Stark fear passed through Summer’s face. My sisters really wanted this. She grabbed my arm. “You have to talk her into it. I swear I’m not wrong. If you like her at all, convince her to give it a shot.”
I didn’t move. I wasn’t going to force my presence on her.
“Twenty grand,” Summer stressed as if I wasn’t as stunned as the rest of tonight’s guests at the amount.
“If you two don’t do this, it’ll look bad for her, not you,” Autumn added.
Fuck me, she was right. This town put me on a pedestal I hadn’t earned. I worked as hard as the next guy, but I was a third-generation Bailey and that garnered its own respect. Scarlett was a Bourbon Canyon transplant and wouldn’t be given the same pass. People would think something was wrong with her and not me.
“Fine,” I grumbled like this entire day was a nuisance when really the pounding need to get to Scarlett before she disappeared into her tidy little house spurred me on.
I was out of the church and in my truck in no time. I pulled out of the parking lot, nodding at the church as if thanking it for Bourbon Canyon being a small town. I knew where everyone lived. Mostly. I might pay special attention to quiet but stern teachers with round asses I wanted to sink my teeth into.
I spotted Scarlett marching down the sidewalk away from the church with her arms swinging. The nice butt she was probably oblivious to was rolling under the denim.
I lowered the passenger window and slowed. “Miss Scarlett.”
She stiffened and glanced over. The way her mouth was pursed would make me behave in a heartbeat. No wonder she’d tamed my wild son in only a handful of months.
“It was a misunderstanding.” She continued walking, staring straight ahead. “Sorry for the trouble.”
“My sister told me what she did.” I didn’t have to clarify which sister. Summer was usually a shit starter. Autumn was a lot like Scarlett. A mellow rule follower. “Look, you still won the bid.”
She shook her head but still kept her gaze off me. And didn’t that get under my skin. I wanted her eyes on me. I wanted her attention on me. I wanted her under me.
Goddammit. Me and my painful boner were going to scare the pretty teacher off if I leered at her while I followed her in my pickup.
Her arms swung. Her feet stomped in her comfortable hiking sandals. “I had no part in the bidding.”
I rode the brake, idling in time with her. We had three blocks before she reached her house. “So you don’t want to go on a date with me?”
“No!” She looked over, her expression horrified. “I-I mean, no offense?—”
“Offense taken, Miss Scarlett. Twenty thousand dollars, and you don’t want to go out with me? I’d hate for Wilna to give the money back because I didn’t fulfill my duty.”
That got her to stop. I pressed the brake all the way. She puffed a lock of golden-brown hair out of her face and shifted her weight from foot to foot. “You’re giving the money back?”
“It wasn’t made as a straight donation.”
Uncertainty fluttered across her face. I willed her not to look too deeply at the rules. I had no fucking clue. I just needed to convince her to be with me for the day.
“How ’bout I stop by tomorrow?” Suddenly, I didn’t want to wait another day to find out what Scarlett Breen was like to date.
“Tomorrow?” She blinked big amber eyes behind her glasses.
I propped an arm on the steering wheel, not giving one shit whether I blocked the middle of the narrow residential road. “I can come by around ten o’clock. That’d give me time to take Chance to Mom and Dad’s.”
I’d promised him we’d go fishing on Sunday, but I could pick him up from my parents’ Sunday morning and go straight to our secret fishing spot on the lake on our property.
She jolted like my words carried an electrical current. “Ten? In the morning?”
“Twenty grand for a whole-day date.” I couldn’t stop the wolfish grin that slipped out.
Her eyes went wider. Christ, but I bet she was responsive. I’d bet another twenty grand she was one of the quiet ones who didn’t hold back when they slammed into their peak.
“The entire day?” She glanced around, but the girl was alone to endure my attention. I rather liked it. “W-what are we going to do?”
Goddamn, Miss Scarlett.
