He’s my mentor. My inspiration. My friend.”
“I know that,” she said back.
“If you do, then you tell me. How was I supposed to say no when he called and asked me to take Mitch’s spot? How was I supposed to say no when it was an emergency? It wasn’t like they had time to find a replacement before Mitch had a heart attack.”
“I understood joining him,” she said, meeting my gaze. “What I didn’t understand was you not even calling for a week.”
“Grace, I—”
“Your chariot awaits, oh mighty king of the pianos!” Dalton’s voice rang out from the back door, and before I could say anything else, my cousin sauntered into the room.
He stopped on seeing Grace, whistling as he took off his cowboy hat and placed it over his heart. “Damn. No wonder you didn’t want to come to Mc’s,” he said, but that didn’t stop him from taking his swagger all the way over to Grace and sticking out his hand. “Dalton Abbott. Screw this jerkwad, the chariot is all yours, Miss…?”
I sighed. “Not now, Dalton.”
“Your name is Dalton?” Grace said with a smirk she tried and failed to hide.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. He pulled her hand up to his lips, kissing the back of it.
My entire body tightened up into a ball of anger. “Not. Now. Dalton.”
He took both of us in as he dropped her hand. “Yeah, I can sense there’s a lot of tension here, Cuz, but I’m under strict orders not to allow you to escape the celebration. And now that I’ve seen this fine lady, I’m afraid I have to save her from your wimpy L.A. artistic ass.”
Grace snorted.
Dalton grinned, turning on the famous Abbott smile every one of us males in the family had been blessed with. It was a smile I knew could make Grace smile back, and it did. The quirk of her lips directed at my cousin tore a hole in my withering heart.
“It’s Grace,” she told him.
“Gracie-Lou? In the flesh, really?” Dalton asked with mock surprise.
She rolled her eyes. “Please, not you, too. It’s just Grace.”
“I was commanded by Ty to bring Mayson and any people who were with him to McFlannigan’s. And while I’m pretty damn sure I could take Ty in a wrestling match, he won’t fight fair. Then, I’ll end up with a broken bone I can ill afford to break with rodeo season about to start.”
“Jesus Christ, your season just ended,” I said, stepping in between him and Grace. I looked down, and now that I was closer to her, the closest I’d been since she arrived, I could see the dark flecks that swam in her vivid blue eyes. My heart ached all over again because I’d seen those black flecks deepen with every passionate kiss I’d given her, and that was what I wanted to see again. Passion. Desire. Love. Not this anger and teasing flirtation with my damn cowboy cousin.
“Don’t believe a word Dalton says,” I told her.
She backed away from me, grabbed her computer, shoved it into her bag along with her phone, and then turned to Dalton and me who’d watched her every move. Watched as her skirt moved up when she bent over, watched as she flung the strap of her bag over her shoulder so it landed square in the middle of her breasts. My breath left my body. She was stunning. Sexy. Mine. She was mine, and I intended for her to make that claim back. That I was hers.
“Okay, cowboy, let’s go,” she said to Dalton.
He grinned.
“Grace,” I said, part plea and part warning, but she ignored me.
She headed toward the door, and Dalton followed.
“Grace,” I said again. She turned to look at me with anger still radiating from every part of her. “We haven’t finished our talk.”
“There really isn’t anything left to say, is there?” She turned to Dalton. “Please tell me that this McFlannigan’s has alcohol. Hard alcohol. Tequila or vodka. I’ll even take whiskey.”
“I do believe Mc’s has all of those and more.” He opened the door, and she walked out in front of him. Dalton turned back to me with a grin. “I think you better come along, Cuz. I’m damn sure it’ll be impossible for me to keep my hands off of that one, and it seems like you might want to castrate me if I don’t.”
I grabbed my phone, picked up my wallet and keys from the table by the door, and followed him out. No way in