Page 26 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

He smiled. “I already told her – when I told her how glad I am that she did it and thanked her myself. She thought that was pretty funny, since I kept telling her I wasn’t interested in online dating. Now, I’m going to have to put up with her sayingI told you so, but it’s worth it.”

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Shayna held the phone a little tighter and couldn’t wipe the silly smile off her face. He sounded awesome! Not just the sound of his voice – which was deep and sexy and sent chills through her – but the way he talked, what he talked about, she felt like she was talking to a friend. She was curious, though.

“Mind if I ask you something?”

“Fire away – you can ask anything. I think that’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I just … how come you’re online? I mean … why …?” She realized that asking him why he’d resorted to online dating, even if it was his friend’s idea, would lead to him asking her the same question.

He chuckled and the sound seemed to reverberate in her chest.

“You want to know, if I’m not fugly, or chubby, or a dweeb, or whatever, why can’t I find myself a girlfriend in real life?

She had to laugh. “I wouldn’t have put it that way but … yeah, basically.”

He blew out a sigh. “I … Okay, so I’m not proud of this, but we promised each other we’d be honest, right? There’s no point otherwise.”

“Okay.” Her heart was beating rapidly, and she was starting to wish that she hadn’t asked.

“Where I live – Paradise Valley. I forgot to answer your question about that, we’re about thirty minutes from town. But yeah … everyone knows everyone and there aren’t a whole lot of people around. The dating pool is more like a dirty puddle, if you know what I mean.”

She laughed. “I know exactly what you mean; I say that the dating pool in Summer Lake needs a good shot of chlorine.”

She loved his laugh!

“Okay, so you get it then. There aren’t a lot of options for meeting someone new.” He cleared his throat, and she wondered what was coming. “Well, there are options – there’s a resort called Chico and there’s a lot of tourists who come through and …”

She laughed. “Don’t sound so worried. It’s the same here in town. The tourists come through, there’s a fresh batch of them every weekend and … It’s not hard to meet someone new, but it is hard to meet someone who’s looking for … more than a fun weekend.”

“Yeah.”

They were both quiet for a long moment.

“Are you saying …? Fuck!”

“What?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to sound like a hypocrite.”

She laughed. “You won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“I might be wrong, but I’m guessing that you’ve made the most of your opportunities with the tourists, and you want to ask if I’ve done the same.”

“Yeah.”

“I think you can answer that one for yourself.”

“I can?”

“Think about it, Ty.”

She could hear the smile in his voice when he spoke again. “You haven’t. For one thing, that’s not who you are, and for another, you wouldn’t have the time even if you wanted to.”

“Exactly.”

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