by Cat Johnson
Phew, maybe those drinks Carly had been mixing before supper had been stronger than Lois had thought. She never would have guessed Hank could be this forward, just as she’d never imagined she’d like it so much, and want more. A lot more. Something she hadn’t wanted from a man in a very long time.
“Mama. The pies?” Jared appeared in the doorway.
“Oh, goodness. Sorry. Go tell everyone I’ll bring them right out.”
Jared’s gaze traveled from her to the commander as he raised one brow. “A’ight.”
Her youngest had caught her blushing in the kitchen with a man like she was a teen. Lovely. As Jared left them alone again, she let out a huff. She planted her mug on the counter and spun, about to head for the pie safe.
Hank’s bulk blocked her way and she crashed into him. As his hands came up to steady her, he said, “I’m sorry.”
Good thing he’d put his mug down on the counter as well, or they’d both be covered in coffee thanks to her clumsiness.
“No, my fault.” Lois did note neither of them had taken a step back. They stood nose-to-nose with his hands wrapped around her arms.
Hank’s throat worked as he swallowed. His gaze dropped to her mouth. “I think you’d better hand me a pie, before…”
“Before what?” She reveled in the scent of him—something warm and rich, and as tempting as the spices she’d put in the sweet-potato pie.
His nostrils flared as he took a step back. “Before those boys in there stage a rebellion.”
She’d been out of the dating world for a long time, but Lois was sure of one thing. This man hadn’t said what he’d been thinking. If there was one thing she was well-versed in after raising three Gordon men, it was to recognize when a man wasn’t telling her the complete truth. Hank wanted more than pie.
The frightening thing was she wanted to give it to him.
Chapter Three
The women stayed behind at the farm for Lia’s bachelorette party as the men left to check into some hotel named the Hideaway before the bachelor party began.
“Okay, Jared, now we’re alone, tell us what’s the plan for the bachelor party?” Standing in the hotel parking lot, Matt rubbed his hands together. “Strippers?”
Bull cocked one brow. “I’m sure your new girlfriend would be interested in hearing you ask that.”
“Hey, I was interested for Jimmy, not for myself.”
Jack let out a laugh at Matt’s answer. “Well, nobody’s girl has to worry about strippers. There ain’t any in Pigeon Hollow. Not unless Jared imported some from elsewhere.”
Jared cocked his head to one side. “Y’all will see. But to answer your question, Matt, the festivities will take place right next door at the bar.”
Bull turned to look at the nearby building. “That’s convenient. At least we won’t have to drive.”
“Very convenient. The one hotel in town is just a drunken stumble from the door of the only drinking establishment.” Jimmy laughed. “I think that’s what kept both places in business all these years.”
“Y’all check in. I’m going to run next door and see to the preparations for tonight.” Jared hooked a thumb in the direction of the bar.
It was getting to be full dark as the members of Task Force Zeta invaded the office of the Hideaway Motel as boldly as they infiltrated any assigned target. After checking in with an overwhelmed-looking clerk who probably hadn’t had this many guests at one time ever, the men moved across the parking lot to the bar. It was then Hank got the first hint of what Jared had planned.
“Wet T-shirt contest tonight. Special celebrity judges,” Jimmy read the sign suspended next to the doorway aloud. “Ah, crap.”
“Oh crap is right, big brother.” Jack broke into an amused grin. “Lia’s gonna be madder than a wet hen when she hears about this.”
“You’re right here next to me, Jack. You think Nicki’s gonna be any more understanding?” Jimmy grabbed the door handle and yanked. “I need to get inside and talk to our troublemaking little brother.”
“I’m thinking you’re all screwed as far as the women are concerned.” Matt shook his head. “Me and the commander are the only ones safe from the wrath of the girlfriends tonight. Mine’s out of the country on assignment and the commander doesn’t have one.”
Hank ignored Matt’s comment on his lack of a love life while Blake, holding the door open with one hand, hesitated and stared at the sign. “Who do you think the celebrity judges are?”
“No clue.” BB shrugged. “We’ll have to ask Jared.”
A female screech from inside the dim bar cut through the air. Hank stiffened, on alert.
“Oh my God. That’s BB Dalton!” A mob of women, all wearing tight white T-shirts and led by the one who’d screamed over BB, pushed toward him.
“That answers the question of who the celebrity is. It’s you, dude.” Matt laughed, getting jostled by a woman trying to thrust a pen and a cocktail napkin at BB.
The celebrity in question paled and took a step back. Hank had seen Dalton fearlessly face arming explosives during a deep-water dive, yet these women had him in a retreat. Without instruction, the team shifted into a protective circle around him. Like a well-oiled machine, they blocked the onslaught of scantily clad females from getting to their goal.
“Jesus, Dalton. Does this happen all the time?” Blake’s eyes opened wide as he tried to block the path of one busty female intent on getting to BB.
“When there’s a lot of women and plenty of booze all in one place, yup,” Matt answered.
“Those damn ads are over a year old. I thought this shit would have stopped by now.” Bull frowned down at the group of tittering females.
“Me too, Bull. Me too.” BB shouted above the squeals. “Thank God, Katie stayed at the farm with the baby. That’s all I’d need is for her to be next door at the hotel, look out the window and see this.”
“BB! Sign my breast.” The girl whipped off her shirt and exposed herself to the world.
BB glanced at Hank. “Thanks a lot for giving me that assignment, Commander.”
As far as team assignments went, having to pose for a few photos for the SpecOps recruiting campaign wasn’t all that bad. Hank couldn’t rally too much sympathy for BB. He shrugged. “We all have our crosses to bear, Dalton.”
“Ladies. Ladies. BB will sign anything you want, but inside. Line up in front of the stage.” Jared, the ringmaster of this circus, stood in the doorway, hands up as he tried to gain some semblance of order. “BB, go on inside. There’s a table set up on the stage.”
“I’m really one of the judges of this thing?” BB glanced at the topless girl again before he yanked his gaze away. Hank would have found this even more amusing if Dalton didn’t look so stricken and his wife wasn’t nearby and would probably hear about this mess from somebody.
“Could you judge?” Jared looked hopeful. “I had figured I’d be the celebrity judge because I was on that reality show, but it looks like you’re a much bigger star than me.”
“Dalton, I suggest you get your ass inside and up on stage. You’ll be safer and easier to protect.” Bull glanced down as one woman, who didn’t even come up to his chest, tried to get past him to BB. He turned and grabbed BB by the back of the T-shirt. “Come on.”
With one arm extended like he was a quarterback and BB was the football, Bull forged ahead. The rest of the team clustered around him acting as blockers. Bull definitely had a future in personal security whenever he retired from the military.
The team pushed through the hoard of overexcited and likely intoxicated women with BB in their center until they got to the stage. It wasn’t exactly sanctuary, but at least he was above the fray and behind a table as the girls queued up on the floor in front of him. The team looked more like concert security than party guests as they formed a line between the women and their end goal—a distraught BB.
Poor Dalton. Hank had ordered him to be the poster boy for Central’s recruiting campaign, but it w
as the marketing team’s idea to play up his past underwear modeling career, not Hank’s. And the head of that marketing team was none other than BB’s new wife, Katie.
“We gonna stand here and be his bodyguards all night?” Jack yelled over the din of country music and chattering girls. It did indeed look as if Jimmy’s bachelor party was going to be spent guarding BB.
“Things will settle down after they get their autographs.” At least, that’s what Hank hoped.
“Yeah, his autograph on their boobs.” Blake watched another girl pull her shirt over her head. “Is this against the law?”
“In Pigeon Hollow? Good chance. There’s a law you can ride a horse down Main Street, but you can also get thrown in jail for spitting on the sidewalk, so who knows? But the deputy is a good friend, so that should keep Jared out of jail.” Jimmy glanced at the door. “Here’s Deputy Sheriff Bobby Barton now.”
A dark-haired man wearing a frown above his ice-blue stare moved their way. “Jimmy. Jack.” He nodded to each in turn. “What the hell is going on?”
“Jared’s idea of a bachelor party.” Jack answered for both of them.
Bobby Barton, deputy, rolled his eyes. “I shoulda known.”
Hank had begun to realize Jared really was the loose cannon in the family if even this decadent chaos didn’t shock the law enforcement of a town as small as Pigeon Hollow.
“Ladies, we’re going to start the contest here shortly. Make sure you get your numbers on your shirts and that your shirts are on.” Jared jumped down off the stage and pushed past the crowd. “Hey, Bobby. What do you think? Pretty cool, huh? When we advertised the contest, I never thought we’d get such a big turnout.”
“You advertised this?” Jimmy’s eyes widened.
“Sure. How do you think we got so many girls? The bar owner ran ads on the local college radio station.”
“I can say one thing for this idea of yours, at least there aren’t any strippers for our girlfriends to get pissed about.” Jack shrugged.
Hank cocked a brow as two girls got into a fight over their place in the line, until one ripped the other’s T-shirt and the bartender came from behind the bar to break it up. “Nope, you’re right, Jack. No strippers.”
As far as bachelor parties went, Hank had experienced worse over the years, his own included. No, there weren’t strippers for Jimmy, but thanks to Jared there were dozens of girls who would be as good as topless after their thin white T-shirts were drenched in water.
The girls calmed down after Jared began the contest, but Hank only sipped on one longneck bottle for the night. He was drinking piss-warm beer, but he was sober in case all hell broke loose. He wished he could say the same for his men. They were sucking down the alcohol while cheering for the show. Hank expected Jimmy to get drunk since it was his bachelor party. What he had not expected, but should have, was the rest of the team to follow suit. Even BB, usually a non-drinker, was throwing them back from the stress of being a judge while women thrust their breasts at him.
Finally, the parade of girls in the competition ended, but the autograph line began again. BB refused to sign the naked tit shoved in his face, but he made the mistake of agreeing to sign the T-shirt for the girl instead. That meant every female in the competition lined up all over again for the same. Hank shook his head and laughed. Poor Dalton.
Deputy Bobby had nursed the same bottle of beer all night as well. Hank could tell from the partially peeled label. Good man. He would have made a good soldier. Hank counted Bobby and the bartender as his only sober backup, but so far, things had stayed relatively in check.
When the autographs were finally finished, Jared and poor abused BB joined the team. Drunk though they were, the team shoved the new arrivals in close to the table and formed a ring around them with their chairs and bodies, protective instincts kicking in.
“You having fun, big brother?” Jared asked once he got settled in his seat.
Jimmy raised his beer. “Yes, I am. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that if Lia gets mad, I can just blame the whole thing on you. So thank you for that.”
“Sure, bro. My gift to you.” Jared lifted his own bottle in a salute. He’d just swallowed a mouthful of beer when his cell phone rang. As Jared glanced down at the caller ID an expression of fear replaced the cocky attitude. “Holy crap, it’s Mandy. Shh! Everyone keep it down.”
Hank snorted at that request. The jukebox was blaring out a loud country tune in the background, and at least a dozen female voices were squealing closer by. Their little party of men keeping their voices down wouldn’t do Jared much good.
“Hey, darlin’. How’s the shower going?” Jared’s attempt at sounding as if nothing was going on here at the bar came out sounding a little drunk and not so convincing as he slurred his words. He frowned and held the phone a little farther from his ear before saying, “It’s just an innocent little contest, Mandy. I swear. How’d you even find out—No, you’re right. It doesn’t matter how you found out.”
Jared cringed and then nodded. “Okay, I’ll be right home.” He disconnected the call and glanced at his brothers. “I have to go home.”
Jack and Jimmy broke out laughing but Bobby clamped a hand around Jared’s forearm when he made a move to leave. “You can’t drive.”
“I can take him home.” Hank stood. He’d made an appearance for the bachelor party, supported the groom and his team, but now, he’d had enough of being surrounded by girls his daughter’s age. He glanced at Jack and Jimmy. “You two need a ride back to the farm?”
“No.” Jared shook his head. “You two should stay. It’s still early and your friends are here. No reason for all of us to have to leave. I’ll go home and face the inquisition.” In a show of bravery Hank had to be impressed by, Jared offered to take the heat alone.
Bobby held up the single empty bottle in front of him. The only one he’d had all night. “I’m sober. I can bring Jack and Jimmy home if they wanna stay longer. Besides, I think I might be responsible for Jared being in trouble.”
“What?” Jared spun on Bobby.
“I kind of told Christy about the contest when I called her before.” Bobby cringed.
Jared’s brows drew down in a frown. “You know your girlfriend is best friends with mine.”
“I know. I never thought Mandy would get upset. Christy just laughed when I told her. Sorry.”
“Too late now.” Jared shook his head and then shot Hank a glance. “We’d better go.”
“All right.” Hank’s gaze took in the rest of his team. They could walk next door to the hotel to get to their beds for the night. Hank didn’t need to worry about them driving, only about them being here at this towny bar drunk. He looked to Bobby Barton. “You’ll keep an eye on them for me?”
Even on leave, in Hank’s mind they were still his responsibility. His to worry about. At least until they were back in their hotel rooms dealing with their own pissed-off girlfriends. Then, they were on their own.
“Will do.” Bobby nodded. “Good luck back at the farm with Mandy and the rest of ’em.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Hank had a feeling both he and Jared might need a little luck, and maybe a bucket of water to cool down the angry women. Though seeing Lois again so soon certainly wouldn’t be a hardship. Not after that heat he’d felt in her kitchen that had nothing to do with the oven.
Chapter Four
Lois bent to retrieve the last few pieces of torn wrapping paper from the floor of the living room. She’d just shoved it into the garbage bag when she heard the ruckus coming from the kitchen. Everyone had gone home save for Lia. The bride had been exhausted so she’d gone upstairs to bed while Mandy offered to wrap the last of the leftover food while she waited for Jared to get home.
In between what sounded like Mandy yelling, Lois heard the murmuring of male voices. The boys must be home. That would explain the yelling. Sighing, Lois set down the trash bag and headed for the kitchen to play referee to what she expected was a ba
ttle between Mandy and her youngest about the bachelor party. Lois had warned Jared not to plan anything too wild. Not that Jared was known to mind his mama all that often.
In the kitchen, Lois found Mandy, hands on hips, squaring off against Jared. His downcast eyes told Lois he realized he’d done something wrong, but it was the other man in the room who drew her attention.
Hank.
His gaze moved to Lois where she stood in the doorway. He sent her a nod before he focused back on Jared’s girlfriend as he literally stepped between them. Brave man, getting between a hellcat like Mandy and the cause of her displeasure.
Lois drew in a long, deep breath. This Yankee man made her blood run a little too hot. She wasn’t prepared for how her heart had sped the moment those steely gray eyes of his met hers.
She hadn’t let a man into her heart or her life since the handsome, charming, seventeen-year-old James Gordon had gotten under her skin, and her skirt, when she was fifteen years old. That relationship had given them their first son, Jimmy. Three babies and many years later, James’s drinking, cheating, lazy, no-good ways had finally gotten to her. The time came to choose between losing the farm that had been in her family for three generations, or ridding herself of James and his gambling debt and raise the three boys alone. Lois did the sensible thing. While Jared was still little, Lois had filed for divorce.
“A wet T-shirt contest? Seriously, Jared, what were you thinking? That it would be cheaper than hiring a stripper?”
“No. I knew you didn’t want strippers there so I didn’t get any.” A deep frown creased Jared’s forehead. “I thought you’d be happy.”
“Happy?” Mandy’s brow rose high. “That dozens of college co-eds were bouncing around practically topless. No, I’m not happy.”
Jared shook his head, looking miserable. “But—”
“Lois, can you believe him?” Mandy cut Jared off and spun to face Lois.
“Oh, Mandy, I’m not about to get in the middle. This is between you and my son, darlin’.” Lois would deal with Jared later. In private and in her own time and her own way. Though by the looks of him, he’d be punished enough by Mandy he’d learn his lesson.