Prologue
DUKE
My father always told me the minute I saw the woman for me, I’d know. Just like that. From one second to the next, I’d be hers. From single to irrevocably taken. As Jed had been my best friend since kindergarten, he’d heard it all from him, too. And from that day forward, we always thought we’d find the same woman. The one for both of us.
That probably wasn’t what my dad had meant, but it had stuck.
As kids, we’d smile and nod, humoring him and his words. As teenagers, we’d roll our eyes when he continued to remind us. We’d seen lots of girls—we’d done some hardcore looking—and we had yet to want to keep any one of them. Fuck ‘em, definitely, but nothing more.
The older I got, the more his words sank in. He hadn’t been feeding me a line to keep me a virgin until my wedding night—that hadn’t worked on me, Jed or my brothers. The way my parents loved each other and showed it on a daily basis was proof of his statement. There was no question she ruled his world, that everything he did revolved around her happiness.
And now, at thirty-two, I wanted that for myself. I believed my dad. Didn’t eye roll any longer. Instead, I waited.
And waited.
Jed, too.
Until the one night that changed my life. They might call me Sir Loin of Beef, but when I saw her for the first time, stick a fork in me, I was done.
1
DUKE
The last thing I wanted to see after a long day on a construction site was a guy in nothing but a fucking banana hammock swinging his hips, getting his junk to swing around in a circle.
“What the fuck is going on here?” I asked, grabbing hold of Jed’s shoulder and spinning him around. I’d come in through the back door of Cassidy’s and found him behind the bar. Obviously, I’d missed the sign out front about male strippers. Since he owned the place, this was a serious surprise. My best friend didn’t go for… this any more than I did. Hadn’t told me a thing about it.
Jed grinned when he saw me, handing a margarita with salt to a woman. “Ladies’ night,” he yelled above the screaming women and shouts of ‘take it off!’ He flipped the lids off of two beer bottles, set them on the glossy wood bar in front of a lady and swapped them for a ten-dollar bill.
There were two bartenders working hard at refilling drinks, and they gave me a brief wave of hello. Jed was busy helping. I’d been here for ladies’ night before, but it had never been like this.
“What’s the deal with the dudes?” I yelled back, closing my eyes and shaking my head as the dancer turned around, bent at the waist and showed his bare ass. Except for the little strip of yellow Speedo fabric that rode up his crack, I could see it all… and so could all the ladies in the audience, much to their delight. I, on the other hand, now had to bleach my eyes. “Jesus,” I muttered, looking away. The bass of the music was set high, and I could feel the reverberations through the floor.
I had no problem with strippers, but I liked seeing ample tits and a plump pussy after a little show. Not this.
“Julia thought it would be good for business. She and her marketing skills at work.”
Based on the number of women packed into the bar and restaurant area, my sister had thought right. Probably every woman over the age of twenty-one in a thirty-mile radius of Raines was here. Based on the way they were waving dollar bills, I doubted the fire department could pry them out the door.
Speaking of the fire department, the music changed and a new dancer came onto the small stage in costume fire gear. I wondered what was going to stay on besides the plastic red hat on his head. Fortunately, the guy was no one I knew. Again, bleach.
Grabbing a bar rag, Chris wiped his hands and tossed it down.
“Why did Julia text me to show up?” I asked. “I don’t need to see this.” I pointed in the general direction of the strip tease. With one hand holding the crown of my cowboy hat against my thigh, I rubbed a hand over my eyes with the other. After dealing with a mind-changing client and a late roofer, I just wanted an ice-cold soda and a hot shower. Running my own construction and remodeling business was supposed to be less stressful than riding on the back of a bull. That was a total lie.
“You’re not here for the men, but for the women,” Julia said from behind me.
I turned on my booted heel at the sound of her voice. She angled her head to the side so I could kiss her cheek like I usually did, but instead, I put my palm to her forehead and gave her a gentle push. Being a foot shorter than me and a hundred pounds lighter, it was easy to mess with her. The dork.