Cook County: Lucky in Love by Crystal-Rain Love Page A

hard and listened as the minister began.
    She would not cry for Lucky Masters today.
    ****
    “Hey, cowboy.”
    Lucky glanced up from one of the coolers full of bottled beer that had been set up beneath a large tent. Stacy Cove, poured into a light blue, spaghetti-strapped dress that showed an ample amount of leg and cleavage, neared him. “Hey, Stacy.”
    “Honey, you know I’m never one to rain on a party, but I don’t think alcohol is what you need right now. Hell, you look hung over already.”
    “Nothing gets by you,” he muttered as he turned away from the cooler and shoved his hands into his pockets. The cotton material felt foreign to him, and suddenly the entire suit started to itch all over. How the hell was he expected to make it through a formal ceremony without drinking if he wasn’t even allowed the comfort of blue jeans and boots? He looked down at the shiny loafers on his feet and groaned. “When is it socially acceptable to change out of this crap?”
    Stacy chuckled. “Aw, honey, you look kind of dashing. Why, if you weren’t plastered, you’d be absolutely flawless.”
    “I’m not plastered.” Lucky ignored the compliment. “I can hold my liquor.”
    “So can I,” Stacy said as she retrieved a bottle from the cooler and popped the cap before tilting it to her red lips. “However, I think I might just let you get me drunk and take advantage of me tonight. How about it, cowboy?”
    “Nobody takes advantage of you, Stacy. Your heart is never in it.” Which was why she would be the perfect woman for him, he thought as he exited the shade of the tent to lose himself in the crowd of people dancing to the country tunes blaring from a stereo that had been set outside.
    Others were eating at picnic tables scattered about or talking to each other in small clusters. Roughly eighty people had shown up for the wedding, and he swore all of them had looked at him with thinly veiled disgust at least twice during the course of the day. Hell, maybe he deserved it. He wasn’t plastered by any means, but he definitely had a buzz going on. He needed it just to keep from bailing out. Walking down the aisle with Cammie May after what he’d done to her was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. Never had he wanted to run away so much in his life. He should have stuck to women like Stacy Cove, women who knew he was only good for a night and didn’t ask for more. Women who didn’t stir things inside him that were better left alone.
    “Really? By the beer tent? You didn’t get enough already before showing up here?”
    Lucky looked over to see his brother standing at his side, his anger and disappointment on clear display in his dark eyes.
    “Hey, bro. Nice wedding. Congrats.”
    Chance made a sound in his throat that was a mixture of a scoff and a sarcastic laugh as he shook his head. “At least you didn’t puke on my shoes or pass out during the ceremony.”
    “Glad I didn’t totally ruin your day.” Lucky looked past the throng of people before them to where Kenzie hugged an older couple wishing her well. “Is Kenzie pissed at me?”
    “She’s worried about you. We both are. You have to pull yourself out of this funk, man. Talk to Cammie.”
    “It’s best I leave her alone. I’ve ruined her enough.” Lucky rubbed his sore, grainy eyes. “Look, bro, I’m happy for you, I really am, but this life you have…it’s never going to be for me. I’m not going to be the prince who saves the day and sweeps the princess off her feet. I’m just a cowboy. Plain and simple.”
    “I used to think like that, and I almost let Kenzie go because of those thoughts, but you talked sense into me. Dammit, Lucky, why can’t you do the same for yourself?”
    “I’m not you, and Cammie’s not Kenzie.”
    “Do you care about her? She’s a good woman. You deserve a good woman.”
    Lucky laughed. “A good woman deserves a hell of a lot better than me.”
    “I reckon you’re right. Cammie deserves someone