Cowgirl Up and Ride (Rough Riders #3)(98)

A rowdier chorus of boos and whoops boomed. At the back table by the punchbowl, drinks were raised in a toast—then the members of the Ladies Guild of First Methodist Church…had a chugging contest.


Whoa. Getting out of hand in here.


AJ’s focus returned to Glenda calling for order after a fistfight broke out. Carolyn McKay stepped in to stop it. No doubt she had plenty of experience breaking up fights with her brawling bunch.


“We’re down to our final contestant.” Glenda slipped a rolled bill between AJ’s teeth. “Amy Jo, shown ’em how it’s done, girl.”


Drunken bellows of encouragement floated from the church ladies’ table.


Mr. Angel spun sideways and performed his cheesy lounge singer dance. When he gyrated in front of her, she said, “Turn around. We need to distract them before they riot.” It finally clicked what she meant and he straddled her lap with his butt in her face instead of his bulge. She waited while he dry-humped the air in front of her.


Good God. This was horrid. Women liked this?


And what the heck was that noise? Like splintering wood?


“Settle down, ladies, we’re getting to the good part. Go, Amy Jo.”


Amidst shouts of Amy Jo, Amy Jo, Amy Jo, AJ inhaled a deep breath when the stripper turned around. She slid the twenty beneath the G-string above his right hipbone.


She’d almost made the corner of the fabric to tuck the money into the pouch, when the outer door to the bar burst open.


Curious men poured in, including Cord McKay.


Their eyes locked. And her mouth was dangerously close to a stripper’s…pole.


Rage flared in his dark blue eyes.


For the first time in her life AJ felt the urge to be contrary. Cord was already pissed, how much madder could he get? So amidst the confusion, keeping her gaze firmly on Cord’s, she dropped the cash in the man’s banana hammock and used her teeth to snap the stripper’s G-string like a rubber band.


Cord was infuriated.


The stripper yelled, “Ouch!” When he caught sight of the deputy’s arrival, the stripper snatched his duffel bag and slunk out the back door half-naked.


Glenda shouted, “Amy Jo wins!”



AJ hopped up and snagged her prize off the podium and hefted it in the air like she’d won the gold buckle at the rodeo.


A few women noticed and clapped.


Carolyn McKay floated her a thumbs up before she and her sister snuck out.


The deputy and male bar patrons stared in horror at the decorations and the leftover food. And Bebe and Toots were having a sword fight with two monstrously long and anatomically correct penis-shaped swords.


Which wasn’t nearly as much of an eyeful as the three women bouncing on a six-foot inflatable penis like it was a buckin’ bull. And two other women slow dancing with their life-size phallic partners.


Oh yeah. Keely would be absolutely pea green with envy.


Liza kept a silly grin on her face as Noah climbed up on the stage and helped her to her feet. “My Prince Charming.”


“My drunken bride.”


She giggled. “It was a grr-reat partay.”


“I see that. Ready to return to the castle, princess?”


“Yep.” Liza grinned at AJ as Noah scooped her into his arms and carried her out.


“They’ll be talkin’ about this one for years.”