Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
“Wow, this place is packed,” Britt marveled.
They were at the Triple B. It was the largest country bar in town, and she’d never not seen it busy. The free swing and line dance lessons offered every Tuesday and Thursday night brought in business. The fun atmosphere and reasonable drink prices were what kept people coming back.
Funny thing was, when the bar had opened, it had originally been named “Boots, Buckles and Beer,” but no one called it that.
In fact, she’d bet most people had never even heard that name, which is why after their first year of business, the owners had swapped out the signage.
Probably the only time the moniker “Boots, Buckles and Beer” made an appearance now was on its employees’ paychecks.
The place was huge, with a single bar that almost ran the entire length of the back wall, and a dance floor that took up at least a third of the square footage. The other portion was filled with scattered tables, an electronic bull, pool tables, dart boards, and even a horseshoe pit with real dirt.
The size was why the radio station had sought out the venue.
The more people who were able to attend, the better chance they had of raising money for Haven House.
Emery and her silver tongue had convinced the owners to not only host the charity bachelor auction, but had talked them into donating part of the proceeds from drink sales to the cause, as well.
“How come when men get auctioned off, it’s for charity, but if you pay for a woman, it’s prostitution?” Skye grumbled, readjusting the scarf she’d used to tie back her purple locks.
Skye was a hairdresser and constantly changed her hair color whenever she’d get bored or wanted to try a new product.
But ever since she’d gone purple, she’d fallen in love with it and hadn’t dyed it any other color since.
Now she just changed her hairdo every other month, whereas Britt had had the same hairstyle since she was born: long, no bangs, usually blown out, then curled into glamour waves.
Once a Southern girl, always a Southern girl.
It used to reach down to her butt when she was in grade school.
Now it tapped out at her bra line in the back.
Laurel nearly choked on her soda. “Skye, that’s horrible!”
“She’s got a point,” Jake said, wrapping his arms around his fiancée from behind. “But the answer is because women are classier than men. Women buying a guy at an auction only expect a dinner out. Men expect sex.”
“Because they’re pigs,” Jessa supplied. Jake’s sister had come on her own since Chase had a conference call.
Britt used to think it was odd for him to have work calls at night until she realized that some of his clients were out of the country.
Chase was in cybersecurity, and damn good at what he did, so it wasn’t unusual for a company outside the United States to hire him.
And since they were paying him incredibly well, he accommodated their schedule.
“Basically,” Jake agreed. “Myself excluded, of course.”
Laurel looked up at him, since he was nearly a foot taller than her, and smiled. “Of course.”
“I don’t know…” Skye scanned the room. “I bet half of these women are expecting sex as dessert.”
“And they’ll probably get it,” Jake stated candidly. “Men are easy.”
“We’re talking about all men,” Laurel teased. “Not just you.”
“Oh, Princess. I’ll show you easy when we get home.”
Laurel gasped. “Jake!”
“Princess,” he cooed back.
“Eww,” Jessa chimed in. She hated hearing her brother talk about his sex life, and Britt couldn’t blame her. That’s the last thing she’d want to hear about any of her brothers too.
“Y’all are making assumptions,” Britt argued. This line of talk was making her uncomfortable. “Not every guy up for bid tonight would sleep with the person who buys him.”
Linc wouldn’t sleep with someone, would he?
Even the thought of him doing that made her queasy, which was stupid. Linc was a grown man; he could do what he wanted. He could do who he wanted. She wasn’t his keeper.
Just his wife.
She tried to take a gulp of her drink to calm her misguided nerves.
Instead, she got a watered down, half-swallow and a partially melted ice cube that smacked her in the nose.
Brushing the moisture off with the back of her hand, she set the glass down on a nearby table.
“I need another drink,” she announced before turning on her heel and heading for the bar.
Sneaking a peek at the stage where Emery was setting up a microphone, she didn’t see Linc anywhere. Maybe he was talking to one of his adoring fans… who might bid on him… that he might sleep with.
Okay, that wasn’t fair. She didn’t have any right to— “Oomph!”
All the wind was forced out of her lungs when she ran smack into a solid wall. Of muscle. The impact accidentally caused the owner of said muscle to spill his beer all over his shirt and her hand.
She looked at the mess she’d caused and winced. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!”
Instead of trying to keep the wet material away from his skin, the guy rubbed it against his chest. The move made the thin cotton material mold to every defined inch.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, his smoky gray gaze running down Britt’s body in a blatant appraisal.
“I’m going to get rid of the shirt when I get up there anyway.
” He lifted his chin toward the stage where Linc had finally joined Emery. “Get more bids that way.”
Linc looked up and caught her staring at him right when the guy she’d run into took her hand.
Startled that he’d moved closer without her realizing it, she tipped her head back to make eye contact.
The guy was six foot five, if he was an inch, with shoulders so wide, he probably needed to turn sideways to get through a door.
He murmured, “You’re wet,” in a voice so suggestive it bordered on obscene, right before he sucked her fingers into his mouth.
Britt choked out a strangled sound and snatched her hand back.
Without even flinching, the guy wiped his thumb across his plump lower lip, then licked off the moisture, all the while holding her shocked gaze captive by eyes the color of liquid metal. “I’ve been told I have that effect on women.”
“Everything okay here?” Linc wrapped his arm around Britt’s waist and pulled her in.
Wasn’t he just…?
She looked at the stage.
How did he get…?
Then back at Linc.
Did he teleport or something?
Even though he looked calm and collected, she could feel the tension in the way he held her. He wasn’t loosely resting his hand on her hip. No, his arm was practically wrapped all the way around her middle, hand splayed on her stomach, anchoring her to his side.
The guy who’d just initiated oral sex with her fingers speared his own into his shoulder length, unfairly gorgeous hair and raked it away from his perfectly chiseled features. “Everything’s golden.”
Instead of taking his word for it, Linc looked to Britt for confirmation.
“I’m good,” she assured him.
“Sorry, man.” Mr. Hot-and-he-knows-it eyed the two of them. “Didn’t know she was your girlfriend.”
Linc nailed the guy with a possessive glare Britt had never seen him use, but it was her visceral reaction to the look that threw her for a loop. How could one expression make her panties moist?
“Wife,” Linc corrected in a voice dipped in arsenic.
Her head snapped up so quickly, she’d probably feel it in her neck tomorrow. Did he just…?
“She’s my wife.”
Ohmigod! He did!
The guy didn’t seem phased in the least. “My bad. Didn’t see a ring.”
“Did you look?” Linc practically growled.
What the hell was that? Linc doesn’t growl.
The guy winked and shrugged a massive shoulder.
Was it only her, or did everyone think it was creepy when a guy they didn’t know winked at them?
“Like I said, my bad.” He winked again.
Yuck. Why is he winking so much?
Linc narrowed his eyes. “C’mon, Zan.” Moving his hand to the small of her back, he urged her forward. “Let’s get your hand washed off. God only knows what diseases you could pick up in a place like this.”
If the guy was offended by Linc’s obvious slam, he could have fooled her. All she heard was a deep, throaty laugh.
“Might want to put a ring on it while you’re at it, if you don’t want anyone else playing with your toys.”
Okay, that pissed her off. She spun around and growled, “I’m not a toy.” Apparently, Linc wasn’t the only one who could growl. “Who do you think you are?”
With a smug smile showcasing perfectly straight, white teeth, he briefly glanced at Linc before focusing his steely gaze back on her.
“Sweetheart, I’m your husband’s worst nightmare.
” He gave her another wink—yep, big time creepy— then sauntered into the crowd, women trailing behind him like he was the flipping pied piper.
“Ignore him.” Linc took her hand, wrapped his fingers around her unviolated ones, and led her toward the restrooms. “He’s always been an ass.”
“You know him?”
“Only by reputation.”
She was going to ask Linc to elaborate, until she realized... “You told him I’m your wife.”
“I did.”
“I thought we weren’t going to tell anyone.”
“Important,” he clarified. “No one important, which he’s not.”
“But we’re getting a divorce.”
“We haven’t yet,” he reminded her. “It doesn’t matter anyway. No one disrespects you like that on my watch.”
Linc had always been protective. That’s the kind of guy he was.
He looked out for people, whether he knew them or not.
He was the golden retriever rescue dog, but that confrontation was all guard dog rottweiler.
She’d never witnessed him being possessive like he’d been just now.
It was unexpected in an oh-my-God-that-was-hot-and-I-wish-he’d-bend-me-over-the-bar kind of way.
What the hell? Where did that come from?
She glanced up when he stopped in front of the ladies' room. The muscled jerk must have two inches on him—which was saying something since Linc was 6’3”—and an extra shirt size solely for his shoulders, but Linc filled out his button-down dress shirt and slacks in a way that had her body responding as if they weren’t just friends.
And when he’d called her his wife? She’d had to press her thighs together and force herself not to jump him right then and there.
That reaction confused the hell out of her, but not as much as when she went up on her toes and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before she thought to stop herself.
Linc looked as surprised as she felt.
“Thank you,” she said. “For looking out for me.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed on a swallow. “Always, Zan. There’ll never be a time when I won’t.”
Not one part of her didn’t believe he was telling the truth.
“What happened over there with Heath Valentine?” Skye asked once Britt had made it back. Skye and Jessa were the only ones waiting where she’d left them. Jake and Laurel had already moved to the table Emery had reserved for them down front.
“Who?”
“Heath Valentine. The Steelheads’ problem child,” Skye said, as if that explained everything.
The Steelheads were the local hockey team.
“God, Britt!” Skye chided. “I know you’re not big on sports, but don’t you ever watch the news?” She pointedly widened her eyes in response to Britt’s blank expression. “The guy Linc looked like he was going to kill for touching you.”
Skye was crazy. “Linc wasn’t going to kill anyone.”
But he did go all guard dog rottweiler.
“Heath Valentine.” Jessa turned her phone around to show Britt the Google search she’d completed. There he was, sporting a cocky smirk, decked out in enough protective gear to make him look like a Transformer. The headline read, “The Steelheads’ bad boy is getting called up to the NHL.”
“He’s going pro,” Skye said.
“I thought the Steelheads were a pro team,” Britt countered.
“They’re technically pro, yes, but they’re an ECHL affiliate for the Dallas Stars, so not NHL level pr—Ya know what? Never mind,” Skye told her. “Silly me for assuming that since your cousin plays in the NHL, you’d know this stuff.”
“Wells plays for the Denver Deep Freeze,” Britt countered defensively, “so I know The Freeze, not hockey.”
Skye threw up her hands. “The Deep Freeze is literally a hockey team.”
“And I know that,” Britt said with a self-impressed smile.
“Lord, give me patience with this one.”
Britt laughed. “I’ve seen a couple of his games, okay?
I even went to one in person with Dex when we drove up to Denver to visit Uncle Emmett and Aunt Josephine last year, and Wells got us tickets.
I don’t watch them religiously like he does, though.
He’s always been closer to Wells than I have.
They’re only ten months apart, so they were basically joined at the hip until Uncle Emmett got a job offer out of state when Dex was ten and Wells was nine.
I was only three, so I got to know him through family get-togethers. ”
“I forget you’re that much younger than Dex.”
“Well, I am. Honestly, unless The Freeze makes it to the playoffs, I really don’t watch hockey at all. And I definitely don’t follow any other teams.”
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. My point is?—”
“There’s a point?”
“Shut up,” Skye ordered. “The point is that Linc just risked losing all his teeth to a guy who deflects ninety-mile-an-hour hockey pucks for a living. For you.”
Britt turned toward the stage where Emery and Linc were studying something on a podium. When he glanced up and caught her watching, his eyes crinkled as the corners of his lips tugged up.
It was a simple grin, one she’d seen countless times before, but it had never made her pulse jump like a jackrabbit until now.
Choosing to ignore her reaction, she turned back to Skye. “You’re being dramatic.”
“And you’re being dense,” Skye countered.
“What does that mean?”
“I rest my case.”
Britt scowled, which made Skye laugh.
“The man wants you,” Skye said. “You don’t have to watch the news to confirm that.”
Linc wants me?
She aimed a questioning look at Jessa, who pursed her lips and shrugged.
Britt batted her eyelashes and played coy because it was safer than addressing what Skye had just said. “Heath Valentine?”
Skye sighed heavily. “Sure, we can go with that. He’s not who I meant, but whatever helps you sleep at night.”