Page 4 of March Kind of Courage

“Well, if that’s all, we should get going.”

“Right.”

“These are yours.” He handed me the wildflowers, and when our fingers brushed, he pulled his hand away like I’d burned him. “It’ll take at least an hour,” he shared almost indifferently.

“Right.” I was still talking softly for some reason.

I shook my head, trying to bat away the nerves I felt. What the hell kind of weird universe had I stepped into that a man who looked like March West would need a mail-order bride?

I knew why I’d done it.

I’d needed to find a way to get out of the dumpster fire that was my life. I just got laid off due to cutbacks at the call center, and the crazy amount of rent I paid on my apartment that was the size of a postage stamp had doubled. I felt like I was drowning in a mountain of debt, working to live paycheck to paycheck.

I’d needed a way out.

I needed to find a way to live and thrive.

And unfortunately, I wasn’t going to be able to do that back home.

I’d given up hope on finding Mr. Right a long time ago. Love was great, but with how I’d grown up, I knew I had to be realistic. Hearts and flowers were all great and dandy, but who had the time? I’d been busting my hump working double sometimes triple shifts just to make ends meet since before I graduated high school.

I didn’t have time to date.

My best friend, Sadie, tried to push me to try out apps and blind dates, but I knew that wasn’t for me.

I was a twenty-five-year-old virgin who didn’t have two pennies to rub together, and desperate times called for desperate measures. I needed a change so badly I could taste it. Sadie thought I was crazy. Marrying a complete stranger and moving halfway across the country? But when I broke it down to her, she’d given me grace. Which, Sadie being Sadie, was giving a lot. My drama-filled, hopeless romantic bestie was in love with love.

Not me.

I was a realist.

Or I had been until I caught March West’s blue eyes staring at me and something in me started to slowly wake up. Something I had no business feeling! With that in mind, I reached for my bag at the same time he did, and when our fingers touched, we both pulled them back this time as if we’d burned one another.

Again, there was a familiarity laced with electricity. It swirled around me like a fire tornado. Our eyes locked, and against my better judgment, I started to let myself drown in the pools of his eyes. They looked like the bluest most beautiful island waters. He blinked and his brows bunched, almost like he knew what I’d been doing, and he didn’t like it.

If he felt the static electricity of attraction I did, he wasn’t letting on.

“I got it,” he muttered and turned. I watched the tall man who looked way too good in jeans walk with purpose, my yellow luggage rolling next to him.

It was right then that I realized he wasn’t waiting around for me, so I hurried after him. Wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into with each step I took. I reached in my back pocket and shot Sadie a quick text, letting her know I had landed safely, and I was on my way to the famous West Ranch.

I might have taken a gamble on this whole marriage of convenience, but I had done my homework. I’d made sure to Google some of the things he’d talked about with me. Like his family’s ranch and his business. But I had purposely avoided looking him up on any kind of social media. I’d wanted to be surprised, and oh boy, was I. He didn’t look back for me until he stopped at a huge white truck and lifted and put my luggage in.

When he did, he almost seemed annoyed I was so far behind him.

“Sorry.” I had no idea why I was apologizing.

He muttered something under his breath I couldn’t make out before he rounded the truck to open the passenger door for me. I stayed where I was by the tailgate of the truck and stared at him.

“Sunny? You coming?” I swallowed slowly. He’d opened my door. I didn’t think anyone, ever in my life, had opened a door for me. I wasn’t sure he liked me, but the man had manners, so at least there was that.

“Right.” I nodded and forced myself to walk toward him. I stood at the door and looked into the truck. It was clean and tidy, almost like new. But it was also raised, and I was short. “Umm…” I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to jump into the truck. Almost as if reading my mind, he stepped forward. So close, his body heat radiated onto me, and for a moment, I felt safe.

“Here,” March mumbled. Before I could ask what he meant, he surprised me by lifting and putting me in the truck.

I was short, but I wasn’t small.

I had some heft on me that meant I had boobs and an ass. And I couldn’t deny how shocked I was at the way he lifted me like I weighed nothing. His body was right next to me as I stared up at him. His hair was in his eyes, and my hands itched to move it to get a better look at him.

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