Page 1 of Line of Resistance

PROLOGUE

ELOISE

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NAOMI HAD TO be kidding.

No way would this woman who claimed to be her friend show up with Nate in tow, acting like their double-date was still on.

Eloise shook her head, biting back the urge to succumb to the tears she’d been fighting since Matt called to ‘let her down gently’.

Five minutes before he was supposed to be at her house.

"You’ve got to tell him to leave."

She wasn't normally the kind of woman who bossed adults around. She was agreeable. She was friendly.

She was passive to a fault.

But right now she had to put her foot down. No way was she being humiliated twice in one night. “Tell him to leave.”

Naomi didn't seem surprised by her sudden forcefulness.

If anything she seemed amused by it.

"I get where you're coming from, but just hear me out." She wrapped one arm around Eloise's shoulders, leading her away from where Tyson and Nate stood at the small concession stand set up in the lobby of the community theater. "Tonight would be a great opportunity to show Nate how big of a mistake he made."

Eloise didn’t have to work to find a frown. "I don't care if he knows how big of a mistake he made." She didn't care about Nate at all.

Definitely not his horribly dimpled smile. Certainly not the lean lines of his terribly muscled body.

And she sure as shit didn't care about his ‘tight enough to bounce quarters off it’ ass.

"Fair enough." Naomi sighed. "I thought maybe getting to ruin Nate's night would make you feel a little bit better."

Eloise lifted a brow in question. "And you think convincing Nate that he shouldn't have canceled that date he asked me on because I was," she lifted her fingers to make air quotes, "too good for him," she dropped her hands, "will ruin his night?"

That sounded about as likely as her enjoying this evening would be.

Naomi slowly smiled. "Absolutely, I do." She leaned closer, glancing back at where the men still stood. "I also thought he would look real pretty in pictures you could post to your Instagram." Naomi’s lips twisted into a scowl. “Show Matt the mouth-breather that he didn’t ruin your night.”

That made her pause.

She wasn't usually a game player, but the thought was tempting. Especially since this game was technically over.

"I think it's about as likely that Matt will be bothered by pictures of me with another man as it is that Nate will suddenly realize he passed up a great opportunity."

And that likelihood was zero.

It was her own fault. She knew she had a bad picker, but that didn't stop her from chasing wrong man after wrong man, blindly running straight into a broken heart time and time again.

Not that Nate broke her heart. Thankfully that required more than a cancelled date.

He did hurt her ego a little though.

Enough that she didn't hate the thought of him having regrets.

"How did you even convince him to come here?" Eloise couldn't help herself from sneaking a peek at the blonde Adonis who had her attention from the second he stormed into her life nearly nine months ago, decked out in all black and armed to the teeth, ready to rescue her from a scary situation.

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