Page 3 of Protected By West
His smug grin softened. “No, you’re not wrong. But I have been known to watch more than just action.”
“Oh? Have you?” She leaned toward him and lowered her voice. “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with the Heat Miser in stop-animation?”
He looked away, his face thoughtful. “I think the Heat Miser was in one of the Santa Claus films. You’re thinking of the Burgermeister.”
Tracy gave him a suspicious look and then picked up her cell phone from the bar where she’d laid it facedown. She brought up her web browser as the bartender set their drinks down and walked away with a little huff of annoyance.
When Tracy set the phone back on the bar face down again, the cowboy was grinning at her with his glass held up in his hand. He winked and took a drink. “I was right, wasn’t I?”
“Yes,” she admitted, keeping her gaze fixed on his face, “but you knew you would be.”
“I did.” He lowered his hand to the bar but kept a hold of his glass. “Our family watched those movies over and over again through the years. I think I have them all memorized.”
“Huh,” she grinned at him and lifted her glass to take a drink. “I don’t think I have any movies memorized… except for Rio Bravo.”
“Your favorite?”
She shook her head. “I remember my dad watching it when I was a little kid. For some reason it stuck.”
He smiled at her. “Does your dad still watch it?”
She looked away for a moment and settled her features before she looked back at him. “New topic, please...”
He lifted his head and dropped it in a nod. “What brings you to Fredericksburg?”
Tracy smiled and the tension in her shoulders bled away. “I’m here for the conference on safety.”
“Me, too.”
Damn, this was almost… too lucky??
“Oh? Which bank… I mean which financial institution do you work for?” She waited for his answer thinking, ‘Please don’t say bank. Please don’t say bank.’
“Oh, I’m not from a financial institution. I’m here as a presenter.”
Oh? Nice.
She relaxed a little more when he held up his glass, bringing them closer together.
“I’m glad I got to come up here a day early so I could meet you…”
She lifted her class and gently clinked their glasses together. “Tracy. Tracy Fagan.”
His eyebrows lifted as if the name was familiar somehow.
“Nice to meet you, Tracy,” his grin made him look super sexy. “My name is Weston Cooper.”
She grinned at him. “Weston Cooper, huh? You sound like one of those sheriffs in the old west,” she laughed softly. “Thank goodness you’re not.”
She took a sip of her drink and saw him slowly lifting his glass to take a drink of his own.
WEST
He hesitated before taking his drink because he was pretty sure she’d just said that she was happy he wasn’t law enforcement, but he wasn’t about to say anything just at that moment.
It’s entirely possible that she’d said something and hadn’t thought it through, but… he watched her as she lowered her glass to the bar top.
Tracy didn’t strike him as someone who just threw words out for no reason.
