Page 65 of One Wild Chance

Jaxon waves his hand. “He’s harmless.”

“I know he is, but the rest of the world doesn’t find crusty cowboys as charming as we do,” I say, worried that Jaxon won’t agree and that Earl will end up as the face of Wildflower Weddings. “Larissa suggested that we tell people our origin story and how we had a little rivalry going on⁠—”

He grunts out a laugh. “Little?”

“The point is, women aren’t booking a building; they’re booking a fantasy,” I say, even more excited about this idea now. “You’re a professional athlete who came home to save his family’s farm. That’s a story people will eat up. You’re the story.”

He scratches his head. “I don’t know about this.”

“Everyone loves a good second-chance story, Jaxon. Trust me on this.”

“Trust you?” The steel in his eyes sharpens, and his voice drops. “Those are dangerous words, Wildflower.”

Hearing my old nickname stops me from rolling into the speech I had prepared. My mind rewinds to the day I took off on Sally. It was the first time he called me Wildflower. After he left town, he never used it again.

He moves closer, and I can smell his sandalwood soap mixed with the sweet scent of fresh hay. It feels like he’s dropped a lasso over me and is pulling me in.

“Listen, cowboy,” I say, steadying my breath. “Do you want me to take it easy on you or not?”

“Depends on what you call easy,” he says, smiling.

Nerves ricochet in my stomach like a pinball machine. “Larissa thinks when people see these pictures, they’re going to assume there’s something more going on between us.”

And maybe there is. Because I definitely feel the tension radiating between us as my world narrows to him. Maybe this is our next rivalry—to see who can withstand the tension the longest. I already know who will lose this game.

He searches my face. “Okay, so you want a disclaimer?”

I sink my teeth into my bottom lip, and his gaze drops to my parted mouth. I need him to know what he’s actually agreeing to before we move forward. “She says…we shouldn’t correct them.”

“So people might think we’re a couple?”

“Just for the brand,” I explain. “Nobody in our real life’s going to think⁠—”

“That we’re more than business partners?” he finishes in almost a whisper. There’s a question behind it that he doesn’t say out loud. What if we let people believe what they want?

“Right,” I say quietly. “Only business partners.”

He holds my gaze. “Because you’d never want anyone in Golden Springs thinking that we’re…”

“Heavens, no,” I say a little too fast, remembering what Larissa said about that interview clip. Our faces are only inches away now, and part of me wants to give in and erase the gap between us, while the other part wants me to run as far away as possible. “Can you imagine what Colleen would do with that? Or Wanda?” My breathless laugh comes out a little too forced. “Good thing neither one is on social media.”

“Yeah. Good thing.”

He’s staring at me with an expression I can’t quite figure out. We stand in silence for a few breaths, so close that our bodies almost touch, but neither of us moves away.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think Jaxon could see me like someone he’d consider dating. I was too small-town for his liking. He doesn’t date farmhands who show up with dirt-smudged cheeks, smelling like horses.

Whatever he said to that reporter, it does not mean what the hopeful, foolish part of me wants it to. Larissa’s comment left me believing in a stupid fantasy—that Jaxon had hidden his feelings for me all this time. But what if she’s wrong? What if it was some other girl entirely? Even if it was me, he’s probably moved on now. Why else would he pick flowers for another woman the day he returned to Golden Springs?

“Before we do this,” I say, my voice a little faint, “I just want to make sure there’s no one else who would get confused when they saw these pictures.”

He stares at me, brow creasing. “Why would someone be confused?”

“You know,” I stammer. “Like…someone you might’ve given flowers to?”

The crease between his brows relaxes as he steps back, putting needed space between us. “There’s no one who would be confused. I didn’t pick those flowers for someone I’m dating. I left them at the cemetery. For Mom.”

Oh. My gaze drops to the ground. That wasn’t what I thought he was going to say.