Meagan's Marine (Halos & Horns) (17 page)

“What the hell are you wearing?”

Meagan turned, looking as though she’d
just noticed him standing there, but he knew that was a load of bullshit. She’d
homed in on his location, targeted his ass from the second she’d stepped
through that doorway.

“Oh, hey!” she said, sounding innocent,
as she observed his version of real desert
camies
.
“You’re a Marine, and so am I. Imagine that!”

“Yeah, imagine that,” he said, tense,
tightlipped, and not the least bit amused.

“I don’t guess you had to go scrounging
for that get up like I did, though, huh?” Her chuckle sounded easy,
unrehearsed.

“Just my foot-locker.”

She tossed her backpack under the bar
and adjusted her suit’s zipper, lowering it a bit. He supposed it was in order
to show even more of her cleavage than she already was. His breath caught in
his throat as she leaned over, practically spilling out of the damn thing, in
order to adjust a fake ammo belt she wore around her upper thigh…over those
damn sexy, diamond-patterned stockings.

“Every time I visit one of those
Goodwill stores, I find something that saves me a ton of money.”

“Seems like you could have let a little
of that blood money go to buy a decent costume, or at least one that fits
properly.”

She straightened, flinging her thick
hair back and adjusting her hat. “That’s my emergency fund. Costumes don’t
count as emergencies. And what do you mean, anyway? This fits perfectly,
although, if I’d had time I could have taken it in a little around the hips.
What do you think?” She turned around to show him her ass. “It should fit a
little snugger around the butt, don’t you think?”

He choked back a reply, did an immediate
about face and headed out through the door for some cool air. The line to get
in had already begun to form, reaching halfway down the city block. From what
he’d heard, Red’s costume party was the place to be the weekend before
Halloween, and the length of the line attested to that fact.

After checking his watch once more, he
got the okay from Red and began letting customers in, one or two at a time, but
only after checking for weapons.

“Oh, Mr. Marine, you want to check me
out?” a frisky kitty cat purred in his ear.

“You’re good,” he said, giving her a
gentle shove through the door to where Janice Cuevas was waiting to take her
money.

“How about me? You want to check me for
concealed weapons, partner?”

He paused at the familiar voice,
realizing he hadn’t even been paying attention to anyone’s face. “Hey,
Niki
. How you doing tonight?”

“I’m okay. How about you? Got any
after-shocks from that bug y’all picked up?”

“I’ve got an after-shock all right, but
it ain’t from that,” he grumbled.

“Have you seen Meg, yet?” she asked,
standing off to the side, he supposed to check out his reaction to her
roommate’s costume.

“Yup.” He had excellent peripheral
vision…could see her grinning…
waiting
for him to reveal something she
could run back to Meagan with. Well
damin
if he’d
give her a thing.

“What’d you think? Cute, huh?” she
goaded.

He checked the next mob couple’s ‘toy’
weapons. “Sorry, you can’t bring this one in,” he apologized to the guy. “It’s
made of metal and looks too damn close to the real thing. Just go bring it to
your car and I’ll let you right back in. Nice job, by the way, and here, this
one’s okay.”

He lifted one shoulder, hoping to make
Niki
believe he couldn’t care less. “It’s a costume.”

He breathed a sigh of relief when she
finally left, looking somewhat disappointed in his response. Hey, if Meagan
wanted to dress like a ‘soldier’, albeit a hot, sexy as hell soldier who’d been
dipped in a bucket of
camo
paint, she had every right
to do so. He wiped his forehead. Shit, just thinking about her in that get up,
had him sweating bullets.
Bullets
. He had to admit, that garter thing
with the rounds had been a nice touch, even though there was no such thing in
the real Marines. Never the less, it was a hell of a nice touch. He wiped at
his forehead again.

“Hey man, how many times are you
gonna
look at that thing?”

The question brought him back to the
present. He looked across at the couple in front of him, realizing he’d been
daydreaming. “Sorry, man. Here you go.” He handed the cowboy back his cheaply
made plastic Colt 45. 

Get your mind back on your business,
Marine.

Ten minutes later, the queue to get in
the club had finally minimized enough for Mitch to catch his breath, when
another familiar voice caught his attention.

“Look! It’s a Jarhead. You’d think after
twenty years he’d be sick of wearing those desert
camies
.”

He looked up at Tex, accompanied by the
prettiest little zombie he’d ever seen. “Is that you, Haley?”

“Yep! Don’t pay any attention to him,
Mitch. I love seeing you like that. It kind of reminds me of Ben.”

“Ben? Oh you mean Lance Corporal Bonin!
You mean you’re dating someone who’s not around to cater to your every need?”
The answer was obvious from the way her face lit up.

“We saw each other every day before he
had to go back!” She used her hand to fan herself. “Oh, God, he’s such a nice
guy.”

“Yeah?” Mitch laughed. “Nice guys aren’t
usually the ones that make girls like you fan themselves.”

“Well, yeah, but,” she leaned in closer
so Tex wouldn’t hear. “He’s
hot
, too!”

“I don’t know about all that, but he does
seem like a nice guy. Don’t you think, big brother?” He shook Tex’s hand.

Tex gave a reluctant shrug. “I guess.”

Mitch gave his buddy the once over. “And
what about you? You’d think after thirty-eight years of being East Texas trash,
you could think of something different to wear.

“Oh, this?” Tex waved his hands at his
normal cowboy attire. He unfolded a black knee length jacket and slipped it on
over his black shirt. After a slight adjustment to his collar, he waved his
hand again.

“And just who are you supposed to be?
Doc Holliday?” Mitch said.

“Really? You don’t see it? Not even with
the neatly trimmed beard, the dimples, the blue eyes, and the brilliantly
handsome smile?” Tex smoothed his hand over his blondish brown mustache and
goatee and looked down at his sister. “He doesn’t see it, kid. How can that
be?”

Haley grinned adoringly up at her big
brother. “Put on the hat and turn around,
Matty
.”

Tex set a large black Stetson, it’s rim
curled excessively, upon his head. He made a slight adjustment at the back of
the hat and turned, flipping a long, blondish ponytail that reached the middle
of his broad shoulders.

Mitchell’s brow furrowed a moment before
a wide grin covered his face. “I’ll be damned. Semper Fi, Mr. Trace Adkins!”

“Genius! The man’s a genius!” Tex
hooted.

Haley jumped up and down excitedly,
clapping her hands. “He looks just like him, doesn’t he?”

“I guess so,” Mitch nodded, then
motioned to a group of three young women, all dressed as sexy Disney
princesses. “What do y’all think, ladies?”

Cinderella nodded vigorously, pointing
her glass slipper prop at Tex. “He sure does.”

Snow White and her framed photo of the
dwarves agreed, as did Belle and her stuffed Beast.

Tex/Trace tipped his hat at the women and
extended both of his arms. “Ladies, allow me to accompany the three of you
inside.” They wasted no time in latching onto him as he escorted them through
the entrance. He stopped and tossed a backward glance at Mitch. “Hey bro, what
can I say? Other than…wait for it…
Ladies Love Country Boys!
”

“Get on in there, asshole,” Mitchell
growled. “You are holding up my line.”

****

A low whistle cut through the air. “Man,
if I knew any Marines that looked that good, I’d still be in the Corps!”

Meagan recognized the voice before she
saw the face. She looked up at the huge man and beamed as she took in his
attire. “Thanks…it’s not every day a girl gets a compliment from Trace Adkins!”

Tex flashed his pearly whites and boyish
grin at Meagan before lifting the fake tuft of hair at the back of his hat.
“And you got it
without
seeing the ponytail!”

“Of course, I did.
Cowboy’s Back in
Town
, accompanied by his little zombie sister!” She reached out to hug the
two of them. “You alone tonight?” she asked Haley, exchanging a knowing look
with her.

“Yep. Ben left for seven months.” The
edges of her bottom lip curled down in a little pout.

“So, the two of you are…”

“We are communicating,” Haley added.
“We’ll see where it goes from here.” She clasped her hands together. “He sent me
a rose last Monday!”

“Aw, that is so sweet! And promising.”

Tex snorted. “One damn flower…big
freaking whoop. When I send roses to a lady, I never send less than a dozen.
Can I have a long-neck Corona, please? And get Haley whatever she wants,” he
said, slapping a five on the bar.

Meagan handed him an icy beer. “Ah…but
sometimes a single rose makes an even bigger statement.”

Haley lifted one hand and let it fall.
“I tried to tell him that but he doesn’t understand.”

“Most guys don’t. If Ben does, that’s
one mark for him in the pro column,” she said, drawing an imaginary check in
the air.

“He’s got several in the pro column so
far, but who’s counting?” Haley giggled.

“Oh brother…”

Meagan laughed as Haley punched Tex in
the shoulder and told him to shut up. “I always wanted a brother, but when I
see the two of you together…” she paused and turned to face them, “I want one
even more. What’ll you have to drink, Haley?”

“Aw, I’ll share
Matty
with you, Meagan. God knows there’s enough of him to go around. Give me a Dos
Equis
, please.”

“Well, thanks, but he’s Mitchell’s
Marine brother, so there could be a conflict of interest.” She handed her a
beer and deposited the money in the register.

Tex grabbed a free barstool and rested
his forearms on the surface. “What happened after I left the other night?”

“He got better, I got sick, he held my
head when I puked in the bucket. We fell asleep, I developed chills and a high
fever during the night. When I woke up the next day, Mitch was…different. Kind
of reserved, you know?” She lifted one shoulder. “He hasn’t called or gone out
of his way to talk to me since then.”

Tex’s brow rose dramatically. “Has he
seen you tonight? Dressed like that?”

“Just long enough to disapprove,
apparently.”

Tex’s deep rumble of laughter rolled in
the air. “Yeah! I can see that. Every guy in this place is
gonna
go home tonight and fantasize about you with a bar of soap.”

Haley made a face. “
Matty
!
Ew
.”

“Tex! That’s disgusting.” 

“Well, I don’t mean me!” he said, seeming
completely unfazed by their snorts of disgust.

“What’s so disgusting over here?”
Niki
said, joining their group. “And who the hell is this
big guy looking almost yummy enough to be the real Trace Adkins?”

“
Niki
! I want
you to meet some friends of mine. This is Haley Broussard and her
brother
,
Matthew “Tex” Broussard. Haley and
Tex
, this is
Niki
Reeves, my
roommate
slash
soul-sister
slash
best
friend in
the whole world.” She lifted one brow, trying her best to convey the silent,
though effective,
‘hurt her and you die’
message.

“Ah, the aforementioned
Niki
…” Tex took her hand, and then to everyone’s shock,
lifted it slowly as he leaned over to place a gentle kiss upon it. He
straightened, giving her the most charming, dimpled grin Meagan had ever seen
on a man.

She turned to him, her eyes wide with
wonder. “Holy moly, Tex. I had no idea you could turn it on like that.”

“Well, you know,” he drawled, “it’s
Niki’s
fault for throwing down the gauntlet, so to speak.”

Niki
pulled her hand back slowly and gulped. “I did…it is? I mean…I didn’t realize I
had…not that I’m complaining, mind you.”

Tex gave her a slow nod. “Yes ma’am you
certainly did—as soon as you uttered the words, ‘
almost
yummy enough to
be Trace Adkins’. I don’t like that word almost. With me it’s
gotta
be all or
nothin
’.”

Niki
crossed one booted foot over another and hooked her thumbs in the pockets of
her shorts. “Is that so?”