I’m thinking we might have a coffee, or even dinner. We can call it a date. She is saved from having been bought by someone else at the auction. It will be something different for me. And then I can go back to my mountain and she can continue on with her life. Probably dating someone better suited to her. Someone happier. Someone closer to her own age.
“I want to see where you live. I want to see the mythic Kingsley castle.”
“It’s not a castle and no, I’m not taking you home with me.” Though the idea of taking Annie home with me causes a buzz of excitement to race through my veins.
“Please.” She bats her lovely long, black eyelashes at me. And then, looking back at the town hall, her face drops for a moment. “I feel the need to get out of town.”
I nod and, just like that, her smile is back in place. “We can take my car.” She says brightly.
“No. We’ll take my truck.”
“Okay." She does a little shrug. “I’m all yours.”
Again, one simple sentence and I feel a tightening in the pants. This is a bad idea. But her sweet words dance through my mind.I’m all yours.
Fuck, I am in trouble.
Chapter 6
Annie
We’re in the cab of his big truck. It’s warm and the seats are comfy. The radio’s off so the silence is a little awkward. I look over at this big, handsome man as he makes his way out of town. The great Thorne Kingsley. It makes me feel all giddy inside that he came to the auction and bid on me. And not for me to organize his bookshelf. He’d said the word. Date.
One word that makes my heart race.
“Thanks for coming to the auction.” I break the silence. He doesn’t audibly groan but there is a tightening to his features, a stronger grip on the wheel, that tells me he would prefer the silence. Well stuff to that. Now that I’ve decided to ask for what I want, to be the sort of person who goes after their goals, I’m not going to just sit here quietly.
“If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know that anyone would have bid on me.”
Now he lets out a scoffing sound. Eyes fixed firmly on the road ahead. “That’s crazy. You’re very pretty, I’m sure a lot of boys in town would like to take you out on a date.”
“You think I’m pretty?”
His mouth tightens. He shrugs. His knuckles are almost white on the steering wheel.
All I can do is grin. He might be fighting against it, but he likes me, and I have this feeling we are meant to be together. I’m just not sure how to make it happen.
“Why do you think nobody would bid on you?” He asks.
I sit to face forward with a sigh. Sinking back into the seat I think about my life so far.
It’s in a small voice that I say, “I think I’ve always hidden myself away.”
He waits for me to continue.
“My dad is beloved in this town. There was always this expectation for me to be good. But I felt like I never quite fit in.”
I look over to see him slightly nodding. We might be as different as night and day, but if anybody understands being judged in this town it is Thorne Kingsley.
“You can’t let this town dictate who you are or how you act.” I like his voice. It’s deep and husky. I have a feeling that all the Kingsley boys do actually let the town affect how they act. In different ways. They misbehave or act rebellious. They hide away in the mountains or become town mayor. All lives and actions are shaped by the people around us. But still, it is time I spoke up more. Decide what I want and go after it.
Thorne glances over at me. “You don’t seem like the kind of girl who lets other people tell her what to do.”
I let out a little laugh. I’m different around Thorne. I feel braver and more outgoing. Even a little bit sexy. “Well, that’s because you are meeting the new me. I go after what I want now.”
“And what is that you want?”
I think about that for a beat and then grin at him. “I don’t know. But I think it is going to be awesome.”
