Page 23 of It Runs in the Family

I headed over to the bar, but I could hear him laughing behind me. I suspected he didn’t get shot down much, so it was probably good for his ego.

I ordered a bottle of water and a basket of fries and waited at the counter. Scanning the crowd, I found my cousins swaying next to different men than the ones they’d been dancing with earlier.

I should probably be out there too, shaking my ass and trying to forget that I was jobless, and that some random man could possibly kill me in the future.

“Let’s start over,” a man said from behind me. “I’m Boone.”

I spun around and found myself face to face with the man who’d come over to my table. “You realize you’re wasting your time with me. I will be not screwing you tonight.”

His eyes danced with amusement. “Who said I was interested in screwing you?”

I held up a hand. “Look, I realize that I’ve just made myself this huge, irresistible challenge, but please stop wasting both of our time and move on to your next conquest.”

He stepped up beside me and leaned his elbow on the bar, turning sideways to face me. “Is it so hard to believe I just want to talk to you?”

“Yes,” I said, grabbing the water bottle when the bartender brought it over. “It is.” I grabbed the lid and started to turn it, but it refused to budge.

Dammit.

Boone reached over and gently took the bottle from me and gave the lid a hard twist. He broke the seal but left the lid on as he handed it back to me.

“If I pay you twenty dollars for opening my bottle, will you leave me alone?” I asked.

He lifted his hands in surrender. “Okay, I guess I came on a little strong, but I really do just want to talk. I figured if I just showed up at your table and introduced myself, you’d think I was lame and send me away.” He made a face. “You look like the kind of woman who gets tons of guys hitting on her.”

The bartender brought over my basket of fries, and before I could pull out my money, Boone was already handing him a twenty-dollar bill.

“Keep the change,” he said.

I narrowed my eyes. “Just because you paid for my order doesn’t mean I’m going to cozy up with you.”

“Just give me five minutes,” he said. “That’s all I ask, and after five minutes, if you want me to leave you alone, I will.”

Scowling, I grabbed the fries and headed back to my table, leaving him to decide if he was going to follow or not. When I reached the table, I wasn’t surprised to see him right behind me. He hopped onto the stool across from me. I set the basket down, then picked up a fry and took a bite.

I pulled up the clock app on my phone and started a timer. “Five minutes.” I arranged the phone in the middle of the table so we could both see the screen.

He nodded. “I’ve told you my name, are you willing to tell me yours?”

I didn’t see the harm. It wasn’t like I had a secret identity. “Iris.”

“Like the flower?”

I made a face. “Yep. My father’s last name is Gardner. My mother…” I shrugged. Why had I volunteered my last name? I blamed it on the strong buzz I had going on, but I wasn’t about to tell him she’d named me Iris Gardner because she was delusional enough to hope my father would come find her. “Mothers.”

“I get it. It’s not like my mother gave me a name from the top ten baby name list.”

I picked up another fry and took a bite.

“When I asked if you were from around here, you almost sent me packing, so at the risk of sounding narcissistic, I’ll tell you more about myself.”

I tilted my head and waited.

He grinned. “I’m from Dallas, but I moved here a couple of weeks ago for work.”

“Most people move away from here, not to here unless they’re a ranch hand.” While he was big and tanned, he didn’t look like a ranch hand.

“It was too good of a job to pass up.”