Page 41 of Breaking All The Rules
“She’s a little…” Tucker dropped his voice. “Older than you.”
For a man, Tucker managed the statement with great sensitivity. Austin knew a lot of guys who would have just come straight out with the word cougar. And that would have been a shame, because he’d have had to object to it quite strenuously, and his days for bar brawls were long over.
“I’m just being neighborly,” he repeated. “Introducing her around.”
“She’s okay now?” Arlo asked, growing serious. “She seemed a little…edgy the other day.”
“Yeah.” Austin sipped his beer. “She’s good. She was just having one of those days, you know.”
“Yeah. I know.” Arlo nodded the kind of nod that left Austin in little doubt he did know. Between losing his leg on the job years before and rescuing his sister from her abusive ex, Arlo had probably had a day or two himself.
“Don’t worry, boss, I’m looking out for her.”
Arlo snorted. “Well, you’ve already fucked that up when you let her go with Winona.”
Austin grinned. Arlo and Winona’s long-standing friction was the kind of extended foreplay that was both icky and amusing to witness.
Why they didn’t just get it on already, he had no idea.
“She looks like she’s having a good time,” Austin said, glancing over. Beatrice was laughing at something Marley was saying, and it made him so fucking happy.
“Pfft.” Arlo squinted at the group, then turned back to the bar. “They’re probably plotting some kind of Guinness World Record mass live erotica reading or an orgy at the lake.”
Drew almost choked on his mouthful of beer. “I see no problem with that.”
Austin’s phone buzzed in his back pocket, and he pulled it out. It was his father. “Load of hay arrived late,” Brian said without greeting or preamble. “Clay and Jill have gone into Denver overnight for date night. How far away are you? I could use a hand.”
This, Austin decided, was the downside of being unattached and living on a ranch—his time was expendable. Not that Austin minded. His father and brother had run the ranch for the years he was in Denver, and he didn’t begrudge Clay a date night. But if he and Bea had been on a date? Or doing…nasty things with cheese, he’d have minded a lot.
“I’ll be there in fifteen.” He drained the beer he’d been sitting on for an hour and stood. “Gotta go.”
“Everything okay?” Tucker asked.
“Yeah, fine. Load of hay just came in.” They’d been buying in feed the last few weeks to get the stock through until the pastures recovered from winter.
“What about your guest?” Arlo tipped his head in Bea’s direction.
Austin glanced over at the fun booth. “She looks like she’s in good hands.”
“Yup. Absolutely.” Drew nodded. “You go on, Junior, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of her. I’m great with women,” he said, barely keeping a straight face.
Austin knew from the shit-eating grin Drew was wearing that he was just yanking Austin’s chain, but the Junior made it rankle more than usual. He shot Drew his best resting cop face. “You even look at her wrong and I’ll throw your ass in jail.”
Drew hooted out a laugh, clapping Austin on the shoulder. “That’s abuse of power; you can’t do that.”
Austin pointed at Arlo. “He can.”
It was Arlo’s turn to grin. “And it would give me the greatest of pleasure.”
“Thanks, boss.”
Arlo grunted. “Go do hay now.”
Austin didn’t need to be told twice as he headed to Bea’s table, dodging bar customers. “Hi,” he said as he approached.
She looked up at him and smiled, her new red hair swishing like a shampoo commercial. Her eyes were sparkling, her cheeks pink. “Hey there, it’s Officer Cutie Patootie.”
Laughing, Austin said, “I don’t know how many piña coladas you’ve had, but you should definitely drink more.” She was clearly a little boozy, which was making her flirty, and Austin approved wholeheartedly.
