Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 97836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“No,” I corrected belligerently. “That’s just it. Eden’s not even pregnant! She got her period when we landed in Vegas. But I told her it could still work—I mean, we were high school sweethearts, you know? And after high school, too, occasionally, here and there. And the whole town prob’ly figures we’ll end up together, so it just makes sense. That’s what I told her. It just makes sense.”
It was definitely making less sense now that I was trying to explain it to a stranger.
“Are you in love with her?” The question in his deep, calm voice made me stop and think.
“Well… no. I do love her. She’s a good person. Funny, smart. Hard worker. She’s an outdoor racer, you know? Like the wilderness triads?”
His forehead crinkled. “No, I don’t know. But she sounds great. What did she say when you told her your idea to get married?”
A woman with long brown hair and a very cropped top slid between us to get the bartender’s attention. When he came over, she ordered a rum and Diet Coke and turned to me. “And what’re you having, cutie pie?”
I blinked and tried to ignore the huff of laughter coming from the city boy on her other side. “Uh… whiskey rocks?”
After ordering the two drinks, she rubbed my shoulder and then did a kind of finger-walking thing down my arm to take my hand in hers. “Wanna dance after our drinks?”
“Oh, no, thank you, ma’am. I’m not much for dancing to this kind of music. Wouldn’t know how, really.”
She smiled at me, her face lighting up in a way that made her look even prettier than she’d first appeared. She was a beautiful woman, and for a moment, I considered a casual encounter with her. It was Vegas, after all. And no one back home needed to know. Maybe it would even help me forget the pitiful look on Eden’s face when she’d tried to let me down gently.
“I could show you, cowboy,” she purred. “As long as you let me wear that sexy hat of yours.”
I clutched the hat in my lap tighter. Not everybody realized it, but wearing a person’s hat had a certain kind of significance—a more than casual encounter significance at the very least. My dad had given me this hat, and I’d never let anyone else wear it. I’d be damned if I was going to let a total stranger wear it on a dance floor in Las Vegas, no matter how much I’d had to drink.
“No, thank you, ma’am,” I repeated as politely as possible.
“Your manners are just the cutest thing! Come on. Dance with me. I’ve got some friends over there, so you can bring your…” She turned to the man sitting on the stool next to me. “Friend?”
The man let out a near silent breath before inhaling and saying, “Boyfriend.”
I tilted my head, trying to decide if I’d heard him right.
The lady seemed to be doing the same. “I’m sorry, what? Did you say—”
“The overly polite cowboy is my boyfriend. And if anyone’s going to teach him how to dance to club music, it’s me.” He winked at her, suddenly all charm.
The woman’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…”
“Not your fault,” I told her, feeling heat flood my cheeks. I didn’t want to make the situation more complicated by contradicting the man, but I’d also never pretended to be something I wasn’t before. Dishonesty made me want to puke.
She looked back and forth between us as the bartender set the drinks down. “You know… I can see it now. You two are kinda hot together. But, like, it’s weird, too. He’s all… cowboy, and you’re all… Wall Street. How’d you two meet?”
“At a bar,” the man said with a straight face. “I could tell he was upset about something, so I sat down and tried to cheer him up. Next thing you know, here we are in Vegas.” He shot her a wink. “Who knows, maybe we’ll get hitched while we’re here. What do you think, baby?” He leaned around her and grinned at me.
A fluttery buzz hit my stomach, and I felt a strange urge to giggle. “I did come here ready to get married.”
When he barked out a laugh, I felt like I’d scored all the points in a game I hadn’t known I was playing.
By the time the woman left us, we were both laughing uncontrollably and ordering another round.
“Thanks for that,” I told him sincerely. “I hate letting anyone down.”
He shrugged easily. “I’m a problem solver. It’s what I do.” With another one of those smiles that warmed me like whiskey, he added, “And seeing your face go red was just an added benefit.”
My cheeks went even hotter, and I toyed with the brim of my hat some more. “Feels like we’ve been talking an awful lot about me. What about you? You said earlier that you’d had a bad day.” I looked him up and down. “Finance conference get a little rough?”