Read Online Honky Tonk Christmas by Carolyn Brown - Free Book Online Page B

streak of dirt in its wake. “That mean you don’t get to watch R-rated blood, guts, gore, and war movies anymore?”
    “Sure I do,” Chad said. “Just not with Gloria. So can I have your kids that night? I’ll take them with me after work and we’ll bring them home to you after the movie. We’re staying in the trailer that night and then going over to Weatherford to do some shopping on Saturday.”
    “You sure she wants to spend her time with kids?” Holt asked. He’d never hear the word Weatherford again without thinking about taking Sharlene to her hotel and accidentally falling asleep with her in his arms. She hadn’t mentioned it and he sure wasn’t going to. This job was working out too well for all of them to jeopardize it by saying something about how drunk she’d been or how unladylike she had been the morning after.
    “Says she does. We have a blast every time you share with us,” Chad answered.
    “You better run, boy. Next thing she’ll be wanting a couple of her own,” Bennie chuckled.
    Chad grinned. “Never know.”
    ***
    Sharlene fell back on the sofa and willed her heart to stop racing. It wasn’t fair to be so attracted to a man who’d seen her piss drunk.
    “But I am,” she said breathlessly. “But that don’t mean I can’t get over it. I had the chicken pox when I was sixteen and I got over that so I can damn well get over this. So settle down, heart—and brain, you stop throwing up those naughty visions. Think about Larissa and her new baby and the new addition to the Honky Tonk. Don’t think about Holt Jackson.”
    She smiled when she remembered her first impression of Larissa in the Honky Tonk. She had wondered what a classy woman like that was doing running a two-bit bar and she’d been right. So was her first impression of Holt right? Was he even remotely interested in Sharlene?
    Her cell phone rang and she finally located it in her purse on the third ring. “Hello,” she said without looking at the caller ID.
    “I heard Holt Jackson is down there building an addition onto the Tonk,” Larissa said.
    “Speak of the devil and he shall appear. I was just thinking of the first time I came into the Honky Tonk and my first impression of you and how wrong I’d been. I hear a baby in the background. Let’s talk about babies. That’s a lot more fun than talking about men or two-by-fours.” Sharlene sidestepped the Holt issue.
    “Ruby is beautiful. She’s sleeping four hours at a stretch now and has Hank wrapped around her finger so tight that he’s become a contortionist. Now, about the Tonk. You think that addition will put an end to the cowboys and owners magic charm? That you’ll be free of it if you make the Tonk look different?” Larissa said.
    “Hell, I don’t know,” Sharlene said.
    “Aha! I hear frustration in your voice so I know something is going on. I’m driving down there if you don’t talk to me,” Larissa said.
    “Okay, but you’re going to get stars in your eyes and get all romantic and it wasn’t like that. It was a big mistake that’s circling around to bite me on the ass and it’s got big teeth and I’m scared I might have said some things I shouldn’t, but he’s not actin’ all strange so I’m hoping I didn’t…” She stopped to inhale.
    “Good God, there’s a cowboy involved, isn’t there?” Larissa said.
    “Yes, but not like Hank or Travis or Jarod. This time it’s not even a thinkable situation. I got drunk and we’d met the day before when he came to give me an estimate so he took me to the hotel room. I passed out and he was a gentleman,” Sharlene explained. “Wait a minute, Waylon is at the door. He must need to go to the bathroom.”
    “Waylon stays in the house. He has a litter pan in the bathroom. Are you still drunk?” Larissa asked.
    “Come on in, honey,” Sharlene said.
    “Judd chased the pee out of me,” Waylon giggled.
    “Who are you talking to?” Larissa asked.
    “I told you, Waylon had to use the