Taming a Texas Rascal (Bad Boy Ranch #6) - Katie Lane Page 0,24

cowboy boots with inlaid pink hearts and stacked heels. She usually wore her mile-long hair in tight braids. But tonight she wore it loose and softly curled around her face and shoulders. Now that it was down, he could see the streaks of deep caramel that matched the starbursts surrounding her pupils. She winked one of those brown eyes at him as if they shared a secret.

They did. A big secret. A secret he couldn’t seem to forget.

Last night, he’d dreamed about her. Or maybe it hadn’t been a dream. Maybe his subconscious brain pulled up what his conscious brain couldn’t and just replayed it. Sawyer wished like hell he hadn’t been in on the X-rated rerun that included Maisy riding him with the same skill and passion as she rode broncs. Just the memory of the dream had his cock waking up beneath the fly of his zipper. Thankfully, the Double Diamond girls arrived to distract him.

“Hey there, Lincoln Hayes, Texas Ranger.” Dixie slipped onto Lincoln’s lap and gave him a kiss that had him grinning like a lovesick fool. “Once the shower was over, we decided to come bust in on the dude party.”

“We’re glad you did.” Cru tried to pull Penny onto his lap, but she swatted him away.

“I’m too big. I’m the size of the Goodyear Blimp.”

Cru pulled her onto his lap and gently rubbed her large stomach. “Now, sweetheart, you’re not even close to being as big as the blimp. A small hot-air balloon maybe. But the blimp—”

Penny laughed. “Watch it, or I’ll make you change all the poopy diapers.” She glanced at the stack of diaper boxes in the corner. “Looks like Devlin and I will have enough to last us until our kids are five.”

“I wouldn’t count on that.” Evie sat down on Logan’s lap. “You’ll go through at least that many in the first month.”

“Are you sure your calculations are right, Evie?” Devlin completely ignored Holden’s outstretched arm and hurried over to the stack of diapers. As a research scientist, she loved calculating things. Within seconds, she had a grand total. “That would mean that each baby would use twenty-eight diapers a day. That’s over a diaper an hour.”

“I’m sure Evie is exaggerating a little, honey.” Holden got up and pulled his pregnant wife into his arms and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “But I’m sure you’ll be able to get a more accurate number when our little one gets here. Right now, I’m thinking we should do some counting on the dance floor.”

Devlin looked confused. “Why would we want to count diapers on the dance floor, Holden?”

Holden laughed. “I was talking about dance steps, honey.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Logan glanced down at Evie. “What do you say? You want to dance with this bad boy?”

“Only if you let me lead.”

Logan winked at his wife. “You know I’ve never had a problem with that, sweetheart.”

“That makes two of us,” Lincoln said as he and Dixie got to their feet. “I’ve found letting women take the lead is the best way to go through life.”

“Damn right.” Dixie pulled her husband along behind her.

“Come on, cowgirl.” Cru helped Penny up. “Let’s show them that even when you’re the size of a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloon you can still dance circles around every person in Texas.”

Penny swatted Cru on the back as they followed Dixie and Lincoln. “You are treading on dangerous ground, cowboy.”

Val snuggled his wife a little closer on his lap. “What do you say, Reba? You think we can keep from crushing each other’s toes?”

“Not when we’re the worst dancers in Simple.” Reba got to her feet. “But I don’t mind if you don’t.”

Once they were gone, Sawyer was left with Maisy. Which wasn’t good. Not good at all.

“Don’t look so uncomfortable, rodeo bum. I don’t expect you to ask me to dance.” She slipped into the chair next to him. “You couldn’t keep up with me on the dance floor anyway.”

He wanted to keep up with her. Just not on the dance floor.

She picked up his beer and took a deep swallow before she lowered it and a huge smile broke out on her face. The gap between her teeth grabbed his attention and held it. Suddenly, he remembered slipping his tongue across that gap. Or had that just been part of his dream?

“I have a sponsor,” she said.

He pulled his mind out of the gutter and noticed the happiness sparkling in her eyes. “Cord Evans called