His eyes went wide, but Teddy arched a brow and shrugged while trying to hide her smile. “If I have to, you have to. You’re the groom, baby. Stand still for your closeup.”
He laughed when I presented him with a plastic ball and chain, holding it up in the palms of my hand and lowering my head. “For you, dear sir. If you’d be so kind as to attach this to your ankle, we can get back to the festivities.”
Teddy took the ball and chain from me, dropping to her haunches to fasten it around his leg before he could even think about protesting. Her eyes sparkled with laughter as she looked up at him, and he relented and stood still for her to do her thing as he stared back down at her.
Satisfied that they were going to play along, I took out my own phone and got a few snaps of them together like this, then left them to it and strode toward the bar. One of the bartenders noticed me immediately and smiled conspiratorially.
“Is it time?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yes, please. For everyone.”
He inclined his head, then started lining up enough shot glasses for everyone. The sheer amount of them grabbed people’s attention, and soon they were cheering as they watched him get theatrical with the bottle of tequila I’d purchased for this round of shots.
He waved to a few of the guys and enlisted their help in handing them out. I set off on my last task before I could start relaxing and having fun as well. Digging into the backpack again, I went over to the jukebox and placed several rolls of quarters on top of it. After queuing up a few of Teddy’s favorite party songs, I smiled and took the empty backpack back to the booth where I’d left my purse.
A shot of tequila was suddenly hovering in front of my face. I followed the strong arm behind the hand holding it there and wasn’t surprised to find myself looking into Colt’s smirking face. “What happened to taking it easy tonight? I thought you said we were supposed to behave, but I saw you. I know you’re behind these being handed out.”
I giggled much too girlishly as I took it from him. “Just because we can’t let them get completely hammered doesn’t mean we have to abstain from drinking it all. It’s their party and we owe it to them to make sure they can let loose a little.”
Scott’s voice suddenly boomed above the music, and when I looked over, I saw him standing on top of one the tables—with his ball and chain securely attached—and holding his tequila in his hand raised high into the air.
“Here’s to the first one,” he shouted with a big goofy grin on his face. “Thanks for being here, guys. It means a lot to us that you’ve all come out here to help us celebrate.”
We all raised our shots before tossing them back, and I looked back at Colt. It was difficult for me not to get distracted by how sexy he looked tonight now that I’d seen him. When he’d first arrived back in Rockdale, he’d been all about the button-down shirts and light jackets, but now he seemed to be favoring his old, more familiar style of jeans and some kind of dark colored T-shirt. Tonight’s was a navy blue, and he looked damn good in it.
He hadn’t been around earlier, but I was sure I’d felt it when he’d walked in. I’d known, even without seeing him arrive, that he was there. That was why I hadn’t been surprised when I’d realized it was him handing over my tequila. It was like the air around me shifted when he was near, like some unnamed force inside me was connected to whatever was inside of him and it alerted every nerve in my body to his presence.
Suddenly looking back at me too, his eyes caught on mine and he smiled. “Can I buy you a drink? Everyone seems to be settling in quite nicely. They’ve even started to dance. I’m pretty sure you can relax now.”
Forcing myself to stop staring at that warm smile, I looked around and realized he was right. The music seemed to be doing its job. Teddy and Scott were leading the charge on the makeshift dance floor.
When I’d swept my gaze across the room, I turned back to him and nodded. “Sure. I’d love that.”
He held out his hand, but I didn’t take it, giving a pointed look at Teddy instead. “We can’t, Colt.”
Something flickered in his eyes before he stuck his hand in his pocket and shrugged. “Yeah. Okay. Come on. Let’s go. What’s your poison these days?”
“Mostly wine,” I said. “I think I’ll go with beer tonight, though.”
“Beer, huh?” He chuckled as we made our way to the bar. “I wouldn’t have taken you for a beer drinker.”
“I watch ballgames, too,” I teased, walking next to him and wishing I could’ve been holding that hand he’d offered. “Sometimes, I even lie on the couch in my underwear, drinking my beer and watching the game.”
There was a flash of heat in his gaze when he glanced at me as we reached the counter. He cocked an eyebrow at me, looking me up and down so slowly that I felt my skin prickling with the intensity of it.
“Is that right?” he asked softly. “Your underwear? I’d like to see that. When’s the next game?”
My cheeks suddenly felt hot. “I, uh, I don’t know. Wait, are you serious?”
Aside from that random kiss and a few lingering glances, I hadn’t gotten any indication from him that he would still like to see me in my underwear, but the look he was giving me told a whole different story.
“About what?” he asked. “That I’d like to see you drinking beer on the couch in your underwear? Because if so, then yes. I’m deadly serious. I don’t really need to know when the next game is, though. I could just come over later and we could pretend. Someone has to be playing some kind of sport somewhere in the world that we could pretend we’re going to be watching.”
The bartender saved me from having to come up with an answer, and after we got our beers and Colt paid, he turned back to me. “So, what do you say? Want to pretend to watch a game together later? If you want, I could strip down too.”
I didn’t know what he saw on my face, but he laughed and nudged my elbow with his own as he turned toward the dance floor. “Relax, Emma. I was joking. Well, I mean, not really, but if you’re not into it, I’m not about to come peep at you through your window just to see it happening.”
“Oh, I, uh, I know. Sorry. I guess I was just a little shocked. You’ve always had a way of saying the scandalous things without making them sound as scandalous as they are. It’s just been a while since I last heard someone suggest something like that, I guess.”