here to watch me play against your boyfriend?”
“Um, I, uh…”
Shit, was Connor playing tonight? Embarrassed by his rejection last night, she hadn’t texted him at all today. Not that she needed to – they were just fake dating after all – but now she was regretting not confirming what his plans were for the weekend so she could act the part of the adoring girlfriend.
“She’s here to watch her boyfriend play. Whether you’re playing or not isn’t anything she cares about,” Addison said with a roll of her eyes.
Daniel reached out and ruffled Addison’s hair. She glared at him and yanked her head back. “Stop it, Daniel.”
He laughed teasingly. “You gonna tell Mom on me?”
“You’re such a butthead,” she said. “C’mon, Kira, I want to get a drink from the canteen before the game starts.”
“Can you give me and Daniel a minute?” Kira said.
Addison hesitated but then said, “Sure.” She walked off, giving them some privacy and Daniel grinned at Kira again.
“Hey, you’re not, um, mad at me, are you?” Kira asked.
“Nope. How could I ever be mad at you, doll?”
“I just – you left Thursday morning without saying goodbye.”
He grinned at her. “You seemed pretty busy with your new man.”
“Right,” she said.
“Good for you. I’m glad you found someone,” Daniel said.
“Thanks.” She fought to hide her bitter disappointment that he wasn’t the least bit jealous.
“So, is it serious?”
His tone was weirdly casual and the hope that had deflated inside of her puffed back to life.
She smiled at him. “He’s a good guy. I like him a lot.”
“Like him or love him?”
Before she could answer, his phone buzzed, and he pulled it from the pocket of his track pants. He glanced at the screen. “I gotta take this, doll. See you at the diamond.”
He walked away and she studied his ass. God, he had an amazing ass.
So does Connor. And the way he kisses is sexy as hell. Am I right?
She flushed and looked away from Daniel’s butt. She needed to be more careful. If anyone caught her ogling Daniel like she normally did, her fake relationship with Connor would be over before it really started.
She hurried to catch up to Addison, but Addie had stopped only a few feet away. She was staring at the motorcycle in front of her, studying the way the chrome gleamed in the early evening sunlight.
Kira joined her, but Addison continued to stare at the bike. One hand worried at the string of pearls around her neck as the other slowly reached to touch the soft leather of the seat. A big hand, a skull tattooed into the webbing between the thumb and forefinger, clamped around her wrist.
Addison gasped and stared wordlessly at the man standing beside her.
“No touching the bike, sweetheart,” he said.
He looked her up and down from her auburn coloured hair to her pink Converse sneakers, his gaze lingering on her breasts for a moment longer than appropriate, before he studied her now red face.
He dropped her wrist, then reached out and gave Kira’s ponytail a light tug. “Hey.”
“Hello, Preacher. How are you?”
“Good. Just finished watching your brother play. Heard you were dating a dentist.”
She sighed. Preacher was Gideon’s best friend, of course her brother had told him about Kira and Connor. “I am.”
“You let me know if he isn’t good to you. All right?”
“He’s a good guy,” she said.
Great. Not only did she have to worry about Gideon, now she had to worry about Preacher too.
Preacher had moved to their small town about a year after Gideon returned home. He and Gideon had met in New Cassel and while she had no idea how they had become friends, neither of them would talk about it, they were as close as she and Grace were.
The sheriff and the tattoo artist were the unlikeliest of friends, and their friendship had been the subject of town gossip for months.
Preacher didn’t talk much and although she’d spent plenty of time with him and Gideon, Kira still really didn’t have a clue about him other than that he was the only man in town bigger than her brother, he was covered in tattoos, he ran a successful tattoo and piercing shop, and he’d pretty much adopted her like she was his own kid sister. She didn’t even know his real name.
“Yeah, well, just give me the word if you need me to fuck him up.”
“Preacher, let’s go. I’m bored.” A bleach blonde, her slender body clad in skin tight jeans and a shirt that hugged