Wright with Benefits (Wright Series #8) - K.A. Linde Page 0,5
to actually accept that offer.
When I headed back to the boutique, the front door was still unlocked. Sophia sat, slumped behind the front desk on her phone. She looked up when the bell jingled.
“Hey,” I said with my same winning smile. “You don’t have jumper cables in here somewhere, do you?”
Sophia’s hope died before my eyes. Two girls in one night. Man, I was on a roll.
“I don’t,” she said.
“Ah. Annie’s car died. I guess she left her lights on, and she needs a jump. Anywhere close that would have them?”
She shrugged unhelpfully. “I have no idea. I don’t think so.”
Yeah. She was pissed.
“All right. Sorry about all of this,” I said, gesturing around us. “We’ll definitely have to reschedule. My schedule is pretty tight, but I’m sure we can figure something out.”
Sophia looked down and then back up, as if steeling herself for what came next. “Maybe we could do this over dinner…and drinks.”
Ah. Well, fuck.
“Maybe,” I said with that same smile. “Just, uh, text me.”
Then I pushed back out into the cold, unforgiving January weather, back to the girl who didn’t seem to give two shits about me. I probably should have been interested in the cute wine owner, but instead, I couldn’t ignore Annie. Even when she wanted to jump down my throat.
I walked back to the passenger side to find Annie rubbing her long, lean legs. She was trying to get warmth back into them, but fuck, those legs.
I needed to get my shit together. I rapped on the door. She jerked up and met my gaze through the window.
“No luck?” she asked when I opened the door.
“No,” I confirmed. “She didn’t have anything.”
She dropped back against the seat and sighed. “I’m not surprised.” She ground her teeth together. “I guess I could call someone to come help.”
“What about the wine?”
“Fuck.”
She wasn’t going to like my idea, but I pushed forward anyway. “How about you just ride with me to take the wine to whatever ranch your party is at? Someone there probably has cables. Then we can come back and jump your car. I know it’s not ideal, but it’s better than waiting in the cold for someone to show up.”
She mulled it over, trying to find a way to get out of riding in my truck with me. It was a sign of her desperation that she was even thinking about it. We hadn’t been alone this long in years.
“Fine,” she said, crossing her arms and facing forward.
Fine. Huh. I hadn’t expected that to work.
Well, I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I wanted Annie Donoghue in my truck. Wasn’t going to lie—I wanted a lot more than that. I always had with her. If only I wasn’t so fucking terrible at relationships. Then I might have been able to see where everything went wrong three years ago. I might have been able to pick us up out of the pieces of it all. But that sure as hell wasn’t my specialty. The only thing I’d ever been good at in relationships was ruining them.
If I had a chance to make up for it, I’d take it. And just hope I didn’t fuck it all up again.
4
Annie
Fine.
I’d just said fine.
Here I was, in Jordan’s truck, with two ten-minute drives in front of us. Jordan and I had been circling each other for years. It was impossible not to be around him when I was best friends with his cousin, my brother worked with him, and we existed in the same circle in this small West Texas town. Still, I’d managed to keep my distance.
It wasn’t like what he’d done was so egregious. I’d had worse done to me by other assholes. Much worse if I was honest. I just hadn’t expected it from Jordan, and that made everything so much harder.
I couldn’t keep my typical vivacious, extroverted personality in his presence. Which was why my arms were crossed and I looked determinably out the window as we pulled away.
“Where is this place again?” he asked.
“Just go north on 27, like you’re going to the airport.”
He nodded and took the exit for the interstate. The silence stretched interminably. His hand drifted to the radio as if he was going to switch it on before pulling back. I’d never been good at quiet. I liked to fill space, but I couldn’t fill this one. I was too defeated from this brutal day to even consider it.