Page 7 of Opposites (Never) Attract
“What?” I asked, because I felt like he was expecting something from me.
“Waiting for your full attention, Sunshine.”
“My name is Kaitlyn, now,” I said.
“Known you since you were a baby. That’s going to be hard.”
“Around here we strive for what’s hard,” I said, then glanced down at my thousand dollar watch to let him know he was wasting his time. “You have my complete attention. For exactly fifteen more minutes. Then I have work I need to get back to.”
“Can’t do this on a clock. How about I take you out to dinner?”
I blinked. Then I blinked again. Going on a date with Tag Durham, was my teenage dream come true.
“I’m sorry. Did you just ask me to dinner?”
“First time in New York. Heard there’s good food here.”
“The best food in the world is here.” I said, like I was defending New York’s honor.
He knocked his hat back further on his head and grinned at me. My cold heart skipped a beat. “A steak is a steak, darlin. Don’t see how much better it can be in a city that doesn’t have any cows, but I’ll bite. Can you get us into some fancy ass place?”
“I know the manager of 4 Charles,” I said, but he had no idea that 4 Charles was the hardest reservation to get in the city. My flex was wasted on him. “But we’re not having dinner. Just say whatever it is you need to say, then you can head back home.”
“What I need to say to you takes time. Besides, don’t you want to show your old friend from home some of the big city sights?”
I bristled at the word friend.
Fifteen years ago, if Tag had called me his friend it would have sent me over the moon. He’d been everything I’d ever dreamed about in a guy. Tall, strong, handsome. Never a bully. Always looking out for those who were younger or smaller or weaker, which was just about everyone in his orbit. He was every girl’s crush even though he’d dated Jenny Masters exclusively since his junior year.
Who was he dating now, I wondered?
It didn’t matter. Tag Durham,was definitively my past. I stepped toward him, needing every inch of my height, and I gave him my best -I am not here to play games or suffer fools- voice. “Just because we’re from the same nowhere townin Wyoming, doesn’t make us friends. If the McGraws and the Calloways have proven anything, it’s that.”
“I’m not a McGraw.”
I sniffed. “Might as well be. They all but adopted you into their conclave of assholes.”
He tilted his head back and laughed. Reminding me of my teenage fascination with Tag’s Adam’s apple. I used to imagine licking it.
Now, I imagined sinking my teeth into it and ripping it out like a female lion.
I tugged on the bottom of my suit coat.
“Sunshine, my daddy worked for the McGraws for thirty years, and now I work for them too. Nothing asshole about that. Just a cowboy making a living. Now, I’ve taken enough time out of your day. I can see that, what with you being so important and everything. You find a fancy place for us to eat tonight, and we’ll talk.”
“You said you were here to take me home,” I reminded him.
He lifted an eyebrow.
“When you interrupted my meeting, you said you were here to bring me home. That’s not going to happen. You know that, right?”
“We’ll talk.”
“Tag…”
Matthew knocked on the office door and peeked his head inside. “I have coffee. Also, Jared’s heard about the…commotion, and would like a word with you later this afternoon.”
Of course. Jared.
