Wild Girl (Wild Men Texas #3) - Melissa Belle Page 0,19

X-rated was it?” she asks breathlessly.

I rock back and forth where we’re sitting on her porch swing. “Let’s just say it’s a good thing those jail cell bars are made of steel. Because I was holding onto them pretty good while Logan…” The image of Logan naked and driving into me from behind while I gripped the bars with both hands is too much to repeat. I stop talking as my face heats.

“Wow. That sounds like quite a dream.” Ginny looks at me. “Are you gonna tell Logan about it?”

“What? Of course not!” I lightly swat at her knee. “Why would I do that?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. Just to clear the air before he…you know…marries somebody else?”

I glare at her. “No. I’m not going to tell him. I have to go, though. Skip’s coming by to complete his blackmailing of me.”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this for Logan.” Ginny gives me a hug. “You know it’s not your fault that Skip has all those photos of you two. I don’t know if I agree with your decision to protect Logan like this.”

“Join the crowd. Ben feels the same as you. He thinks Logan dug his own grave, blah, blah, blah.”

“Well, he did.” Ginny walks me to my SUV. “He roped himself into this engagement.”

“Like a steer?” I joke.

“Exactly. Logan went out to West Texas and got confused. He roped a rich girl from the city instead of a bull.”

I laugh.

“No, but seriously, you wouldn’t be selling him out by refusing to give Skip a story.”

I get into my SUV and wave good-bye to her. “I know. But the choice to do this interview was all mine, and I’m going to stand behind it.”

“Vivian’s handwriting is gorgeous.” Skip pores over Vivian’s diary at The Cowherd. “How beautifully she wrote.”

Ben groans. “Skip, you sound like a middle-aged woman. Otherwise known as our mother.”

I lean over the bar and glance at the page. “It is pretty.”

Mr. Bingley sits on the stool to Skip’s right and regards him with suspicious eyes.

Okay, perhaps I’m projecting a bit. But the cat has been here since Skip arrived and hasn’t napped or cleaned himself once. All he’s done is sit and stare at Skip, who unfortunately doesn’t seem to mind the scrutiny.

I’d already shown the torn diary page to Skip privately, and he eagerly took a picture of it with his phone. Truthfully, I felt relief when I revealed the page to him. I felt like I could finally come clean and just move on. The curse is Mama’s thing, not mine, no matter how much she’s tried to burden me with it.

From behind the bar, Riley cleans a beer glass and hands it over to Ben for inspection. “I like working back here with y’all. It’s very relaxing.”

I smile. “As long as you don’t have to look at the bottom line, it’s great.”

I turn to Skip. “Are you almost done here? Because it’s been like three hours.”

The front door dings as Logan, Gigi, and Blake step inside. Jon’s with them, and he has his camera pointed straight at the chosen couple. Logan keeps turning away to avoid the flash, but Gigi has a calm, serene smile on her face.

God, it’s like she’s completely immune.

“Quick,” I whisper to Skip. “Give me Vivian’s diary. Logan won’t understand, and he’ll start asking questions.”

Skip slides the diary over to me, and I hustle to put it back inside the glass just as Mr. Bingley freaks out from the camera lights and darts away.

Blake and Logan takes stools a few down from Skip.

“Hey, bartender.” Logan nods at me. “What’s up?”

I shrug. “Nothing. How are y’all?”

“Delightful.” Gigi shakes her hair loose from an elastic band she’d tied it back with and takes the stool on Logan’s free side.

Riley smiles at Logan. “I work here now, too.”

Logan looks more closely at Riley’s pale face and the dark circles under her eyes. “What are you doing behind the bar?”

“Wink cheated on me. And dumped me.”

Gigi gasps, but Logan’s expression doesn’t change.

“I don’t have to tell you that you deserve better,” he says. “But I will if you want me to.”

“Thanks.” Riley cleans another beer glass. “I guess I forgot.”

Blake shakes his head at her. “Never forget that, Riley. That guy was obviously an ass.”

Gigi pipes up that she’s trying to understand Darcy better. “Since our talk at the creek last night, Macey,” she says pointedly.

I let out a breath. “I didn’t mean anything rude by it, Gigi. I’m sorry if you took it