Page 17 of The Cowboy's Unlikely Love

He ran his hand through his hair. “Am I making myself sound like an asshole?” he asked with a rueful smile.

To his relief, she smiled back. “No. I get it. And I’m not judging you. You’re young, free, and single – why not mingle?”

He chuckled. “That’s how I see it.” His smile faded. “It looks different tonight, though.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“I mean with you.” He held his hand up to stop her before she could interrupt. “And no, that’s not me feeding you a line. I’m dead serious. You… You’re different. You’re real. I don’t know how else to put it. Laney said it earlier – you could be one of us. I … shit! I wish I could explain it better. I feel like I’m out of my depth here – out of my league, if I’m honest.”

The way she smiled made him feel better. “It’s okay. I get it. There was a time – years ago – when I used to play the game. It’s so long ago now that I have the benefit of hindsight. I can explain it to you, if you want me to.”

“Please.”

“The way you work it, the way you play the game, that’s all it is – a game. You don’t see the girls, the other players, as people.”

He started to protest, but she spoke over him.

“I don’t mean that in a bad way, it’s just the only way to explain it. You’re not engaging with them as fellow human beings. You only see them as fellow players in the game.”

She wrinkled her nose, and it looked so damn cute that he wanted to lean across the console and hug her.

She didn’t seem to notice his reaction as she continued. “I bet you played football or something in high school, didn’t you?”

He chuckled. “Yeah. And why is it that with you I feel like I shouldn’t admit that I was quarterback and team captain?”

She laughed. “Hey, you can’t blame me. The reason I asked is because I wanted to compare the girls you sleep with to players on the opposing team. You know it’s a game; you engage with each other for the fun of it, you’re both looking to get something out of it, but once the game’s over neither of you will give each other another thought.”

He leaned his head back against the window and stared at her. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But…” He chuckled when a thought struck him. “That’s why you’re so different, isn’t it?”

She gave him a puzzled look.

“Because I see you as one of us – someone who I want to be on the same team with.” The idea had made him laugh at first, and he was pleased with himself for being able to follow her analogy and take it further. The more he thought about it, though, the less humorous and more appealing the idea seemed.

She was still watching him with that puzzled look on her face.

He couldn’t help it; he winked at her. “Want to try being teammates while you’re here?”

She wrinkled her nose again. “What does that even mean?”

“Honestly? I have no idea. I haven’t tried it before. I guess that means we can make it up as we go along.”

He was relieved when she gave him a small smile. “It’s not a terrible idea.”

“I think it’s an awesome idea.”

“But where do we start?”

He leaned toward her, resting his elbows on the console as he looked into her eyes. He was out of his comfort zone, no question about it, so he was relieved to see the way she reacted to his closeness – the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed deeply, the way she ran her tongue over her bottom lip. She might not be the kind of girl who’d happily waltz off to bed with him, but she was attracted to him, there was no doubt about that.

“How about breakfast tomorrow?” he asked.

The way she groaned felt like a slap in the face. “Seriously?” she asked. “To you, that whole conversation we just had was nothing more than a lead up to inviting yourself to stay the night?”

“What?” He shook his head as if doing so might be able to rearrange the words he’d just heard into something that made sense. “What do you…?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Breakfast? Seriously?”

“Shit!” He had to laugh when it hit him. “I didn’t mean it like that. Dammit, Everly! I want to say that you should know me better than that, but that’s crazy because you don’t know me at all – yet. I wasn’t feeding you a line, wasn’t insinuating that you should spend the night with me. All I meant was that, if you want, I can come and pick you up in the morning and take you out for breakfast.”

---