He swallowed, really needing something to drink. He prayed someone over at his friends’ table would see the predicament he found himself in and would come rescue him. He glanced over to Lila Mae, and he had no idea what she saw on his face, but she blinked rapidly a couple of times and pasted a smile on her face that told him she’d been in difficult and tense situations like this before.
She turned her brilliant smile on Chelle. “Hello, I’m Lila Mae. I think you must be Chelle?” She phrased it as a question, and Trap could admire the way she could turn on her corporate charm.
“Uh, yes,” Chelle said.
“Yes, I thought so.” Lila Mae even added a slight Southern twang to her voice now. She linked her arm through Trap’s and leaned into his side. Sparks shot through the right side of his body, fanning out and showering even more heat through him.
He looked at Lila Mae and tried to wipe away the shock coursing through him. He didn’t want Chelle to see that, after all.
“Trap’s told me about you,” she said.
“He has?” Chelle’s eyes came back to Trap, and he really wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it.
“I think so.” Lila Mae looked at him with a cute little frown on her face. “She’s the lady you took out just the one time, right?”
Trap had no idea what to say.
“Yeah,” Chelle said, her eyes widening a little bit. “To the….”
“Tulip festival.” Trap blurted out the words in almost a yell.
“Yes, that’s right.” Lila Mae grinned back at Chelle again. “I’ll admit, I was a little jealous. I’ve never been to a tulip festival, and it sounds like the one here is pretty amazing.”
Chelle’s eyes narrowed, and oh, Trap didn’t like that. “Are you two together, then?”
“I mean?—”
“Almost,” Lila Mae said over him. She leaned closer to Chelle, really pressing into the table in front of her now. “Our first date is tomorrow morning, but we’ve been working together for what?” She looked at Trap, and it felt like a massive trick question.
He blinked and cleared his throat, his mind working fast. “Six months or so, ma’am.”
“Six months or so.” Lila Mae smiled and focused on Chelle again. “He’s working out on my ranch, you see, and built me a house, and I know he’s good with his tools and hands and all that. I’ve been flirting with him shamelessly since I got here, and he finally asked me to breakfast.”
Trap could barely keep up with the conversation, and he wasn’t sure what was true and what wasn’t. After Lila Mae had moved here, she had been nothing but nice to him, but Trap had found her to be professional. Beautiful, yes. Sophisticated, yep. Opinionated, absolutely, but Trap didn’t mind so much. For the amount of money she was paying to get her ranch in the shape she wanted, she could have some opinions.
But flirty?
Trap wasn’t so sure about that, unless he’d never seen a woman flirt with him before.
And breakfast tomorrow?
Chelle blinked like she had sand in her eyes. “Oh, well, where are you guys going to breakfast?” She looked straight at Trap, as if she knew this date wasn’t really on the calendar.
He suddenly couldn’t even think of a restaurant that would be open on a Monday morning for breakfast. All that ran through his mind wasapple cider, and how he’d contemplated showing up at the orchard to intercept Lila Mae.
“The apple orchard.” He cleared his throat and forced a smile to curve his lips. He swung it in the direction of Lila Mae. “Lila Mae loves the apple cider there, and Colt’s got that great bistro now, so.” He smacked his lips together and vowed not to say another word.
“I thought the bistro was only open for brunch on weekends,” Chelle said, frowning.
Trap’s pulse dropped to the soles of his feet as Lila Mae looked at him too. He just needed to get his phone out for fifteen seconds and get Colt to?—
“Heya, Trap, I need you for a second.”
Pure relief ran through him at the sound of Colt’s voice. He looked up at his best friend and got to his feet at the same time. “Yeah, of course,” he said, his hand dropping to Lila Mae’s and bringing her with him.
His adrenaline pounded through him as the three of them walked away from the table.
“Dude, what is happening?” Colt hissed out of the corner of his mouth.
