“She’s very cute,” I said.

“I’ll say,” Nate said nearly drooling the words, as if we were just drinking buddies ogling a girl instead of a couple that had come to the party together.

I glanced toward her again, and she smiled briefly my direction. A tall, utterly breathtaking man in a black cowboy hat walked into the room and stood next to Finley.

Denver poured another drink from the blender. “That’s Finley’s boyfriend, Rett.”

I could feel Nate’s enthusiasm deflate. I patted him on the shoulder. “Sorry about that.”

He shrugged my hand off. “The guy looks like a loser.”

A slightly harsh laugh shot from my mouth. “Damn, if that’s what a loser looks like, then I’ve got to stop hanging around winners.”

Denver lifted his glass in a toast to show his appreciation for my comment.

I could feel tension radiating off Nate. Our barely there relationship seemed to be coming to a natural end, and I was all right with that. I always knew Nate wasn’t right for me.

“Speaking of losers,” Nate snarled as he looked in the direction of the patio doors. Cole and Jude were stepping inside. They couldn’t have looked or seemed more opposite, and yet it was easy to see the brotherly connection was strong.

“I’ll bet that guy, Cole, doesn’t do anything all fucking day. Never had to work to make a living,” Nate continued.

“You’re wrong,” Denver said. “He’s my boss at Kingston construction.”

“I’m sure that’s because his daddy owns the damn company.” Nate’s unappealing smirk followed.

“Yeah, he does, but that’s not the fucking point I was making.” Denver spoke calmly, but it was easy to see he was pissed by Nate’s ignorant assumptions. “Cole is the boss, but he works right alongside his crew, even digging ditches, moving dirt and doing all the other grunt jobs. He’s a fair boss, and he works hard. So your opinion of him is completely wrong. Now, I think Captain Kirk needs to mingle with the other life forms.”

I winked at Denver as he walked past me to the front room. As my eyes swept around, Cole’s gaze caught hold of mine. We looked at each other for a long time.

“You know, this party sucks. There’s another one down in San Diego. Why don’t we blow this one off,” Nate suggested.

I finally pulled my attention away from Cole. “You go ahead. I think I’ll stick it out here for awhile.”

Nate scowled at me for a cold, angry moment and then stomped away without another word.

Chapter 7

Cole

The party had gone smoothly. Slowly, the guests peeled away with wilted costumes and full of tacos and beer. I was glad to be left with the people who I wanted to hang with most of all. I’d managed a little more alone time with Kensington, which, aside from seeing Finley and Rett and all their friends, turned out to be the highlight of the whole damn party. We’d even exchanged phone numbers. It had taken me awhile to notice that Nate had left without her, mostly because I hadn’t been looking for the guy.

Without being asked, Kensington had stayed to help with the clean up. She’d spent a lot of the evening talking to Finley and Eden. I’d shot Finley more than one warning look to not embarrass the hell out of me, but I knew that would only add to her quest to do exactly that. And if there was someone who knew every embarrassing and less than stellar moment in my life, it was my sister.

Kensington walked out of the kitchen. She had tired of the long train on her costume and Taylor had figured a way to sweep it up into a decent knot at the back of the dress. I hadn’t noticed I was holding my breath as I watched her cross the room to me until Jude elbowed me hard.

“Guess that’s the literal definition of breathtaking,” Jude said from the side of his mouth before walking away.

It had been a long night but Kensington still glittered like a true princess. “Thanks again for having me, Cole. I had a great time.”

“How are you getting home?” I asked.

“My pumpkin coach hightailed it back to the pumpkin patch. I thought I might just leave through your back gate and hike across the trail in my plexi-glass slippers.”

“No, there are all kinds of man-eating critters out there, coyotes and tarantulas and shit.”

“I’m not afraid of coyotes. Now, if I run into a man-eating tarantula, then that’s a whole different thing.”

“Kensington, really, let me give you a ride home.”

“No. You’ve still got guests.”

I waved my hand. “That’s just Rett and the guys. No biggie.”

Dray had left the coat on but it hung open. The alien head still bobbing through the hole in his shirt. He put his hand hard on my shoulder. “Thanks for the kind words, bro. Hey, we’re heading out to the foam pit. It was nice meeting you, Cinderella. And let me say, you’ve given me a whole new appreciation for fairy tales.” He walked outside to join the others.

“If you want to stick around and watch, I guarantee it will be entertaining,” I said. “Then I’ll give you a ride home.”

Finley was adjusting the leather holster slung around her hips as she stepped out of the kitchen. “Yes, Kensie, please stay, and I’ll finish telling you that story.”

My face shot toward Finley. “What story? Shit, Fin, did you tell her about that time when I screwed up in the sixth grade winter play?”

Finley’s face lit up underneath her black top hat. “Oh my gosh, I forgot that one. See, now you have to stay.” She headed outside.

“I guess I could stick around,” Kensington said. “And now that you’ve put the idea of man-eating tarantulas in my head, that trek across the ravine doesn’t sound so appealing. A ride home would be nice.”

Dray, who tended to hang onto an idea once he had one, wasn’t going to let the evening end without jumping into the foam pit. The women had parked themselves comfortably along the spectator benches adjacent to the ramp. Eden had carried out the pitcher of margaritas, and she sat next to Finley. Eden and Finley had been best friends ever since Dad had hired Eden as Finley’s companion when Finley’s anxiety disorder had made it impossible for her to leave the house. They’d quickly grown inseparable. Eden was amazing. She could easily be credited with saving Finley from the suffocating walls of her panic disorder, and Jude, from his one true enemy, himself.

Rodeo and Denver pulled the BMX bikes out of the shed. Rodeo rode one and carried another on his shoulder. Denver followed on his.

Dray moaned in disappointment. “Thought we were bringing out the big guns, the dirt bikes.”

“Since this is your first time at the foam pit and since you’ve had plenty of beer, you should probably start on two wheels with no motor,” I suggested. “Besides, I’d have to set the Bobcat up to pull a motorcycle out of the foam.”

“Shit. Now I’m going to have to pedal to launch myself.” Dray took off his coat and almost seemed surprised by the alien head prop sticking out of the hole in his shirt.

Nix took the bike off Rodeo’s arm and hopped on it. “Dray, are you gonna lose your rubbery friend there or is he jumping with you?”

Dray stroked the ugly rubber head like a pet rabbit. “I’ve been wanting rid of this thing for hours. However—” He lifted his shirt to reveal the layers of duct tape he’d used to tape on the alien.

Clutch was sitting on the stepladder leaning against the outside of the pit. His laughter boomed across the yard. “Is that fucking duct tape? You might just lose some skin.” He stood up and headed toward Dray. “Which means I need to get a better view.”

With some effort, Dray pulled his shirt off. He stared down at the tape pieces as if he was developing a plan of attack. An amused silence fell over the yard. From what I’d seen of Dray in the octagon, he was pretty immune to pain. But everyone had their limits. No matter how he went about removing the tape, it was going to hurt like hell. Dray picked at the edge of his tape mess like a little kid trying to work up courage to give the bandage a yank.