by BA Tortuga
“Well, you’ll have plenty of time when it gets good and late.” Packer came over and grinned, ears wiggling. “It’s time she learned the time-honored tradition of hanging out with the sheilas.”
Emmy rolled her eyes. “Go play with your friends, Cotton. I’ll go hang.”
Oh, man. “You sure, honey? I won’t just abandon you.”
She chuckled, kissed his cheek. “I want to go see the babies and have a drink.” She leaned closer, lips near his ear. “I think Laurel’s a little wigged, baby. I don’t mind.”
“Okay.” He grinned. As long as she had a mission… That worked. He patted her ass as she went, already chattering with Laurel, the girls laughing.
“I like your girl, mate.” Packer grinned, and the guys gathered around, all poking fun at him. It was all good-natured, though.
“So, come on, man. You gotta tell us, is she gonna keep doing those pictures on the computer?”
He was going to pop Landon in the nose.
“No, she is not. She is going to quit.” She was going to work for Ace.
“Yeah? She said she wasn’t sure about the Ace thing.”
Hell, he wasn’t sure Ace’d made an offer. Christ, rumors flew fast and furious.
“Well, one way or the other, I ain’t having y’all assholes ogling her, so she’s quitting.”
Packer’s grin was pure evil. “You tell her that, yet, mate?”
“Yes.” He had, right? He was pretty sure. He stuck his chin out.
“Cool. Sometimes a sheila wants that, huh? For her man to just tell her how it’s gonna be and how he’s gonna help her.”
“Yeah?” Huh. His momma always said a man didn’t always have to offer solutions. Still, Packer had no trouble with the ladies—or the guys. God. Ew. No thinking.
AJ came wandering up. “I don’t know, y’all. I think it’s more about letting ‘em know you’re gonna take care of stuff.”
“Well, I’m happy to take care of her.” He grinned at AJ, maybe a little tentatively. The man was just a higher level rider than him.
“They gotta know that. It’s scary for ‘em, once the babies start coming. If they’re solid first, then…” AJ shrugged. “It helps.”
“Hey, I’m all about that.” He was.
“Good deal.” AJ chewed on his bottom lip. “Hey. Y’all seen my youngest girl? I was ’sposed to be watching her and…”
“Wait. Your youngest is walking?” That was…someone. Beau? Man, where did all these cowboys come from?
“Well, not Andrea and Scott. Missy’s got them. I’m talking about Daisy.”
“We look, ’kay?” Sam smacked Packer on the shoulder, and they disappeared.
“Barn, huh?” Landon said. “Little girls like horses.”
“Yeah. Come on.” AJ’s littlest girl was what? Two? Oh, man.
He saw two dozen cowboys scatter, being quiet, careful. The ladies were all together in the house—he could hear laughter. The dogs were even working it, the bloodhounds’ heads down and sniffing. This could be bad. As they headed toward the barn, he heard Coke’s voice ringing out, some silly kid’s song or something.
Coke was solid as a rock. The kids loved him. Cotton had never spent too much time around the man, personally, but everyone knew they could count on him.
“Poppy?”
Everybody stopped.
“Daisy-girl?”
“Poppy! I hear you!”
“Well, come a’runnin’, Daisy-girl!” Coke sounded like there was nothing at all wrong, but a wave of one square hand sent the bassets sniffing toward the sound of Daisy’s voice.
One tiny hand appeared in the tall grasses, a baby doll clutched in it. “I coming!”
AJ made a raw sound, running along behind the dogs, Coke sauntering along behind as if nothing was wrong at all.
AJ scooped the baby girl right up, mumbling something that made her pat his cheeks. “Daddy. Daddy, Daddy! Poppy!”
“Daisy-girl!” Coke kissed the little one’s forehead, one hand on AJ’s back, steadying him. “The puppies were wondering where you were.”
“Playing hide-seek!”
“Someone has to be hunting you for that, baby.”
Cotton snorted, but coughed to cover it. Lord, he was never gonna survive having babies.
The cowboys started relaxing, the laughter and joking revving up again. By the time he headed over to get him a burger and another beer, Coke had the baby in his lap and Aje was sitting, one hand holding her little foot.
“This happen a lot?” Cotton asked Dillon, who was dishing up beans.
“It does. Kids.” Dillon grinned and shrugged. “Avoid the gumbo.”
“I know about that.” Beau’s gumbo was legendary. Like the stories of the giant catfish that lived under the bridge of Lake Ray Hubbard.
“Well, good. Coke loves it. So does Sammy.” Dillon glanced around before lowering his voice. “I ate some once. I didn’t have a solid BM for three days.”
“Shee-it. I gotta drive in the truck after this, man, take Emmy back to Austin to get her stuff.”
“Well, then, avoid it unless you want to be the victim of lava ass.”
“Lava ass.” Cotton chortled. He could see why Coke liked Dillon. Oh, the man still freaked him out a little bit, but he could take a hit and laugh later.
“Cotton! Man! We need someone for football. Wanna?” That was Hank.
Damn.
Wow.
“Sure!” Hell, yes, he wanted. He’d show off for his girl a little. Get revved up. It would be fun.
“Cool. C’mon!”
The women were coming out, taking over chairs, holding babies and kids’ hands and laughing.
It was a damned good night. He figured it would only get better. Hank hollered again, and he got his ass in gear. He’d get the air mattress going later.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Do you mind, Emmy?” Tracy looked at her, the baby boy—with the cutest little soft blue cowboy booties ever—and the bottle. Laurel had his twin sister.
“Nope. Not at all. You feed the others and I’ll feed him.”
Before she had another beer.
Emily had had one earlier, because watching the cowboys play football had been…
Wow.
And possibly ‘oh my fucking god’ with a side of ‘uhn’.
All of them—Tracy, Kathy, Missy, Laurel, Samantha and a bunch of girls she didn’t know had watched. Panted. Drooled. No wonder women married them.
Tracy handed her the bottle, and she popped it in his little open mouth. This had to be another reason. The babies all around her made her hormones surge and shit. It was amazing. She hadn’t ever been so happy—not even when she’d beaten Rick McGillis playing WitchHunter on Level twenty-five, and that was saying something.
Cotton glanced over at her, just one of those quick ‘are you watching me’ looks, and he stumbled. Ran right up Landon’s butt.
Laurel chuckled, soft enough that only Em could hear. “Damn, he loves you, huh?”
She nodded. “I hope so.”
“Has he popped the question, yet?”
She shook her head. “Has he talked to you? Is he going to?”
“Nah, honey. He hasn’t. I just know cowboys. They like getting married.”
Tracy nodded, winked. “And having babies.”
“And making babies,” Missy chimed in.
“And hauling babies around, even if they’re not their babies.” Laurel cackled, nodding over at Mr. Coke, who was covered in kids. They all watched, laughing as Coke pretended to be a monster or a lion or something.
“I think he’s going to ask you.” Laurel said, sobering up enough to nod at her.
“Yeah?” Engaged? Her? God. Still… She’d say yes.
“Yep.” Laurel sounded so sure. Em wasn’t gonna get her hopes up, though. Nope. Not one bit.
“We’ll see. It’s sorta up to him, isn’t it?” Cotton wasn’t the type to propose to.
“God, yes.
You do it, you’ll never hear the end of it.” Missy grinned. “Cowboy way.”
“I’m learning about that, huh? There are a lot of rules.”
All the girls nodded.
“Lots.” Samantha laughed. “This is where you learn the most, though. Some of these ladies are veterans.”
Missy snorted, rolled her eyes. “That would be me and Tracy, by the way. Although Kathy over there? She was Jack Mars’ wife. He was killed a year and a half ago.”
“Riding bulls?” Her eyes went over to the tall, super-skinny blonde standing by the house.
“Yeah.” They all sort of sighed collectively, but it was Missy who did the talking. “Broke his back, but it was the ribs pushing into his organs that done it. Tore his vest right off.”
“Jesus.” Her eyes went to Cotton, and she sighed. “That sucks.”
Of course, tattoo artists got hepatitis, bartenders got shot during robberies, lawyers had heart attacks. People died. It still sucked.
“We all dread it.” Missy nodded. “Kathy comes down, but her heart’s not in it. She stays by the kitchen, pretty much. Rose Cutrer’s another. She’s not here this year.”
“Rose hasn’t been at it near as long as Kath, though. And at least Rose is Beau’s friend. Damn near family. Kathy…” Tracy shrugged. “She’s getting better. She’s wearing makeup today.”
“She is.” Samantha nodded firmly. “She’s gonna make it.”
“Does she have kids?”
Missy nodded. “The little blonde girl holding Dillon’s hand. She’s very shy.”
“Poor baby.” Losing her father that young. God.
They all nodded together, sighed, then the baby in Em’s arms hiccupped and she took the burp cloth and started burping him.
She wasn’t sure what else to say, so she didn’t, and soon enough someone made a touchdown. That caused a lot of shouting, wherein they went back to watching.
Cotton was one of the skins, and his butt looked great in the jeans. Biteable great.
Then there were the collarbones.
And the belly.
And the way the sunlight caught the sweat.
The freckles just sort of added to the adorableness, not the hotness. That was all in the way the abs rippled. God.
“God, he does it for me.” Missy hummed softly, and Em glanced over at her. The woman’s eyes were fastened on AJ. It was kind of good to know she wasn’t the only one who had it bad. Not a bit. Missy was goofy over her man.
“Gramps! You coming to play?”
Coke looked up, chuckled, and Missy sighed. “Those boys.”
Cotton trotted over, grinning. “Wanna grab a beer, Emmy? The game’s fixing to break up. Beau’s twisted his knee up.”
“I. Yeah. Tracy?” She grinned gratefully as the baby was taken. “Did you win?”
“We did. Landon is fast as anything.” Cotton looked jazzed, green eyes just dancing.
He shrugged his shirt on, and she waved at the girls and wrapped her arm around his waist.
“So, have you been having fun, honey?” He kissed her temple, his lips warm and damp.
“I have. They’re nice. Mostly I was watching you.”
“Yeah?” He bumped hips with her. “I like that idea.”
“Well, baby, you make my mouth dry.”
“I do? It works both ways.” Cotton was just bouncing, grinning, leading her away from the crowd.
She snagged two beers, handing him one, then the other, to open.
He popped one and handed it back, grabbing her around the waist again as soon as he had a hand free. “Wanna go have our own tailgate party?”
“You know it, cowboy.” She went up on tiptoe, kissed his cheek. “Thanks for inviting me, baby.”
“Thanks for coming along. It’s been the best trip ever.”
“It has.” Em sighed. “It’s going to be hard, to go home.”
“Well, I been thinking on that. If Ace does offer you a job, you’ll be on the road a lot.”
“You think he will?” She had offered some ideas, some solutions. The job, though, would rock her socks. She thought she could pitch a game concept, too.
“Everyone seems to think so, and there’s no scuttlebutt about Ace unless he wants there to be.” Cotton shrugged. “Anyway, you’d be traveling with me, huh?”
“If you think you’d like that.”
“I would. So we could just move your stuff, and Jeff could find a new roommate.” He nodded before sipping his beer.
“Where would I put my things?” Oh, man, that was going to be a weird conversation with Jeff.
“My place!” He nodded again, as if it was all settled.
“I’m not sure your mom and sister would like that, Cotton.” In fact, she was about ten thousand percent sure that was a bad idea.
“Well…” He tilted his head. “Maybe my sister. Momma would be tickled. We could get our own place, though. We got acreage. We could even put up a little trailer house until we could build.”
“I… What if you decide you don’t want me there, though? I mean, it would disrupt your whole life.” And god knew, she’d stick out like a sore thumb.
“Tired of you?” Cotton turned, stopping her so fast she ran her nose into his chin. “Honey, I’m fixing to ask you to marry me.”
“Oh.” She searched his eyes. “For real?”
“For real.” He smiled, his lips quivering a little. “I meant to wait until I got me a ring and all, but I’ve never been one to deny the right moment.”
She reached up, touched his bottom lip. “No. No, baby, I don’t think you have, even when you saw a freak in a cowboy bar.”
“My freak.” He bent and kissed her finger, the smile fading a little. “I know you don’t have to answer now and all, but, I… Will you? Marry me?”
“Yeah.” The answer surprised her and didn’t, all at the same time. It was ridiculous.
Insane.
Silly.
And the only possible thing that was the truth.
“I love you, Cotton. Of course I will.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Cotton was about to shit himself.
Oh, he was so tickled. So tickled he wanted to dance, which he did, He grabbed Emmy and danced her around.
His girl laughed, her ponytail bobbing. “Whee!”
“Mmm.” Cotton kissed her hard, trying to tell her how he felt.
She melted against him, arms wrapped around his neck, and there was a huge smattering of applause. His Emmy didn’t step back, didn’t let the kiss fade at all.
Cotton whooped once they came up for air. “She said yes, y’all! I asked her to marry me, and she said yes!”
There was a second of silence, then all hell broke loose—cheering and hollering, beers popping open and girls squealing. Then there was clapping on his back and hugging Emmy and lots of cowboys kissing her, which made him growl.
Coke grinned at him, shook his head. “You need a good jeweler, son, you holler. There’s a guy we all use for that sorta stuff.”
“I’d be obliged, Coke.” That would be nice, if they could design something.
“Congratulations, son.” Coke grinned. “Now, go get your girl before someone steals her away.”
“Right.” He grumped a little at Packer, who was holding on to Emmy a little too much. Horndog. Jesus. “Come on, Emmy.”
Emmy smiled at him, reaching out to take his hand, after kissing Packer’s cheek.
Cotton hugged her close. “So, we can tell Jeff you’re moving out. huh?”
“You’re obsessed.” She winked, let him walk her away from the crowd. “I’m not sleeping with Jeff. He doesn’t want me like that, but I want to stay with you, yeah.”
“He does.” Cotton knew what he knew, but that was all he was gonna say. “And good. That’s the important part.”
“No, the important part is that you love me.” Emmy sounded very sure.
“I do.” He did. So much that it made his chest hurt. “I love you.�
��
“Thank God for that.” She smiled up at him, and he had to kiss her again—had to, because she said yes.
Cotton hugged her close, not sure at all what they were gonna do next. Well, he knew what he wanted to do, but it was still early and there were an awful lot of folks around.
“Cotton! Y’all! Beau says we can all take the airboats out. You wanna?” Landon winked, grinned over. Well, if they all went, him and Emmy could go…walking.
There was a hearty yes, but Cotton stayed quiet, pulling Emmy toward the truck. Slowly, so as not to draw attention.
Emmy moved with him, nice and easy.
They got there just about the time everyone cleared out, and Cotton sighed happily. “Alone at last.”
“Mmmhmm. You’re really going to marry me, are you?”
“I am.” God, he couldn’t wait. His palms were all sweaty.
“Good. Do you want kids?”
“Yeah.” Was that bad? She liked kids. He’d seen it.
“With me?” She looked honestly surprised, but he thought she was pleased. “I’ll get fat again.”
“Emmy. Baby. You were never fat.” He was going to beat Jeff to a pulp. Then the photographer dude.
She stepped closer. “It’s been an amazing week. I mean, I’ve been so happy.”
“Good.” What, he was supposed to be upset that she was feeling good? “Me, too. It’s been a blast.”
She nodded, grinned at him. “I feel like dancing or running around like an idiot or riding you into sheer exhaustion.”
“Yes. Okay.” That he could so do. Well, the last one would be his choice.
Her laugh made him grin. “Come here and kiss me again, baby.”
Oh, that was the best offer ever. He kissed her again, his hands on her waist, and he was thinking about babies. Wow. All of the sudden, that was the hottest, wildest kiss he’d ever had.
Cotton lifted her up against him, loving on her, sliding his fingers down to hold her ass. She was so soft, so pretty and sweet. She pressed against him, holding tight to his shoulders. Panting, Cotton pulled away for just a moment, staring into her eyes. Then he whooped and kissed her again. Her lips were swollen, hot, and so soft, and he could get in trouble here.