Page 28 of Believing Bailey (Granton University 2)

Before I could think it through any more than that, I knocked on the door and held my breath. I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to word it. Apologizing really didn’t seem like everything I wanted to do here. It just seemed like, well, something was binding us together now, a single event that had turned into something bigger than it ever should’ve been. It felt odd to never talk to him again after that. I’d kind of saved him; I sort of felt responsible for him now.

But I couldn’t tell a guy I’d only talked to for two minutes that I was actually worried about him. So yeah, I was just going to apologize. I mean, an apology was good enough, right? He’d had to spend twenty-four extra hours he’d in a jail cell because of my cowardice.

Oh, Lord. What if Bubba had gotten his hands on Beckett in that time and made him his little prison wife? My stomach lurched with unease. Hopefully Bubba didn’t work quite that fast, although damn, Beckett did kind of have one of those pretty-boy faces, a decent body, and his eyes… He had awesome eyes.

Fuck. I better at least have saved him from the honeymoon with Bubba.

Approaching footsteps sounded from inside, and my palms began to sweat. Okay, so how many apologies did I have to make again? Two? Three?

God, I hated apologizing. I always started stuttering and fumbling and totally butchered them to hell. Beckett deserved a nice eloquent, sincere beg of forgiveness. All I could be was honest and awkward as hell.

The door opened. I swallowed my tongue, expecting it to be him for some reason.

But it wasn’t him. It wasn’t Beckett Hilliard at all.

Instead, the first thing my gaze greeted was a row of shiny pearl snap buttons running up a light blue shirt. I blinked and looked down. Enormous gold belt buckle. Snug Wrangler jeans. Silver-tipped cowboy boots.

Oh my God, cowboy boots!

I zipped my attention up and gaped into the eyes of the cowboy. My cowboy.

Holy shit, I’d totally forgotten about him and Beckett’s insistence that he actually belonged to the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity.

I shook my head. Seriously, what was my soulmate doing in a fraternity? This wasn’t right at all.

But then he smiled and I forgot about all that, because oh wow. He had a warm greeting smile as he slumped one shoulder against one side of the doorframe and then reached out to grip the other side with his hand, his boots crossing at the ankles.

“Well, hello there, sweetheart,” he cooed, his voice deep and penetrating. Oh God, how it penetrated. “What’s a pretty little thing like yourself doing on our doorstep?”

Oh, cheese and rice, he’d just called me pretty. Excuse me while I fainted.

My heart fluttered and smile bloomed as my face grew warm. But really, this was all too much to take in. My soulmate, the man of my dreams, the elusive cowboy I’d been chasing for a year was standing right in front of me—touching distance away—looking at me, smiling at me, and calling me pretty.

I just, I could do nothing but soak it all in.

When I soaked the moment in a bit too awkwardly long, gazing at him with probably a bit too much adoration, his grin turned cocky and one sexy eyebrow arched up into his hairline.

“What’s the problem? Cat got your tongue, darlin’?”

“I, uh.” Oh hell. I’d totally forgotten what I’d come here to do. I knew I’d had a determined mission in mind when I’d knocked on this door, but yeah, it was long gone.

Whoops.

I almost giggled at my silly self. I was so forgetful. Oh well. It couldn’t have been that important. Maybe I could get the cowboy to spank me for my wandering brain and—

What? No!

Where had that thought come from? Bad Bailey.

I cleared my throat, thinking I should probably say something worthwhile and stop ogling the poor guy. I’d have the rest of my life to look at him, didn’t want to wear the sight out all in the first thirty seconds of officially meeting my soulmate. Though, wow, this was one sight I’d have no qualms about wearing out. He was just so yummy. So cowboy. So…

I shuddered and kept gazing at him like a moron.

He chuckled, because he knew…oh, he knew exactly what I was thinking and feeling. And it was a little bit thrilling. My blood thickened in my veins, and I swear my body grew prepared for him, ready for whatever he wanted to do.

“So, are you here to see someone specific?” he asked, his gaze telling me he didn’t care who I was here for, because he was going to be the one I was going to see. “Or did you just want to browse through your choices?”

Oh, I didn’t need to browse. I’d already made my choice, thank you very much. I opened my mouth, but the only words I could think to say were, Will you marry me?

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