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Is that why I can’t stop thinking about her? Maybe it’s the challenge; the game of getting her to give into me so that I can be right. That she’s just like all the other women who have let us use each other to forget about all the other shit in our lives.
Except I know she won’t. I know that if Dakota and I give into each other we’re going to explode like supernova, leaving both of us broken beyond repair.
Chapter Seven
Dakota
“Ican’t believe you’re going through with this,” Addie mutters as she sits on my bed, watching me intently.
Addie was the first friend I made when I moved to Whiskey Falls. We gravitated toward each other one night at the Whiskey Dam, sharing our love of a good Scotch and a low tolerance for assholes.
“What else could I do? I panicked and grabbed the arm of the first man I saw. How was I supposed to know it was Chance?” I touch up my lipstick in the mirror, avoiding her gaze in the reflection. “Plus, it’s not a big deal. I’ll let him take me out to a couple of dinners, show me off for a few rodeo events, and then we part ways. No harm, no foul.”
“No harm… I swear I’m going to have to knock some sense into you. There’s no such thing as ‘no harm’ when it comes to Chance. He chews up and spits out women like they’re gum. How many women have we heard crying over him not calling them back or refusing to see them after ‘the best night’ of their lives?” She places her clasped hands under her chin, batting her eyelashes like a damsel in distress.
“Do you know him?” I meet her gaze in the mirror’s reflection.
“No, I’ve never met him.”
“Exactly. You’re going off of what some heartbroken buckle bunny said while drunk in a bar.”
“And you’ve spent all of two hours with him!” Addie swings her legs over the side of the bed, sitting up straighter. “Why are you getting so upset about this? You don’t know him well enough to defend him. Weren’t you just calling him a level two, possibly three, on your asshole-o-meter? What’s with the sudden change?”
I drop my gaze, letting out a sigh. “No change. He’s still firmly at a level two.”
“So, then, what gives?”
Why do I care? Why am I defending him? I have no reason to. He’s a selfish asshole, only out to protect himself.
Only, he’s not, though. If he were, he wouldn’t have stepped up and helped that night in the bar with Laughlin. He would have just shoved me off and said he didn’t know me.
His texts yesterday riled me up. I stewed about it in my office for the rest of the afternoon, pouring my anger into my work. He didn’t even ask me to dinner, he demanded it. I may have been the one to initiate our situation, but he’s pushing it to another level.
“I don’t know.” I drop my shoulders and turn to my friend. “There’s something about him. He pisses me off so much, but…” I trail off, thinking about the way my body reacts to him.
“But you aren’t immune to the sexy as fuck body and the bad boy reputation?” Addie adds with a smirk.
I narrow my eyes at her, refusing to answer.
How can I? I don’t want to admit that she’s right. That he’s the sexiest man I’ve ever seen, even if his personality overrides any attractiveness he has. I also can’t admit that there is something about his bad boy persona that draws me in. I’ve never gone for a man like him before. I’ve only gone for the white collar, ‘yes ma’am’ types. Even though I was blinded by Laughlin, on the surface, he fit that type.
I’m saved from any further questioning by Addie when my doorbell rings. I can’t admit any of that to her. I can barely admit them to myself.
“I’ll get it!” Addie yells, jumping from my bed and running out the door, giggling like a teenager.
I roll my eyes as I turn back to the mirror. While Addie understands my tough exterior and snarky comebacks, she also sees past it. We may have only known each other for a couple of years, but in that time, we’ve been through enough that bonds us for life. She knows when I need to be tough, and when I need someone to be tough for me.
Right now, I need her to be tough for me.
Taking a deep breath, I look at my reflection, checking my makeup one last time.
It’s just dinner. I need to think of it as a business dinner. I’ve been on a hundred of them. This isn’t any different. Chance and I have a verbal contract. A meeting of the minds. We are just doing this for our mutual benefit to get Laughlin off my back and impress the sponsors. There are no emotions. No pressure.
I scoff at myself. I know it’s a lie, but it’s a lie I need to believe if I’m going to make it out of this deal unscathed.
Grabbing my purse from the dresser in front of me, I look down at the soft fabric in my hand. I’ve never used this one before. It’s small, black, and utterly impractical. It only holds my cell phone, a few cards, and my lipstick, but I love it. I picked it up the last time I was in the city, thinking how nice it would be if I were to go to a fancy dinner with Laughlin, or even a work event.
But that never happened.
