Page 5

Lex reached for the bottle, poured some more liquid confidence and took a drink before he boldly turned to face her. She was slowly turning the glass in her hand, looking thoughtful. He willed her to meet his eyes once again…and she did. Curious, but tentative.

He couldn’t look away. Something about her caught and held his attention, and as the conversations and people around him faded, and it was just the two of them, he wanted to know more. Needed to meet her and find out her name. His mouth edged up in a slow smile at the thought of getting to know her.

She turned in her seat, looking around and over her shoulder, as if she didn’t think he was smiling at her, but at someone else.

Yeah, you. I’m smiling at you, gorgeous.

“See something you like, Battle?” Jayson asked, and everyone snorted with amusement.

Shit. Was he being that obvious?

Schooling his features, he turned to face his friends and shrugged a nonchalant shoulder. “I was just…”

Just what exactly? He wasn’t about to admit he wanted to approach the beauty at the bar. If she shot him down in front of everyone, he’d never hear the end of it. His friends all believed he oozed confidence and possessed far too much swagger when it came to the opposite sex, and he’d done nothing to deter them from those opinions. In truth, he hadn’t felt either in a long time, and his ego was more than a little fragile.

“Just eye-fucking that brunette up at the bar,” Brand finished. “What did I tell you about harassing the customers?”

“Fuck off,” Lex retorted easily, feigning disinterest when all he wanted to do was walk over and talk to her. He took a long sip of his drink, debating how he could slip away without being noticed. Highly unlikely with this eagle-eyed crew.

“Aww, leave him alone,” Julia said, sliding her hand over Brand’s much larger one. Their fingers tangled, and Lex felt a pang of jealousy. Whoa, where did that come from? At the same time, he saw an image of his hand doing the exact same thing with the pretty brunette sitting at the bar. “I think you should go say hi, Lex.”

“Yeah, go tell her all about your Top Gun glory days,” Wes teased, and Lex flipped him off.

“You guys are being mean,” Ellie accused. “For all we know, that could be Lex’s soulmate sitting up there.”

“I was just kidding, Ellie-Bean.” Wes kissed her frown away. Once again, Lex saw himself doing the same. Pressing his lips against his mystery woman’s mouth. He gave his head a slight shake. “I would love to see Lex fall for a woman. Do you have any idea how entertaining that would be?”

“The only woman Battle here is interested in is a twenty-five-year-old who’s somewhere pushing a pull door,” Jayson teased.

Lex’s eyes narrowed. Bastards. His friends would absolutely get a huge kick out seeing him make a complete fool of himself.

“She does keep looking over here,” Essie commented and took a sip of her ice water. “I hope she’s not looking at you, mi amor.”

Xander smirked. “Well, if she is, we oughta give her something to see.” He cupped his wife’s face and kissed her for an indecently long amount of time. Deep and thorough.

“Break it up, you two.” Brand swallowed back the rest of his drink.

Xander pulled back, sporting a goofy grin on his handsome face. “Leave us alone, Ward. We’re newlyweds.”

“Speaking of which…” Brand lifted Julia’s left hand, and her engagement ring sparkled in the dim lighting. “I’m beginning to think you don’t want me, baby.” His rugged face turned sad.

“Don’t you dare think such a thing. You know I had my heart set on a spring wedding, but when my dad had to leave on some secret business and then…” Her gaze shifted to Lex, and they all knew what she left unsaid. And then his dad died. “Well, things just happened. And Essie wanted a June wedding, so we couldn’t steal their thunder.”

“Of course not.” Brand rolled his eyes. “Let’s just go to the courthouse.”

But Julia shook her head. “No. We want to celebrate with everyone we love. How do you feel about September?”

“Done.” A smile lit his face. “You hear that, everyone? Julia and I are finally getting married.”

“A fall wedding will be nice,” Ellie said.

“Then it’s settled,” Brand stated, voice firm. “I don’t care if it’s hailing and a tornado is ripping through town. We’re tying the knot in September. Just pick a day, baby, and we’ll send out the invites.”

Julia smiled at her over-zealous fiancé. The poor guy had been pushing for a wedding since the day he proposed. Lex knew his friend was past ready to lay permanent claim on the woman he adored.

“How about September tenth?” she suggested. “That was my mom’s birthday.”

“Perfect.” He kissed her hard, and everyone cheered.