Free How to Rope a Real Man by Melissa Cutler Page B

who loved dancing as much as she seemed to was probably a huge fan of music, though they hadn’t listened to much on the way to Santa Fe because they’d been deep in conversation and he’d kept the volume on his radio extra low on this drive because she’d been on the phone.
    He found a bouncy pop station on the radio playing songs from the 1980s and immediately felt the tension melt away from her. Before long, they were both singing along at the top of their lungs. For the most part, he kept it together, fighting to be gentlemanly, but at the first notes of Jenna singing along to “Hungry Like the Wolf,” he couldn’t stop his affectionate cringe. She had a terrible voice. And by terrible, he meant dying-donkey bad.
    Lucky for him, she knew exactly how she sounded and didn’t mind being ribbed about it. Didn’t let it stop her either. She belted each and every song right along with him until the original German version of “99 Luftballons” came on.
    They hummed and mumbled through the first verse before dissolving into laughter.
    Matt poked his tongue in his cheek and tried to get a grip. He couldn’t remember a time he’d had such good, clean fun with a woman off of a dance floor. In his center console, his Kenny Chesney ringtone started up, which meant one of his friends was calling. He hadn’t put on his earpiece and so turned the radio down and hit the speaker button.
    “Hello?”
    “Matt, it’s Kellan.” Odd. Why was Kellan calling him and not Jenna?
    “Hey, man. I’ve got you on speaker. Jenna and I are only an hour away, and my sister’s following us in her van. Plenty of time to get the flowers everywhere they need to be. What’s up?”
    “My brother. He’s here.” His voice had grown thicker with every word.
    Matt met Jenna’s bright eyes. She gave a fist pump, grinning. She leaned toward the phone. “That’s fantastic, Kellan. I’m so happy for you.”
    “That’s why I’m calling,” Kellan said. “Jake drove, but his car broke down in the Sandia Mountains and it’d take a taxi at least an hour to get to him. How close are you?”
    The Sandias stretched along the east side of Albuquerque. Jake would be stuck on Highway 40, the same road Matt, Jenna, and Tara were on. “About the same as a taxi would be. But if a taxi ran late, Jake might not make it to the ceremony in time. Jenna and I will pick him up. I’ll send Tara ahead to the civic center with the flowers.”
    Blinker on, he slowed the SUV onto the next off-ramp.
    Kellan released a huge huff of air into the phone. “My brother drove from L.A. for my wedding.” He said it like maybe giving voice to it again would make it seem more believable.
    Matt had never met Jake and he didn’t understand a lot about Kellan and Jake’s history, but he kind of hated Jake on the basis of all the circumstantial evidence he’d been presented. No way should a man have that much gratitude in his voice for his brother doing what every brother should do in the first place. But to each his own. Kellan was happy and his wedding was going to go off without incident. All was well.
    He came to a full stop at the bottom of the ramp. There wasn’t any traffic at all out here in the middle of nowhere, so he wasn’t worried about blocking the lane for any other cars. Tara followed suit, probably wondering what the heck was going on.
    “You’re going to have a fantastic wedding, man. The greatest. Amy’s feeling better, we’ve got your flowers, and we’re going to bring your brother. Nothing to worry about. You just relax and enjoy yourself, okay? We’ve got you covered.”
    “You’re the best, Matt. Jenna, you too.”
    After a few more words of consolation and thanks, Matt scribbled down Jake’s cell phone number and a description of the location, then ended the call.
    He punched in Tara’s number and filled her in on the latest development. “You got this, sis? You know where you’re going?”
    “Believe it or not, this isn’t my