Loving Her Crazy by Kira Archer Page B

though whatever the hell we just ate are a whole lot worse than anything that ever came out of Betty’s.”
    “You go there often?”
    He nodded. “It’s a regular diner up until nine o’clock at night. My dad used to take me down there at least once a week for dinner. Whenever Mom had had enough of us and needed a break.”
    She took another sip of her milk. “How many of you are there?”
    “Just my brother and me. But that was more than enough, my mom used to say.”
    “Ah. I was just picturing a whole parcel of handsome cowboys running rampant out on the ranch, getting into trouble and making your poor sainted mother pull her hair out.”
    He barked a laugh. “More accurate than you’d think. There was just my brother and me at home, but we always had friends over or the kids of the ranch hands. There were always packs of us kids roaming around and getting into trouble.”
    “I bet your mom was relieved to get some alone time then,” she said.
    “Yes and no. I think she enjoyed a little quiet time every now and then, but she always said she was happiest when she had everyone around her.”
    “She must miss your brother.”
    “Yeah. We all do. It’s weird not having him around, even after several years of him being gone. My parents, though, they had this dream of us both building our own houses on the property and living near one another, running the ranch.”
    “Is that what you want?”
    “I didn’t think so growing up,” he said, shaking his head at the somewhat belligerent kid he was back then. “And then when I was eighteen and graduating high school, I thought it was cool just because I was the only one of my friends who had my own place.”
    “You had your own house at eighteen?”
    He nodded. “I was going to the local college and still helping out on the ranch. I’d gotten good enough grades to get scholarships. So my dad said that since I was finally a man and living up to my responsibilities, it was only right I had my own place. We built a little house on the property, not too near, but near enough my mom didn’t feel like she was losing her baby. I didn’t really plan on staying there, though. I mean what eighteen-year-old kid plans to live that close to his parents his whole life?”
    “True. When I was eighteen I couldn’t wait to get out of the house. Couldn’t quite make myself go too far, though. I lived in the dorms at school, but the campus was only ten miles from my parents’ place. I’ve moved three times since graduating. Each time I think I’m going to finally cut the cord and move far away.”
    “And how has that worked out for you?”
    “I’m currently living in a condo two blocks from their house.”
    Nash snorted the milk he’d been drinking and grabbed a napkin in case any of the stuff currently burning his sinus passages decided to make an escape through his nose. She tossed a piece of bread at his head.
    “Like you can talk. You’re still living in that house you and your dad built, aren’t you?”
    He cleared his throat and grinned. “Just added a new bedroom and expanded the master suite and kitchen.”
    “See?” she said, though her eyes twinkled with amusement. She brushed residual crumbs off her fingers, her amusement tinged with a mischievousness that did not bode well for him. “All right, cowboy, I think it’s time you paid your debt for losing. You ready to sing?”
    “Ah…no?”
    She laughed and stood up. “Well, too bad. Get ready, because you’re up next,” she said, nodding to the stage. “I’ll just go let Mr. Karaoke over there know what you’re singing.”
    Nash took a deep breath, adjusted his hat, and marched his loser ass up to the stage. He had no idea what was in store for him, and he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like it. But, a bet was a bet.
    The smile on Iris’s face as she returned to their table only confirmed his fears. When the first notes of Katy Perry’s “Roar” started playing, his mouth dropped.