Free Deep Down (Lockhart Brothers #1) by Brenda Rothert

year,” Kyle said. “Everyone will be wearing jeans and boots.”
    We all walked over to the bench for a break. I wiped the sweat from my face with a towel and sat down to stretch my legs.
    “When are we gonna get back to boxing?” I asked Kyle, my best opponent in the ring.
    My oldest brother shook his head and gave me an apologetic look. “No more boxing for me. I sprained a finger last time and it fucked up my surgery schedule.”
    “No shit? I guess surgeons do have to watch out for their hands. Well damn, who am I gonna box with now?”
    “Me,” Mason said.
    I laughed until I realized he was serious. “I’d clean your clock and you’d be pissed off for the next two years,” I said.
    “I would not.”
    “You fight like a girl.”
    “Suck my cock.” He shoved me and I couldn’t help laughing again.
    “Alright, I’ll spar with you,” I said. “Just don’t cry about it when I bruise up your pretty face.”
    He shrugged. “I’m not worried. If that happens I’ll tell everyone I stopped a robbery or something, and it’d probably get me laid.”
    “Whatever I can do to help the cause,” I said sarcastically. Mason was a confirmed bachelor with no desire to have a serious girlfriend.
    “Let’s do it. After the hospital fundraiser thing. Mom would have our asses if we showed up to that with black eyes.”
    “Hell, yeah, she would.”
    I hadn’t been back in Lovely for long, but already I couldn’t imagine leaving the place again. My dream was to start a legal aid nonprofit, and my hometown was the perfect place to do it. Hopefully in time I’d be known as something other than the guy who got ditched at the altar.

I STOOD AT THE entrance to the most enormous old barn I’d ever seen. Laughter and music drifted out from the red two-story structure. Two huge doors were propped open, beckoning me to join the party.
    What was I doing here? I actually knew the answer to that question. I’d been asked to help sell raffle tickets at this barn dance by Grace Lockhart and I just couldn’t say no. When she’d told me it was for the Lovely Hospital Foundation, and that no dancing would be required, I’d been all too happy to help out.
    But social situations involving me and makeup made me nervous. I was woefully out of practice. Usually, on Friday nights, I had my hair up in a ponytail and was making pizza with Noah, Margie and Gene. Instead, they were making pizza without me this time. But I still planned to go to their house for the night when I was done. Noah loved our weekly sleepover at Margie and Gene’s.
    Maybe tonight wouldn’t be so bad. I adored Grace, and the hospital foundation was a cause close to my heart. Fortunately this event was casual. I was wearing my favorite old dark jeans, a green blouse I’d scored for a dollar at a garage sale and brown ballet flats. Hopefully I was rustic enough for a barn dance.
    When I walked in, I couldn’t help breaking out in a big smile. The inside of the barn had been transformed. Lights were strung from the rafters and the walls were decorated with wreaths of fresh flowers. The lively music I’d heard was from a group with fiddles and other string instruments. Couples were already spinning around on the wood dance floor.
    “Ivy, you made it!” Grace approached and embraced me warmly. Her dark shoulder length hair was held back with a headband in a red handkerchief pattern. Like me, she wore jeans and a simple blouse.
    “Hi, Grace,” I said. “Thanks for asking me to come.”
    “You look so pretty, as always.”
    “Well, I came to work, so you just let me know what you need.”
    “I’ve got you at the raffle and 50/50 ticket table. Right over here.”
    She led the way to a long folding table and I did a double take when I saw who was sitting there. Reed rose to greet me, smiling sheepishly.
    “Hey, Ivy,” he said. “Nice to see you again.”
    He wore jeans and a blue flannel shirt, his five o’clock shadow a little more grown out this