Cook County: Lucky in Love Read Online Free Page B

unable to contain it while looking at Cammie’s cute nose scrunched in irritation. “What exactly is a cripe anyway?”
    Her lips twitched as she put up a fight, but soon succumbed to a small laugh. “I don’t know, but I think I made my point.”
    He raised his hands in surrender. “Yes, ma’am. Didn’t mean to get your panties in a twist.”
    “You, sir, have no effect on my panties.” She raised her nose indignantly and turned her face away, lips twitching again.
    “It’s good to see you laugh and smile, Cam. The frown just isn’t you.”
    She met his gaze dead-on and nodded. “Same for you, cowboy. You’re supposed to be the lighthearted Masters. Chance is the dark, moody one.”
    “He was before your friend got her hands on him and pussified him all to hell,” he muttered, earning a soft chuckle. “It’s good to see him happy though. Lord knows he’s earned it.”
    “As have you.”
    She leaned in close, the soft scent of strawberries reaching out to tease him.
    “When’s the last time you really had fun?”
    The night before I woke up to a dead woman in the bathtub .
    Lucky shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I’m doing just fine, Cammie. You should have a little fun yourself, get your mind off the ex and the friend for a little while. Grab yourself a guy and take a spin on the dance floor.”
    “Great idea,” she said, sliding off the barstool. “Don’t mind if I do.”
    A soft hand gripped his forearm tightly and yanked him out of his seat.
    “Wait a minute,” he started to protest, but the devilish twinkle in Cammie’s red, puffy eyes stopped him cold. Damn, she was cute in a sweet but sexy way.
    “You’ve owed me this dance for a long time, cowboy,” she said as she pulled him across the floor, stopping when she found a space in a dark corner near the jukebox, which wasn’t in use due to the live band playing. “I’m collecting. Deal with it.”
    “Now, how do you figure I owe you?” Lucky asked as she placed his hands on her hips and nudged his inner thigh with hers. His breath caught as they started to sway, and he fought against the urge to let his hands wander to her backside.
    “You yelled at me sixteen years ago and never made it up to me,” she answered, chuckling softly.
    “Sixteen years ago?” He counted back in his mind, laughing when he remembered the night he and Chance had fortunately been on the Calhoun ranch when Cammie and her friends pulled the dumbest stunt of their lives. “Oh, you mean the night you almost got Kenzie killed? You deserved the yelling.”
    “I told her it was a bad idea to tip the cow, but the boys kept egging her on. You know she’s stubborn. And if the gate to the bull pen had been latched correctly, it wouldn’t have happened.”
    “Sure. Blame it on whoever didn’t latch the gate instead of admitting y’all knew better than to be in that cow pen, or anywhere near the vicinity of that bull.” Lucky chuckled. “I should have put you over my knee like Chance put Kenzie over his.”
    “We were just lucky you two were there that night,” she said softly as the band switched to a ballad. She rested her cheek against his shoulder. “You became our heroes that night.”
    “And the two of you became the biggest pains in our asses,” Lucky grumbled as he closed his eyes against the pull of the soft music playing and the sweet scent of Cammie’s strawberry shampoo.
    She smelled so good he inhaled deep and had to remind himself to release the breath. His hands inched lower, but her giggled response to his comment brought him back to his senses. He pushed his thumbs into her belt loops instead, effectively restraining his wandering hands before they could trespass into forbidden territory.
    “This is nice,” Cammie murmured as they continued to sway to the music.
    Lucky agreed in silence, afraid opening his mouth would ruin the spell she’d somehow managed to conjure. He’d danced with a lot of women and had his hands on even