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“Okay.”

Michael tipped his hat to Daughtry. “Afternoon, boss.”

“Afternoon,” Daughtry said, curling his lip, the word coming out more like a growl than he intended it to.

If Michael noticed, he didn’t indicate it. Instead, he kept on walking out the door.

“Daughtry, is there a place in town where I can buy makeup?”

That killed theWhat the hell was that?that had been on his lips.

“I... don’t know.” He blinked. “I assume you can get some down at the general store. Maybe.”

He couldn’t rightly say if it would be any good, but he had no idea about that sort of thing.

“Maybe I’ll just find out if I can borrow something from Rue or Arizona.”

“Why?”

“Oh. Michael asked me on a date. We’re going out to Smokey’s tonight?”

She looked giddy. And he thought about what she had told him. She wanted to dance. She wanted to have a boyfriend that she could break up with, so that she could let him go for the greater good of her education.

Maybe she saw Michael as potentially being that boyfriend.

He didn’t like it. At all.

“Bix, how well do you know him?”

“As well as I know anybody.”

Well, that was bullshit. She lived with Daughtry. She knew him better than that. “I see. And what is your plan?”

She blinked. “To go on a date with him?”

“But to what end?”

Her face got pinker. “I don’t know, Daughtry. I hadn’t really thought it through. Maybe a kiss. Maybe sex.”

“Oh. Great. Are you just going to put a tie on the door of your bedroom?”

“I don’t know. What’s your plan if you ever bring a woman home?”

His blood felt too hot. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like any of it.

She’s Bix.

She’s like a stray dog.

Well, that was both bullshit and insulting bullshit all rolled into one.

“I don’t have to make a plan. It’s my house.”

“Oh. Really? You have to make a plan. Great. I guess maybe someday I’ll just walk in and find you having an amorous liaison on your living room floor.”

Her face had gone to scarlet.

“That won’t happen, because I’m not irresponsible like that.”