An over-confident and clueless CJ volunteered to start the game. Tucking the bowl between his knees, he flexed his fingers. “Come to poppa, tiny safety pins.” He nodded to Lucy, the timekeeper, closed his eyes and buried both hands in the bowl. He kept his jaunty attitude through two failed attempts.
Then he plunged in for the critical third try. “Got one!” Bits of rice clung to his fingers, but no pin. “Sh…ucks! Shucky darn!”
Isabel laughed. “Shucky darn?”
He glanced at her. “When we play a game with ladies present, swearing is frowned upon.”
“Can the ladies swear if they want?”
“I asked that when I was a first timer,” Kate said. “You can, but you’ll feel like a potty mouth when they’re coming out with tarnation and dagnabbit.”
“I love dagnabbit.” Rafe grinned. “That’s your all-purpose swear word, right there.”
“You’d better polish it up and have it ready, bro.” CJ handed him the bowl. “I predict you’re gonna need it.”
“Naw. I’m good with my hands. Everybody says so.” Rafe positioned the bowl, nodded to Lucy and shoved his fingers into the rice. Three minutes later, he was pin-less. He glared at the bowl. “Dagnabbit!”
CJ chuckled and stood. “This activity calls for some musical embellishment.” He sauntered over to his guitar leaning against the picnic table. Propping his boot on the bench and balancing the guitar on his thigh, he launched into the chorus of Another One Bites the Dust.
“That works!” Rafe left his seat, grabbed a stick of kindling and joined CJ, pounding out the rhythm on the table.
CJ exuded raw energy as he belted out the lyrics. Isabel had experienced that level of intensity in him once before, when she’d asked for it… in bed. Her breath stalled.
They ended the chorus with a rock-star flourish and exchanged a high five. He glanced at her and winked, his smile sexy as hell. Her body clenched in response and she shivered.
“You won’t need that number for me, losers.” Nick puffed out his chest. “Better dust off We Are the Champions.” He took the bowl, settled it between his knees and rubbed his hands together. “Behold the power of friction!”
The power of friction didn’t help Nick. Laughing, he picked up a piece of kindling and joined CJ and Rafe for another chorus. Leo did no better. When Garrett lost, he went to the table, flipped the empty stewpot upside down and drummed on it during the increasingly raucous song.
By the time Matt joined the men at the table, the noise was deafening. Isabel stood to get a better view as the guys busted moves and yelled out the lyrics with no attempt to stay in tune.
Millie laughed. “They’ve officially lost it.”
“Brought to their knees by pins and rice.” Kate exchanged a grin with Henri.
“Sounds like they’re gonna sing it all the way through.” Henri glanced at Isabel. “They’re not always like this.”
“Yes, they are,” Lucy said. “Just not quite so ramped up. The game tipped them over the edge.”
“Obviously.” Isabel returned her attention to the guys as they ended the song, sent up a rowdy cheer and toasted each other with cider.
Nick handed CJ a bottle still dripping from sitting in the washtub of melting ice. He took it with a grin and laughed at something Matt said. Nick clapped him on the shoulder and Rafe playfully tugged his hat over his eyes.
Nudging it back in place, he looked beyond the circle of his brothers until his gaze met hers. He mouthed I love you and lifted the bottle in her direction. Then he gulped down most of the cider as sweat glistened on the tanned column of his throat.
“You look a little shell-shocked.”
Lucy’s voice pulled her out of her dazed focus on CJ. She turned and took a quick breath. “When you said CJ usually played his guitar on Friday nights, I thought he’d be doing ballads and stuff.”
“Sometimes he does. Depends on the mood. I guess tonight called for some craziness. You okay?”
“Sure.” Nope. But she’d needed to see this.
* * *
“Okay, what’s up?” CJ glanced at her as he drove back to her cabin.
“What do you mean?” Stupid question, but maybe she could delay the conversation.
“You were having a great time until you weren’t. I figure it had something to do with me playing Another One Bites the Dust.”
“I loved the entire episode. And your brothers are hysterical.”
“But you’ve been sad ever since.”
“What makes you say that? I’ve—”
“Yeah, you’ve been cheerful and smiling, talking with everyone like nothing’s wrong. Doesn’t fool me a bit. What’s the problem?”
She clenched her hands in her lap. She was better off not looking at him so she stared out the open window into the darkness. The crickets were loud tonight. “Same old problem. There’s no way this will work out for us.”
He groaned. “Jake was right.”
“About what?”
“He was worried that you’d see me with the gang and conclude I’m too deeply rooted to make the transition.”
“Because you are deeply rooted.”
“Of course I am. Henri and Charley were experts at tilling the soil. But I’m stronger than you give me credit for, Izzy. Let me prove it to—”
“I can’t take that chance. You have everything you love here. You’ll have none of that in—”
“I’ll have you. And Cleo Marie. That outweighs all the rest.”
“That’s never been tested. You have no basis—”
“I have tested it!”
“How?”
“In my head. I’ve mentally put myself in your apartment.”
“You’ve never seen it.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m in a generic apartment. No Henri, no Brotherhood, no Buckskin Ranch. Just you.” He pulled up in front of her cabin and shut off the motor. “Imagining the joy of sharing your space…” He unfastened his seatbelt and turned to her, his gaze intense. “I want that. I want it so bad I can taste it.”
Tension made her clumsy and she fumbled with her seatbelt. At last she unlatched it and faced him. Breathe, girl. “Living together would be exciting…for a while.”
“If you think I’ll get tired of you—”
“Not my point. You’ll start to miss the people you’re
