Page 28 of Bourbon and Lies

“Holy fucking shit.” She jumps, pressing her hand to her chest as she turns around. Now I feel like a dick for scaring her. She looks around and zeroes in on the firepit in my yard, and then finally sees me.

I hold up my beer as a toast hello.Maybe I should have stayed quiet.

She stares for a second, and then starts moving down her porch steps. “Any chance you can help me?” she shouts back.

Her long hair is wavy and a bit wild. She looks good even from this far away. My lack of response keeps her walking over. Her heels must be giving her a helluva time, getting stuck in the grass every few feet because halfway here she finally gives up, takes them off, and just leaves them there without bothering to pick them up.

I can hear her talking to herself as she gets closer. “Grown-ass woman can hold her own, but can’t remember a key...”

She inhales like she’s already annoyed and it has me biting back a smile. Why do I find this amusing? “You seem a little angry over there.”

“I’m thirsty. I want to get out of this suction cup of a dress. I could use something greasy in my life, but seeing as how I haven’t gone grocery shopping, that’s not happening.” Looking down at her bare feet and then back up at me with the most defeated look on her face, she says, “And now my feet hurt.”

Julep sits up and her butt and tail are moving so fast that she looks like she’s going to take off if I give her the command that she can go.

“Hello, sweet girl,” Laney says to her. She looks back at me. “Is it okay?”

I nod for her to go ahead. “Ease up, Julep.”

She smiles up at me from a crouched position, giving my dog a full head rub, and I’ll be honest, she could ask me for just about anything right now, and I’d get it for her. “I’ve got a spare key inside. Water?”

It takes just a minute to find it, but when I come back out, she’s sprawled out on the hammock, swinging it slowly back and forth with one leg draped over the side. The entire scene has me stopping in my tracks because this woman is more than beautiful. And trying to look away is impossible.

Sitting up from the hammock, she takes the glass of water I brought and chugs it back. “I think I want a hammock. There’s a spot over there.” She points into the dark at what I’m assuming are the two big oak trees near the cottage. “This is the first time I’ve ever had the pleasure of being on one of these. I get it now,” she says, resting her head back, brushing her foot a bit faster to pick up the motion.

“They don’t have hammocks in Colorado?”

She tries to ignore me, but I’m really good at silence. It’s a learned tactic, one that still works in my favor. Especially when she says, “I would think they do, but I’ve just never been on one. Just like I know there are nice guys in the world, but I’ve never been on one of those either.” She slaps her hand over her mouth. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”Certainly did. And now I am picturing myself as someone she’d want to be on.

“How was Hadley’s new summer drink menu?”

I laugh when she emphasizes, “Too good.” Her hands explaining what she’s most excited about. “There was a pistachiothing at the end that I could have kept sipping on if Hadley kept pouring.”

Jesus Christ, I can’t stop staring at her mouth.

“You keep looking at me like that, cowboy, and I’ll get the wrong idea.”

I swallow and already regret responding, “And what idea is that, honey?”

She lifts her head up and smiles. A wide and full grin that’s laced with mischief. “Say that again.”

It takes whatever is left of my reserve not to smirk at the way she flirts with me. But I stand there, not tipping my hand, and let her bring up what I know she overheard when she left me band-aids. “Say what again?”

The word comes out breathy. “Honey.”

I remember exactly what I said, and I can’t help repeating. I smile, dropping my tone lower when I say, “That’s it.” Her eyes widen as they meet mine, and I cross my arms. “Honey.”

Her thighs squeeze together. Did that turn her on?

She clears her throat and then rests her head back against the hammock. “Midnight Proof is incredible,” she says, pivoting the subject. “But then I wanted to leave. And then when I got outside, I realized I didn’t have a credit card for a ride-share so I thought I would walk?—”

“You thought you were going to walk here?”

She nods.

“Alone? From Midnight Proof?”

Absolutely not.

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