Page 19 of Breaking Emily's Rules
I blotted for a minute before I realized how close I was getting to his crotch. I turned in desperation to Rachel, only to see her doubled up in laughter, wiping her eyes.
Stone shook his head, scowling. “You’re dangerous, girl.”
Oh, epic fail. As if I was Cinderella at the crack of midnight, I turned, grabbed my purse from the booth and ran out of the café. I could barely hear the sound of Rachel behind me, calling out my name.
Maybe if I was lucky, really blessed, I would turn into a pumpkin.
I reached my truck and climbed in, ready to peal rubber out of the parking lot.Ask a man out? When will I listen to that inner little voice? A klutz should never ask a guy out in the vicinity of any kind of liquid.
Rachel banged on the passenger side window, so I unlocked the door.
“Are you happy now?”
Rachel opened the door and let herself inside. “I’m sorry I laughed. That wasn’t fair. But hey, you did it.”
“I made a fool out of myself.”
“Who cares? I’ve never known you to even approach a stranger, and there you were, doing it. So what if coffee and gravity won? I do think he would have said yes, had you not run out on him.”
I dropped my head to the steering wheel. I’d run out on Stone. Again. No point in telling Rachel this was round two. “I did run out on him.”
“I don’t blame you,” Rachel continued. “With a man like that, you want to put your best foot forward. Maybe you should go back in there and try again.”
“No way, Rachel. I’m done listening to your bright ideas.”
Rachel elbowed me. “You know what? You’ve proved it. You’re a wild woman. Why don’t you do something really wild, like get your pilot’s license?”
“Are you nuts?”
“Why not? Your namesake did, so there’s some connection to the past there. It has nothing to do with men, right? And if you want to do something different, step outside your comfort zone. Does it get any more different for you than that?”
As a matter of fact, it didn’t. I’d always had my feet planted firmly on the ground, both literally and figuratively. But flying lessons? I thought about it while I peeled out of the parking lot. “It would make a nice human interest story for the alumni newsletter.”
“You bet it would.”
Pilot’s license. Crazy, yes, but wasn’t I courting crazy? “I’ll think about it.”
* * *
Stone
“Are you okay?”The barista handed Stone another coffee, a sheepish look on her face. “This one’s on the house.”
His first visit to the establishment and he’d been bathed in the stuff. Damn Matt for getting him hooked on the coffee here. “Yeah. Thanks.” Now he’d have to turn around and go back home to change, and he could look forward to another encounter with Winston when he did.
“Emily’s always been a klutz. But I will say, I’ve never seen her ask a guy out before. This is one for the books,” the girl said as she came around to mop the floor.
And what the hell had that been about? Emily’s eyes had widened in shock when he’d turned to see who had asked him out in a voice that sounded like that of a sex phone operator. Hadn’t she told him she was not in the habit of going out with strangers? And why the hell was she constantly running out on him? He still hadn’t heard “sorry” come out of her mouth, but at least this time, the apology had been written all over her face.
“I’m guessing she comes in here a lot,” Stone said, dumping the napkins in the trash can.
“Emily? You could say that. Her family owns Fortune Ranch, if you’re interested in following up on that date request.”
A tempting thought, admittedly, but maybe best to stay away from the girl. First his jaw, then hot coffee spilled inches from his crotch. He couldn’t afford to lose a limb at this point. “Fortune Ranch?”
“It’s not a cattle ranch anymore. Mostly where we have the high school’s Sadie Hawkins dance, picnics and big company parties. She’s going to add weddings now.”
He looked out the storefront and saw Emily hit her head on the steering wheel of her truck. He recognized the woman who had run after her, since she’d come in a couple of weeks ago to talk to them about newspaper advertising.
