Page 8 of Wild in the Woods
The alcohol reached her brain in one massive dose. Her serotonin lifted and her lips began to tingle. Whew, that felt nice. She was angry at Rudd suddenly, but in a less serious way.
“He wanted to know how to get you back. Never once said he’d cheated. Just that you’d had a misunderstanding and you overreacted.”
“I OVER REACTED?”
Olive’s eyes went huge, and she giggled. “Lu, shhh!”
But Lulu would not be silenced. Her drink arrived, and she leaned over the table, whisper-shouting as Olive leaned in to hear.
“He was wearing leather chaps with the ass cut out when I caught him, Olive. And a chain with spikes all over it around his neck. Okay? And she was wearing a pair of fluffy pink rabbit ears and probably a tail. I’m just guessing, but there was probably a fluffy little tail under there somewhere.”
They both covered their mouths and sat back against the seats. Lulu tossed down half her drink and tried real hard not to bust out laughing. At the time, the image had not been funny. But now? Hilarious.
“That is… what do I even say about that?”
“Okay, so that’s why I’m here. To get this damn story, make my editor happy, slather it all over my portfolio and then, I don’t know, move to L.A. or something where I can get a better job.”
“Or you could just stay here. Revamp your fashion vlog and start taking sponsorships again.”
A warm feeling went over her. She hadn’t posted to her fashion and beauty vlog in almost a year, and she missed it. It had been a thriving endeavor when she’d been in fashion school and had brought in an impressive income on sponsorships and ads before her father demanded she do something more reputable with her time. Despite her posting less and less, the vlog continued to do well. It’s not that she wanted to let it go completely but finding the time to create and post new content and connect with advertisers was hard with her full-time job.
Plus, her father monitored all her social media and he’d have a fit if he saw her active on the channel again. How silly. She was a grown woman, still worried about what physician parents thought. Her older sister was a gynecologist in Seattle. Fashion vlogger didn’t really fit into that family dynamic.
Lulu laughed. “Sorry. No. This town is not for me. I need to bulk up my portfolio and start hitting the bigger publications. I’m hoping an impressive byline for a national magazine will get my father off my back.”
Olive cocked her head. “How much do you know about Fox and what he does?”
Almost ready for round three, Lulu scanned the ever-growing crowd for their waiter, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“I dug into him and his survival courses as much as possible, but honestly, there’s not a whole lot about him online.”
Olive hitched a brow. “Have you ever seen him?”
“Just an obscure photo of him online.”
“Oh, yeah, there is nothing obscure about Fox.” Olive let out a breath, her cheeks turning red. “He’s, um, well… he’s… do you want to meet him?”
“Now?”
Olive picked up her drink and slid from the booth. “This bar is connected to The Rowdy Rooster. Just so happens I heard he’s going to be there with his cousins tonight.”
Lulu’s mouth went dry. She took another drink to soothe her throat.
“Yeah, let’s do this.”
Getting up to go after her friend, she startled when Olive wagged a finger at her.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, and for God’s sake, keep your pants on.”
Chapter Four
The blonde was close enough he could smell her peachy bodywash and the coconut in her hair.
Fox felt her movement next to him as he leaned over the pool table to make a shot. A flicker of interest almost caused him to look her way. Almost. Her scent was light and feminine, but something was missing. It was the same old story. An attractive woman showed interest in him, he pondered reciprocating, assessed her scent, and… nothing. Nada. It left him with an empty, uncomfortable feeling. Feelings made him grumpy, so he did what he always did and ignored the woman until she gave up and went away.
This one, though, had been following him around all night. Oh, she was trying to be nonchalant about it. Sipping her drink while browsing framed black and white antique photos of the town on the walls, lingering around the pool tables as if waiting for one to open up.
Her scent was lacking, though. Completely hollow.
