Page 38 of The Bachelor

He was. He knew it, but he couldn’t seem to shake off the malaise. “Maybe I am coming down with something.” It had to be the only possible explanation for why he wanted to be alone at home, not out on the scene.

“If I didn’t know you better, I’d think you have girl troubles. But you never have girl troubles. So what is it, work?”

“Nope. If it was, I would not be talking about it here, anyway.” Walker knew that. He was in the industry too. Too many eyes and ears.

“So, you’re not going to tell me what’s going on?”

“Nope.” He couldn’t talk about Avery. That wouldn’t be fair to her.

The girl Walker had been talking to returned and was listening to them both, wide-eyed, straining to hear. It wasn’t a stretch to think she knew who they both were, but maybe she didn’t. He had no clue. The truth was, he didn’t care either way.

The one woman he cared about hadn’t called him all weekend, nor was she going to. He knew that. It still bugged him. He had wanted to be wrong. He had wanted her to want him even though she had made it clear she felt like it was a conflict of interest.

He thought about his conversation with Jolene as he sipped his beer. Maybe there was something in between being in a relationship—which frankly he was surprised to find he wanted—and this. Maybe he could just focus on getting to know Avery for a while. Take it slow. Date her. Not a commitment, not a promise, if she didn’t want that. Just knowing that they were interested in each other, and he would be the only man touching her.

That made him want to go in the restroom and punch himself in the face. He wasn’t being fair to her. She had a lot on the line here. He had promised her he would respect that.

He didn’t even know her. He’d spent all of three hours in her presence and yet he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head for three months.

But damn it, he liked her.

He wanted to get to know her better.

He didn’t want to just fuck her. He wanted to date her. Well, date her and also fuck her. But that distinction was important.

The world as he knew it had completely changed and he needed to get this right.

Being out at the bar with random women hitting on him wasn’t the way to honor what he wanted to build with Avery.

Clamping Walker on the shoulder, he drained his beer. “I gotta go.”

There was no reason to be at a bar. There was nothing he was looking for there.

When Shane walked into Rusted Truck on Monday with his sister and Chance, he felt an odd nervous energy coursing through him. He wanted to see Avery like nobody’s business. She was the woman he wanted to be with.

He needed to figure out how to be around her and be patient.

Not his fucking strong suit.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Jolene asked him when he inadvertently cut her off in his haste to enter the waiting room. “I was kind of walking here.”

“Sorry.” He had almost knocked her off balance in her high heels, so he reached out and steadied her. “I’m just distracted.”

“I can see that. Snap out of it. You brought me here so don’t make me do all the work.”

Chance sauntered over, his hands in his pockets. “Do you not want to do this?” he asked her, studying Jolene’s face.

“Of course I want to do this. I’m curious about the song. But Shane is being a turd.”

It didn’t take much for them to revert to childish name-calling. It was their right as siblings. “Because I walked in front of you? Get over yourself.” He rolled his eyes.

But then Jolene grinned at him. “Oh, my God, this is because of her. You’re nervous. I love everything about this.”

Luckily, Pat came into the room before that discussion could go any further. Avery was just a few steps behind her.

“Good morning, ladies. Thanks for having us in,” Shane said, determined to be normal.

Pat started talking, but he didn’t hear a thing. Avery had come forward, and all he could do was stare at her. She was wearing a flowing kind of top thing that he didn’t have a name for, and a denim skirt that cupped her ass and showed off her trim and strong legs. His mouth went dry. Those thighs had been wrapped around first his bike and then him…

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