His dick sprang higher, as though hoping to glimpse the woman who was causing all the southern commotion. Fuck. His twenty-one-gun salute had just blown his ability to stand for the next ten minutes or so. Unless he wanted everyone in the room to know he was sporting the mother of all boners, he’d have to remain seated. He closed his eyes in distress and muttered curses of sexual frustration under his breath.
Before his control completely obliterated, he redirected his thoughts and called on a cock-taming trick he’d learned back in junior high school. He thought of football, basketball, soccer, anything with balls. Damn, that wasn’t working. He had balls. And right now they were in a goddamn uproar.
As his mind drifted back to the gorgeous woman beside him, his dick refused to cooperate. Step aside, Houdini, and make room for the amazing Kale Alexander and his gravity-defying jacket.
The groom, Jay, came up beside Laura. Kale adjusted his coat, thankful for the distraction. He cleared his throat and shook his head, hoping to lift the fog from his lust-filled mind.
“Time to toss the bouquet,” Jay said, wrapping his hands around Laura’s waist in a protective manner that had Laura’s eyes brimming with the love she felt for him.
Laura planted a warm kiss on Jay’s mouth and slid from her stool. Kale still found it hard to believe that “Wildman” Jay Cutler had finally settled down and gotten married. Although, in all honesty, he had to admit that he’d never seen his best friend happier.
As Kale watched the loving couple for a moment longer, he acknowledged the pang of envy that rushed over him and sat heavy in his heart. It left a hollow, empty feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Six months previous, a surprise phone call from his best friend, Jay, announcing his engagement and asking Kale to be his best man, had acted as a catalyst for Kale, causing him to pause and consider the path of his own future and his playboy lifestyle.
Now, being back in his hometown, around his family, old friends, and familiar surroundings, made him realize how truly discontented he was with living in Los Angeles. Years ago a university scholarship had sent him west with promises of happiness and financial success. He’d found only the latter. Becoming the head of the research and development wing at Castech Research Center, Iowa Research Center’s parent company, had given him the financial security he’d strived for, but his playboy, bachelor lifestyle no longer brought him happiness. In fact, it left him feeling restless and unfulfilled.
Kale’s gaze swept across the room, acknowledging all the familiar faces. Packing up and leaving everything behind to journey to the coast hadn’t been easy for him, but he knew he had no choice. His father’s death fifteen years before had left him shouldering the responsibility of his younger sisters. Since his mother’s secretarial job barely put food on the table, Kale knew the position in Los Angeles would afford him the funds needed to help take care of her household finances and put his two younger sisters through college.
Although Kale enjoyed his position at Castech, he’d come to understand Los Angeles wasn’t a place where he wanted to settle down for a lifetime and raise a family. And he definitely wanted a family. Now he was just waiting for the right woman to come along. One who stirred him physically and emotionally, and who shared the same values and beliefs. Up until a week ago, he had begun to question whether such a woman existed.
Laura slipped her arm around Erin’s shoulder. “Come on. Time for you to catch a bouquet.”
“No way,” Erin protested, shrugging away. She sliced one hand through the air, her voice elevating an octave. “There are plenty of single females here who’d die to catch it. I’m not one of them.” She planted her feet on the rung of her stool. A spirited fire burned in her dark brown eyes as a pink tinge colored her cheeks.
When Erin spotted the determined look in Laura’s eyes, she angled her chin in defiance. “Forget it, Laura—” Her words died away when Jay swiftly removed her drink from her hand.
Laura winked at Jay. “Thank you, honey.”
Giving her no reprieve, Laura hauled Erin from the stool and dragged her to the dance floor. Kale grinned and watched the action with mute fascination.
Where the hell was an arena full of mud when you needed it?
“What’s the matter with you?”
The sound of Jay’s voice broke his concentration. “What?” Kale twisted sideways to face his best friend and wiped the smirk from his mouth.
Furrowing his brow, Jay scrutinized Kale and signaled the bartender. “If your tongue hung any lower you’d be tripping on it. I’ve never seen you so distracted by a woman before.” Jay accepted two cold beers and handed one to Kale.
Kale rolled his tongue back into his dry mouth, grunted something incoherent, and drained half the bitter liquor in one gulp. Much better. Now if only he could soak one other body part in the amber elixir.
Ignoring the discomfort pulling at his ever-tightening groin, he took another long haul from the bottle. Fuck, he needed a cold shower. Either that or he was going to find himself in a tug-of-war with the palm twins when he got home. His palms. A home remedy guaranteed to relieve tension and reduce swelling.
“She’s a ball breaker, Kale,” Jay warned. “Not your type at all.”
Kale’s bottle hit the bar with a thud. “Yeah? You think so?”
Jay scoffed. “I know so,” he said with certainty. “I’ve seen her in action.”
Kale had his suspicions. There was something about her that led him to believe otherwise. He sensed a vulnerability about her that she took great pains to guard. Gut instinct told him the bad-girl act was just that. An act. A facade. One he suspected she was interested in exploring further. Damned if he, and only he, was going to be the one to
