Boots and Roses: Ugly Stick Saloon, Book 5 Read online

  Cory tipped his head, his eyes narrowing, staring at Bunny for an agonizingly long moment before he nodded, his face brightening. “Fair enough. How’s Friday?”

  Bunny glanced around, searching for an excuse and coming up blank. “I guess Friday’s good.”

  “It’s settled then.” He gripped her hands. “This is your date, so we’ll make it special here in Temptation.”

  Jack’s brows rose. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Leave it to me. I have an idea.” Cory clapped his hands and grinned.

  Jack nodded. “Okay, and Friday night’s good. I’m off duty.”

  Cory continued, “We can iron out the details later.”

  Bunny’s gaze bounced from Cory to Jack and back to Cory, like a spectator at a tennis match. A tinge of irritation flared at the cavalier way they were talking around her, as if she didn’t have a say in how their date would go. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go pay out.” She slipped off the barstool and left the two men discussing the date the three of them would be going on.

  Her knees wobbled as she set off across the floor to pay for her winning bid on the two hottest men in the tri-county area. Holy rock stars! She didn’t have a clue what to do with two men. Never in her entire life had she even considered going out with two guys at once. Friday night, it would happen.

  Charli stood beside the cashier, her eyes wide, her smile growing. She glanced at Bunny. “The Ladies Aide made over ten grand on tonight’s auction. That’s the most they’ve ever made at one of these shindigs.” Charli slipped an arm around Bunny’s shoulder. “And the best part is that you have a date with the hottest duo on the program.”

  Bunny closed her eyes and reminded herself to breathe. Every time she thought about Cory and Jack, her lungs wouldn’t work and that sensitive place between her legs ached in anticipation of Friday night.

  She handed over Audrey’s check and wrote out another for six hundred and fifty dollars. As she passed it over to the cashier, she wondered yet again what the heck she was doing.

  Six hundred and fifty dollars would pay one month’s rent on the flower shop. Six hundred and fifty dollars would go a long way toward a nice fat shipment of fresh roses. Six hundred and fifty dollars would make a dent in the eight thousand she still owed Ray for his half of everything she’d built while he’d gone to school. Instead, six hundred and fifty dollars was paying for the most expensive date she’d ever been on.

  What did people do on dates these days? When she’d handed over her check, she turned to face the dance floor. Every woman in the place had taken to the wood parquet flooring and was gyrating to the tune of “It’s Raining Men.”

  “Come dance!” Mona waved at her from the edge of the throng.

  Still reeling from her spontaneous acquisition, Bunny smiled and shook her head, pointing toward the hallway that led to the bathrooms. She didn’t have to go, but the crowd, the noise and her insane bid had her heart beating too fast. She had to get away, to get out of the bar. As she pushed through the throng, she spied Cory and Jack ducking through the door behind the bar to the back of the saloon, presumably to change and possibly leave.

  She couldn’t do it. Those two men were way more than she could handle. Bunny turned to follow, determined to tell the guys never mind, the date was off. She didn’t want to go out with either one of them; she wasn’t ready. After only two short years since her divorce, Bunny wasn’t ready to wade through the swamps of dating.

  After bumping into two drunk women and dodging around several others, Bunny finally made it to the doorway leading backstage. She glanced around, looking for Greta Sue, the bouncer. When she spied the big woman across the floor near the exit, Bunny sighed. Too bad Greta wasn’t there to glare down at her and tell her the back rooms were off limits to customers. The bouncer’s interference would have saved Bunny from the additional embarrassment of a face-to-face meeting with the cowboy and the cop. She could have had Greta Sue give them a note, telling them she’d changed her mind. The money was paid. That was all that mattered. She didn’t have to follow through on the date.

  Bunny slipped through the doorway into the back behind the bar, passing the storeroom where extra boxes of booze were stacked.

  Audrey was inside, reaching for a box on an upper shelf. A man snagged her around the waist and pulled her back. “Jackson, stop!” The saloon owner giggled and turned into the man’s arms.

  Jackson shifted into view. Before Bunny could look away, Jackson’s hands slid up Audrey’s shirt.

  Bunny gasped softly, averted her eyes and rushed into the costume room.

  Jack and Cory stood with their backs toward the door.

  Cory had taken off the leather vest, boots and chaps and stood in nothing but the black G-string. He was holding his blue jeans in his hands. It wasn’t the jeans that captured Bunny’s attention and breath.

  It was the smooth tanned perfection of Cory’s ass.

  Jack was slipping his uniform shirt back on and buttoning. “I have to get back out there.”

  “Talk when you get home?”

  “I’ll be working late helping Audrey clean up, then I have to report into the station early in the morning.”

  “How’s coffee at the diner at around ten-thirty sound?” Cory stepped into his jeans and pulled them up over that tight set of glutes.

  “Good. I’ll double check the schedule and make sure no one penciled me in for the night shift on Friday.”

  “I’m just glad it was Bunny who got us.”

  “Me too. Some of those women out there were pretty intense.”

  “Downright scary.”

  “Practically rabid, if you ask me.” Jack chuckled. “Best part is, imagining all the sexy things we can do with Bunny.”

  Bunny clapped a hand to her lips to keep from gasping out loud. Sexy things? Like what?

  “You and me both. Good thing we can agree on that.” Cory laughed and turned toward Jack, his gaze tracking to Bunny. He smiled, his hands pausing at the bottom of his zipper. “We have company.”

  Jack spun, his eyes wide. When he spotted Bunny, he smiled. “Speak of the devil.”

  Heat climbed up Bunny’s neck into her cheeks. She felt like she’d been caught peeking into the boys’ locker room in high school.

  “Let me just say thanks again for bidding on us.” Jack finished the last button on his shirt and tucked the tails into his uniform trousers. “I didn’t know what to expect when I volunteered for this.”

  “You did great. Taking off your shirt.” Cory gave Jack a thumbs-up. “Nothing like showing a little skin to get the bidding up.”

  Bunny couldn’t agree more. The amount of skin Jack had been showing had sent her head into a whirl she had yet to fight her way out of. She struggled to remember what she’d come back there to tell them.

  Shouts rose from the ladies in the saloon.

  Jack glanced toward the sound and sighed. “I’d love to stay and give you a good sample of what to expect on our date, but duty calls.” He nodded to Cory. “See you tomorrow at the diner.”

  Cory nodded. “Nine.”

  “You’re on.” Jack gripped Bunny’s shoulders and kissed her soundly, then hurried back into the saloon.

  Which left Bunny alone with Cory, her lips burning from Jack’s kiss.

  “Did you want to get a head start on what it will be like to go out with the two of us?” Cory winked. He’d left his zipper down, the bulge of his black-clad package shining through his pre-washed, denim jeans. He closed the distance between himself and Bunny. “Why are you frowning? We won’t bite.” He waggled his brows. “Unless you want us to.”

  “That’s it. I’m not ready for the two of you to get into my panties.”

  Cory grinned. “So, you’ve been thinking about that too?”

  Her face heated and she wished she could take the part about the panties back. “It’s just a date. No funny business.”

  He raised his hand. “Promise…unless you want funny busine
ss.” He gripped her hand. “Funny business can be pretty great with Jack and me.”

  She broke free of his grip and turned her back on him. “I haven’t been on a date since high school. That’s almost ten years ago. Frankly, I came back here to call it off. I paid my bid, but I don’t want to go through with this date.”

  Strong arms slipped around her from behind and pulled her against him. “We promise to be gentle,” Cory whispered against her ear, his minty fresh breath stirring the loose tendrils against her cheek.

  Bunny inhaled and closed her eyes, pretending this rock-hard man was her equal in age, and she’d never been used and dumped by her worthless ex-husband. If everything was perfect in a perfect world, she might consider going out with Cory and maybe even making love to him.

  She inhaled, her senses stormed by the scent of his aftershave.

  “You’re a beautiful woman, Bunny. Let us show you a good time.”

  “I should go out with men my own age,” she whispered.

  “Is that the only thing that’s got your pretty panties in a wad?” Cory chuckled. “As a stripper, I’ve seen it all and matured much faster than anyone else my age.” He turned her in his arms and smiled down into her eyes. “Unlike my peers, I know what I want, and I’m not afraid to go after it.” He tipped her chin and bent until his lips hovered over hers. “And I want you.”

  Mesmerized by the clear Texas-sky blue of his eyes, Bunny couldn’t look away. Cory was so different from her ex. He was taller, stronger and sunny. Even with a serious expression on his face, the man made the room brighter.

  His hands tightened on her arms. “You’re so tense. How long has it been since you let loose and laughed?”

  She shrugged. Come to think of it, she’d been in a slump since she’d signed the divorce papers two years ago. Still…

  Cory shook his head. “Don’t second guess yourself. Just feel. Let me show you how to have fun again.” His lips descended and claimed hers in a tender kiss.

  For a moment Bunny thought she could handle it. She told herself the kiss was one exchanged by friends. Soft, easy, meaning nothing but mutual admiration.

  Cory increased the pressure on her mouth, his tongue darting out, urging her to open to his assault.

  Bunny’s body betrayed her. Heat flamed at her core, spreading like a wildfire throughout her body. One moment she was kissing a young man who was still in middle school when she’d gotten married. The next, she’d forgotten where she was, her total focus on what those lips were doing to her and where his hands were leading.

  Cory’s fingers traveled down her arms, skimming the curve of her waist and stopping to cup her ass. He lifted her, wrapping her legs around him. Her jean skirt inched up around her hips as he backed her against the nearest wall. He broke the kiss long enough to say, “You’re so very beautiful.” Then his mouth left a trail of kisses and tender nips along her jaw line and down the long column of her neck.

  Lost to reason, Bunny tipped her head to the side, allowing Cory more access to the curve at the base of her throat. She threaded her fingers through his hair, urging him closer. His member pressed into the V of her crotch, nudging her entrance through the thin silk of her panties.

  Bunny moaned as her pussy creamed. Being held like this, kissed and touched by a man with big, callused hands and broad, muscular shoulders was so much better than the cold, lifeless coaxing of her vibrator. This was what Audrey had been talking about—what Bunny had forgotten from the first forays into intense teenaged sex, when her hormones were raging and she couldn’t get enough.

  Cory balanced her with one hand and reached between them to peel her panties to the side and slide a finger along that sensitive nubbin of throbbing nerves.

  Bunny gasped. Her breath caught and held, waiting for the next stroke.

  He touched her again, this time slow and steady, sliding downward to the opening of her pussy, slick with fresh juices.

  “Oh, sweet Jesus, you’re wet.” He kissed her, his tongue thrusting past her teeth, sliding alongside hers.

  Past coherent thought, Bunny squirmed against the finger flicking her clit, wanting more…much more. She wiggled to get closer to the hardness of his cock straining against the slick black fabric of his G-string. Why, oh why was he still wearing clothes?

  Footsteps sounded behind them. The steady click of boot heels hitting wood flooring moved closer, piercing the mind-numbing things Cory was doing to Bunny’s body.

  As she surfaced for air, Bunny opened her eyes and stared across the costume room, straight into Audrey Anderson’s smiling face.

  Bunny braced her hands on Cory’s shoulders. “Stop.”

  Cory looked up, his blue eyes glazed with passion. “Stop?”

  Audrey raised her hands. “Don’t stop on my account.” She chuckled. “I was enjoying the show. It’s not often I get to watch.”

  Cory shook his head, joining Audrey’s chuckle with one of his own. “Anyone ever tell you that you have lousy timing?” He let Bunny’s legs slide down his until her feet touched the ground.

  Her cheeks flaming, Bunny straightened her skirt and pulled her shirt and bra down over her breasts. When had they inched upward? Mortified and unable to face Audrey, she muttered something about needing to get up to work the next morning and hit the back exit door.

  Not until she stood in the rear parking lot, inhaling the fresh Texas night air, did she stop to think.

  Holy hell.

  She was in a lot of trouble if that’s what Cory expected to happen on date night. And then it would be two men. Bunny had never considered anything quite so naughty.

  Holy hell.

  Chapter Three

  Mona showed up at the door to Sweet Temptations Flower Shop as soon as Bunny flipped the Closed sign to Open. She pushed through the door, the bell overhead ringing loudly.

  Bunny pressed fingers to her temples and moaned, wishing she’d removed the bell long ago. On most days, she was happy Mona’s Shear Safari Hair Salon was right next door to her flower shop.

  Not today.

  “Nice dress.” Mona followed Bunny to the room in the rear of the shop. “Is it new?”

  “This ol’ thing.” Bunny shook her head. “Ran out of clean jeans.” She hadn’t really, but something about what happened the night before made her a little more selective of her clothing today. In case someone—or two someones—happened to stop in.

  “Spill, girlfriend. Tell me all,” Mona demanded.

  Bunny turned away, her cheeks heating. “Nothing to tell.”

  “Oh, no you don’t.” Mona jumped in front of her. “What made you take such a wild step last night? I was under the impression you’d given up on men.” She glanced at her fingers. “What’s it been, two years since jerk-face Ray walked out on you for an airheaded dental assistant?”

  “Two years yesterday.” Bunny heaved a sigh. “And I don’t know what came over me last night. Must have been the second beer.” Heck, she hadn’t even had two sips out of the second mug before she’d flipped her paddle and bought two incredibly sexy men. Or at least a date with them. Maybe it had something to do with the anniversary of her divorce. Or maybe it was her ex’s upcoming wedding or the rut she’d dug herself into that had sent her flying over the edge. Whatever it was, the deed was done. She’d bought the date.

  She slumped onto the stool at her worktable. “I’m already regretting it,” she lied. After what happened with Cory in the costume room, Bunny couldn’t stop thinking about what might happen Friday night with both Cory and Jack. For the first time in months, she looked forward to something besides getting up and going to work. Bunny lifted a rose and twirled it between her fingers. Ever since last night, she hadn’t been able to sit still. Her entire body was twitchy, needy, wanting something, and not sure she could wait until Friday to get it.

  Mona pried the long stem from her fingers and laid it on the counter. “It’s about time you had a little romance in your life.”

  Bunny snorted. “
What are you talking about? I’m surrounded by romance.” She waved her hand at the flower arrangements set in neat little groups, ready to be delivered that day.

  “You’re surrounded by other people’s romances. You deserve a little romance of your own.” Mona frowned. “When was the last time someone sent you flowers or paid you a compliment?”

  Compliments? Her cheeks heated as she recalled Jack’s and Cory’s words last night. She had no intention of telling Mona. Not now. Not when this was all so new and she didn’t know where it was going.

  Mona snapped her fingers in front of Bunny’s face. “Earth to Bunny. Well?”

  Bunny blinked, coming back to the flower shop and Mona. “Well what?”

  “When was the last time anyone gave you flowers?” Mona demanded.

  “Flowers?” Bunny’s brows furrowed. “Not since my wedding, and I paid for those myself.”

  Mona propped her fists on her hips. “Wow, your love life is worse than mine.”

  Bunny jumped on her comment, hoping for a reprieve on airing her own pathetic shortcomings in the love department. “Speaking of which, when was the last time someone sent you flowers? And when was the last time you went on a date? Seems to me you were the one all turned off by guys. What was it you said…?” Bunny tapped her chin. “Oh, yeah. You were considering being a lesbian.”

  Mona’s lips pressed together. “And if I recall, you turned me down.” She shrugged. “I can’t even get a date with a girl.”

  The tension leached out of Bunny’s shoulders, and she hugged Mona. “We really are pathetic, you know.”

  “At least you have a date.” Mona hugged her. “Don’t back out on it. Even if it doesn’t come to anything, at least you’re getting out there. Maybe this date will encourage you to be open to others. The added bonus is that I get to live vicariously through you.”

  “That might prove disappointing.” Bunny lifted the rose again and handed it to Mona. “When are you going to get back in the saddle?”