“Yeah? Are you going to call all the other men around town to see whose ego is bigger?”
His eyes laughed as he leaned hard on the counter, putting himself just inches from me. “Drinks. Saturday night.”
I shook my head in confusion, not understanding what he was talking about. “How are drinks Saturday night going to put my insult to the test?”
“Cassidy,” he chuckled, “you always were too cute for your own good.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you and I are getting drinks Saturday night. I’m buying.”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise at the offer that seemed a lot like an order. Of course, that was probably because in all my years of knowing Maverick Wynne, I’d never gotten even the slightest suspicion that he liked me in any way.
“You— like a date?”
Huffing out a laugh, he stepped back from the counter. “Wow. Okay, I didn’t realize I would be rebuffed so easily. Was it my ego? Or maybe the uniform? Because I wasn’t planning on wearing this.”
“No!” My words rushed out of me as I desperately tried to fix my blunder. “I just wasn’t expecting you to ask me out for drinks. In all the years I’ve known you, you’ve never shown the slightest interest in me. I mean, you’re definitely good-looking and muscley and all that stuff?—”
“Muscley?” His lips twitched in amusement at my choice of words.
“Maverick Wynne, stop teasing me right this minute!”
He tossed a twenty down on the counter, snagging the book without waiting for me to put it in a bag. “I wonder what you would have said to dinner?”
“You didn’t let me give you a bag!”
“That’s not an answer, but maybe I’ll pull it out of you Saturday night,” he said, heading for the door.
I picked up the twenty and shook it at him. “And you overpaid for the book!”
“See you this weekend, Cassidy.”
My mouth gaped as he walked out, not even bothering to take his change. What the hell was that? And when was I supposed to meet him? Or was he picking me up? I hated it when men left on a high note, leaving me confused and in desperate need of answers.
What was I supposed to do now? I mean, of course, I would get drinks with the man. But was it a date? Was it just a friendly drink? And what if he didn’t leave me enough time to get ready?
But most importantly, how was I going to sit down for drinks with Maverick when I couldn’t get my mind off Sam?
“Oh, forget it,” I muttered to myself as I hustled around the shop, shutting everything down for the night.
After closing out the register and shutting down the computer, I headed to the back room for my things. For a second, I thought I felt a prickle, like someone was watching me, but when I spun around, no one was there.
Laughing to myself, I grabbed my purse and slung it over my shoulder. “He’s not there. He moved on, just like you wanted him to.”
But even as I walked through my shop, determined to move on from whatever I had with Sam, I knew there was no quick fix for what was wrong with me.
I was in love with him.
And I pushed him away before he could leave me. Before I could feel the cruel sting of rejection if I told him I loved him and wanted more. Before I could become so attached that it hurt even worse than it did now.
Josie met me outside the shop, grinning as she hooked her arm through mine. “Isn’t it a beautiful night?”
“It’s freezing,” I grumbled.
“The sky is so clear tonight. You can see all the stars and feel the cold brushing against your skin,” she sighed.
“What is wrong with you?”