Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 114011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
“No,” I say, my cheeks flushing again. “I mean cash. You have cash. No one ever has cash anymore.”
He hands me three crisp twenty-dollar bills, along with a ten and a five. “I do pride myself on being prepared for all occasions.”
“I see you also brought your humility with you.” I shove the money in my pocket. “Thanks for that.”
“No problem.” He lifts his chin expectantly. “Your number?”
“Yeah. My number.”
I pull my attention away from his eyes as they try to pierce mine. I study his leather boots instead.
How am I going to swing this? Just as I’m about to hand his money back to him, Val laughs. Bingo!
“Let me just . . . put it in your phone for you,” I say.
He hands over his phone without hesitation.
My heart thumps in my chest. His readiness to go along with this befuddles me.
While I don’t know much about him, I know enough to know that I need to not give him my number.
He might be gorgeous and charming, but he is not what I’m after. Damn it, anyway.
It has to be a no for me. But for Val, it could be a total win.
I bite the inside of my cheek and enter her number into Cole’s phone. Thankfully it’s one of the very few that I actually remember these days because I made my son memorize it in case of an emergency. Then I hand the phone back.
“There you go,” I say, relieved to have this over with. “I’m a little richer, and you win your bet.”
He nods, then looks at the screen with tugged brows as Val walks over to us.
“Do you need more tea, Palm?” she asks. “I’m going on break.”
“Nope. I’m good.”
I give her a little wink. You owe me, and you don’t even know it yet.
She starts to speak but stops as she pulls her phone out of her pocket. Jacinda, the waitress covering for her, bustles by.
“I got you,” Jacinda says, stutter-stepping for a moment as she spies Cole. “Go ahead. Take your break now.”
Val looks at her phone. “That’s a weird prefix.”
“Probably about your car warranty,” I say, laughing. “Those assholes call me at least once a day.”
“Yeah, probably so.”
I look back at Cole. His eyes pin me to the spot. He holds his phone between us as Val’s continues to ring.
My name is displayed on his screen.
Val ends her call, and then my name disappears from Cole’s phone.
Oh shit.
Cole raises a brow. “Really, Palmer?”
Whoops.
Val turns back around and looks frazzled. Slowly, reality unfolds in front of her face.
She laughs as she puts her phone in her pocket. “You gave him my number? Not that I mind,” she says, looking quickly at Cole. “But that’s freaking hilarious.”
My cheeks burn as Cole’s eyes dig into mine. There are a myriad of emotions playing out across those irises, and I pluck the one I can handle the easiest—hesitancy—and try to explain myself.
“I must’ve . . . gotten confused,” I say. “It’s not like I ever call myself.”
“Sure.” He rolls his tongue around his mouth. “Here.” He hands his phone to Val. “Put Palmer’s number in here for me.”
“Val . . . ,” I warn, but she completely ignores me.
She happily taps my name into Cole’s phone, her bright fingernails drumming against the screen with every digit pressed.
My insides twist as I scramble to figure out how to stop this mess from proceeding. But by the time I get it together, it’s too late. He smiles like the cat who ate the canary.
“Thanks, Val,” he says without ever looking at her.
“You’re welcome.”
His gaze lingers on me. “I’ll talk to you soon, Miss Clark.”
No, you won’t. “Can’t wait.”
I lift a brow in some ridiculous form of defiance as he stands. He waves his hand through the air as Fish appears at his side.
Cole gives me a lingering smile, pausing just long enough for his cologne to serenade me one final time. Then, after my insides are nice and melted, he turns casually on his heel and exits Fletcher’s.
CHAPTER TWO
PALMER
Val whistles through her teeth. “Wow.”
“Wow” is right.
My gaze stays affixed to the door for longer than I care to admit. Cole’s unexpected handsomeness has made me sweat. I paw at the counter until I find the napkins. I pull one out of the dispenser and wipe my palms.
Why couldn’t I have been casually cool?
“He was okay,” I say, tearing my eyes from the door and swiveling around to face Val.
She snorts. “Right.”
“What? He was altogether forgettable.”
“What are you talking about?” she asks. “He was not forgettable, and he had a very definite thing for you. Will you stop it?”
Jacinda walks by and stuffs a twenty-dollar bill in Val’s waist apron. “And he was an excellent tipper.”
“Stay out of this, Jacinda,” I say.
Her laugh is light and airy as she enters the kitchen.