Cowboy Casanova - Lorelei James [31]
“Huh.” She seemed to be deep in thought. “I know someone who hung out at the Rawhide Bar. She’d never tell me why the place had such a pull on her. She was awful secretive. Like it was a private club or something.”
Somehow, Ben kept from choking on his beer. “What’s her name?”
“Annaliese.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “I know Annaliese.”
Her gaze sharpened. “How well?”
He knew the petite blonde loved to give head after being flogged until she came. “Well enough.”
“Ah. Evasion. I’m beginning to understand why your motto is gentlemen don’t kiss and tell. I’m also beginning to understand why you aren’t interested in dating anyone from around here.” Keely cocked her head. “Although Jessie told me you went out with her coworker Simone a couple of times.”
“I went out with her once. Why? She badmouthing me or something?”
“No. You knew within a single date she wasn’t your type?”
“Simone was…” Too abrasive. He preferred his women docile. Like Annaliese. Like Angel last night.
“Simone was…what?” Keely prompted.
“Suffering from baby fever. She’s lookin’ for a man to be her husband only so she can get knocked up and experience the joys of motherhood. That sets off my warning bells.”
“What? A woman who wants to settle down?”
“No. A woman who’s only interested in getting pregnant. I doubt she’d be focused on me or the marriage, since she’s already fixated on babies.”
“So you expect your woman to devote all her energy to you? Make you the center of her existence?” Keely demanded.
Ben shook his head. “But I watched my sister-in-law Libby’s single-minded focus on having a baby nearly destroy her marriage to Quinn. I hated watching my brother suffer. I hated seeing everything they loved about each other become unimportant. They were lucky and fixed their problems, but that’s a rarity because the divorce rate is so damn high. So I ain’t gonna sign on for something for the rest of my life knowing ahead of time it ain’t what I want.”
She started to retort when two raps preceded Quinn walking in. He cast a glance at the dogs snoring in front of the woodstove. “Did you drug my usual welcoming committee?”
“No. They spent the weekend in the barn, pacing, missing their cushy life inside the house, snoozing by the fire. You want a beer?”
“Sure.” Quinn placed a tinfoil-covered plate on the counter. “Libby made brownies.”
“Ooh. Yum.” Keely moved dishes around to make space.
Ben slipped behind the bar and popped the top on a bottle of Coors Light, nudging it toward his brother. “Before we get overrun with family, what’s up with Dad? I called him on the way home today and he said he couldn’t talk. He was figuring something out.” Ben winced. “Christ. Please tell me that ain’t married man code for him and Mom havin’ sex?”
Quinn laughed. “Nope. He was lookin’ at airline schedules.”
“Why? They goin’ to see Chase and Ava in California?”
“Nope. Gavin invited them to Phoenix.”
“Really? That’s…good. Isn’t it?”
“I hope so.”
His cousins streamed in. Kane and Kade. Cord and Colby. Colt and Cam. Brandt, Tell and Dalton. They all gave Keely a rash of shit before bellying up to the bar. He handed Colt a Coke. Then he set out the beer and popped the tops.
“Man, how do you remember everyone’s favorite beer?” Dalton asked.
“Must be the time he’s spending in the bar in Gillette,” Cord said. “Do you have an owner’s stake in it?”
I wish. “Nope. Cody and Trace own it. I help out when I can, but I mostly just hang out.”
“I don’t see why you don’t hang out in the bars around here,” Dalton said.
“Because the bars around here suck, dumbass.” Tell took a drink of his Coors.
“Maybe sometime me’n Tell will head that way since you like the place so much.”
Dalton had been saying that for a while, so Ben shrugged it off. “You should.”
“Besides, I’ll bet it ain’t your buddies that’re holding your interest. Got a woman stashed there?”
He looked at Kade, standing