Page 58 of The Brave and the Reckless (Bravetown #1)

“Thank you, Renee.” I wasn’t sure what I’d done to deserve this place or these people. “What about Noah?”

“I don’t have an understudy for him yet. I might suspend him over Christmas. We’ll see.” She sighed. “I’ll have a firm talk with him as well and then we’ll have to get the two of you booked in for that HR meeting. You’re really making sure Liz works for her money this year, huh?”

“You haven’t talked to him yet?” I’d asked her to give me the chance to discuss the situation privately first, but I would have expected her to disregard that after I left.

“No, not yet. I figured it could wait until you felt better.” She snapped the file on her desk shut, signaling that she was pretty much done talking to me. “And Esra?”

“Yes?” I braced myself for one last jab about how I’d disappointed her or how she’d expected more from me.

“Welcome home. ”

“Thank you.” Another tear spilled over my lashes, and I quickly wiped it away with the tissue.

When I walked out of Renee’s office, Vivi was about to leave her desk as well, but she took one look at me and sat me down in her chair.

“You look like you just got fired and I know you didn’t,” she said and opened one of her desk drawers. It was filled to the brim with makeup. She had me fixed up and looking better than before in less than ten minutes.

“Please teach me your ways,” I said as I inspected the perfectly sharp winged eyeliner in a tiny compact mirror.

“If you stick around, I will,” she said with a certain note of challenge. She wasn’t the most talkative person, but she also left little room for nonsense.

“I’m planning on it,” I said.

“Good. Then let’s go. I don’t want to be late.”

“Late for what?”

“Saloon night.” She snatched her bag and nodded for me to follow.

That didn’t make sense. Every night could be saloon night if you wanted it to be. It wasn’t a Wednesday either, so it couldn’t be time for another burlesque show from the Stallions unless they’d changed the schedule when I was gone.

We walked out to the parking lot, and I forgot all about the saloon.

Noah waited for me, perfectly drenched in the bright colors of the sunset, looking like a picture-book cowboy in his hat and a plaid shirt he’d rolled up to the elbows.

Those tanned forearms with the veins running down to his knuckles belonged in a museum.

Noah could make me stop dead in my tracks any day, but this casual version of him was quickly becoming my favorite.

Vivi kept walking and said she’d save us a seat, but I couldn’t even glance her way to thank her.

“Hi cowboy,” I said, unable to resist the smile Noah put on my lips.

“Hi princess.” He lifted his arm for me and let me nestle against his side. “How did it go?”

“Turns out, I forgot to quit when I left.” I filled him in on all the details on our way over to the saloon.

I’d just finished explaining about the accidental sex tape and how he might get suspended over Christmas for it, and how Renee made it sound like she’d always expected me to come back, when we reached the park’s main entrance.

I stopped short at the crowd that had gathered in the square outside the Rattlesnake.

The saloon was crowded, too. Guests spilled out the door, packed into a tight formation of heads and shoulders.

And out here, people were putting down picnic blankets and fold-out chairs.

That couldn’t all be for the Stallions. Especially not considering the number of middle-aged men who, demographically, usually steered clear of the saloon during their shows.

Noah had to wave his cast-member badge at a lot of disgruntled people who were trying to squeeze closer to the Rattlesnake’s doors. Noah kept one arm braced around my shoulders as we shuffled through and up the stairs to a staff section that was almost as packed as the public section.

“What’s going on?” I asked when we made it to the table by the balcony where many familiar faces were already waiting. Including Zuri and Sinan, who usually preferred the table in the back.

“Adriana got us Brooks Monroe for one night only at the Rattlesnake Saloon,” Zuri explained after drawing me into a long, perfect, warm Zuri Hug.

“Seriously?” I turned toward Adriana. For once, she wasn’t standing behind the bar. She leaned against the railing in a floaty dress, her curls falling free, her arms and neck decked out in enough gold jewelry to turn her into a disco ball whenever one of the stage lights swung her way.

“It was getting really expensive, buying everyone drinks to make them like me. I figured this would do. Brooksy still owed me a favor.”

Brooksy.

I knew she’d been the opening act on his last tour, but from the way she talked, I’d assumed she’d completely left that part of her life behind. Apparently, she hadn’t left country legend Brooks Monroe behind though.

What kind of favor did you have to call in to get a superstar like him to give a concert in your hometown?

I narrowed my eyes at Adriana. “Is that favor why you’re so dressed up?”

She flipped me off and turned away, but I still caught a glimpse of the grin tugging at her lips.

Vivi had kept her word and saved us a seat.

One. Singular. Noah didn’t go off to look for another chair or make a show of offering it to me like a proper gentleman.

He just wrapped an arm around my middle and pulled me into his lap.

We hadn’t actually talked about how we wanted to handle us being together in public, but after everything, even one minute of pretending that we weren’t seemed like too long.

I wanted as much of him as I could get. So I settled against him and folded my fingers over his hand resting on my thigh .

“All right, pay up, suckers.” Sinan stretched his hands across the table, palms up. One after another the people around us were taking out their wallets or fishing money from the back of their phone cases.

“No, you didn’t,” Noah grumbled behind me, his fingers tightening around my thigh.

“What’s happening?” I asked louder and signed the question, certain that Sanny hadn’t heard Noah. Stacks of cash were building in Sanny’s hands.

“He made a bet about us. They all did,” Noah explained, then asked louder. “What did you put your money on?”

“Austin, will you do us the honor?” Sanny grinned as he smoothed the bills out.

“The winning bet was– drumroll please…” Austin pulled out his phone and waited until someone finally drummed their fingers against the table before he read the aforementioned bet out loud: “ Noah and my sister will be together by the end of summer season, like together-together, so that trumps Vivi’s hookup.

Betting $50 . And you just saw who took the bet.

There was an emoji system for different tiers. I’m not getting into that.”

Austin shrugged as if gambling via emojis on someone’s love life wasn’t even a little crazy.

My eyes narrowed on Sinan, who was grinning at his winnings like a mouse with a fat chunk of cheese.

“I don’t know if Sanny won that bet,” I mused and playfully tapped my finger against my chin.

“Hey!” Sinan’s fists clenched around the money. “This is for Zuri’s wedding dress.”

“Yeah, but are we together-together ?” I blinked innocently at Noah over my shoulder. “I thought I was more like your live-in casual non-exclusive sexytime hookup. ”

“I don’t wanna think about what that means,” Sanny groaned.

Noah’s grip on my thigh tightened, hard enough to make me squirm and remind me of all the other perfect moments when he grabbed my legs like that.

His dark brows drew deep over his eyes. “Don’t even joke about that, princess.

We’re exclusive and anything but casual.

” His voice was a low rumble that sent goosebumps rippling down my arms.

There really was nothing casual about the pull Noah had on me.

I tilted my head back to meet him for a kiss.

Noah needed no further invitation. His hand slid into my hair, cupping the side of my face, and he pulled me to him for a breathless kiss.

He was staking his claim. He was showing everyone that we were together-together .

Even after his lips had left mine, and it felt like my mouth was bruising, he kept his eyes on me. “Clear?”

“Crystal,” I answered, heart still racing, and grinned a stupid, giddy grin.

“Ugh. Gross. Are you going to be one of those disgusting PDA couples?” Adriana asked, pulling me out of the moment and back to earth.

“Yes,” Noah replied without missing a beat.

I cleared my throat and turned to Sanny. “I can’t believe you bet on us.”

“I knew this was going to happen the very first time Noah complained about you.” He leaned over, speaking louder as the volume around us rose. “You remember what you said to me?”

“I’m not sure. That you should send her home to your parents?” Noah replied, just as loud. As if he wasn’t perfect enough already, he tried to sign his reply. You couldn’t always verbatim translate to sign language, but he’d clearly picked up a few words.

“I remember.” I sat up straighter, so I could properly look at both Noah and my brother. “You said ‘She’s careless and irresponsible. Don’t let her blow through your life like a tornado.’”

“I’m sorry, princess,” Noah whispered and pressed a kiss to my shoulder.

“No, but exactly.” Sanny grinned. “Noah has, like, a sixth sense for weather. Loves a storm. And rides a Tornado every day.”

I groaned at the implication and shot Noah a withering glare. “Please don’t tell me that you like me because I remind you of your horse.”

“You’re more stubborn than any horse I’ve ever met.” Noah’s chest shook with laughter.

I made a show of getting up, but Noah pulled me back into his lap and tightened an arm around my hips, locking me in. He tilted my chin up only to smile at me with so much warmth in his eyes, the air spluttered from my lungs.

“I like a good storm,” he said.

“Perfect,” I corrected him. “Unusual chains of events and rare conditions all coming together with perfect timing, resulting in an exceptionally strong storm.”

Something must have happened on-stage because the people around us were jumping up in their seats and cheering, but Noah stayed perfectly still under me, holding my gaze.

The tips of our noses brushed together before he closed his lips over mine.

It was a quick kiss, in the middle of a bar, with people jumping around us, and it should have felt casual.

In his arms, it was the most intentional I’d ever been kissed.

“Perfect storm,” he whispered against my lips.

I nodded and despite the rising noise and excitement around us, I chose to stay seated, chose to kiss my cowboy again, chose Noah.