“If you smack his shoulder or bring up another girl while you talk to him, I’m firing you.”
Her mouth dropped in indignation. “You can’t fire me.”
“That guy has been working his tail off to talk to you all day, and you still assume he would rather be talking to someone else. I want you to go back over there, but this time, tell yourself that he likes you.”
She brushed a wayward strand of hair off her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. “I don’t know if you’ve ever met me before, but that’s got disaster written all over it.”
I leaned down to get in her face. I had so many things I could have teased her about just then, but my eyes caught on the smattering of freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks and the tiny scar below her nose she’d gotten once from tripping on a rock. I swallowed and regained my focus.
“Tuck. You’re hot. You’re funny. You’re smart. He wouldn’t go out of his way to talk to you if he didn’t think you were at least two of those things.” Her mouth opened, like she was going to protest. She was always protesting. But I beat her to it. “Let yourself have a win. There’s zero pressure here. He’ll be gone by the end of the week. If he wants to flirt with you and you want to flirt back…then it’s good practice.”
“What if somebody sees us flirting back at the lodge? You forget that we have a very confusing image to uphold.”
I smiled. “We’ll be fine.”
“What if I’m so good at flirting that he keeps doing it?”
The thought of Easton continuing to flirt with her made my back stiffen ever so slightly.
“Let’s worry about you suddenly having amazing flirting skills when we need to.”
She pushed me and left me watching her walk back to Easton with a smile on my face and a clench in my gut.
The Hot Housewives of Eugene
Tessa: Run tonight?
Kelsey: Are you crazy? You’re about to pop.
Tessa: Light jog?
Kelsey: When have I ever agreed to that?
Tessa: What if we invite Shelby?
Kelsey: Dang you and your skills of persuasion.
15
SHELBY
Kelsey’smild panting from behind me on the grass, along with Tessa’s increasing waddle, caused me to slow my speed.
“Show-off,” Kelsey said to me when she made us all stop so she could pretend to tie her shoes and guzzle her water. Her light-brown hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and her cheeks were flushed.
There had been lots of laughing when we first met up to go walking around the entire dude ranch after dinner. I’d been surprised when the girls had called me to go but had loved being with them. Obviously, since Tessa was my cousin, I’d spent much more time in her orbit, but over the years since I’d been in Eugene, I’d gotten to know and love Kelsey as well.
“She really is,” Tessa agreed, her hands on her hips and showing off what looked like a round bowling ball protruding from her stomach.
I pointed at Kelsey. “You just had a baby.” I pointed at Tessa. “You’re about to. I have nothing cool to show for my walking speed.”
“That was not walking,” Kelsey said.
“That wasn’t a jog,” I insisted.
Kelsey glared at Tessa. “What is wrong with your family?”
“She’s right,” Tessa sighed, bending over to take a breath. “We were just walking fast with a little hop.”
