baggy T-shirt into one of those tight, strapless tops that is way too fancy for dinner at home. Her dark hair is smooth and shiny.

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