Page 65 of Unbroken

Small Town Extravaganza

JTarrivedatDani and Levi’s pre-wedding party with his arm around a tall woman with blonde curls cascading down her back. Her party dress was probably more appropriate for clubbing in Dallas than a rehearsal dinner, no matter how much of an extravaganza his mother was making it, but JT liked the way it showed off all of her assets. He couldn’t believe she was Cece’s cousin. They were complete opposites. He also couldn’t believe his luck in having Brittany agree to come with him to this party. He was happy Dani and Levi were finally tying the knot tomorrow, but after working with them on the wedding reception for weeks, he had to admit he was ready for it to be over already. At least his mother had taken over the event tonight and the Tyler caterer was doing all the food so he hadn’t had to worry about it.

“JT, baby, I’m thirsty,” Brittany pouted. “I thought you said there was going to be a bar at this thing.”

“There is, darlin’.” he assured her. “It’s right over there. Let’s go get you a drink.”

He made his way across the room, stopped frequently to say hello to friends and neighbors. It was part of being a member of a small community, everyone knowing everyone; and everyone being nosy about his date. He introduced her to the curious as he went and tried to pull her into the conversations, but he could tell she was getting impatient. She rolled her eyes, studied her nails and tugged him away before he was finished listening to whoever was talking. He had to admit to himself, it was getting kind of embarrassing, but it must be hard to be at an event where you didn’t know anyone, and your date knew everyone.

“Here we go,” JT told her as they finally made it across the large ballroom to the bar. He pulled out a stool and helped her to perch on it. JT smiled as she crossed her legs showing them off to their best advantage. “What’s your pleasure?” he asked, motioning to the bartender.

“Sex on the beach,” she said, coyly.

“Well now, darlin’, I’d love to oblige but Galveston is a good 4 hours away. How about a drink first?” JT teased.

She giggled and slapped him playfully on the chest. “Very funny. That is a drink, silly,” she said, running her hand into the open collar of his button down.

“So it is,” he agreed, turning on his trademark grin, deadly dimple in place. “A sex on the beach and an Amber Bock,” he called to the bartender who rolled his eyes at the byplay.

Drinks in hand they looked out over the crowd.

“That’s the bride and groom,” he told his date pointing to Dani and Levi on the dance floor. The dance floor was crowded but he was sure those two didn’t see anything but each other. It warmed his heart that they had been able to work things out. He’d always thought they were perfect together.

“And that tiny dictator over there is my mom,” he joked, pointing to his mother was holding court near the kitchen doors, clipboard in hand and headset in place over her perfectly coiffed hair. He knew she would have an eagle eye on every facet of this evening so was hoping she would just gloss over him and his date. He could do without the look of disapproval he knew she would give him. Once he’d past thirty, his mom had been relentless about him settling down and giving her grandbabies, but he hadn’t found anyone that interested him that long. Or no one that was appropriate. Sofia's face briefly danced across his mind. He gave himself an internal shake. Nope, she's an employee and a friend. Off limits, dude. One benefit of Zane and Maggie tying the knot was giving him a break from his mother’s relentless interest about his love life. He may have to give Zane a small break for that alone.

He refocused on his date. “My sister and her boyfriend should be here somewhere, but I don’t see them,” he said. “They’re probably in a broom closet making out somewhere,” he joked, but his date didn’t laugh. Her eyes got hard as she looked at him.

“Do they make a habit of hanging out in closets?” she asked cattily.

JT glanced at her, confused by her tone. “It was just a joke. They're just disgustingly in love and all over each other all the time. It’s pretty surprising if you knew my sister. She's always been the prim and proper one.” Her lips remained tight. “You’ve never met Maggie, right?”

Suddenly, her mouth relaxed and she smiled sweetly at him. “Of course not. We hardly run in the same circles. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been out of Dallas, actually, other than Richard and Cece’s shower that is, and that was just Irving.” She ran her long nails up his chest and let her hand come to rest at the nape of his neck. “Of course, that’s where I met you so maybe I should have expanded my horizons before now,” she purred.

JT knew when he was being played but, at the moment, he didn’t really care. He leaned down and nipped at her ear right above the chandelier type earrings she was wearing. “That’s right, baby doll,” JT crooned. “Finish your drink and let’s go have a little spin on the dance floor.”

She finished the rest of her drink in a gulp and licked her lips slowly. “I think I’d better go to the little girl’s room first,” she said breathily. “Don’t go anywhere.”

She slid off the stool letting her dress ride up her legs giving JT a glimpse of red lace underneath before primly tugging it down. JT watched her go as she sashayed through the tables to the short hallway near the kitchens. He cringed a little when he saw his mother give her a look as she passed. He could see exactly what she was thinking Who brought that to my party? JT shook it off. It was just a date to a party. He probably wouldn’t even see her after this so who cared what his mother thought of her.

A slap on the back had him turning to find Zane next to him at the bar. “Hey, man, good to see you,” Zane said, trying to set a friendly tone with his future brother-in-law. “I hear you went to pick up a mystery date. Where’s the lucky lady?”

JT remembered his promise to his sister and tried to match Zane’s affable greeting. “Went to the little girl’s room.” He took a sip of his beer. “Where’s Maggie?”

“Your mom has her on caterer babysitting duty tonight so I’m going to be on my own quite a bit. I was hoping you could introduce me to some folks,” Zane said. “Since I’m going to be the new doctor in town, it would help me to get to know more people and it looks like your mom has invited most of the county to this thing.”

JT had to chuckle at that. His mom had definitely gone overboard with this party. “It sure looks like it,” he agreed. “I’ll get you started with Mayor Calhoun. I think he may know more people than Mama, if you can believe that.”

JT looked in the direction of the bathrooms but didn’t see Brittany coming back toward him yet, so he took Zane through the throngs of people to meet the mayor and the large group that had gathered around him. After a few introductions and a bit of conversation, he left Zane chatting to the group and went to find his date.