Page 5 of Big Gruff Cowboy

His features darken. “Will men be there?”

I bark out a laugh. Even if there would be, I’ve never been the type of woman that turns a man’s head. I mean, I’m pretty. But I lack the natural confidence to attract a guy. Still, I think of all the book boyfriends that we’ll inevitably discuss when I’m with my friends. “Yeah, there will be loads of men.”

He nods. “Alright then, I’m coming too.”

“No, you’re not,” I sputter out. I can only imagine what the girls will think if I show up at Sadie’s bakery with Noah on my arm. Yeah, that’s the reason he can’t tag along. It has nothing to do with the way he makes me feel warm all over or the way he looks at me like he sees me. For a girl who’s been overlooked her whole life, that feeling is dangerous.

“You’re not parading around town in front of a bunch of other men until you’re wearing my ring on your finger,” he growls.

I’m pretty sure this ridiculous man is serious. “Stop being a weirdo! We’re going to taste-test Sadie’s desserts and discuss book boyfriends. There won’t be any actual men there.”

Dotty beeps her horn again. Her rust bucket burns through gas. I’ll make sure to pass her a few dollars to make up for keeping her waiting.

Noah is still holding onto my arm, and he doesn’t look convinced. “Give me your phone.”

I hesitate. It’s not that I don’t trust Noah. For some strange reason, I do. It’s that I never know what to expect from him next. “Why?”

He holds out his hand. “Now, Lizzy.”

For the second time tonight, curiosity gets the best of me. I pass him my phone with the cracked screen. I’ve been meaning to replace it since Mr. Darcy batted it off the counter a few weeks ago.

He takes my phone and taps it a few times before passing it back to me. “My number is in your contacts. Call me if you need me.”

His words freeze me to the spot. I don’t think I’ve ever had someone I could call. I don’t like the way it makes me feel like he cares. “I’m a big girl. I can look out for myself.”

He leans forward and kisses my forehead. “No, you’re my girl, and it’s my job now to look out for you.”

I blink up at him, stunned and confused. The kiss was so quick that I don’t think he had time to realize my hair is a wig.

“Now have fun with your friends. I’ll check in later.” He pats my ass when I turn to go like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

In a daze, I walk to the car where Dotty is waiting. This cowboy is better than any book boyfriend.

“I think it’s kind of tart,” I admit to Sadie later that evening in her bakery. She moved to town around the same time I did. She started a donut shop called Sprinkles, and she’s having some of the girls over for a taste test of new flavors she wants to debut.

Sadie nods and jots a note on a clipboard that’s smeared with jelly. In between taste-testing donuts, we’ve been dishing about book boyfriends and sipping wine.

I’ve never really had friends but when I moved to Courage County, I found Evie, Sadie, and Dotty.

Evie nods. “It doesn’t taste as sweet to me as some of the other donuts.”

She moved to town with her two brothers. The three of them moved in with Greer Maple, who I managed to gather from tonight’s conversation is Noah’s older brother.

Dotty asked me a bunch of questions about Noah as she drove me to the bakery. She’s working as an intern at The Courage Chronicle. She wants to crack a big story, but she complains that the most interesting things to ever happen here involve a runaway cow.

Sadie turns to Dotty for feedback. The writer shrugs. “It’s a donut with filling. What’s not to love?”

Sadie smiles at her but taps her pen against the clipboard. I know from her expression that she’s rethinking the ratio of ingredients in her filling. Unlike other bakeries that buy pre-made filling, Sadie makes all of her own fresh. It’s part of why her donuts are so delicious.

“Enough work.” Evie leans over and plucks the clipboard from Sadie. “You work crazy hours. You deserve to turn off that big brain for a little while.”

“And what better way than talking about those alien brothers?” Dotty says with a waggle of her eyebrows.

I reach for another sip of my wine. I was behind on our book for the week, so I caught up last night. When I read about the gruff purple alien doing filthy, filthy things to the heroine, I may have pictured a certain cowboy.

Live with me in wedded bliss and carry my heirs.

Who even says things like that? Cowboys who are crazy, that’s who. I remind myself of this as I drain my glass and refill it.

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