Page 3 of A Lot Like Love
Ryder laughed and turned, and she found it impossible not to check out his butt. His jeans, faded out and worn, hugged his frame, and she only dragged her eyes away when Shelly’s fingers dug into her arm. Then she remembered that she had to kill her friend.
“Are you insane?”
Chloe glared at her. “Me insane? You’re the one who gave him my number.”
Shelly shook her head. “Uh-uh, I’m not the bad guy here. You just turned down the hottest man you’ve probably ever met, and I did you a favor.”
Chloe turned to look at him one more time, then shrugged, deciding it was stupid to make a big deal out of it when Shelly had had so much to drink. She could just say no to him when he called, and she’d find a way to punish her friend another time.
“You need to sober up before work.”
Shelly groaned. “Can’t we just call in sick?”
Chloe shook her head and linked their arms. “Not all of us have parents footing the bill for our law school tuition,” she said. “So let’s go eat some greasy fries and you can tell me what an idiot I was for trying to act like I wasn’t interested in the hottest cowboy in Texas.”
“In Texas?” Shelly giggled. “Hell, he was the hottest goddamn cowboy in the country.”
Chloe groaned again. Next time she wouldn’t try so hard to be coy. Next time? If there was a next time she’d just sayhell yesif he asked her out. Her phone buzzed and she slipped her hand into her back pocket to pull it out. She stared at the screen, chewing the inside of her mouth and trying not to laugh.
Shelly nudged her and tried to peer over her shoulder. “It’s him, isn’t it?”
“I could kill you,” she muttered.
“Or you could just say yes.”
* * *
Ryder grinned as he stared at the screen of his iPhone. He didn’t even know her name, but he’d never had a woman turn him down before and her kind of liked it. And the way she’d been looking at him? He could tell when a woman was playing hard to get, or at least he hoped he could. It had been a long time since he’d had to chase and he liked it.
“You’ve got that look about you.”
He pushed his phone into his jeans pocket and looked up at his brother. Nate didn’t look impressed, his dark brows pulled together as he stared at him.
“What look?” Ryder gave his best innocent face, but there was no fooling his big brother.
“Is it a girl or a game?”
Ryder laughed. He could get away with lying to anyone, except his brothers. “Both.”
Nate as good as growled, the rumble in his throat signaling he was about to grab him and try to march him home.
“A girl,” Ryder clarified, walking slowly alongside Nate toward the beer stand. “Wanna get a drink? Then you can laugh when I tell you that a hot-as-hell filly just had the nerve to turn me down.”
Nate grinned. “And I bet you want her even more now, huh?”
He smiled wickedly. “Hell yeah.”
Nate stopped walking and dropped a hand to his shoulder, forcing him to stop. “Then how about you tell me all about her while the doctor checks you over.” His face looked like a thundercloud about to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting city.
“I’m fine,” Ryder muttered. “Just let it go.”
Nate was still staring at him, jaw like stone. Ryder shrugged, not giving a damn what his brother thought. He kept walking. What he wanted to do was drink, watch some rodeo, collect his title belt, and figure out how to get this mystery woman to give him the time of day. Dealing with his overprotective brother telling him for the umpteenth time that he needed a new vocation could wait.
“Don’t walk away from me, Ryder,” Nate demanded.
“Shut the hell up and come get a drink with me,” Ryder called back.
“You won’t be saying that when you’re brain damaged from all the falls.”
