Friends. They are a valuable part of our lives. Some are here for the long haul, some for only short bursts. Some are good friends. Some are not. Some we think are true, yet there are those in all our lives who prove false.

I think we all are different people to the different friends we have. We are closer to a handful than to the majority, or sometimes it’s even the other way around. There are friends we lose that we wish to have back and those we need to let go of.

At the present time, I can count on one hand those who I consider true and meaningful, there for me no matter what. Those are the ones we should cling to when we feel alone in the world. The ones there through thick and thin, good and bad. They know our faults and love us anyway. They know who they are and I am thankful for them.

My snippet today is from the Blue Jeans and Hard Hats series. I will be releasing the 3rd book in February and though the individual books center around the women and their men, the thing that brings them all together is the friendship between Buck, Decker, and Cort.

Snippet:

“Haven’t you perfected that damn recipe yet?” Cort asked just before tilting the beer bottle up and taking a long swallow. It was good to be with Decker and Buck again. It was good to be with the women that had stolen his friends’ hearts and weren’t looking to latch onto his. It was good to be away from Blue. Good God, it was good to be away from her. She had him all twisted up in knots, and that just wasn’t going to work for him. He was done obsessing about her.

The more he thought about it, the more he agreed with his first assessment of her. She was everything he wanted, at least the outside of her was. The image of her tight, curvy body, her expressive, soulful eyes, her hair that simply begged to be pulled, her tattoos… Shit. None of his lovers had ever had tattoos, and he wanted to see each and every one Blue had, up close and personal. He wanted to trace them with his fingers, with his tongue, cover them in his come and smear it into them.

But he couldn’t. He didn’t need to be wanting her. The sparks might still be there between them, but all these years later, what she did and with whom was none of his business. He didn’t care.

Right? Right.

“Yet?”

Cort looked over at Rosie, who’d asked, and nodded. “He’s been working on that recipe for more years than I’ve known him.”

“It’s the best burger I’ve ever had so whatever he’s perfected, I know what he can do if he ever gets tired of roofing.”

A bark of laughter sounded from the direction of the grill. “I’ll happily take up the grill duties at the diner, but you know my conditions.”

A look passed between the two lovers and Cort knew he had to ask. “What conditions?”

“New uniforms,” they both answered at the same time.

Maybe he shouldn’t have asked. “Something wrong with the current ones?”

“They keep her too covered up.”

Rosie glowered at Decker, but Cort caught the glimmer in her eyes. They had a special chemistry. Cort couldn’t deny the twist of envy filling his gut. He wanted to ignore it, but he couldn’t do that either. He wanted that, what they shared.

Eventually.

At some point.

But not with Blue.

And if he chose to ignore the voice in his head screaming that he was a liar, well, that was his prerogative.

“I can’t go around naked, Decker.”

“I didn’t say you had to be naked.”

“Daisy Dukes and halter tops are close enough.”

“I didn’t say you had to wear Daisy Dukes.”

“No, you said I should serve breakfast in my bras and panties.”

“No. I said when you’re in the kitchen with me, you should only been in your bra and panties.” Decker winked and Rosie stuck her tongue out at him.

“There’s an open… Oh never mind. We’re not changing uniforms.”

“Then I’m not going to work for you.”

The back-and-forth banter was quite telling for Cort. His buddy Decker had it bad. He’d noticed the same thing about Buck and Caroline the night before. How his friends had gotten so damn lucky, he’d never know. He wouldn’t deny his happiness for them, though. He couldn’t think of two men more deserving of that kind of love.

“Good.”

“Great.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.” Rosie stood and went inside with Decker’s gaze following her every move. It was few minutes before he turned his attention back to the task at hand.

The silence that ensued made Cort feel uncomfortable. He didn’t like being left with his own thoughts for too long. He got crazy notions about settling down and opting for a steady, long-term relationship with just one woman and the wouldn’t-it-be-nice scenarios. Nope. Nothing good ever came from those kinds of thoughts. He was better off if his mind or hands or preferably both were occupied with either eating, working, or working on eating a woman.

That particular train of thought led straight to mental images of Blue stretched out on a bed, a waist cincher wrapped tight around her middle, the curves of her hips and thighs framed to absolute perfection, and his mouth…

Shit.

He couldn’t be, shouldn’t be, refused to continue thinking about her in those terms. Again. Still. His time with her was over. They had one night and not even a whole night at that, but it was done, over with. She was a client, now. He was going to re-wire her rambling plantation house and then, with any real luck, he’d only see her rarely afterward.

“Cort?”

“Hmm?”

Decker laughed. “You drifted.”

Shit. Again. “Yeah well, it’s been a long day.”

“I’d have thought the time zone difference wouldn’t be affecting you.”

“It’s not.”

“Jet lag should be gone,” Decker went on as though Cort hadn’t said anything.

“I don’t get jet lag.”

“Uh-huh. Did you sleep okay last night? It’s different than sleeping in hotels or in cities. It’s so quiet out here. Took a while for me to get used to it.

“Yeah, slept fine. I don’t mind the quiet.”

“Wanna talk about it, then? Whatever it is?”

“What the hell are we? A couple of women? No, I don’t want to talk about it because there’s nothing to talk about.”

“Did you uh… Did you see the pictures?” Decker whispered from across the deck.

Cort shook his head. Just like a teenager to ask about the dirty pictures. Only Decker wasn’t a teenage boy anymore. Perv. “Yes. And no, I’m not going to tell you anything about them except to say they weren’t at all what I was expecting.” He got up and took two steps before the voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Not leaving on my account, I hope?”

Blue. And…him. The guy from the porch. The guy with his arm around Blue’s waist, holding her so tight against his body, holding her with such ease and familiarity that Cort wanted to punch him right in the nose and mess up his handsome face.

“Hey Blue,” Decker said from behind Cort’s still-as-the-night body. “Rosie said you might be coming.”

“Hey there. Yes, Rosie strong-armed me into making cake.” Blue was still staring at Cort even as she spoke to the other man.

“Hi, Decker, I’m Neil, Blue’s uh…friend. I don’t usually miss a barbecue, and when I heard about your skills with a grill, I was intrigued.”

“Hey man, any friend of Blue’s is always welcome. So Rosie’s told you guys she only wants me for my meat?”

Blue finally broke eye contact to look at Decker. She winked at him over Cort’s shoulder and laughed. “You could say that.” Decker’s bark of laughter was her reward and the smile that lit up her face… Damn.

End snippet

Please enjoy snippets from the following authors:

Megan Hart — Read in bed!
Eliza Gayle
Rhian Cahill
Anne Rainey
Jody Wallace
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Myla Jackson
Taige Crenshaw
Alison Kent
Delilah Devlin
HelenKay Dimon
Leah Braemel
Shelli Stevens
Shiloh Walker
TJ Michaels
Zoë Archer
Lacey Savage

Have a great weekend and tell your friends how much they mean to you.

~lissa