Take the Reins (A Cowboy's Promise #2) - Megan Squires Page 0,31
shift in the bar’s atmosphere, moving things from day drinking to late night partying. An older man at the opposite end of the L-shaped bar slapped a wad of cash onto the counter and as he lumbered past, he murmured under a husky breath, “And that’s my cue.”
“Think he knows something we don’t?” Seth tipped his beer toward the man shouldering open the door and then brought his gaze back around to Josie.
“Oh, I think we know exactly what we’re in for tonight, Seth.”
His stomach bottomed out at that, like when his truck crested the hill by their property and then dipped low on the other side. Moisture filled his palms and he returned his beer to the bar so it didn’t slip from his hands. It was futile to ask what she meant because she had already bounded from her stool to maneuver her way toward the parquet dance floor in the center of the dingy establishment. Her boots tapped in time to the low thump of the bass, a metronome made from her heels as they alternated with the rhythm. One hand clapped against her thigh; her thumb on the other hooked in her front pocket, keeping her cast close to her middle as she rocked side to side. She swayed her body with the song, feeling each note in movements that had Seth peeling his gaze away so he didn’t slip into staring. He was more than a little tempted to do just that.
“You gonna join me, cowboy?”
Seth laughed, just one punctuated ha.
With the corner of her bottom lip sucked between her teeth, Josie flashed a coquettish grin. Seth was grateful he was still on his stool a good distance away because that act made him gulp and there was no question it was audible.
“This is what we came here for, right?” she hollered at him as the music swelled.
One beer wasn’t going to be enough, but Seth had a hunch Josie wouldn’t give him time to throw another back. Persistence penetrated every gaze she directed at him, like a beckoning siren call tempting him into foreign—possibly troubled—waters.
Just go through the motions, not through the feelings.
Yeah, right. That wasn’t going to happen. Seth was feeling all kinds of stuff that had no business existing in a perfectly platonic relationship. Nerves. Anticipation. An almost animalistic need to march over to Josie and claim her as his own by swooping her into his arms and dancing until their feet were numb and their breaths ragged.
What on God’s green earth was happening to him?
“If you’re not going to dance with her, I sure as hell would like to.” Seth had been so unaware of his surroundings—all that didn’t pertain to Josie, at least—that he didn’t even notice the man occupying the bar stool next to him until the burly cowboy uttered the challenge. The stranger sniffed loudly to hock up a ball of phlegm and spat into an empty plastic cup, then wiped his sloppy mouth with his sleeve in a downright barbaric way.
Seth abandoned his chair. Josie wasn’t up for grabs and she definitely wasn’t available to satisfy this guy’s wandering eye, let alone any other ideas he had floating around in that oversized head of his.
“I was beginning to think you were going to leave me out here all by myself.” Josie tossed a pile of hair over her shoulder, unblinking when she looked up at him. Something a little like insecurity shot through her big, caramel eyes but she kept dancing in place even as the music transitioned between songs.
“We came here to dance. So dance, we shall.”
“Shall?” She closed her eyes and shook her head, then snorted out a laugh through her nose. “Seriously, Seth. Sometimes you really confuse me. You’re this hot rancher who bakes cookies like it’s his job and sometimes acts like a dude from another century with your manners and goofy vernacular. I can’t figure you out. You’re an enigma.”
“Maybe I don’t fit the mold either.” He shrugged.
“Well, cheers to not fitting the mold.” She hoisted an imaginary glass into the air.
“We’ve got real drinks we can toast with.”
“Right, but that would mean going back to the bar to grab them and I’m pretty sure once you step off this dance floor, I’ll have an impossible time getting you back out here.” In a two-beat move, she grabbed his hand and yanked Seth close to press her body flush with his. “I’m not letting you get away.”