The Rancher's Fake Girlfriend - Leslie North Page 0,2

my special little lady right here. Trying to convince her to let me take her to a fancy dinner on Friday. She says she’s busy, but she won’t tell me doing what.” He tried to edge around Chad, but settled for creepy staring when Chad wouldn’t budge. “And what’s more important than me, darlin’?”

Chad knew that Tripp never backed down without a fight, and he was likely to push even harder with Chad watching. Rather than set the stage for a confrontation, he opted to freeze him out before he had a chance to heat up.

“Work, that’s what,” Chad said before Hannah could answer. “Noelle has a huge wedding this weekend. She told me she’s not going to make it to the family dinner on Friday night because she’s going to be frosting cupcakes or something.” The lie came easily to Chad because it was something that happened frequently. He hoped Hannah would play along. “Was it cupcakes, or am I getting it confused with another event?”

“No, no, it’s cupcakes,” Hannah replied in a shaky voice. “She’s frosting the main cake and I’m taking care of the mini cupcake favors. Three hundred of them, actually.”

Chad shot her a quick smile for catching on. “Wow, that’s gonna be a long night!”

Tripp leaned on the chalkboard sign that Hannah had been working on, his jeans rubbing up against the lettering she’d just completed. “You’ll be here at the bakery on Friday? Maybe I’ll swing by with dinner, and you can take a break with me.”

“Um … I’m not …”

“No need,” Chad said, jumping in again. “Shane’s wife, Matilda, is making her famous fried chicken, and I’m delivering it to them. Sorry.” His shit-eating grin had the exact effect he was hoping for; Tripp scowled.

The door to the bakery opened and Noelle stepped out. “How’s the sign coming, Hannah? Are these boys in your way?”

“Tripp and I were just leaving so she can finish up,” Chad said.

“I might stop by on Friday evening anyway,” Tripp said as he backed away from the trio. “Since you ladies are going to be here alone all night.”

“We might not hear you knocking,” Hannah said, finally finding her voice. “We’ll be in back. You won’t even be able to tell that we’re here; it’ll be completely dark in the main part of the shop.”

Chad liked how Hannah leaned into the lie.

Tripp pulled his phone from his back pocket. “Then I’ll use this.”

“Bye, Tripp.” Noelle said with finality. “Hannah, back to work, please. And no more breaks, do you understand?” Chad saw the quick wink she gave Hannah.

“I do,” Hannah replied, gathering the chalk she’d dropped.

A few minutes later Tripp sped by in his gleaming black pickup and honked his horn.

“Looks like my work here is done, ladies.” Chad turned to Hannah and touched the brim of his hat. “Nice to meet you. I’m sure I’ll see you here again.”

Chad certainly hoped so.

2

“I watched the whole thing through the window,” Tania said as Noelle and Hannah came back in the shop. “When will he learn? Such a creeper.”

“You okay?” Noelle asked Hannah, draping a protective arm around Hannah’s shoulder.

She nodded. On the surface, yes, she was fine, but deep inside she felt like a shaky mess. The way Tripp treated her, as if she belonged to him, felt frighteningly familiar. Even though she’d put those days far behind her, it didn’t take much to dredge up the old feelings of dread.

“Should we just call it like it is?” Tania asked as she hopped up on the counter behind the display case. “The man is a full-on stalker. And you’re not the first, Hannah. Every few months he finds a new woman to obsess over. For a while it was my friend Cassidy. They went on a few dates and she really liked him at first. But then he started getting possessive of her and demanding that she spend all of her time with him. He even cracked her passcode and went through her cell phone! He followed her around for months—not backing off until she found a new boyfriend who wasn’t afraid to tell Tripp that Cassidy definitely wasn’t available anymore. That finally got through to him … and then he went off to find his next target.”

“I’d say you dodged a bullet, getting him to go away,” Noelle said to Hannah.

“But did I?” she asked. “Yeah, he left for now—but he won’t stay gone forever. It sounds like I’m on the exact same path as your friend,