I agreed. “Yeah, she does.”
Cord came back with our drinks and a beer for himself. Some girl was giving him the eye, and I was positive he would be ditching us soon and disappearing with her.
“I’d say business is doing good.” I said with a wink toward my brother.
He raised his glass of beer to my Coke. I caught the girl shooting me a dirty look, so I focused in on her and raised my Coke to her, as well.
“Who’s that?” Cord asked.
“Some whore giving me the evil eye because she thinks I’m stealing her hot piece of ass.”
“Hey! Don’t talk about me like that. I have feelings, you know.”
Corina laughed. “Please. If you had seen her looking at you before you walked up to us, you’d have bypassed us and went straight to her.”
Cord pretended like he had been hit in the chest. “How could you, sweet sister-in-law! Are you saying I’m…cheap?”
Corina half shrugged. “If the boot fits.”
“Ha!” Cord dropped his head back and laughed, but then his face turned serious. “But you know what? Tripp told me someone who’s not from around here applied for a permit to sell alcohol. Tripp’s been hinting to me it’s an Irish Pub.”
I sat up. “No way! I love Irish pubs.”
Cord narrowed his eyes at me. “Seriously?”
“What? I do.”
“You didn’t think you would be the only bar on the square, did you, Cord? With the way the town is growing, I’m not surprised.”
“Well, I don’t like it one damn bit. We have a fine establishment here at Cord’s Place.”
“A little competition can’t hurt anyone,” I added.
He rolled his eyes and took a drink of beer.
“What else do you know about it?” I asked.
“I know I don’t like the owner.”
Laughing, I glanced to Corina. “How can you say that? You don’t even know the guy!”
“They’re opening up on the corner where the old pharmacy was.”
“Good location.”
Cord pointed to me. “Stop it, Waylynn.”
“I’m just saying, stop freaking out until you know more about the place.”
“Freaking out? I’m not freaking out!”
Corina attempted to hide her laughter. I—on the other hand—laughed right in my brother’s face.
“Oh sweet brother, you are freaking out. Big time!”
I looked up to see Tripp, Mitchell, and Steed all walking up. I couldn’t help a smile.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to the way women look at them,” Corina said.
“You have nothing to worry about, Corina. Look at how my brother can’t seem to take his gaze off of you. The man only has eyes for you.”
“And I him.”
Mitchell leaned down and kissed Corina.
“Gross. You nearly swallowed her whole, Mitchell.”
“Hello to you too, Waylynn.”
I slid down a seat so that Mitchell could sit between Cord and Corina.
“You not manning the bar?” Tripp asked.
“Just informing the girls here about the new bar coming to town.”
Steed leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead. “Hey, beautiful.”
“Hey, Steed.”
Tripp sighed. “Jesus, I should have never told you. If I had known you were going to act like a baby I’d have kept my mouth shut.”
I grinned and took another drink. “If it’s not an Irish pub, what is it?” I asked.
Tripp grinned. “All I know is they applied for a liquor license.”
“That’s what you’re bellyaching about, Cord?”
He looked away and must have caught sight of the floozy making eyes at him. He stood up. “It’s been real, but I see fun over there. I need something to take my mind off the competition, if you catch my drift.”
He turned and ran right into someone.
“Shit!” Cord yelled as the drink the girl was holding spilled all over him.
“I’m so sorry!”
“Did she say oil was so sorry?” Corina asked.
“I think she said I’m, but it sounded funny.” Mitchell replied.
It wasn’t hard to notice Cord was instantly taken with her. As he should be. She was drop-dead gorgeous, and I knew she wasn’t from Oak Springs.
“Wow. Do you see how green her eyes are?” Corina said, leaning in closer to say it in my ear.
I nodded.
“I didn’t mean to run into you,” she said.
Cord flashed her that famous Parker grin. “No worries, sweetheart.” He stepped around her and headed over to the bitch who’d been giving me dirty looks.
The green-eyed beauty watched Cord walk over to the girl and start putting the moves on her. Glancing back at us, she smiled.
“Have a nice one.”
I couldn’t help but smile. This girl wasn’t from Oak Springs, or even America. She was from Ireland.
“You too!” everyone said.
Once she walked off, I looked around the table. “She’s Irish!”
“What?” Mitchell and Tripp said as Steed busted out laughing.
“Oh, goodness. Cord just met his competition, and he didn’t even know it!” Corina said.
Steed glanced over to Cord. “Do we tell him?”
I laughed. “Hell, no. I say we keep letting him believe his new competition is a man.”
“How did he not catch the accent?” Tripp asked.