“Ugh, Red is calling me again,” Tabitha groaned over the blare of the music.
Rand watched the bartender set three glasses of Red Bull and pour shots of some kind of dark liquor, then said, “Answer it and find out what he wants.”
Jamie giggled, already tipsy. “He is probably with Jake, and Jake wants to know where you are.”
Tabitha picked up the phone irritably. “What?”
Rand tried not to listen to the one-sided conversation, but she couldn’t stop her smile as Tabitha said, “It’s none of your damn business where we are. Is Jake with you? I don’t care if he’s her husband, he is a jackass.”
Jamie yelled, “Yeah, Jake the Jackass.”
Rand covered her mouth to hide her laugh. Drinking with men was different from drinking with women, that was for sure. So far she’d had three Jägerbombs, and the girls had managed to get her out on the floor of the club to dance with them. It had been awkward at first, but once the second drink had hit her, she just started to relax and have a good time.
Jamie paid for their drinks, and Tabitha said, “Look, Red, I’ve gotta go do my shot. Tell Jake if he wants to grovel for forgiveness, he can wait until we bring her home. Tomorrow!”
She hung up the phone and, with a grin, picked up her glass. “To us!”
Rand and Jamie raised their glasses, and they all chugged the dark drinks. Rand kind of liked the sweet taste, but the licorice aftertaste made her grimace and shake.
Jamie grabbed her hand and yelled, “Let’s dance again!”
Rand let Jamie and Tabitha drag her back onto the floor. She’d figured out that Jamie and Tabitha had no problem being all touchy-feely. They held hands, danced together, and had even managed to drag Rand in with them.
Rand didn’t feel awkward anymore. For the first time in weeks, she hadn’t been stuck in her own head or heart. She’d laughed and been stupid, and no one had cared.
A tall, skinny guy in painted-on jeans and a black western shirt said something to Tabitha, and she nodded. Before too long, they were glued together on the dance floor, Tabitha rolling her hips against his and her black tube top staying in place despite her quick moves.
Jamie leaned over and yelled, “Oh man, I think we’ve lost her!”
Rand’s eyes flicked to the two, and her eyes widened as Tabitha started kissing him. “Does she know him?”
Jamie shook her head. “When she drinks, she gets kinda crazy.”
Rand and Jamie danced together, Jamie’s multicolored hair like a neon sign in the flashing lights. Jamie swayed down low and back up, and Rand couldn’t understand how she moved like that in a skirt. The short jean mini they had tricked Rand into had black bike shorts under it, and she still felt naked.
A guy with spiky hair and a lip piercing came up behind Jamie and said something with a smile. Jamie looked to Rand. “He wants to dance. Will you be okay?”
Rand caught the guy saying something about joining them, but if it was going to turn out like Tabitha and Skinny Guy, she’d pass. “Thanks, I’m gonna go rest my feet.”
Jamie nodded and said she’d be there in a bit. Rand made her way over to an empty table and sat down, wishing she could kick off her boots and rub her feet. She settled for flexing the aching muscles and noticed someone sit down across from her.
A good-looking guy in his early thirties grinned at her. “Hey, beautiful, what’s your name?”
Rand had to fight the urge to tell the guy to go away. Something about him rubbed her wrong. “Rand.”
“Brick.” He leaned over the table and asked, “Can I get you a drink?”
Rand shook her head. “No, thanks, I just had one with my friends.”
He looked around the dance floor and asked, “So where are your girls?”
Rand looked for them too and found only Jamie dancing with Mr. Piercing. “There’s one.”
“So I guess that means you’re stuck with me.” His smile was smarmy and made her skin crawl.
Rand got up. “Actually, it means I get to go to the ladies’ room.”
She started to walk away, but he reached out to grab her arm. She opened her mouth to give him a great big piece of her mind, but he spun her to him, and she fell against him, unbalanced by the alcohol and motion.
She glared up at him once she got her bearings. “Let go of me.”
He held her tighter and said cheerfully, “I don’t think I will.”
She twisted in his arms, trying to get enough space to knee him in the balls, but he moved his body to the side, as if he could read her mind. “Now, now. Be nice.”
“Let go of me! I’m married.”
He laughed. “Oh yeah? Then where’s your hubby?”
“He’s on his way. He just got held up.”
He gave her a look that said he didn’t believe her. “Sure.”
He started moving her toward the darkened hallway with the green exit sign above it. They kept bumping into couple after couple, and no one was paying attention. Either they were too drunk or stupid to realize they weren’t just dancing.
She began struggling in earnest when he leaned down and breathed against her ear, “Let’s take a little walk, honey.”
Taking advantage of him stopping, she slammed her heel down on his insole and wanted to laugh when she realized the idiot was wearing sneakers instead of boots. He dropped at her feet with a howl, and she moved away from him, yelling, “You sick bastard, I should stomp your balls too!”
She felt a hand on her arm and turned to find a big, burly guy in a shirt that read Security frowning down at her.
* * *
Red’s cell phone chirped as they parked in front of the Jukebox. Tabitha had already texted Red an hour ago to let him know where they were, and Jake was anxious to get out and find Rand.
Red looked down at his phone and cursed. “We should probably hurry up. Apparently, Rand just assaulted someone.”
Jake grinned for the first time in a week. “That’s my girl.”
Jake and Red made it past the bouncer, and Jake searched the place for any sign of Rand. He found her smiling up at some no-neck security guard. Tabitha and Jamie stood behind her with two guys, and another security guard was holding some angry man by his arm.
Jake felt his whole body stiffen at the sight of the weasely bastard glaring at Rand and knew he’d been the man she’d assaulted. He started toward them and watched No-neck say something to the guard who held Weasel. Weasel looked like he was protesting as the guard dragged him out of the club, and Jake was tempted to go after him, but watching the way No-neck was eyeballing his wife set Jake’s teeth on edge. Weasel man would have to keep.
Jake pushed through the crowd with Red at his back. When Rand caught sight of him, her face brightened for half a second before it snapped into a scowl. “What are you doing here?”
No-neck’s look wasn’t friendly when he asked, “Who’s this guy?”
“I’m her husband,” Jake snarled.
No-neck turned to Rand and asked, “You gonna be okay?”
The smile she flashed No-neck was too friendly to suit Jake. “Thanks for your help, J.R.”
“Anytime, darlin’. You got a problem, you come see me.” No-neck shot Jake an unfriendly look as he passed, and Jake took a good look at his Rand in a skintight red halter top, short jean skirt, and cowboy boots and exploded, “What the hell are you wearing?”
Rand ignored him and smiled at Red. “Hey, Red! Would you like to dance with me?”
Jake caught Red’s grin, and Jake growled, “So help me, Red…”
Red shook his head. “Better not, Rand. Jake’s in a pretty foul mood.”
Rand shrugged and turned her back on them. Jake wasn’t about to let her get away that easy and followed her, grabbing her hand to stop her retreat. “Come on, Rand, you can dance with me.”
He pulled her against his chest, and she snapped, “I don’t want to dance with you.”
The feel of her curves molded against him so perfectly, he lost some of his irritation. He slipped his thigh between hers and said, “One dance won’t kill you.”
“No, but I might kill you!” Her eyes flashed with anger, but she didn’t fight him. He let go of her hand to wrap his arms around her waist and started moving with her to the music. He rubbed his thigh between her legs, and her lips parted.
He was as hard as a stump and aching like a sore tooth watching the way her eyes darkened every time his thigh rubbed against her. He felt her hands run up his arms to his shoulders, and he bent his head down to hers. She didn’t resist him when he kissed her. God, he’d missed her mouth and the way she kissed him back like he was the last drop in a pot of honey.
She yanked away from him and yelled, “Damn you, Jake! Damn you!”
She pushed through the crowd, and Jake yelled her name, taking off after her.
* * *
Rand ignored Jake’s confused shout and ran. She didn’t know where she was going, but she needed to get away from him. Had to get away.
Damn it, why did he have to kiss her? Why did he have to remind her of all the pain and confusion that came along with loving him?
She dashed at her eyes as she finally burst outside and started walking up the sidewalk. There was no way in hell she was going to give in again.
“Rand, will you stop running and listen to me?”
She kept walking, listening to his boots eating up the distance between them, and when he grabbed her arm, she spun in the gravel and shoved him. “What? What could you possibly have to say to make this any better?”
He felt his mouth open and close like a fish, and she threw her hands up with an “ARGH! What is the matter with you? You come out here after me, and then you just stand there like a dummy!”
A week of pent-up anger, frustration, and brokenhearted agony bubbled up and erupted. So he had nothing to say? Well, good thing she didn’t have that issue.
* * *
Rand kept screaming at him in the middle of the honky-tonk’s parking lot, and every time he thought he could break in and tell her how he felt, she revved up again.
He needed to think. He needed quiet. He needed to shut her the hell up.
He grabbed her and slammed his mouth down over hers, kissing her until she went limp and pliable, and he pulled back to look down into her dazed face. “I came out here to tell you…you make me crazy.”
She blinked at him. Several times.
Then she exploded again. “I make you crazy? I make you crazy? No, you make me crazy! You, with your mixed signals and commitment issues and—”
He kissed her again, stopping the overflow of words. When he thought he had her pliable enough, he pulled away and said, “Make me crazy. Make me nuts! I don’t care as long as you’re here. With me. Letting me love you for the rest of our lives, because I don’t want anyone else. If you want babies, I’ll give you a hundred and be there for each and every one.” He sucked in a deep breath before continuing, “You make me crazy, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I love you, Rand. I love your orneriness and your strength and your beauty and your sweetness and your pass—”
Abruptly, she threw herself against him, and he lost his balance, falling backward with her hitching a ride. His head and back hit the gravel hard, and he wheezed in pain, the world spinning.
“Jake? Jake, are you okay?”
He tried to focus on Rand’s voice, but there seemed to be two of her floating in front of him. “Ow. Why the hell did you jump me like that?” His voice sounded far away to him, but he caught a smile on the twin floating faces.
“I’m sorry. I was excited. I never thought you’d love me, not in a million years, especially after—”
“You decided it would be a good idea to give me a concussion?” he asked.
“No, but now it’s my turn again, and I’ve got a lot to say.”
He couldn’t wait to hear this one. “Yeah, what’s that?”
She gave him that smile, the one that was pure mischief and sweetness, the one he remembered her flashing at him when they were kids and she was about to throw him a curveball.
“I love you too. I love you so much that the thought of being without you for a minute breaks my heart. I don’t think I’ve gone more than an hour all week without crying my guts out, and I never want to feel that again. I want you with me always. You were my first hero, my first friend, my first kiss, and my first love. And I hope you’ll be the one I share the rest of my firsts with, because there is no one else I could ever love as much as I love you.”
He slipped his hands through her hair and said, “Well, damn. If it means that much to you…”
She started to open her mouth, but he sat up suddenly, ignoring the spinning world, and kissed her instead. He kissed her again and again, until the sound of booted feet crunched beside them and a dark shadow fell over them.
“Seriously? Are y’all going to do this the whole way home? Because, honestly, I don’t think I could stomach it.”
Red’s voice was filled with irritation, and Jake looked up at his best friend with a grin. “It was her fault. She knocked me down. I think I have a concussion, and she just kept taking advantage.”
His loving wife hit his arm. “I told you it was an accident. I just got excited. If I’d known what a big sissy you were and that my light weight would knock you down…”
“Light weight? You forget I’ve carried you several times, honey, and that is the last thing I’d call you.”
“Maybe you should hit the weights a bit more, because I bet Red could lift me. Red, you want to prove what a weakling my husband is?”
Red shook his head. “I’m really happy y’all have settled your issues, but you can’t get into my truck until you’re done with all this lovey-dovey shit.”
When Red left them, Jake kissed her again and said regretfully, “I guess we better go.”
Rand wrapped her arms around his shoulders again and teased, “But we can pick up the good parts again later?”
Jake teased her mouth. “With less clothing?”
“Mmm…and maybe you could tell me all the things you love about me.”
“It might be a short list.” His joke earned him a punch on the arm. “Ow, I just meant because I love everything about you.”
Her dark eyebrows rose, giving him her bullshit face.
“Okay, so there is the snoring, I’m not in love with the snoring.”
With a cry of outrage, she pulled his hair, and with a laugh, he pulled her back into him, coaxing her into a lull of submission until the blare of a truck horn startled them apart.
Rand stood and gave him her hand. “Let’s go home.”
He let her help him up, and when he slipped his arm around her waist, he didn’t say what he was thinking. He’d save it for the next time he screwed up.
Wherever you are is home to me.