Page 39 of Rip Ryder's Second Chance

Sweat lined his brow and he said a little prayer to a higher power that if he was owed any favors he’d win this bet. Not only did he want to take her out, but the thought of shaving his chest didn’t sound fun.

“Hey, Rip. How are you, friend?” Buddy said from behind the ring toss booth.

“Evenin’,” Rip shook the man’s hand. “You remember Noelle, right?”

“Noelle Evelyn? I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.” Buddy scratched his balding head.

“Hi, Buddy. It has been a long time.”

Rip smiled. Obviously, Buddy still had a crush on Noelle. He dug out his wallet to pay for a turn, but Buddy held up his hand.

“Your money’s not good here, Rip.”

“You sure?”

“It’s on the house for two of my favorite people.” Buddy’s cheeks turned bright red.

“Who’s first?” Rip asked Noelle.

“Losers first,” she teased.

“I hope you have brawn to back up that smack.” He settled himself behind the counter and prepared for his one toss. The ring hit one of the bottles, bounced, then landed perfectly on a bottle in the last row. “Oh shucks. That’s going to be hard to beat. You’ll have to land on one of the bottles in the same row to tie.”

“I know how it works.” She didn’t seem the least bit unraveled from his pestering.

Until Sandra Everhart came up to stand beside Rip, placing her hand on his shoulder. “Did you lie to me, cowboy?” the blonde said in her most sultry voice.

Rip liked her enough, but as beautiful as she was, she always laid her intentions on too thick. Rip had never shied away from a woman’s aggressiveness, but Sandra had a reputation of eating up a man and spitting his bones out.

“I didn’t lie. Noelle challenged me to a bet,” he said, glancing over at Noelle who seethed irritation from every pore. Obviously, she didn’t care much for Sandra.

“A bet? What’s the wager?” Sandra brushed her fingers down his bicep.

“He’s going to have to shave his chest,” Noelle interjected.

“What? Rip, you can’t lose this. There’s nothing sexier than a man who has all that hair.” To drive home her words, Sandra dipped her fingers into the open collar of his shirt and ran her long nails through his hair. Rip was put off that suddenly, his hairy chest was on display.

“I won’t lose,” he said confidently, however, his balls shrunk a bit when Noelle tossed the ring, it landed on a bottle in the last row, and at the very end it tilted and spun. Just when he thought his hair was a goner the ring toppled off and hit the floor in a final, losing clank. “Told you.”

Rip started to turn to Noelle when Sandra wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged him in for a tight hug. She whispered in his ear, “I’d love to run my fingers through that hair.”

Detangling himself from her, Rip gave her his friendliest smile then swiveled to face Noelle…but she was gone.

“That way,” Buddy pointed.

Scanning the crowd, Rip finally found her at the cotton candy booth.

“Don’t be a sore loser,” he said next to her ear when he approached her.

She didn’t even look at him but handed the teen in the booth a few bills, accepted her cotton candy then stepped away from the stand. “I lost. I should have demanded a rematch—a fair rematch,” she said seriously.

“A fair rematch? What wasn’t fair?” He naturally laid his hand on the small of her back as they weaved through lines of people waiting to have a turn at the games.

“The blonde, Sandra, intentionally sidetracked me.” She pulled off a strip of the silken threads of the cotton candy, stuck it into her mouth and licked her fingers.

Rip didn’t think it was a bit funny that his dick jerked. “Good excuse. Fact remains, I won fairly.”

“Oh, you were being serious? You want a date with me?” She looked up at him through the thick fringe of her lashes.

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