Page 30 of Texas Daze (Texas Montgomery Mavericks)

Delene whirled around and slapped her hand to her chest. “Girl! You almost gave me a heartattack.”

“What are you doing here? We just saw each other a couple ofhoursago.”

Delene jabbed her finger toward Marti. “You might fool Tina with thatI fell asleep on him and nothing happenedstory, but not me. I know you better than that. If that was the honest truth, you wouldn’t have picked at your salad, hardly reacted when I said I thought I might shave my head for summer, and then hurried off as soon as you could. Something happened with Dr.Hottie.”

Marti sighed and opened the unlocked front door. “Come on in. Want something todrink?”

Delene followed Marti to thekitchen.

“Got aDietCoke?”

Marti lifted an eyebrow. “Needyouask?”

She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a couple of Diet Cokes and joined Delene at the kitchentable.

“So,” Delene said as she popped the tab on the can. “Whathappened?”

“Everything I told you was true. Iswear.”

“Uh-huh. But you didn’t tell useverything.”

“Need a glass foryourCoke?”

Delene snorted. “You really don’t want to say, do you?” Then she gasped. “You didn’t sleep with him, did you? On a first date? That is so notlikeyou.”

“Right. We had a great toss on the hay after watching Princess give birth. Nothing sexier than amniotic fluid, a wet, slightly smelling newborn, and watching a new mother lick the afterbirth. I mean, who wouldn’t want to strip and screwafterthat?”

Delene’s loud, deep laugh echoed around the kitchen. “You do have apoint.”

Marti smiled and gave in. Delene wasn’t just one of her best friends. They’d been together since firstgrade.

“Fine. Hekissedme.”

Delene shrugged. “I know. You told us that at lunchtoday.”

“I might not have been completely honest atlunch.”

Delene leaned forward. “Really? So therewaskissing going on when I saw you two cuddled on thepatio.”

“Not there, well, there too, but mostly when we got to my house. The first kiss was sweet. Soft. Really just barely a kiss. But then…ohmigod, he backed me into my door and kissed me like a starving man finding a loaf of bread. It wiped my mind of any thoughts but how to get closer to him.” She looked at Delene. “And the only way we could be closer would have been skin to skin. It was like my soul wanted to climb inside him. It was the most erotic, sensual kiss I’veeverhad.”

“Better thantheex?”

“Ha. No comparison. If he hadn’t been holding me against my door with his body, I probably would have melted in puddle of begging lust. I swear. I was thinking about inviting him in—and yes, I know I have never gone to bed with a guy on the first date—when Pedro rode up and told me about Princess in labor. Of course I hadtogo.”

“Of course. I mean,”—Delene held up her hands like the scales of justice—“on this side we have a horse going through a totally natural process,” she raised one hand higher, “and on this hand we have a hot, sexy doctor that you are having lusty pants for.” She raised the other hand. “Who wouldn’t have chosen the bloody, smelly, horse over the great smelling,handsomeman?”

Marti laughed. “Well, when you put itthatway…”

Delene shook her head. “Anyway, choice made. Smelly horse won. So you had a lusty pantsmoment.”

“I kind of wasn’t theonlyone.”

“Thank the heavens. I thought I was going to have toslapyou.”

“Maybe I was more into him than he was to me, you know? Guys are like that. I was obviously sending out lusty vibes and he wasgettingthem.”

“I don’t know. He’s been in town for what? Three months or so? Surely if he was a hound dog out for the quick shag, we’d all know it. This town’s grapevine is tooactive.”

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