Page 2 of Her Cowboy Blind Date
She attempted a smile, typed a new note, and passed him her phone.
All good, tooth pain isn’t fun. Thanks for understanding.
He read her message. “Sorry about your tooth. Did they give you any painkillers?”
She nodded and gave him a thumbs up.
“Hope you feel better soon.” He placed her phone in the palm of her hand, his fingertips lightly touching her bare wrist.
Tingles of awareness shot through her and she gripped the phone, worried she’d embarrass herself by dropping it. His striking blue eyes radiated a warmth that pulled her in, an attraction that was appealing and dangerous in equal measure. He was a charming stranger, and she wasn’t going to be fooled again by a beguiling smile and sweet words.
She redirected her attention to her phone. Of course, she’d gone dark on social media and deleted the apps. She’d left her ear buds in her dorm, and there was nothing compelling to do on her phone to distract her from the cowboy. She’d read and replied to all her messages from family back home while waiting to see the dentist.
Don’t look at him, don’t engage him in conversation, and don’t reveal any personal information. The best way to avoid attention and stay under the radar in a small Midwestern town. The safest path to avoid getting her heart broken.
* * *
Sam Williams pulled his gaze away from the pretty lady stranded with him in the elevator and sent apology messages to his boss and next customer. He should be leaving now for his afternoon job at a ranch out of town. So much for attempting a discreet visit to his lawyer’s office during his lunch break to sign the paperwork and claim his inheritance. He was now the proud part owner of the Colorado family ranch that had been in his mother’s family for generations.
A new message flashed on his phone. Sam was thankful he had an understanding boss. His track record for punctuality had helped. At least he’d squeezed in a burger for lunch after cleaning up for the lawyer meeting. He’d spent part of his morning fixing a tractor that had broken down in a muddy field.
Sam should have taken the stairs. He would have walked down two flights if an old knee injury from his high school football days hadn’t started acting up at Christmas. He’d put off making an appointment with a physical therapist, figuring the cold weather was the problem, and the reason he’d felt twinges this morning. If he’d taken the stairs, he wouldn’t be stuck in an elevator with a dark-haired beauty who was doing her best to ignore him.
Her straight hair had fallen forward over her face, her attention focused on the phone screen in her hand. He guessed she was a college student, although the expensive woolen coat draped over her arm suggested she wasn’t short of money. She wore a plain long sleeve t-shirt, ripped jeans, and black lace-up Doc Martens boots. He didn’t understand the ripped-jeans-in-winter trend that his cousin, Cindy, insisted was the universal college student uniform.
The Gilead population swelled during the college semesters with an influx of students from around the country. His elevator companion looked like she belonged in a city, but without hearing her accent he couldn’t discern if she was East Coast, West Coast, or somewhere in between.
Minutes ticked by and he replied to Mom’s message, confirming he’d signed his inheritance paperwork.
He snuck a glance at the girl leaning back against the elevator wall. Brows drawn together, eyes closed, and mouth pulled in a tight line. She was in pain and he couldn’t think of a way to ease her discomfort. He didn’t even know her name.
He shook his head. Their lack of communication was for the best. He hadn’t imagined the spark when he’d given back her phone, and her wide-eyed reaction had suggested the feeling was mutual. He respected her decision to zone him out and not play the flirty games his ex-girlfriend had excelled in. Miley strung him along for years, only to dump him a few short months before marrying Sam’s best friend’s brother.
Which had dumped Sam in his current wedding guest dilemma. Pete was getting married at Easter, and Sam didn’t have a plus-one lined up for the wedding. Cindy was pushing him to get back on the dating horse, and his cousin wanted to set him up on a blind date. He didn’t know if he was prepared to deal with the inevitable dating and relationship drama.
Noise sounded from below his feet, and the elevator moved lower, inch by inch.
Pretty girl looked up, her long dark lashes framing her distinctive sky-blue eyes. Her cute smile was still a bit lopsided, a side effect from the dental procedure. For her sake, he hoped and prayed she’d arrive home before her tooth pain became unbearable.
“We’ll be out of here in a few minutes,” he said.
She gave him a thumbs up and slipped her phone back into her jeans pocket. He got the message loud and clear, and he stayed quiet until the elevator doors opened on level one.
A middle-aged maintenance guy smiled. “You folks doing okay?”
“We’re fine,” Sam said, standing back to allow pretty girl to exit first. “Thanks for rescuing us.”
Pretty girl nodded and waved goodbye, then took off, hightailing it out of the elevator as if she was escaping a burning building.
The maintenance guy shook his head. “If you’re going to get stuck in an elevator, then being stranded with a girl like her isn’t a bad deal. Did you catch her name? Or get her number?”
Sam chuckled. “She’d just been to the dentist and couldn’t talk.”
“That’s a shame.” He shook his head again, this time more slowly. “A missed opportunity, if you ask me. I met my wife by accident at a car wash almost twenty years ago. I helped her polish her car, and the rest is history.” His grin beamed his happily married status.
Sam stepped out of the elevator and shook the man’s hand. “Good for you, and I’m glad you got the girl.”
“Too right. Sometimes it can be those split-second decisions that can change your life. What if I hadn’t washed my car that day?”