Hang Tough(69)
“Liar,” she stage-whispered. “We live in the same house and I haven’t seen you in our neighborhood for . . . two days.”
“I had to go to Nebraska, remember?”
She licked the rim of her glass.
Fuck. That tongue. “You look gorgeous.”
“Riss taught me how to get dolled up cowgirl-style.”
He ran his knuckles down her cheek. “I can teach you to ride cowgirl-style.”
She laughed. “You are in rare form tonight.”
Riss whooped and stepped right between them. “Hey howdy, Tobin. Fancy meeting you here.”
He snorted.
“This doesn’t seem like your kind of place.”
“It’s not.”
“The ambience is lacking.” She cocked her head. “Are you here to listen to the band?”
Tobin didn’t look away from Jade. “Nope.”
“The drink specials end at nine, so maybe you oughta toddle on over there and get us a round.”
“Sure. You want another one of those?” He pointed at Jade’s glass.
“I’d love one.”
“Make it two,” Riss said. “And buy fuckface a beer. He looks annoyed to be here.”
Ike flashed his teeth at Riss. “Annoyance is my permanent expression around you.”
“I thought you were just constipated.”
“Be right back.” In the fifteen minutes it took for drink service, Tobin watched three different losers approach Jade. None of them stuck around, thank fuck.
Back at the table, when everyone had drinks in hand, Riss raised her glass for a toast. “To friends, lovers and foes; may they not be one person.”
With each sip of her margarita, Jade inched closer to him.
He tamped down his impatience over how long before they could get the hell out of here.
“So, Tobin, dude, I’m afraid I have to put you on the spot a little,” Riss said.
Fucking awesome. “About what?”
“Why you aren’t considering coming to work for Jackson Stock Contracting? When I heard you’ve sent out resumes to other places?”
He felt Jade’s curious gaze on him and Ike avoiding his eyes. “Might be awkward with Renner.”
“That’s it?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I’m looking to do something different. You guys are running on a tight margin and there’s no money to pay me. I’m sorta fond of not livin’ in a homeless shelter and panhandling.”
“But you do have another commodity, don’t you?” Riss pressed on.
“Not one that’ll pay me.”
“So the bulls . . . BB’s offspring. You own them?”
What was she getting at? “Yeah.”
“How many?”
“Four.”
“See? That’s four potential—”
“There’s the word that means nothin’. Potential,” he complained. “Zero plus potential? Still equals zero.”
“Semen collection is out?” Riss asked.
“Without a state-of-the-art facility and the ability to offer buyers something they can’t get anywhere else? Yes. Zero potential for profit. Huge potential for a huge building with . . . oh, an arena in it.”
Ike laughed and held his bottle up to touch Tobin’s.
Jade looked confused.
Tobin nudged her. “Fun stuff, huh?”
“I have no idea what you guys are talking about.”
“Funny. Neither does Riss,” Ike said.
Riss flipped him off. Then she flounced off and Ike followed her.
Tobin put his arm across the back of Jade’s chair. “I’m happy to see you out having fun.”
“Riss is hilarious. Vivien tricked me into going to the Beauty Barn and Riss rescued me.” She groaned. “I was so happy to escape that I left GG’s order there.”
His gaze turned sharp. “Tricked you? How?”
“I think she followed me to the grocery store. Then she claimed GG’s order was in or something. I called Riss before I left the grocery store so I had a backup plan. And good thing because Bernice had decided to treat me to a makeover—whether I liked it or not.”
Shit. That was not what he’d asked her to do.
“How did you know I was here?”
“Miz G told me when I went home to change. She said you were out havin’ a wild night with Riss.”
“And you thought you’d check up on me? Or GG sent you to check up on me?”
“I’m here of my own accord, Jade. I’m pretty sure you know that. But darlin’, if you need proof . . . well, pucker up. That seems to work best for us.”
Jade’s focus dropped to his mouth. “Maybe later.”
Oh, definitely later. “You don’t look like you’ve been knocking back shots.”