Charlene lights up like I just told her she won the lottery. Her mouth opens wide at the same time the door to the plant slams open with a bang.
“What the hell’s going on out here? Are we working sometime today?” the foreman asks. His angry growl makes my skin crawl, and I don’t even work for him.
The workers all race for the entrance, Shane with them, leaving a trail of blood droplets on the concrete. Apparently, that’s not unusual around here because no one bats an eye.
Charlene is the only one brave enough to hang back for a moment, her hand landing on my pec muscle with a bit of unnecessary squeezing. “I can’t wait to hear how you proposed! Shelby’s waited almost forty years to be proposed to, so I know it must have been spectacular!”
With a wink, she scurries inside the building while my stomach drops lower than my boots. The foreman gives me one more scowl for disrupting his morning, and then the door slams shut behind him. I’m left alone, wondering what the hell just happened and approximately how much trouble I got myself into.
Before I’ve even reached my truck, I realize that this is bad. Real bad. News of this sort will spread faster than my old truckcan travel. Before lunchtime everyone in Big Knob will know Shelby and I are engaged. By supper, they’ll be planning an engagement party.
I’ll be planning my funeral.
“Fuckity, fuck, fuck,” I mutter, sliding into my truck and running both hands through my hair. Nelly scrambles to his feet and looks at me expectantly. “I fucked up.”
He slumps back to the seat and faces his rear end in my direction. Guess everyone’s mad at me. I slap my hand against the steering wheel and try to think of damage control. I usually fly by the seat of my pants, and while that’s worked for me so far, I have a feeling I’ve really stepped in it this time.
I half-assed proposed to my best friend, then backpedaled and demanded she move in with me temporarily. Shelby Sweet is no ordinary woman who might just pat me on the head and laugh off my fumbled attempts to make things right. She’s dreamed of her wedding since the day she was born. Has a wedding Pinterest board she updates every year. Even made a fuckin’ mood board she keeps in her bedroom to keep her “focused on her dream future.”
Hell, the woman reads romances so unbelievable the man can get it up five times in one night. I snuck one of her romances home one day and nearly laughed myself into an asthmatic event. All that to say, the woman is caught up in a level of romance that no human male—especially me, a serial dater and runner from all things commitment—could ever live up to. And in one misguided moment of chivalry, I tied her to me in the minds of every person we know.
“Oh, I really fucked up,” I groan, heading to the grocery store to keep Shelby from killing me with her bare hands. If there’s one thing I know Shelby wants, it’s romance. The second thing? Healthy food.
Despite what Shane said, Shelby gets low blood sugar. Abdominal surgery from the car accident where her parents died left her with hypoglycemia for life. I’ve seen her nearly pass out from not eating enough, so I’ve taken to keeping snacks on me just for her. So, I’ll stock the house with all her favorites, grill up a juicy filet mignon tonight, and hope for the best.
It’s not a great plan. It certainly doesn’t solve our little issue with the whole town thinking we’re getting married for real. But at least as we brainstorm a solution together, she won’t be hangry.
I end up cleaning the house too, knowing Shelby likes a clean toilet and no dishes in the sink, a level of cleanliness this bachelor house doesn’t often see. By the time she gets off work, the place is spotless, stocked with every snack known to man, and I’ve worked myself up into a tizzy with all the calls coming in on my cell phone. I ignore every single one, knowing what people are calling about.
Ryder is upstairs on the new PlayStation he got for Christmas last year. I normally only allow him half an hour on that thing, but given the shouting that’s about to occur, I figure the video games are best.
The screen door slams ominously. I poke my head out of my bedroom, where I just put on clean sheets for Shelby. Nelly slinks between my legs and army crawls under the bed with a whine.
“What the hell did you just do, Dallas Beaufort Gamble?”
I wince, sucking in a deep breath and girding my loins. Literally, I put a hand over my junk, just in case she’s that mad. I take a protein bar out of my pocket and extend it out like a sword. And then I advance down the hallway, ready to meet my fate.
Chapter
Six
THE ONLY THING FASTER THAN A HORSE IS GOSSIP IN A SMALL TOWN
Shelby
Dallas appears from the hall wearing an expression that hits somewhere between sheepish and terrified. Hanging limply from his fingers is what looks like a nut bar, and while it might make my stomach growl a little, I ignore it.
“You wanna tell me why Mrs. Godfrey just congratulated me on myengagementwhile I was in the middle of doing an ultrasound on her mare?” My pulse is still thundering in my ears, just like it has been the entire ride from the Godfrey ranch.
Dallas halts and raises an index finger. “About that…I can explain.”
“This oughta be good.” I cross my arms over my chest and pop my hip out.
I’m salty as hell. The part I didn’t share just now was how Mrs. Godfrey treated me like I was the fat nerd in high school who just got asked to the prom by the quarterback. As if some frickin’ miracle had befallen little old me, and I should be dropping to my knees to thank God above. I can guaran-damn-tee you nobody is treating Dallas that way.
When he steps closer, my warning glare stops him just out of my strike zone. So, he’s not acompleteidiot, at least. He extends the snack bar in slow motion, placing it on the entry table with the same care a bomb technician would use with an IED. “Shane is not only talking trash, he’s not giving up—and this will help deter him while I can keep you safe.”
Well, that’s not good. I have to admit, Shane has me a little nervous. We’d only been dating for a few months, and it’s clear now that I don’t know him as well as I thought I did.
