Libby scanned the area around the ring and got another unwelcome surprise. “Yeah, and those guys with their phones out are the other two Derrick bros.” She turned to Raz, expecting to find the man stone-faced or a little ticked off.
Oddly enough, he wasn’t.
He grinned like an idiot, but there was a fire, or perhaps mischief, behind his twinkling eyes.
“Raz?” she said, concentrating on his bizarre expression.
“Yeah, plum?”
“What are you going to do?”
His grin widened. “Charity work.”
What did that mean?
Libby shared a look with Penny and Char. Her friends stood there, wide-eyed, still staring at the Derricks.
“What are the chances?” Charlotte uttered, shaking her head.
“Want me to hurl a spatula at them?” Mitch asked, eyeing the food tents.
“Or I could hack in and ruin their credit or put them on the FBI’s most wanted list,” Rowen offered.
Libby swallowed past the lump in her throat. “You guys know about this, too?”
“We told them, Libbs,” Penny answered. “They were as upset about it as we were.”
“We’re ready to tear these guys apart for you, Libby. Say the word,” Mitch added, craning his neck to investigate another food tent, presumably in search of spatulas.
“Or if you think ruining their credit would be going too easy on them, I can pull out my phone and arrange for them to be sent to a Siberian prison camp,” Rowen added.
Libby’s gaze bounced between Mitch and Rowen. “You guys aren’t fooling around.”
A wicked smile bloomed on Mitch’s lips. “I spied a spatula. There, in the rocky mountain oyster tent.”
“No need for scrotum cooking utensils or high-tech cyber hacking skills, Mr. Nerd and Mr. Spatula-Obsessed Chef,” Raz countered, as cool as a cucumber. “While I’m sure Libby appreciates the sentiment, you, my bloody prick chat mates, can sit this one out. The beefcake can handle it.”
“I told you he called it that,” Rowen said under his breath.
“I call it man chat,” Mitch murmured.
“Do you really?” Rowen asked. “I never thought to name our group text.”
“Yeah, keep it simple, but add an emoji for a little pizazz. I like the middle finger. It’s edgy,” Mitch continued, pulling out his phone.
Libby shook her head. She didn’t have time to focus on the men’s adventures in texting, not with Raz’s statement swirling in the air.
The beefcake can handle it.
It didn’t sit well with her.
“Raz, I don’t need you to fight my battles.”
She watched the man crack his knuckles, clearly not taking heed of her statement. The beefcake! Didn’t he understand? She was an independent woman. She’d built her life around not needing a man in her corner, and she couldn’t have him getting in trouble either. This was a charity event. And despite Derrick being a colossal asshat, he had donated to the donkey rescue. She pressed onto her tiptoes, gathered the fabric of Raz’s T-shirt in her hands, and pulled him toward her. He needed to know that she meant business.
“This isn’t your fight, Erasmus.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Your fights are my fights, plum.”
“Wow,” she breathed. She wasn’t expecting that.
Could he mean that?
And more than that.
If he did mean it, could she accept it?
Could she trust in him?
Was that what was going on here?
She stared into his gray eyes, and while there was a touch of homicidal maniac glinting in there, she saw something else that scared her even more.
Devotion.
The emotion radiated around them in a blue-violet cloud.
“You can’t maim him or leave him requiring immediate medical attention,” she whispered-shouted.
He made a sourpuss face. “I can’t?”
“Of course, you can’t!”
“I’m teasing, plum. He’ll be fine, more or less.”
More or less?
“I’ll let the universe guide me,” he added as euphoric energy circled him like a psychic tornado.
“Erasmus Cress, will you join us in the ring?” Maud called, her voice echoing through the square.
“Duty calls,” the man crooned, then tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “It’s time to pay my regards to Silas the Snake’s biggest fan.”
That’s right! She’d told him Derrick had bet a boatload of money on the Irish boxer.
She tried to order her thoughts. “You look like you’re pondering bodily harm.”
“Oh, I’m pondering, plum.”
This was not good.
“Libby Lamb,” he said in that voice that made her core clench.
“Yes?”
“Namaste,” he purred. And sweet Sanskrit, the word had never sounded dirtier.
“Namaste, and please try to channel healing into your metaphysical orbit to counter your cosmically crazy vibe. Remember, there’s a vortex in this town. There’s a good chance it can amplify emotional responses,” she replied, sounding downright crazy herself with that word salad.
He flashed her that arrogant grin, and hello to another round of core clenching! “I don’t know what half of what you said means,” he replied, then tapped the tip of her nose. “But I like hearing you say it.”
This beefcake!
“This isn’t a joke, Raz.”
“I’m well aware. I told you, the beefcake can handle it.”
That was one heck of a to-be-determined statement.
She released his shirt and looked on as he sauntered toward the ring like a jaunty gunslinger traipsing into a Wild West saloon.
Okay, universe, throw this gal a bone.
The last thing she needed was another viral video.
She turned to her friends. “So…I’m not sure how this will play out,” she offered, working to put a bright spin on the bizarro situation.
Mitch stared up at the ring. “I can tell you one thing. This night got a lot more interesting.”
That was one way to put it.
Libby looked over her shoulder and caught Sebastian’s eye. He jammed a bite of hot dog into his mouth, then waved to her, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Raz wouldn’t do anything monumentally bad to the douchebag donkey donor in front of his son.
He wouldn’t.
He couldn’t.
But her beefcake was generating a psychic truckload of alpha-infused energy.
Anything was possible with an aura like that.
No wonder they called him the Lion. There was no missing his King of the Jungle vibe.
Was it what she usually went for?
Not at all.
Her usual guy was more of a Zen Dougie type.
Was it hot as hell to feel those alpha vibes crash over her like she’d driven into a pure male magnetism car wash with the top down?
Every tittering chakra in her body said, oh, yes!
“Let’s move in closer,” Penny said, taking her hand.
The group worked their way to the front of the crowd and snagged a spot against the side of the ring. From here, they could see and hear everything. Libby’s heart beat a mile a minute as Raz helped Maud and Bob exit the ring, and more and more people gathered around for the show.