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He grinned. “Sometimes. But his wife Dana likes to play, and she kicks ass at the poker table. Besides, it’s a party that starts in the afternoon, not a poker night with the guys.”
“I didn’t know Dana played poker. But I guess it’s not something we talk about a lot at our girls’ night out.”
“Do you play?”
Damaris debated stringing him along but decided to tell the truth. “I have four brothers. What do you think?”
“That would be a yes.”
She nodded. “Since I was little.”
“Good, then maybe you can give Dana a run for her money.”
“It’s hard to believe we’ve never talked about poker before.”
“There are a lot of things we’ve never talked about before.” His voice had dropped, and he stared at her mouth.
She started to tingle, damn it. How did he do that with just a few words and a gleam in his eyes? “I’ll have to make sure someone will be around to take care of the horses. Although it’s not my weekend so I’m sure someone will be.” She led Daisy into the barn and tied her to a tie ring so she could brush her.
“If it’s not your weekend why do you have to make sure someone will be around? Shouldn’t whoever is working the weekend take care of that?”
He had her there. Why was she worried? “You’re right. So, I guess I’ll see you Saturday.” She started to turn away to pick up the brush, but Nate put a hand on her arm. “What?”
His mouth curved up and he slipped his arms around her waist, bent his head and kissed her. She tried to resist. Honest she did, but it was no use. Damn, the man really knew how to kiss. As kisses went, this one was just about perfect. He didn’t touch her anywhere but at her waist and with his mouth on hers, and he didn’t let up until she was tingling all over.
“There’s no one around,” she said, and dammit, her voice was husky.
Nate grinned. “Yeah, I know. I’ll see you Saturday,” he said and left.
“Oh, my God,” she said aloud. “He’s trying to seduce me. And it’s totally working.”
Chapter Eleven
Nate picked up Damaris Saturday afternoon. She wore a sleeveless pink T-shirt with the Walker Paints logo on it, a pair of white shorts, and sandals. He’d seen Damaris in shorts before so why couldn’t he peel his eyes away from her legs? Damn, she wasn’t that tall but her legs went on forever in those shorts.
“What’s wrong? I thought you said to wear shorts?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” He finally managed to tear his gaze away and start the car. “I think you’ll know a lot of the women and some of the men.” Hell, she’d probably dated half the men. That was the problem with living in a small town. Not only did everyone know each other, most of them had dated each other as well.
He tried not to think about kissing Damaris again, but it was pointless. In fact, ever since that day in his car he’d thought of very little else. The kiss in her barn hadn’t helped a bit to take his mind off Damaris, either. He’d thought about kissing her and more.
When they arrived, he rang the doorbell and a feminine voice came from the speaker. “Hello, Nate. Go on in.”
“Thanks, Minerva.”
“I guess he has one of those doorbells where you can see and talk to whoever is there. Who’s Minerva?”
“Levi has his own version of that doorbell. Minerva is his digital personal assistant.”
“His digital—Oh, that’s right. He’s an inventor, isn’t he?”
“Right. He started his fortune with a pipe fitting for oil wells that he dreamed up when he was working as a roughneck on an oil rig.”
“I haven’t met Levi. I know Dana from girls’ night out, but not well. I’ve never been to their house.”
“Come on, they’ll be in the game room and backyard.”
They followed the noise to a huge room with what seemed like a hundred people milling about. Several people called out a greeting to Nate, but he only waved and took her to meet Levi and see Dana first. They greeted her and introduced her to several others, including Levi’s brother and his wife, Asher and Jessie Chapman, who lived in Last Stand, not far down the road from Whiskey River. Asher’s service dog, Maggie, was also with them and Asher introduced her to Damaris while Nate greeted her, rubbing her head.
