Playing With Fire (Tangled in Texas #2) - Alison Bliss Page 0,59

told you she wasn’t going to go along with this willingly.”

Emily frowned. “Don’t be such a stick in the mud, Anna. You’re ruining all our fun.”

Ruining their fun? I’d just spent the last hour being poked and prodded. Where was the fun in that?

Bobbie Jo started to say something else, but her cell phone rang. She held up one finger as she answered it. “Hey, what’s up?” She listened for a few seconds, then said, “How late are you going to be, Cowboy?”

Hearing his name, I looked over at her. He’d mentioned dropping by my house last night, but he never showed. That’s what I got for getting my hopes up.

“We’re at Anna’s getting ready. Do you just want to meet us there?” Bobbie Jo paused a beat, then raised one eyebrow. “Okay, hold on.” She passed her cell phone to me. “He wants to talk to you.”

Emily smirked at me. “Nothing going on, huh?”

All eyes in the room were on me as I lifted the phone to my ear. “Hello?”

“Howdy, darlin’. Whatcha wearin’?”

“Um, well, I’m wearing a dark blue tunic top with a pair of black leggings and—”

Emily quickly covered the phone with her hand and gawked at me. “Are you telling him what you’re actually wearing?” She removed her hand and keeled over with laughter.

“Oh…” I cringed. Damn it. That was obviously not what he had meant. God, I was such an idiot. “And nothing underneath,” I said hastily into the phone while blushing at Emily’s nod of approval and watching Bobbie Jo shake her head.

Cowboy chuckled. “Works for me.” There was a slight pause on his end of the line. “Sorry I didn’t make it to your place last night. Huge structure fire in a nearby county kept me busy the rest of the evening. I didn’t get back to the station until late last night.”

I didn’t respond, afraid the disappointment I’d felt over him not showing up would register in my voice. Then he would know that he was getting to me.

“I’m running late tonight because I had a fire call. Gas leak on the other side of town. Still have to go home and shower, but I’ll be there later. Save me a dance?”

“Um, sure.”

“Sounds good. See you then.”

I clicked off the phone and handed it back to Bobbie Jo. Both women in the room were gawking at me. “What?”

“Girl, you have it bad for that man,” Emily said, smiling.

“No, I don’t,” I protested. “We’re just friends, that’s all. He asked me to save him a dance.”

“Well, I didn’t see him asking to dance with me,” she said.

Bobbie Jo laughed. “That’s because the last time you danced with him, Jake threatened to lop off a certain part of Cowboy’s anatomy.”

“He did not,” Emily replied, rolling her eyes. “Besides, that was my fault. I was trying to make Jake jealous.”

“Worked, too.” Bobbie Jo grinned. “Only, it wasn’t you dancing with Cowboy that had Jake so pissed off. That was all Jeremy’s doing.”

Emily shrugged. “Speaking of that jerk, what’s the deal with you two, Bobbie Jo? I know he’s Austin’s dad, but you aren’t seeing him again, are you?”

“Hell, no!” She shook her head. “Jeremy may be Austin’s biological father, but he’s not exactly what I’d call daddy material. After dealing with him for the past year, I’m pretty sure I’m through with men altogether. The only guy I’m interested in is this little fella right here.” She dangled her keys from her fingertips, displaying a photo of Austin.

“But don’t you want more kids someday?” I asked.

Bobbie Jo shrugged. “You know, I always saw myself with at least two kids, a boy and a girl. But every time I even think about having another baby, my uterus cringes.”

I laughed at the mental image she left me with, and Emily joined in. “I’m sure you’ll change your mind when the right guy comes along. Besides, Austin would probably like to have a daddy one day…a real one.”

“He already has four of the best father figures I could ever ask for. I’m not worried about filling that role in his life. I doubt anyone could, anyway.”

“All right,” Emily said, taking a step back from me. “I’m done. Take a look and tell me what you think. But no making faces.”

If she had to warn me not to make a face, I could only imagine how bad I must look. Bobbie Jo was smiling, though, so maybe Emily had used clown makeup. I stood and walked over to the full-length