I averted my gaze from Marcus and turned toward Braden. His muscled arms flexing was almost as good as watching porn. I could totally get off to this. Damn. The protruding veins made it difficult not to look at him.
Braden moved his arm to take a swig off his bottle, and it finally broke my hypnotic lock on him. I glanced up and noticed that he’d been watching me.
I gave him a head bob.
What?
I gave him a fucking head bob. The only thing missing was the Jersey accent, and I would have been all Joey Tribbiani from friends. “How you doin’?” I wasn’t cool. I couldn’t pull that off. What was I saying? Even Joey Tribbiani couldn’t pull that off.
“So, Sergeant, what are you doing in here tonight?” Marcus continued talking as if I hadn’t just made a fool of myself. I owed the guy a home cooked meal. Thank you, Marcus.
“I’m a lieutenant now. But Braden is fine. I just got assigned back to the East District, so I thought I’d pop in.”
The two chatted about Braden being back in Geneva, and I sat there listening. God, even his neck was sexy.
Braden cut his attention to me. “How you doing, London? I heard about your dad. I’m sorry for your loss.”
I nodded my thanks and took another swig of my beer.
“Is it true that you’re going to stay and run the ranch?”
“Mm-hmm.” Voice, London, use your voice, I mentally reprimanded myself. “Yeah, my sisters and I. We each have our own skills anyway. I’ve always handled the books and the cattle ranch, Holland is a horse whisperer if there ever was one, and Paris is a whiz with organic stuff. She keeps our fields beautiful so the horses and cattle always have new grazing areas. Between the three of us, we might equal one Samuel Kelly.”
“I’m sure you’ll make your dad proud.”
Marcus smirked playfully as he stole glances at me, trying to tear me from my melancholy and tease me because he knew that I’d had a crush on Braden McManus since we were in sixth grade. I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat and shot Marcus a deadly glare. Braden looked at me, then nodded lightly. He had this presence about him, and it was overwhelming.
Or at least I was overwhelmed when he slid onto the barstool next to me and made himself comfortable as if he was going to stay a while. The air around me got thin, making it hard to breathe.
I studied his face a bit longer in the dim lighting of the club. He was absolutely one of those men who only got better looking with age. He was rugged with his steel jaw, which seemed to have been carved by an expert sculptor and gave him a calculated edginess. His hair was almost black and was messy in a way that could have been an accident or could have taken him fifteen minutes to get it to look like that. His mouth...oh, that mouth, it was curled into a friendly, inviting grin.
I’d bend over backward for my sisters, but Braden McManus, I’d bend over forward for.
Damn it, London, don’t go there.
The trance I was in was broken when I heard Marcus faking a cough. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw his mouth crack in to a mischievous grin. “So, Braden, how’s the family?” Marcus asked as he grabbed a cloth and wiped off the bar.
“Good, Mom and Dad still live in the same house. I think that my mom is enjoying being retired, but my dad is bored as hell.”
“How about your wife?” Marcus held up one finger. “Hold that thought.” Marcus turned to answer the phone, which left me with nothing to do but wonder who the hell Braden had married. Was he happy? I bet she was beautiful. He probably married some cheerleader type.
“Hey, I gotta run, that was my mom.” Marcus lifted the half-door that kept people from walking behind the bar.
“Is everything okay?” I leaned forward on my elbows, and my heart ached with worry for Marcus and his brother, Asher. Marcus’s mom was several years older than my dad had been, and something happening to her today of all days was almost too much.
“Yeah, she’s fine, but I have to run. Don’t worry about your tab; they’re on me. If you need anything else, just ask Jett.” He gestured toward the bartender at the other end of the bar before adding, “Braden, it was nice seeing you, and I hope you stop in again.”
“I’ll start coming by more.” Braden held out his hand, and the men shook before Marcus turned to me. “Listen to me, call your sisters or call my brother, hear me?”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll make sure she’s fine,” Braden assured him.
I rolled my eyes and then gave Marcus my most motherly stare. “I better not find out that you skipped out for some booty call. You know that it’s okay to have a dick with standards.”
I turned my gaze to Braden, who was beating his chest and making a loud choking noise. “You okay there?” I patted his back and felt his body heat radiate through my fingers.
“Yep, I might be the one who needs mouth-to-mouth. I just never imagined hearing London Kelly saying something like that. The girl I remember was much quieter.”
Marcus let out a loud snort. “Amazing how girls can fool you, huh?”
I shook my head, trying to clear away the thoughts of putting my mouth to Braden’s mouth, and decided that one more beer shouldn’t hurt, four wasn’t going to kill me, it would just help get rid of that thing...shit...what was it called? Oh yeah, a filter. “Jett, can you hand me another beer?”
Also by Danielle Norman
Meet Danielle
Before becoming a romance writer, Danielle was a body double for Heidi Klum and a backup singer for Adele. Now, she spends her days trying to play keep away from Theo James who won’t stop calling her and asking her out.
And all of this happens before she wake up and faces reality where in fact she is a 50 something mom with grown kids, she’s been married longer than Theo’s been alive, and she now get her kicks riding a Harley.
As far as her body, she thanks, Ben & Jerry’s for that as well as gravity. Plus she could never be Adele’s backup since she never stops saying the F-word long enough actually to sing.
Lets Socialize
Roadster (Iron Ladies Book 1) Page 19