Page 39 of Cowboy Bull's Promise

She hesitates. “I have work?—”

“What time?”

“Three to eleven. I get Tuesday off.”

“Perfect. After work, then. Will you come out with me?”

She bites her lip, and before my brain can intervene, my thumb’s there, brushing the mark she made.

And yeah, I kiss it, too.

“Y-yes,” she breathes.

And I smile like a goddamn fool.

“Yes? All right then. Good. See you tomorrow.”

“Okay. Um, wait! Should we exchange numbers?”

Shit. I could slap myself.

“Yeah, gimme your phone.”

She hands it over, and my fingers shake just a little as I punch in my contact information and shoot off a quick text so I can save hers later.

It comes up on my phone and I save the contact info exactly as I typed it. Because even if she doesn’t know it, Arliss is my heart.

Unknown

Save this number for Mo Chroí.

“What are you doing? You changing my contact name?” I ask when I see her grinning as she types.

“If you can give me a nickname, I can give you one,” she states boldly.

“Yeah? What is it?”

I already know because I saw it before she could swipe off the screen. She saved my info as Cowboy Romeo.

I am not sure how I feel about that. I mean, it’s cute. But I’m not playing Casanova with this woman.

She’s different.

Special.

“Okay, so, I can’t stay out too late. My grandpa will worry,” she says, and I can smell her nervousness, sweet and honest and pure.

“That’s okay. However long or short, I’m just happy to spend time with you.”

She blinks, wary. “Yeah?”

I nod.

“Yeah. Now you go on inside, Arliss. Get some sleep.”

“Okay,” she whispers.

“See ya soon.”

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