“I’ve heard you’re interested in women’s undergarments these days, Derringer. Is there a reason why?”
Derringer slowly turned away from the pool table with a cue stick in his hand to gaze at each man in the dimly lit room inside his basement. Now that he knew who his late-night visitor had been, he wouldn’t tell anyone, not even Zane, her identity.
“No reason,” he answered his cousin Canyon who was four years younger.
Canyon smiled. “Well, you never got around to asking me anything, but just so you know, the women I date don’t wear underwear.”
Derringer shook his head and chuckled. He didn’t find that hard to believe. He studied the other men who had gone back to sipping their beers while waiting their turn at shooting pool—his brother Zane and his cousins Jason, Riley, Canyon and Stern. They were as close as brothers. Zane knew more than the others about the situation with him and the underwear, but Derringer was confident his brother wouldn’t say anything.
“So, what’s this I hear about you going on a date with Lucia? I thought old man Conyers pretty much scared you off her years ago,” Jason said, chuckling.
Derringer couldn’t help but smile. “He did, but like you said, it was years ago. Lucia isn’t a kid anymore. She’s an adult and old enough to make her own decisions about who she wants to date.”
“True, but she’s not your type and you know it,” Riley piped in.
Derringer lifted a brow. That was the same thing Bailey had alluded to earlier that day. “And what, supposedly, is my type?”
“Women who wear black panties,” Canyon said, chuckling.
“Or no panties at all,” Riley added, laughing.
“Hmm, for all you all know, my taste in women might have changed,” he said, turning back to the pool table.
Zane snorted. “Since when? Since you got thrown off Sugar Foot’s back and hit your head?”
Derringer frowned as he turned back around. “I didn’t hit my head.”
“Makes us wonder,” Riley said. “First you’re going around asking about women’s underwear and now you’re taking Lucia Conyers out on a date. You better treat her right or Chloe will come gunning for you.”
“Hell, we’ll all come gunning for you,” Zane said, taking a sip of his beer. “We like her.”
Derringer turned back to the pool table and proceeded to chalk his stick. At the moment, he didn’t give a royal flip how his family felt about Lucia. He still planned to deal with her in his own way and if they didn’t like the outcome that was too bad.
Five
By the time seven o’clock came around on Saturday night, Lucia was almost a nervous wreck. She had pulled her father aside that week to verify what Derringer had told her. With a sheepish grin on his face, Dusty Conyers hadn’t denied a thing, and had laughingly agreed he had intentionally put the fear of God in Derringer. He didn’t regret doing so and was glad it had worked.
He did agree that now she was old enough to handle her own business and wouldn’t butt in again. She had ended up giving him a kiss on his bald head after telling him how much she loved him, and that he was the best dad in the whole wide world.
His confirmation meant that what Derringer had said the other day was true. He had shown interest in her years ago, but her father had discouraged him. Although she knew she would always wonder how things might have gone if her father hadn’t intervened, she was a firm believer that things happened for a reason. Besides, at eighteen she doubted she would have been able to handle the likes of Derringer Westmoreland and was even doubtful she could have at twenty-two. She wasn’t even confident she had the ability to handle him now, but was determined to try. She was convinced there was a reason she had shared his bed that night.