Page 25 of Starting Our Chance

“No.” I sighed. “Last night, Duke was great. We just—” I paused looking for the right word. “We clicked, Nikki. It was so good.”

“So, what happened to go from good to this?” she asked, gesturing at my rumpled visage.

“I tried to be cute. To be flirty and fun.” I felt that telltale prick in my eyes and blinked hard to prevent the tears from leaking out again. “And when I brought him some damn coffee and breakfast, he acted like we were just barely friends.” I gave my boss a weak smile as I tried to switch it to girly mode. “But—then!”

“There’s more?” Nikki dropped the pencil. She stooped to pick it up and stuck it into her bun, eyes expectantly on mine.

I wrinkled my nose at my reflection. “Well, that’s the thing. Mama and I were snooping on his new farmhand. He fobbed me off and I’m hoping like hell that was why Duke was dismissive. He acted like he couldn’t get rid of me fast enough.”

“But you have the hots for him.” Nikki pushed my shoulder and grinned. “Did you do it?”

“Stop!” I laughed. Then I kept the details minimal as I divulged, “It was just more kissing. Fucking hot kissing, but just . . . oh, God, Nikki, should I be worried that he was so aloof?”

“Oh, Lord, relax, will you?” Nikki rubbed her chin. “Duke is a gentleman, which means he probably won’t go for it until y’all have some miles under your wheels. That is not why he was cold to you this morning though, so it must have been the farmhand. Who was it?”

I was feeling better already that I almost missed her question. “I never got a good look at the stranger.”

“Pity.” Nikki rubbed her chin.

“His tats sure were interesting,” I mused.

“Oh?” Nikki’s face lit up in mock amusement. “You have a thing for the bad boy ink? I don’t recollect Duke having any ink.”

“If I find out, I’ll tell you.” I winked at her. “But I wasn’t checking this other guy out. It was just that his ink fit his physique. He was deadly looking if you ask me, stronger than Duke. The way he threw those bales around. Duke needed to shove it off and waddle it to the pile. But this guy, it was as if he was lifting a pen.”

I twirled around to give Nikki a shrug. Her face had paled, and her body had gone still. I hadn’t known her long, but this wasn’t her—that much I could tell.

“Nikki.” I leaned over and placed a hand on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“Was the tat on his left shoulder blade?”

I pulled back and looked at her. “Yeah, how’d you—”

“I knew him once.” Nikki smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “He’s a no good loner who is back in town, probably on private business. He won’t stick around long. Don’t go falling in love with him. He ain’t worth your time.”

With that cryptic burst of oversharing, Nikki retreated to her office and closed her door, leaving me standing in the office bathroom and looking after her. Nikki didn’t come out for quite a while and our normal routine of chatting, looking over the schedule, and holding a briefing on the important things to address did not happen today.

I carried on with my work because this was my chance to show Nikki what I was made of. At noon, she appeared, flustered about something, and left. Shrugging it off, I typed a notice, then took phone calls and such. My mind gave me no respite, the silence forcing me to consider who that guy was with Duke. If I had to wager, I’d have guessed that he’d broken her heart at one point in time.

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