Page 18 of Lady Luck's Kiss
A hot, stunning, sexy, down-to-earthgentleman.
Clenching the steering wheel, she ground her teeth at the fierce longing she felt right now watching him walk up the driveway to the cabin. Throwing the truck into reverse, she began to back out against her will.
Was it possible to fall in love that fast?
9
CHARLIE
“Spill it! Before I get upset that you didn’t call me last night!” Beth threatened, shaking her Starbucks cup towards where Charlie sat totaling the order on Jack’s truck repair.
She had been up most of the night, utterly beside herself thinking of that single kiss and where it could have gone. She regretted leaving his driveway and felt ashamed that she was that loose with a man, that she could even consider just throwing out her morals out the window on a whim because of one gorgeous smile - and the man behind it. She had not been interested in anyone for so long. Now, some sexy rodeo cowboy swaggers into her life and knocks it all upside down?
“Did ya’ bang him till your teeth shook in your head like a set of maracas?”
“What? NO! Geez! Who do you think I am? I don’t go ‘banging’ men on the first date - or any date,” Charlie repeated, using imaginary quotes in the air to get her point across. “Or any man that comes knocking. Marriage, remember? Some of us believe in marriage, vows, and happily-ever-afters.”
“Well Iknoooooowthat, silly. Buddy is here all the time sniffing after you and you have yet to bang him.”
“Can you not - please?” Charlie grimaced, swallowing back bile. “I think I’m gonna be sick. Those two words: Buddy and bang – do not belong in the same sentence in this house.” She put her hand over her stomach and forehead for dramatic effect.
“I guess that’d answer my question with a big, fat NO. Either that or your man was a lousy lay. If you have sex and you are grumpy the next day, then something is seriously wrong in the sheets.”
“You are vulgar, I swear! And for the last time - I am not sleeping with someone before I get married.”
“No, I’m honest. You are thirty years old. You have your own business and you are a strong woman. This isn’t the Middle Ages where if you sleep with someone you are ruined. Heck no! Try him on for size and see if he is compatible. The fire might be there but if your cowboy can’t ring your bell, it might be time to look for another musician. Ya’ get me?”
“Crudely effective descriptions, and yes. I understand. Adopt the Baird-Boy-Village bicycle lifestyle?”
“It’s one man, honey! That does not make you Matthew Baird or the village bicycle in the slightest. It makes you a cranky, uptight prude when you don’t get any nookie in your cookie. Geez, you’re in a foul mood today.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Drink your coffee and get over it…with it? On it? Whatever! But girl, get the attitude corrected or you are gonna run off customers if you bark at them like you do me. I can take it - paying peeps… not so much.”
“You’re the best.”
“I know I am. By the way, your cowboy just pulled up in an Uber. So, while I am ‘vulgar’ as you put it, I have no desire to see you two making spicy, goo-goo eyes at each other. If I want to see that I gouge my eyes out. Next time I come by, though, if you bitemy head off, I’m gonna tell Buddy that you are incredibly shy and want him sooooooo badly.”
“BETH! YOU WOULDN’T!” Charlotte roared in shock and outrage, coming off of the wooden stool she sat upon. If anyone dropped any hint to Buddy, she’d never get rid of him and that was beyond the pale.
“Try me, Ten-Speed. I love you to pieces, but dang, girl! Make with the happy stuff with your man, okay?” Beth blew a kiss towards where Charlotte stood at the counter and flew through the doorway, ringing the overhead bell on her way out.
Jack stepped out of the sedan and paid the driver. Charlie saw that he waved politely at Beth who was grinning from ear to ear. In his arms were a large picnic basket and a bottle of wine. Apparently, date number two was starting earlier than she expected with little warning.
While Charlie had been calculating his total so far, she had only finished not long ago bleeding the coolant system. She still had yet to take the truck out for a spin to see if it overheated. It had idled in the stall for about thirty minutes safely, but there was a distinct difference between letting a car idle and driving it. And unfortunately for her, that meant she had sweat and grime everywhere.
Sighing dejectedly, she took a deep breath and prepared herself. It wasn’t every day that Cinderella met her Prince Charming in coveralls and smelling like axle grease.
“Hey there. I hope I’m not too early?”
“Nope, you just get to see me at my very finest,” she quipped and gnashed her teeth as she saw his surprised expression. “Listen, I’m sorry. I didn’t sleep well last night and, honestly, I’m a filthy train wreck right now. I just got the water pump on the truck and was about to go on a test drive.”
“That’s great. I think.”
“Maybe. Hopefully, it is.”
“I’m sure it is. You look like you know what you’re doing.”
