Grace found them a booth away from the section that had two separate bachelor parties going on and they sat together talking. A waitress soon came over to take their order and Grace ordered a Bahama Mama for her and Kresley ordered a strawberry daiquiri. Kresley loved spending time with Grace away from the office, but her heart was just not into it tonight. How could she be missing Cade so much when they hadn’t known each other that long?
“Wanna go dance with me, babe?”, a deep voice asked their table. Kresley looked up to see a guy asking Grace to dance. He was good looking and didn’t seem creepy, but Kresley was always cautious when it came to men she didn’t know and she knew Grace was the same. To her surprise, Grace readily agreed and told Kresley she’d be back in a few minutes. Kresley followed her with her eyes, making sure to know where Grace was at all times. They always looked out for one another when in situations like this and today was no exception. You couldn’t be too careful.
“Come dance with me beautiful”, Kresley heard from beside her. She looked and a nice-looking guy was standing there, holding out his hand for a dance. Kresley immediately thought of Cade and shook her head no.
“Sorry, but I have a boyfriend. No dancing except with him”, she stated apologetically. The guy looked mad for a few moments, but then shrugged and took off, looking for his next target. It felt strange for Kresley to turn down a guy, knowing she had someone more important to think about. Strange, but so exhilarating at the same time. Twice more she was asked to dance while waiting on Grace to return and each time she turned them down, stating that she was involved with someone.
Their drinks came at the same time that Francie, Gertie and Birdie arrived at their booth. The three remaining sisters all piled in and the five women sat and talked, trying to out do each other with funny stories or jokes. Kresley had just finished her first daiquiri when she noticed the waitress coming back with another on a tray. “Compliments from someone at the other end of the bar”, stated the waitress. “The bartender told me that it was meant for the pretty red head in the pink dress at this booth.” All of the women looked around and saw that Kresley was the only one wearing pink.
Kresley blushed furiously at the attention and told the waitress thank you. She hoped a man didn’t come over wanting to talk or dance. She was getting tired of turning everyone down. It would be so much easier if Cade were here. She started taking sips of her new drink and it tasted as fruity and delicious as the last. But Kresley knew two drinks were her limit, so she would sip water after this one. She was halfway done with her drink when she felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck.
“Wait, seriously? I swear I’m not following you, Red”, Kresley heard the deep, gruff voice say, a voice that could only belong to Cade. Her man. He was here. She quickly looked up and saw him standing beside the booth, looking like sex on a stick. He was wearing dark denim jeans and a tight Henley shirt that hugged his massive biceps and pecs. His dark hair was combed back away from his face and his beard scruff hadn’t been shaved since that morning. His blue eyes were targeted only on her. She didn’t wait for him to say anything else, but stood up quickly and threw herself into his arms. He caught her to him and hugged her tight, giving her face and lips kisses. He was so much taller than anyone around him, with the exception of Boomer, who stood nearby, and Kresley felt so tiny next to him. She felt safe, protected, important.
“So funny that we wind up at the same place without knowing where the other was going”, Kresley mused as she hugged him. She took a step back and noticed the other men around them. She recognized Boomer and the other guys as firefighters at Station 5. “What time did y’all get here?”
“Just got here a few minutes ago. We were looking around for a table away from the bachelor parties and saw all of you. Hey everybody. It’s good to see you. Kisses only for my girl, though. Sorry”, Cade joked to the other women. Boomer laughed at that and waved hi to the group, winking at Grace. “You all know Boomer, but I’m not sure who knows who of these other guys. We just met earlier tonight, competing to see who could eat the biggest steak. FYI, Boomer won that challenge.”
Everyone laughed and Boomer slapped his flat, toned stomach with his large, open hand. “Still have room left.”
Cade went on with introductions. “The guy to my left is Boots and the guy to my right is Ash. Those are nicknames and not their actual names. They’ll have to clue you in on what those are.”
The man named Boots waved hi to the group of girls, looking intently towards Birdie for a moment, but stayed quiet, except to say that say his first name was actually Killian.
Ash was much more vocal, stating to the table, “My first name is Asher, so you see where Ash comes from. Be sure to let me know if the guys over at those bachelor parties give y’all any grief. They were real rowdy when we walked by earlier.” As he said this, Ash looked directly at Francie. When he caught her eye, he wiggled his eyebrows and winked. Francie just giggled and lowered her head, shyness taking over for the first time in her life.
Cade, sidetracked by the others for a few moments, soon swung all of his attention back to Kresley who had become a little quiet
