But hey, that wasn’t my problem. As I walked out of the building, I drew a few more curious stares and I inhaled a deep breath of air. Then I groaned when I realized it tasted like exhaust fumes and desperation.
Thiswas my problem. Big cities were not my thing. They made me feel small, which was no easy feat. The endless bustle and the noise that never stopped got under my skin. I didn’t like it and I definitely didn’t belong here, but I had needed to expand my horizons.
Get out of Texas. Go where the business would work and not as many people knew who I was. Chicago was the answer to all that.
I had never planned to spend my whole life on the ranch, but getting used to life away from it was going to be challenging. For the last couple years, I’d been spending more and more time away, first moving to a house in Pacific Heights while my place was being built, then visiting San Francisco more and more often once my sister had gotten pregnant.
At the end of the day though, I’d always gone back to the ranch. Now, the only thing I had to go back to for the next few months was my apartment. At least it was within walking distance of the Westwood offices.
I’d figured I would be spending a fair amount of time there since I was going to be working with Alex. This way, I could walk back and forth. Get out a little instead of being stuck in a car and traffic for hours on end.
On my way to my apartment, I took in the wide sidewalks of my new home. When I passed a coffee shop, I hooked an immediate, quick, sharp left into it. What I really needed was an IV of caffeine straight into my veins rather than a latte.
But whatever. I would have to survive on what this place sold.
Unfortunately, it seemed this was a popular joint, a snaking line of suits and socialites waiting to order vanilla-bean-double-shot-caramel kind of bullshit. I couldn’t even string those words together in a way that made sense, especially not in the context of fucking coffee.
As I joined the line and shuffled forward one absurd order being called out at a time, I felt the weight of someone’s stare on the back of my neck. When I glanced over, I saw woman standing three people down the line, blinking maybe once a minute, but her gaze was glued to me.
Big eyes, red lipstick, and a messy bun like she’d run out of time or cared too little to fix it. She wasn’t even trying to hide that she was watching me.
I narrowed my eyes, but instead of averting her gaze, she pulled out her phone and—click.
What the fuck? Did she just take apictureof me?
“Can I help you?” I asked, because what the hell else was I supposed to do?
Her grin spread wide, weirdly reminding me of a cat who’d just cornered a mouse. She sidled up to me, unapologetically waving off the groans of the two guys she moved ahead of. “What’s your name, cowboy? Are you single?”
I blinked hard. “Do you start all your mornings like this?”
She laughed. “Oh, I’m not asking for me. It’s for my friend.”
“Your friend?”
“Yeah. You’re just her type. You have horses, don’t you?”
“Uh—”
“Do you do blind dates?”
I stared at her, completely thrown. Despite what the flannel might’ve led her to believe, I was no country bumpkin. I’d been in some pretty strange situations in my life. Shit, back in my partying glory days, Jameson and I had “borrowed” a pop-star’s yacht. But this was something else entirely.
I squinted at her, torn between being concerned and terrified. “Who are you?”
“Oh!” She smiled brightly and stuck out her hand like a nerd. Elbow locked. Hand just kind of sticking into the air between us. “I’m Stella Marquise.”
“Cool,” I said flatly. “Who’s that?”
She burst out laughing, loud enough to turn a few heads. “God, I like you already.”
Yeah. This was officially the most bizarre thing that had ever happened to me, and I’d once been licked on the ass by a steer during a branding season.
The line inched forward at the speed of a dying snail, which gave Stella plenty of time to wear me down. “I’m being serious, you know. You’re exactly what my friend needs right now and you’d love her. She’s stunning.”
Uh-huh. Sure, she is. That’s why she needs her crazy friend to badger unsuspecting men stuck in lines with her for a date.
“Just give me one chance,” she continued when I still hadn’t said anything. “All I need is your number. I promise, it’ll be worth it.”
