“Not at all, but save me a dance, darlin’?”
“Sure!” She patted the dark-headed cowboy’s shirtfront. He had a nice, hard, muscular chest. “I sure will, cowboy.”
He tipped his hat and grinned then nodded at Buck. She giggled as Buck put his arm around her waist and escorted her over to the table he shared with Chad in the corner, where it was quieter. Her feet seemed to be directionally challenged, and she was grateful for Buck’s navigational skills. Chad grinned as he pulled out a tall chair for her, and she hugged him then gracefully climbed into it and plopped down.
Chad shared a look with Buck and then said, “Are you out having some fun tonight?”
“I am.” She punctuated each word with a nod of her head, and the room bobbed up and down in a visual echo before steadying again. That Señor Patrón is sneaky, sneaky! “I’m celebrating and seizing the day.”
“What are you celebrating?” Buck asked as he took the seat on the other side of her and leaned toward her with his chin in his palm. He took another sip of his beer.
“Well, I’m glad you asked, Buck. I’m celebrating life.”
Nodding at her half-finished margarita, Chad said, “Well, it looks like you’re well on your way. Besides what’s in your margarita glass? How else are you celebrating? Having a star named after yourself?” He pointed toward the ceiling. “Can you see it, Buck? That’s Jayney Sheridan up there. She twinkles so pretty!”
She wondered if he was as snockered as she was, but thought the idea had merit. “Nah. I’m just gonna have sex.” She guffawed and slapped her palm over her mouth.
Shit! They might turn you down if you don’t use some finesse on them, girl!
Jayne took another sip of her margarita as her cheeks filled up with heat at her admission.
“You are?” Chad blurted, and Jayne nearly giggled because he acted like Santa had just brought him a real, live Playboy centerfold model. A split second later, Chad grunted and clutched his leg beneath the table.
“Why do you want to do that, sweet cheeks?” Buck asked in a far-too-serious tone. He glanced at Chad, and Jayne wondered if she’d missed something.
Jayne took a deep breath and loved how good it felt to breathe deep and just…be. “What? Oh, because I want to lose my virginity. You want my virginity?” Oooh, I finally said it. “You know how hard it is to write e–er–rotica when you’re a virgin?”
Chad gave Buck an intense look and echoed her as she took another long sip of her margarita. “She writes erotica, Buck.”
The men seemed to have a nonverbal discussion and then both turned to her. Buck tilted his head as if confused. “Sweet cheeks, why do you want this when you and I know you’re stuck on Seth? We thought the two of you were an item. What happened?”
“We was. I mean…we are. I mean I thought we was…were.” Pointing to the glass, she giggled and said, “Señor Patrón fuddles up my tenses.” She took another sip of her margarita, draining the glass. “When I asked Seth about it, he said no.” She waved her hands in a dramatic, cutting motion to emphasize Seth’s denial of her reasonable request. “Will you say yes, Buck? Chad? You’re such nice guys.” Jayne patted both their shoulders. “Help a girl out. I just need to get it over with. It’s not that big a deal.”
If deflowering a virgin was all that great, Seth would’ve taken her up on the offer.
Buck seemed to shift uncomfortably in his chair. “No, Jayney. We appreciate the offer, but it wouldn’t be right. Why do you want to go and do that? You barely know us.”
“Nah, you’re my friends.” She flapped a hand at them. “And no strings attached. It’s just this little teeny, tiny inconvenience.” She tried to scratch her nose and missed, whapping herself in the cheek. Buck waved at the waitress and asked for a glass of water. “Besides, it’s embarrassing to be a thirty-eight-year-old virgin. I’m anachronistic, and it’s time I got chronologically corrected.” It seemed that Señor Patrón also enabled her to have a brilliant vocabulary.
Buck patted her shoulder gently. “You don’t want to do that, sweet cheeks.” His tone was that of a big brother. Chad’s sad face mirrored Buck’s tone, and they both seemed to know something she didn’t know.
She sat up and looked from one to the other of them and hoped that her pouty lip might change one of their minds. “You don’t wanna?”
They both shook their heads regretfully. The waitress brought the glass of water, and Buck coaxed her to drink all of it and chatted with her about how life was treating her. Jayne welcomed the distraction, but chatting up Buck and Chad wasn’t going to get her what she came for.