Page 61 of Heart & Hope

“I’m sorry, Rubes. It’s possible she won’t put it together. And if she does, maybe she won’t say anything?”

“Maybe. I hope so.”

“But here’s the deal. It was this girl, Starr, that I met at a bar one Friday, months ago. Nothing happened; I wasn’t interested. But she apparently remembers me.”

Now something like guilt sits in Ruby’s eyes as she worries her bottom lip through her teeth.

“What?” I ask.

She cringes. “I may have spoken to her in Lewistown one night?”

I chuckle. “What did you do, Ruby Robbins?”

“I threw wine in her face. But”—she holds a hand up, her best lawyer face taking over—“in my defense, she was bad-mouthing someoneverydear to me. And she so,sodeserved it.”

I am trying to stifle the hysterics bubbling up my insides. My grip turns white on the wheel. I pull over by a small barber shop and slide the truck into park. “You are telling me that Starr was smack-talking Reed Rawlins, and you took her out?”

“Well, not in the Mackinlay sense of taking someone out.” She waves her hands in the air.

I should hope not.

But I slide a hand over my face as I fall apart with laughter. She huffs a small laugh and then her hand wanders over my jaw. “Reed, she washuntingyou for—” Her eyes close as she shakes her head, so subtle. “For some kind of threesome, or something.”

She swallows hard.

And the wind disappears from my lungs as her face turns to stone at the devastation lining her eyes. Her shoulders plummet with each breath.

“Rubes.”

Her hand drops from my jaw. “I know it’s none of my business, but god, she was so disgusting. I wanted to slam my fistinto her face. She’s lucky all she got was that top-shelf bottle of red.”

I huff a laugh, and her eyes fly open. “Reed, it’s not funny!”

Leaning over, I cup her face with my hands, and the wide-eyed devastation that was there moments ago returns. “You being jealous, baby? That’s not funny at all. It’s sweet.”

Her breaths shallow out. Her fingers wrap around my wrists. “I?—”

“Tell me, Rubes.”

She pulls away and purses her lips, staring out the window. I kill the engine and climb out of the truck. Outside her door, her brown eyes burn into mine through the tinted glass. I open the door, and she turns on the seat to climb out, but I wedge between her legs and put my arms on the top frame of the truck door rim. “You sure you’re hungry?”

Now, every breath I take is not enough, and the stretch in my jeans from the solid hard-on she gave me with those eyes alone should be outlawed.

“Reed,” she rasps.

Ruby saying my name will never get old.

“I’m right here, baby.”

Her fingers wrap around my collar. The warmth of them brushing over my collarbones sends electricity straight to my heart. My left hand dangles from the rim of the doorframe, and she glances at the ring.

She swallows hard. “Maybe we should grab our food to go . . .”

Chapter Fourteen

RUBY

Reed has my head all fucked up. My rules are fading from black-and-white to greyer by the minute. And holy hell, if Mary-Sue gets wind of his real name... I can’t even think about that now.

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