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“Of course. I’ll, uh, leave you to it.”
“What was that?” Dakota asks with a gasp once we are alone.
“What was what?” I ask after unravelling my cutlery from the starched white fabric napkin. I place it over my lap and pick up my fork, stabbing a mushroom cap, careful not to spill the bubbling cheese over the top.
“That.” She waves at me with her hands. “What was that with Hayley?”
“You wanted me to be nice. I was being nice.” I pop the mushroom into my mouth, letting all the flavours wash over me. The saltiness of the cheese and the bite of garlic mixed with the hearty mushroom. “This is good. Good choice.”
She narrows her eyes at me as if assessing me.
“What? You wanted nice.”
“And that’s the best you could do? You looked liked you were going to snap at her.”
I sigh, placing my fork on my side plate. “Are you going to eat any of this? It’s really good. You should try it.”
“I will. I’m just trying to figure you out.”
“There’s nothing to figure out.” I bring the corner of my napkin to my mouth, wiping my bottom lip and laying it flat over my lap again.
“It’s my job to figure people out. But you…” I shake my head. “I can’t figure you out.”
“Again, there’s nothing to figure out.”
“There’s always something to figure out.” Dakota shakes her head before picking up her fork and digging into a mushroom.
I know it’s not the end of this. No matter what I do, I know she still sees me as a puzzle to be solved. But she doesn’t know me. No one does.
People know me as their boss. Their business partner. The ranch owner.
The one that can rock their world in the bedroom and send them packing.
But getting to know me? That’s a whole other ball game.
While part of me wants her to, it mostly scares the shit out of me. I don’t get spooked easily, but the realization that someone might get to really see me for more than my public persona does.
There isn’t one person in town that really sees me. Not even Wyatt. They only see what I let them, and that’s the way I like it. Especially when that person is Dakota Meyers.
Chapter Nine
Dakota
I’ve never dreaded the weekend more than I do right now.
Sitting at the desk in my office, I stare blankly at the computer screen in front of me, just like I have been for the last hour. It’s been two days, and I still can’t get my dinner with Chance out of my mind. In terms of our arrangement, it had been a success. The word is spreading around town of us being a couple. So much so, I can’t go anywhere without being stopped and asked about my relationship with the one and only Chance Declan.
“You and Chance, huh? You’ll have to give me all the details,” Tessa, the barista at The Rustic Cow Cafe gushed as she made me my morning latte.
“Are you sure you want to be seen with that man, dear?” Millie Thompson asked, patting me on the hand while I stopped in at the town’s only grocery store after work. “He doesn’t have the best reputation, and you’re such a nice girl.”
“You and Declan, huh?” Mike Walters asks, leaning against my door frame. As a Senior Lawyer at Hamilton Law, Mike took it upon himself to be a mentor to me when I first started. He allowed me to get hands-on experience in areas I normally wouldn’t have been able to as a junior. I appreciate and respect him for that, but not so much for his sudden interest in my love life.
“Not you, too?” I groan, looking up from my screen.
“If you didn’t want the town knowing about who you’re dating, you should have picked someone with a lower social profile.” He enters the room and takes a seat across from me. “So what gives? I never pictured you with someone like Chance Declan.”
I don’t want to lie to Mike. He’s been so good to me since I started three years ago, but I don’t have any other choice. I can’t admit to him that I’m only dating Chance for show. While not completely unethical, it won’t be good for business if a lawyer is found to be outright lying, either.
