I run my hand down my face.You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
CHAPTER NINE
I watch as Mitchell leads Emery away from me and over to a table. He holds out her chair for her, and she sits down.
I clench my jaw. I guess it wasn’t meant to be after all.
I force my gaze away from them and back to Emily, who’s in the middle of some story about the last blind date she was on.
“My friends always want to set me up,” she says. “And whoever the guy is, he and I just don’t click.”
My gaze wanders back to Emery as I hear her say something to Mitch or whatever the hell his name is.
She smiles, but the smile doesn’t reach her eyes.
Emery
Mitchell mentions he’s a former bronc rider, and everything clicks into place.
Michael isnotMitchell, the name Alyssa gave me. I messed that up. And Mitchellisa rodeo guy, exactly what I thought she had said.
Myactualblind date is the guy sitting across from me, not the grumpy, hot, intriguing man currently hanging with the blonde up at the bar. Michael is nodding at something his date is saying. He’s not touching her, and his posture is stiff like he’s tense. He’s leaning away from her rather than in close like he did with me. I force my gaze back to Mitchell, who just asked me a question I completely missed.
He’s attractive with neatly cut blond hair and brown eyes that look directly at me, not above my head or at some other woman passing by.
But the longer we sit at the table, going through the motions of ordering a drink and then making idle chit-chat, the more certain I feel that this isn’t where I want to be. Or, more specifically,whoI want to be with.
“Is everything all right?” Mitchell asks.
“Of course.” I force my gaze back to him from where I’d again been checking out Michael and trying to decipher how into his date he is. “Why do you ask?”
“Because you’re still staring at the guy you were with when I found you at the bar.”
He smirks at me, and I exhale.
“I’m so sorry. You deserve a better blind date than I’m going to be tonight. I’m kind of a mess, to be honest.”
He jerks his thumb backward in the direction of Michael. “Is that guy the reason?”
I must reveal something on my face because he grins. “Thought so.” He immediately pushes back his chair and stands up. “Let’s go.”
I stand up automatically. “Where are we going?”
“To fix this.” He guides me toward the bar. “You came out tonight for a blind date. Looks like you found one. He just wasn’t me.”
I suck in a breath. He’s right.
I turn to look for Michael, but he’s off his stool and heading our way.
His date waves at me from the bar and gives me the thumbs-up.
“Hey,” Michael says as he reaches us. His fathomless dark eyes flick to me. “I don’t want to interrupt, but…”
Mitchell steps back. “Have a good night, you two.”
Michael nods at Mitchell. “Hope you don’t mind if I steal your date.”
Mitchell shakes his head. “Not at all.” He smiles at me. “It was nice to meet you, Emery. I’ll be sure to tell Alyssa absolutely nothing.”
