Authors: Amy Jo Cousins
Calling His Bluff (31 page)
She grabbed J.D. by the hand and prepared to tug him through the crowd and right back
out that front door. They’d phone in their goodbyes from the back seat of the limo.
“Hey, J.D.!”
He pulled back from her at the shout from her brother. Tyler was leaning over the
bar, waving his best friend over. The crowd was thick between them with people who
blocked her view.
J.D. pressed a quick kiss to the side of her neck and whispered in her ear.
“One second.”
He made his way through the throng and stepped up to the bar, reaching out to do one
of those complicated guy handshakes with his buddy.
Tyler’s fist flew over the bar and plowed straight into J.D.’s face.
“What the fuck?” she shrieked and started pushing past people without caring who she
shoved out of the way. At the bar, she jumped between her boyfriend and her brother,
pulling at Tyler’s other hand where it was snagged in the front of J.D.’s shirt. Her
brother was trying not to punch her in the head as he kept swinging at his friend.
She’d begged her sisters to withhold certain details from their brother. But clearly
someone in her family had just slipped up and let him in on the events of the past
two months. And that person was going to pay dearly, as soon as she managed to interrupt
this assault and battery in progress in front of her.
They were drawing quite a bit of attention by now.
“Tyler. Tyler!” She wasn’t getting his attention and sooner or later she was going
to get clocked by accident. Time to pull out the big guns.
“Christopher Robin!”
He jerked to a halt in midswing to glare at her, but then started shouting at J.D.
“You do
not
fuck with my sister, dude!”
Shit. There was too much testosterone at this end of the bar. Although she had to
admit that J.D. wasn’t participating in the chest beating at all. He hadn’t even raised
his arms to defend himself. “Stop beating him to a pulp, you idiot. I love him.”
She heard the sudden, sharp inhale from behind her and looked back over her shoulder,
keeping her body between the two of them.
“Just in case that wasn’t clear,” she said. And smiled.
“You know I love you, too, right?”
Her heart didn’t skip a beat. There was no roller-coaster high or sudden low. No panic,
no crazy adrenaline rush. Just the clear, steady knowledge that she loved this man
and he loved her right back.
“Not a doubt in my mind.”
“Aw, crap.” Her brother’s muttered apology from behind the bar was nice, but she really
didn’t give a damn. “I’m going to have to make this up to him, aren’t I?”
She pried his hand off J.D. and replaced it with her own. “Yup.” Tugged him back to
her and went up on tiptoe, looking him straight in the eyes the entire time, this
man who knew her so very well. “You can start planning our honeymoon.”
J.D. was grinning down at her. “Our honeymoon?”
“You bet. You don’t think I’m gonna let
you
be in charge of this thing the second time around, do you?” She smiled back at him
and licked her lips.
“So.” He looped his arms around her waist. “We’re really gonna do this? For real this
time?”
She didn’t flinch before laying it all on the line. And this gamble, the biggest one
she’d ever make, wasn’t any different when it came right down to it.
“We so are. I’m all in, baby.” She grinned and, just before his mouth leveled over
hers, heard the only word he said in reply.
“Jackpot.”
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About the Author
Amy Jo Cousins knows one thing for sure: the people who read and write romance novels
are the smartest, funniest, kindest and most optimistic souls on the planet and finding
a place in this community has been like coming home.
She lives in Chicago, where she writes contemporary romance, Tweets more than she
ought and sometimes runs way too far. She loves her boy and the Cubs, who taught her
that being awesome doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with winning.
You can visit her online where she hopes you’ll say hi!
Booklist
At Your Service
Sleeping Arrangements
eISBN-13: 9781460330753
CALLING HIS BLUFF
Copyright © 2014 by Amy Jo Albinak
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