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Authors: Shelley K. Wall

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BOOK: Love Me: The Complete Series
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Running Chick sat up and squinted, blinded by the setting sun at his back. She gulped in air and opened her mouth to speak but said nothing. She sucked in air again and held up a finger.

Carter thrust his bottle of water down. “Here. Drink. It’ll help you get your wind back. Can you stand?”

When she took the bottle, he opened his fingers to assist her. She remained silent. Hmmm. He’d never been within fifteen feet of Running Chick before. He and Jackson had made jokes she was probably ugly up close. Actually, Jackson made all the jokes. Missing teeth. Hairy moles. Cross-eyed.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Seriously wrong, in fact, and somehow that was a surprise. It was hard not to notice when she sucked in another gulp of air, forced a smile, and handed back the water. She was better than he’d thought. Sooo much better. Carter blinked and averted his eyes to the dog.
You have a girlfriend, remember?

“I’m fine. Just got the wind knocked out of me. Don’t worry about it.” Great. Even her voice was nice. Unlike Maddie’s, it sort of rolled out of her mouth. Nothing obnoxious about it. “You wanted to play, didn’t you, Ruckus? Ol’ Maddie knew what she was doing when she named you, huh? You sure know how to cause one.” She leaned down and patted the dog then brushed leaves from her back. Should he tell her about the two mud spots on her butt?

Probably not.

“Isn’t that the truth. You sure you don’t need some help?” Should he be totally embarrassed or thrilled? It had taken four months to get this intro. Since before Amanda—the girlfriend he was about to take to dinner to celebrate their three months together. Maybe he should have thought of the dog before.

He glanced at the time. “Oh crap. I need to get going, sorry. Can I help you get anywhere? Walk you home, bandage your knee, uh, strangle the dog?”
Check for broken bones?
He shook that thought out of his head.

She laughed. “No. Seriously. I’m okay. Go. Get to your date.” She waved him off and jogged away before he could say another word.

• • •

Two hours later, Carter pulled at the collar of his shirt and tried to ignore the jitters in his fingers. He was about to make the first long-term commitment of his life and it scared the shit out of him. Was it normal to be concerned? He thumbed a quick text while he waited for Amanda to show.

Hope ur right about tickets.

Between Carter’s workload and his friend Jackson’s busy travel schedule, he hadn’t seen the man in a couple weeks and texting was their only communication. Hell, he hardly had time to see Amanda. Work always intruded, and he was damn good at his job. Industrial Project Management hadn’t been the path he intended but it worked out fine and he was a kick-ass professional. His new boss apparently agreed because he was scheduled to go on four trips to Thailand over the course of the following year. Four trips for what amounted to a four million dollar project. A good feather in his cap, and hopefully a big bonus in his bank account. Thank God the job change had worked out. Getting fired over a crazy woman’s temper tantrum wasn’t easy to digest, especially when he’d never had a chance to resolve her mistaken assumption.

He needed the money sorely. When his dad died, he’d taken over much of the finances for his mom. Based on what he’d seen the past months, she was in dire straits, not to mention bad health. He’d tried to convince her to sell the house and stay with him for a while, but she refused.

He dropped his phone face up on the table and peered out the Starbucks window at the people walking by, none of whom were Amanda. It had been a dreary day, but meeting her was sure to brighten it. Actually, the entire week had been dismal, for March in Texas.

Ding.

He glanced down as a message appeared.

If she not like, u can take me.

He smirked and keyed a response as the door flew open and Amanda breezed in. She was beautiful, and it always caught him off guard. Too beautiful for him, if he were honest. He never quite understood what caught her eye, and he hardly blamed her when she often seemed disinterested. Which was happening more often lately—maybe that was the way things went in a committed relationship. Everything was going well for the moment, and he was simply glad to be with her. It was hard to believe he’d lasted more than a few dates. He’d come a long way on the trust scale and he was proud that he’d given it a chance.

He stood, pecked her cheek—mainly because she turned just before he reached her lips—and smiled. “Happy three month anniversary.”

Amanda smiled and went through the order line before dropping into her seat. The gift sat on the table between them in a white envelope tied with a red ribbon. He had never been much for wrapping things but added the dash of color as a last minute whim. He was proud of the results of his effort.

Her eyes twinkled as she stared at the slim package. In fact, he was pretty sure there was a drop of water gathering in the corner of her eyelid.
Aw, she’s getting all sentimental.

Good, he was on a roll. Wait until she saw them.

“You bought a gift?” Her eyebrows dipped and her voice was stark, entirely void of the elation he’d expected … the first indication something didn’t fit.

“Of course. We’re going to celebrate. I made reservations for dinner at Sotby’s down the street.” Carter kept his voice cheerful but, deep down, his gut had started to turn. She seemed … apprehensive.

The crowds clip-clopped past on the sidewalk, but at his table, time stood still. Music blared overhead, crooning at them to “cha-a-ange the world.” Ironic, if he thought about it too much.

Her face solemn, Amanda slipped a finger under the ribbon and drew it off before opening the gift. She didn’t pull the tickets out; she just slid the envelope open and peered inside. A shiver went down Carter’s spine.

Someone behind the counter announced the arrival of a cinnamon mocha latte. Amanda dropped the envelope, rose from the booth, and retrieved her drink. She slowly doused the beverage with condiments before stirring it with a stick and returning. Coffee steam wafted toward him.

Ding.

Carter glanced at the phone.

She seen them yet? What she say?

“You bought me baseball tickets?” She plopped back in her seat. Across from him. He should have noticed that earlier. Not next to him in the booth.

“Yeah, season tickets. We can go to all the games. It’ll be fun.”

“Season baseball tickets together.” There was no smile, no gazing in his eyes in response to his incredible thoughtfulness and commitment. Yes, commitment. Season tickets meant he intended to take her to
all
the games. That was commitment, right?

Ding.

This time her eyes also went to his phone and the message.

Well?

“To the Astros,” Carter explained.

“Yeah, I saw that.” She took a sip of the latte.

“You don’t like them. I thought you said you love baseball. You watched all those games like a true fan,” Carter said as she pushed the envelope toward him and shook her head. Had he really misread her that badly? Should he have listened to his idiot friend?

“It’s not that. It’s just—I can’t do this, Carter. I mean, I like you—”

Ding.

She frowned at his phone display.

Come on, tell me.

Carter chose not to respond to the message. “But…” There was a
but
phrase coming next so he offered the word. Silently he cursed Jackson for the stupid ticket idea.

“This just isn’t working for me. I’m sorry.”

Ding.

Before he could see the screen, she plucked the phone from the table and flung it to the floor, where the screen shattered like a broken mirror. He didn’t even get a chance to read the message. Then she rose and left. That was it?

His mouth dropped open and he stared after her.
Why?

Carter scraped the pieces of his phone from the floor and dropped them in his pocket. He snatched up the envelope and ran behind her.

“You’re breaking up with me because of the tickets?” The light turned and she stepped into the street.

She walked faster and flung an answer over her shoulder. “No, I’m breaking up with you because I met someone else.”

Oh.
Carter stopped and stared. She raced away then turned the next corner and disappeared. He pulled the mass of electronic debris from his pocket and cursed. His phone agreement still had six months left, and the only way he’d be able to replace it was—if it were destroyed. Now
that
was a commitment, a long-term phone agreement. Which he hadn’t been all that satisfied with anyway.

“I was kind of hoping I could get an upgrade.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and headed down the street to the phone store. An odd calmness settled across his shoulders. Why was he numb to the rejection? He had no idea. Maybe Jackson was right—commitment just wasn’t his thing.

Chapter Two

Still in her running gear, Abigail Jeffries flicked the switch to light up the sign over the new store door. She stepped outside and turned to give appropriate admiration. Her own shop, with a lighted sign over the door, and tomorrow it was open! She wanted to hug herself but instead dropped hands to her hips and nodded at the words “Jeffries Florist.” Bright red had been a good choice. The lights certainly got attention. God knows the drab brick needed a boost. She wished she could call home and share the excitement.

“You’re going to catch a cold if you keep standing out here admiring that sign.” Her friend and top employee-slash-partner, Caroline, peeked her head out the door then retreated.

“I can’t believe it’s mine. Ours.” Abby closeted the touch of bittersweet victory and followed her in before twisting the door lock.

Caroline shrugged. “It is. And so is the life-long debt associated with it.”

“Not life-long. Just a ten-year loan. We’ll pay it off in no time.” She silently thanked the decision to cash in her company investment plan when she’d left her old job managing new store openings for her family’s retail business. Her parents still hadn’t gotten over the betrayal to their business heritage. She was the only one that hadn’t followed the flock. Still, after the big blow-up meeting, her heart wasn’t in it. The money cut her loan down significantly. Of course, it was also the only thing standing between her and destitution if the store failed.

Losing everything was a little scary but losing her mind to that job had seemed worse. Abby shuddered, thinking about the meeting that had led to her decision. It had been a harried week at the office. Her dad had delegated one of their biggest new projects, the opening of ten new stores, to her. She wasn’t ready and she knew it. Still, he’d assured her she would get whatever support she needed from the real estate development contractors.

Yeah, right. What a group of dirtbags
they
were.

At the initial meeting, she’d started off by introducing herself. She was so nervous she’d forgotten to let them do the same and later had to ask each man’s first name.

Halfway into the details, one of them kept interrupting. She tried to rein the group back in but he just kept asking her personal questions and it was—creepy. Why did the guy care whether she was old enough to run a project of this type? Why did he keep alluding to her “boyfriend” or “husband”? Was he fishing? Then he made the casual remark that they’d be going out for drinks after work and wanted her to meet them.

She’d ignored the questions up to that point, but that one came off as if—the guy was hitting on her. Right in front of the entire team, on a conference call, no less. The hair on the back of her neck had risen. “No, I will
not
meet you for drinks, nor does it make one iota of difference if my “boyfriend” or “husband” is concerned about the time on this project since I currently have neither.
However,
right now what I actually
do need
is a real estate contractor that I can trust to do this project without taking this to a personal level. Someone that isn’t always chasing skirts or trying to sleep with the boss, secretary, or house-cleaning crew. That obviously
isn’t
you so this meeting is over.”

A strained silence filled the space between each side of the call. Abby had waited for a response and right about the time she’d given up, one of the other voices spoke. “So, you’re one of the power-hungry bitches that rips a man’s heart out personally
and
professionally. What next? You send him packing or you just disappear? Isn’t that the way your type does things?”

What the hell? Who had the balls to say
that
?
She hit the end button on the conference phone and steamed away from the meeting. Her brother, father, and one of the staff sat with their mouths agape, watching her leave.

When her dad tried to talk her into making nice with them in order to get the project back on track, she refused. Instead, she packed up her office and left. She’d planned to do it for some time. That meeting just nailed the coffin in her corporate career.

It wasn’t until later that she’d learned the company fired the guy who’d made the last statement. They apologized to her dad. Maybe they would have done so with her, too, but she was already gone.

Badeep deep.

Abby’s phone signaled a text message from the depths of her purse, lodged under the sales area. She reached behind the ornate filigreed wood of the counter and pulled the phone up to view the message.

She broke up, idiot. Tickets shit idea.

“What is it?” Caroline asked.

Abby shook her head. “Someone apparently has the wrong number.” She held up the screen for her to read.

“So, it’s a text message, not that Justchat app? Jesus, Abby, you need to cut back on the social media.”

“I know, I know. Yes, it’s a text message.”

Caroline squinted at the display. “Oh! Poor guy. He should have bought her flowers.”

Abby grinned. “Yeah, flowers from us. Wait! He still could.”

Caroline flipped a light switch near the door. “Do you even know who that is?”

“No, but judging by the area code, he’s local.” She held the phone up and tapped in a message.

BOOK: Love Me: The Complete Series
3.89Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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