“Howdy, guys. What can I do you for today?” she asked as her pencil hovered over the small notepad.
The men placed their orders and Zain waited until Poppy had left before leaning forward and dropping his voice. “I screwed up, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
“What do you mean?” Ryan asked in the same low whisper.
“I kissed her,” Zain said on a sigh.
“And?” Deacon asked.
“And I wanted to do a whole lot more, but she literally jumped away from me and won’t look at me now. I’ve never had a woman react like this,” Zain said, perplexed.
The guys looked at each other and Dylan raised an eyebrow again as if saying, “So?”
“So, I want to kiss her again. I like her. But I don’t think she likes me,” Zain said, falling back against the booth.
“Maybe she has a boyfriend,” Ryan said with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Maybe she would like Veronica more than you,” Jackson smirked. While Veronica wasn’t in the closet, she also didn’t scream about being out of it. So far, she was proving to be a challenge to the Rose sisters, who, while retired from matchmaking, saw it as a challenge. Just the month before, they’d asked one of the Keeneston Belles if she was a lesbian. The Belle had just blinked and sputtered. They kept her on the list.
Zain thought back to when he kissed her. “I don’t think so. She certainly acted as if she enjoyed it before she suddenly jumped away from me.”
“Ask her on a date. She probably thinks you’re just used to kissing every woman around. You were in the magazines a lot for that when you were in college,” Dylan said, then took another sip of water.
“That could be right.” Ryan smiled.
“Sounds like a plan.” Deacon nodded.
“Unless you’re too scared to ask her out,” Jackson smirked.
“Me? Scared to ask a girl out? Right,” Zain snorted.
“Then ask her to dinner tonight,” Jackson challenged.
Zain frowned. “I can’t tonight.”
“Bawk-bawk-baaaaawk.” Ryan imitated a chicken as the guys laughed.
Zain took the ribbing as he shook his head. “Not that I can’t ask her, but it's that I know she already has plans. Abby invited her to dinner with the girls tonight.”
“Perfect,” Ryan said with a smile.
“How is that perfect?” Zain asked.
“Because we can have my wife question her,” Ryan said as he pulled out his cell phone and started to text Sienna. “Find out if Mila is a lesbian. If not, find out if she has a boyfriend. And if not, see if she likes Zain,” Ryan mumbled as he typed.
Dylan grunted and shook his head.
Jackson laughed. “You’re acting as if you’re in grade school. How the mighty have fallen.”
“Oh, you think this is funny. Just wait to see what happens when you bring a girl to town,” Zain threatened. But that didn’t stop him from sending his own message to Abby from under the table.
Mila stopped in front of the large plate-glass window and looked into the café. Girls night with girls she didn’t know. Well, she knew Abby and had let her boyfriend kiss her neck. It had felt so amazing that she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. Nope, this wasn’t going to be awkward at all.
Abby looked up from the table and saw Mila staring. She waved and Mila let out a long breath. Time to get this over with. She entered the busy café full of multiple languages as locals mixed with people in town for the summit.
Abby stood and directed her to the only open chair. “Hi, Mila,” she said happily as she pointed to the chair. “I’m excited for you to meet my friends. This is Sienna Parker. Her husband, Ryan, is the head of the FBI office here.”
Mila looked to the auburn-haired woman and shook her hand. “Yes, I’ve heard his name a lot today when I toured the farm.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Sienna smiled.
Abby didn’t miss a beat before introducing her to the next two women. “And this is Riley Davies and her twin sister, Reagan.” Mila smiled at the two redheads across the table from them.
“And finally, this is Layne Davies,” Abby said, gesturing to the woman with ink-black hair and large hazel eyes.
“Hi. It’s nice to meet all of you.” Mila smiled and took her seat as she said a silent prayer of thanks for her ability to remember names.
Everyone returned her greeting, and Abby pushed a glass toward her. “Here. This is a house favorite—the Rose sisters’ special iced tea. Try it.”
Mila took a sip and enjoyed the burn of what she guessed was bourbon. “This is great,” she said, and she took another sip as everyone smiled at her.
“Layne was just talking about one of her patients. She’s a physical therapist and works with a lot of the football players for the Lexington Thoroughbreds. That’s our NFL team that Sienna works with. But in her spare time, she does volunteer work with veterans or members of the military,” Abby explained as the woman with black hair smiled.
“I have a patient who is walking for the first time in three months.” She smiled. “I cried when he took his first step today. He was injured by a roadside bomb.”
Mila took another sip. “That’s amazing. It must be so rewarding, what you do. And what is it that you do, Abby?” Professional girlfriend? Mila thought snidely and then hated herself for it.
“I’m in private security. I’ve been working in the D.C. area recently.”
Mila almost snorted. Yup, if Abby found out Zain had kissed her, she was a dead woman.
“And you?” Mila smiled across the table to Riley.
“I’m on the town council and help my dad with the farm,” Riley said before adding, “Actually, the town just asked me to draft a response to the rumors of the state’s intention to propose a bill that would allow a new highway to cut through the middle of Keeneston and divide most of our farms in half.”
“Wow. That’s horrible. I mean, transportation is great and all, but why wouldn’t they go around town?” Mila asked.
“Exactly,” Riley said with relief that she was understood. “That’s what I’m going to look into.”
“And if I don’t cut my sister off, she’ll be talking politics all night. I’m Reagan, if you couldn’t tell. I think what you do is fascinating.”
Mila smiled at the sisters and took another drink. It seemed everyone stared at her with anticipation with every drink she took. “And what do you do?”
“I’m a pilot. I fly charter flights for people in this area. Mainly I do a lot of horse transportation,” Reagan informed her as she topped off Mila’s drink.
“That’s so neat. And what about you, Sienna?” Mila asked even though she remembered Sienna’s name from the newspaper article she read the morning before.
“I’m a sports psychologist,” Sienna smiled.
And was involved in bringing down a terrorist organization, Mila thought and was going to ask more, but a man in jeans and a buttoned-up shirt with the sleeves rolled to revealed strong forearms stopped at the table. He had dark-blond hair and navy-blue eyes. It took a second, but then it hit her. He was the state trooper, Matt.
“Ladies,” he said. “I just wanted to say hi. I see you’ve gotten into the special tea. If any of you need a ride, let me know.” Mila watched as he winked at Riley with a quick smile before sauntering to his table.
Reagan turned to her sister with a mischievous smile. “I’m sure you’d be happy to give him a ride.” Riley smacked her sister’s arm and turned her smile back to Mila.
Mila downed the rest of the tea and was instantly poured more. “So, Mila, um,” Sienna stuttered, “Matt’s cute, right? We think he likes Riley, but Riley is blind to everything but her horses and her political crusade.”
Riley rolled her eyes. “A crusade you all support,” she mumbled.
Mila shrugged. “Sure, he’s cute. In fact, there’re a number of very good-looking men here. Women, too.”
Sienna sighed and Mila took another deep drink before her glass was refilled yet again. Suddenly Sienna sat upright and smiled. “If you could pick one, and only one, to have a wild fling with, who would it be?”