Free Peaches 'n' Cream by Lynn Stark

head as if in pain, “but it was just unbearable.” Peaches nodded in understanding. “When I first started out as a cop, I was partnered with a guy who sounded like a barking seal when he laughed. Try being trapped in a patrol car with that for a whole shift.” She leaned toward him across the table. “Do you want to know what’s really funny?”
    “What?” he asked. Despite his best intentions he could feel himself being drawn into her web. With each passing moment he could understand why Damien and Ryan were so attracted to her.
    “His wife and all his kids laugh just the same as he does. And their last name is Seally.” Again, Logan found himself roaring with laughter, drawing the attention of everyone within the place. They smiled. They couldn’t help themselves. Everyone liked and respected him.
    It was good to see someone was able to penetrate that hard shield he kept so firmly in place.
    “You’re pulling my leg.”
    She crossed her heart. “Honest. It’s the truth.” Her attention was drawn again to the door as the bell tinkled. “Oh, my god, Logan. Tell me they’re not married.” Logan looked, his mouth tightening. Four men walked in, dressed in the typical winter wear for cowboys. They shed the sheepskin jackets as soon as they were inside. “No, they’re not married. Yet.”
    “They’re looking for a wife?”
    “Or wives. Preferably ones who’d like to share everything,” he added meaningfully.
    “Why? You interested?”
    Peaches shook her head, grinning. “No, but my sister might be. I just discovered she’s not the prude I always thought she was.”
    “I suspect she just discovered the same thing about you.”
    “She did. What are their names?”
    “That’s Mick, Jake, Collin, and Cody Preston. All jerks.”
    “Are they honest, hardworking men? Do they get in trouble?”
    “Yes and no. I suppose they’ll be good husbands to a woman,” he conceded grudgingly.
    He didn’t want to talk to her about other men. A seed of jealousy had been planted the moment she had admired the ridiculously handsome Colt Redford. Why, he couldn’t guess at.
    He’d never been jealous a day in his life. He hadn’t even been jealous over sharing Sally with his partners. And why he would feel something like that over a woman he had only known a few hours was a complete mystery to him. “Forget them.”
    “I will in a moment.” She jumped up from the booth. “Excuse me. I’ll be right back.” 40
    He watched with growing irritation as she crossed the pizzeria to the table where the four men sat, being waited on by a flirty, buxom blonde in a tight, neon-green sweater. Whatever she said to them had them grinning and nodding. Then she was pulling out her phone and taking their picture. She was nodding her approval as she examined the result, then spoke to them a moment more as she pressed buttons on the phone. She waved to them before she returned to their table.
    “What was that all about?” Logan glared at the men. Mick flipped him off and laughed.
    He returned the gesture even as he wanted to haul her fucking sexy ass out of the restaurant.
    At that moment he knew he would toss her in the front of his truck, pull her jeans off, and fuck her right there in the center of town, potential witnesses be damned.
    “I’m sending Cherry their pic and phone number. They said to have her call, if she was interested in talking.”
    Dark eyebrows went up. “Your sister’s name is Cherry?”
    “Yes. Dad named everyone else. We were the last two. Mom has a fanciful side, but somehow she named us for fruit.”
    “Creative,” he answered temperately, earning a knowing grin.
    “Don’t worry. I haven’t been bothered by my name since I kicked Leroy Jacobs’s butt in kindergarten.”
    “Since then no one was brave enough to tease you again?” Logan asked wisely, rising from the seat.
    Peaches laughed. “That was pretty much it.”
    Without giving it a thought, Logan helped her with her coat. She