Twenty minutes later, he sat huddled with Chase and Logan as Georgia twirled her blonde hair and did a giggle thing that kind of made him want to vomit. The bile was there because his baby sister had managed to thrust her boobs out and they jiggled with each laugh.
He turned from the monitor they had set up in the kitchen. Luckily Chase always carried around some surveillance equipment, this one a very small camera they had placed in the living area of the dormitory.
Georgia had been terrifically excited at the idea of going undercover, and so far she’d done her job. She caught a couple of cowboys with her “woe is me, I need a drink of water” routine and she’d perfectly set them up to get caught on tape.
“OMG, this place is so cool,” Georgia said, leaning over and touching one of the cowboys on the arm. “Did y’all decorate it yourself?”
The cowboy, who couldn’t be much past twenty-one, swallowed visibly. “No, ma’am. That was Mrs. Barnes. She did a great job making sure we’re all comfortable. We’re very grateful to have her take such good care of us.”
“Mrs. Barnes is a wonderful lady,” Cowboy Number Two said, his shoulders up near his ears. It was brutally obvious neither of the young men were used to female visitors.
Georgia giggled, and Ben wondered why she’d bothered with that tank top. It barely covered anything at all. He turned and noticed Chase had a look of revulsion on his face, too.
Logan, however, was practically drooling.
Ben quietly slapped Logan upside the head. “Dude, sister.”
Logan shrugged. “It’s not like I want to look, man. My eyes just go there.” He frowned as he looked back down. “And if you want to slap somebody, slap that motherfucker. The cowboy hasn’t stopped staring since they let her in the dorm. I don’t know that they’re supposed to have females in there, anyway.”
“They’re not underage and Barnes isn’t running a prison,” Chase said, his eyes back on the screen. “And I’m way more worried for those two poor boys. Georgia would eat them alive. Why can’t she get to the point? Did she just start talking about her makeup?”
“She’s doing fine. If she just went in and started asking for drugs, they would guess something was up.” Ben was actually a little impressed. Georgia’s dumb blonde routine had nicely baited the hook. “She’s an actress. Give her a little credit.”
Chase rolled his eyes. “Dude, she’s done a couple of plays so far off Broadway it was on the West Coast. One of them she didn’t even have a line in. And a commercial for hemorrhoid cream. I had to explain to her what a hemorrhoid was and then all I got was a hearty ‘ewww.’”
And sometimes her dumb blonde thing was more than an act.
“So, what do you guys do around here for fun?” Georgia asked, her smile wide and seemingly innocent.
Cowboy Number One took a deep breath, as though he needed to fortify himself in order to speak. “Well, miss, we do enjoy the rodeo.”
“OMG! Me, too. It’s my favorite street. I just love Louis Vuitton.” Georgia bounced a little. And so did her breasts.
And still he had to admit there was an open enthusiasm for life his sister had that was infectious. He would give a lot to see Natalie smile the way Georgia did, without a single reservation.
Making Natalie smile was rapidly becoming his reason for living.
Cowboy Number Two scratched his head. “Uhm, I don’t rightly know anyone on the circuit named Louis Vuitton. He sounds a little foreign to me.”
Cowboy One leaned over, his eyes wide. “The diner in town is real nice. They have great pie. I really love pie. Cream pie, especially. You should come with us.” Though the monitor was black and white, there was no mistaking the way the boy blushed. “I mean, we could take you into town. Not make you come.”
“Darryl,” Cowboy Two hissed.
“Idiot. Someone needs to teach that boy some manners,” Logan muttered under his breath. “This isn’t working. I should go and get her out of there now. This could get dangerous.”
Ben stared at Logan. Supposedly he had some law enforcement experience. If the kid couldn’t see that those two cowboys couldn’t even talk around a girl much less assault one, he needed to change professions. “I think she’ll be fine.”
“That might be fun, but where can a girl get a glass of wine around here?” Georgia asked. She was actually damn good. She never paid attention to one more than the other, giving both sweet smiles. She wasn’t overly seductive, just the right amount of sex appeal and innocence.
It was obviously working on Logan.
Cowboy Two gave her a weak smile and pulled a little at his collar. “Well, miss, we’re really more beer drinkers.”
Ben looked at Logan, who had crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Georgia’s marks like they could see him through the screen. “You know, I could arrange a date for the two of you.”
Logan sighed. “That’s not happening. She’s a brat. I don’t need that kind of tension in my life. Though I will admit, she’s awfully hot. If she could keep her mouth closed, maybe. Nah. She does this thing with her eyes that makes me feel like an idiot. Besides, I’m not doing the whole love and marriage thing. Do you know what happens to dudes in Bliss who fall for a chick? Bullets happen. Every man I’ve known who went loopy for a girl in Bliss got his ass handed to him. Rye took a baseball bat to the head. Max, shot. Nate, shot, Caleb’s truck got trashed. Don’t discount that. It was a nice truck. Alexei got shot numerous times, and on more than one occasion after he met Holly, but I think he deserved every fucking bullet. Hell, Alexei fell for Holly and I got tortured. Nope. Ain’t happening to me. My momma sent me a note just yesterday talking about a new trio in town. Seems like the new mechanics hooked up with some girl from New York City. Yeah. Jesse, shot. Gemma nearly drowned. Cade nearly damned drowned. I’m playing it safe. No hearts and flowers for this boy. Bachelor for life.”
Georgia was going on and on about some terrible jogging accident she’d just had. Maybe Chase was right and this was going to be a horrible bust. “The good news is you aren’t in Bliss so it’s safe to give it a try.”
Logan huffed a little. “But I’ll go back.”
It was the first time he’d heard Logan talk about going back to Bliss. Everyone was making progress today. “I thought you couldn’t live in the same town as that Russian dude who got you tortured.”
Georgia had her ankle out, letting the cowboys inspect it. Where the fuck was she going?
The former deputy shrugged. “I’m not going to let him keep me out of my home. He can stay on his side and I’ll stay on mine.”
Ben wasn’t sure how that would work out.
Chase laughed a little. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
Georgia was sighing. “It really hurts. And I haven’t been able to sleep for days. I need to relax a little.”
“Yeah.” Number One couldn’t seem to get his eyes off Georgia’s cleavage.
“Do you know where I could get some valium or something? I would smoke a little weed, but it’s illegal here. Can you believe that?”
Both cowboys stared at her.
“It’s illegal everywhere,” Two sputtered.
Georgia threw back her head, all those blonde tresses shaking. “No it’s not, silly. It’s totally legal where I come from. In California we use it in guacamole.”
Ben let his head hit his hand. Seriously. She’d gone through college. No wonder his father stopped paying for tuition.
“Y’all put marijuana in guacamole?” Logan asked, scratching his head.
They really were a good match. “No, in California medicinal marijuana is legal to treat glaucoma. My sister sometimes gets things wrong.”
Chase snorted. “I wish we were taping this. This is some family Christmas viewing.”