Page 122 of Hard to Hold
“We were startin’ to wonder if no one was gonna show up tonight,” Reagan noted, sounding somewhat relieved that they had a customer.
“Where’s everybody at?” I asked.
“Thought maybe you could tell us,” Reagan replied.
I glanced over at Amy. I noticed she was trying really hard not to smile.
“Okay, what’s goin’ on?” No fucking way was this bar completely empty on a Saturday night.
Amy giggled but tried to mask it. She was too late.
I moved toward her. She backed up, still grinning from ear to ear.
“What’d you do?” I asked her directly.
“Me? What makes you think I did something?”
“You’re blushin’, darlin’. I know you’re up to somethin’.”
I crowded her between my body and the wall. Planting one hand over her head, I leaned down and cupped her jaw. When I went to kiss her, Amy giggled again but was quickly silenced when I slipped my tongue past her lips.
A soft moan escaped her and I realized what I wanted for my birthday.
Her.
And Rhys.
Naked.
Before I could tell her as much, the door opened behind me. I slowly broke the kiss, then turned just in time to see…
“Happy fuckin’ birthday, hoss!” Lynx shouted.
Holy fuck.
People started filing into the room one by one, all following Lynx, who was carrying one hell of a cake.
“You seriously didn’t think we’d forget, did you?” Lynx asked. “I mean, you’re thirty and all. Not an important birthday or nothin’.”
I couldn’t help but smile. I put my arm around Amy and pulled her to my side. When I looked down at her, I noticed she was still smiling.
“Did you have somethin’ to do with this?”
“Maybe. I noticed the date on the calendar in the break room, so I asked Lynx about it.”
“You got a keeper there.”
I looked up to see my father moving toward me, a huge grin plastered on his face.
“Yeah?”
“That girl worked her butt off to get all these people to keep a secret.”
“Not an easy thing to do in a town this small,” Reagan added.
“Definitely not,” Rhys said when he joined us.
“A free round of beers helps when tryin’ to bribe people though,” Lynx added.
