men gawked at Sam.
“You can’t do that. It’s my turn! The ladies want to win me. Well, Daisy does. I’m pretty sure Suz is operating out of pity, but I’m not picky,” Cisco said.
“Sheesh,” Dennis said. “Have some pride, Frog.”
Cisco sighed. “Okay. Sam, you can take my place.”
The sheriff’s office went silent for a moment.
“Did you give up that easily when you were a SEAL?” Dennis demanded. “Just throw in the towel at the first sign of difficulty?”
“No.” Cisco looked around the cramped, dark room. A small lamp sat on Dennis’s desk. The jail was down the hall, but it was empty now. Dennis’s wife, Shirley, had put some potpourri on his desk under the lamp to make it a more “homey” place, she’d said, and it did smell sweet in here. He breathed deeply, trying to clear his head. “You’re right. I don’t have any pride where Suz is concerned. My brain twirls like a pinwheel when she’s around. And she won’t kiss me. Says I might be a sloppy kisser.”
His best friends thought that was a real thigh-slapper. They roared with laughter. He shrugged, undeterred.
“I’ve been thinking,” Cisco said when the snickers and guffaws died down, “maybe I don’t really belong in BC.”
They booed that raucously.
“You belong with us,” Sam said. “You, me, Squint, we’re a team. We were a team in Afghanistan and other places that sometimes felt like hellholes, and sometimes felt real good. But we’re a team, and we stick together.”
Cisco shook his head now that the words had traveled from his brain to his mouth and hit the atmosphere. “I’m pretty sure the BC rigmarole and fiddle-faddle is beyond me. I’m not cut out for these small-town shenanigans.”
“That’s right.” Squint nodded. “Because you’re from a small town in Virginia that grows her boys strapping and proud. No high jinks in those small towns, either.”
“It’s hard to explain.” It wasn’t too hard to explain—it had to do with what his friends had observed about Suz: she just wasn’t into him.
And he was totally into her.
If Daisy won the race, he was a gigged Frog. Two times won and for sure the Bridesmaids Creek charm would kick in. “I don’t think Suz is all that motivated to get in shape to win. She was heading off to eat some four-layer cake.”
The men didn’t laugh like he’d expected.
“Look,” Squint said, “Dennis is right. We’re going to have to bait your trap better. We’ll help you.”
“I said nothing like that,” Dennis said. “Suz is hometown-grown. She’s stubborn and independent, and no one’s going to make her do anything she doesn’t want to do.”
“Which is why,” Cisco said after a long, deliberate examination one more time of his options, “I’ve decided to head back to the rodeo circuit.”
“Yeah, right.” Sam laughed. “And leave sweet Suz to me?”
“You?” Cisco’s gaze jerked to Sam. “Since when has Suz been sweet to you?”
Sam grinned. “I didn’t say she had been. I’m saying that you and me setting up a side race—or side bet, whichever you prefer—would make things very interesting.”
“Side race?” Cisco was all ears to this.
“Sure. Let’s see which one of us can win Suz’s heart before the big race. Before you throw in the towel and go get killed by a bull.” Sam smiled, glancing around at his brothers before leaning forward to shake Cisco’s hand. “May the best man win. Which will be me—and I won’t even have to change my name to do it, Cisco, my friend.”
Sam was a trickster beyond compare, which was no shock to Cisco. He knew his buddy too well to fall completely for what seemed to be, at first glance, a spirited race between friends. Sam was without doubt trying to encourage him, rally the forces. This was no different than any of the tactics Sam had used in Afghanistan when rallying was needed. He was known for his good humor and slightly wild—okay, zanily wild—approach to life. Stateside, Sam flirted with all the ladies, usually long enough to make certain whatever buddy of his was in the line of fire walked right into said fire.
The problem was, though Cisco wouldn’t mention it aloud, Suz might have eyes for Handsome Sam, as the brothers-in-arms called him. She certainly didn’t seem all that warm to the newly nicknamed Cisco.
Heck, she hadn’t even liked his official nom de plume, which he’d been called by his serving brothers.
She’d said he might be a slobbery kisser. And followed that up with eww.
There was no point in taking a bet when a man could see that he was on the upside of the teeter-totter. You never knew when your teeter-tottering companion might decide to be funny and hop off, thereby leaving you with a crash landing.
“I don’t know. Let’s head over to The Wedding Diner and see what’s cooking.” Cisco got up to his friends’ hoots.
“Come on, Cisco,” Squint said, “take the bet.”
“Yeah, I’m not so sure,” Cisco hedged. “Suz said she drew short straw. And I think she’s pretty proud of her dog paddle, but hasn’t got the stroke part of swimming down yet.”
The sheriff wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. “We haven’t had so much fun in this town for years. I’m really glad Ty talked you boys into coming to BC.” He let out a few more guffaws at Cisco’s expense.
“If you’re so hot for Daisy,” Cisco said to Squint, “do something, I beg you.”
“Nope.” Squint shrugged. “I like to keep my lasso loose. She’ll figure it out eventually, and when she’s gotten nice and tired from running after the wrong Prince Charming, she’ll be more than happy to let me catch her.”
“I’ve never seen your lasso do anything but droop,” Cisco said, sticking the knife in just a little. “I’d like to hear a winning plan.”
“You don’t exactly sound like you’re a cornucopia of options,” Squint said.
“Which is why I’m off to eat cake. Nothing bucks a man up and clarifies his thinking like four-layer chocolate cake.” Cisco slapped his Stetson down on his head and hurried out of the jail to catch up to Suz, not caring that his buddies seemed to find his prompt exit uproarious.
They just didn’t understand the lengths to which he would go to avoid the sexy siren call of Daisy Donovan.
* * *
SUZ SAT IN the booth at The Wedding Diner, sipping hot honeyed tea in a delicate flowered china cup, waiting for Cisco to show up, as she hoped he would.
It
