"Hey," he says with a blush.
I laugh. "Hey, Nash. What are you doing here?"
I'm not even surprised to see him. Nash is Emery's ex-husband, and he's always turning up at the bakery and other places that I've gone to with Emery. At first, it freaked me out a little bit, but it's obvious the man is still crazy in love with her.
He crosses his arms over his chest. "Oh you know, just thought I would take in a day at Whiskey Valley."
I nod my head at him knowingly. "All right. Well, enjoy the show."
He nods, and I walk past him toward the bathroom.
I’m so happy that April is getting her happily ever after. I can only wish the same for the rest of us. I'm not for sure what went wrong with Emery and Nash's marriage, but it seems that he wants to work it out, and even though she won't admit it, I think she still cares about him too. And Tara is young; she has plenty of time to figure things out.
For just one second, I let myself think about the cowboy in the arena, but I tamp it down quickly. No, Becca. We're not going there again. It may not be in the cards for me.
Chapter 3
Lucas
I think I felt it the moment she walked into the arena; it's like a chill went down my back. My arms were covered in goosebumps, and I lifted my head, searching around, trying to figure out what the cause was. As soon as I laid eyes on her, I knew it was her. I've never seen anyone as beautiful as her. Even from a distance, I can appreciate her curves. I need to get closer to her. I watch the whole time as she sits with her friends, and when she gets up, I can't stop myself from walking around the fenced-in area to go and find her. I should be doing all of my pre-event rituals, but I'm skipping that today. I'd skip the whole event if it meant that I would get an opportunity to talk to her.
I walk around and notice that she's still not in her seat, but all of her friends are still sitting in the same spot. I go by the concession stand, and she's nowhere to be found. Deciding that she must be in the ladies' room, I stand across the hall from it and lean my back against the wall, waiting for her to come out so I can see her again.
Only seconds go by, and when she walks out of the door, she lifts her head, and her gaze lands on me. Her eyes widen as if she recognizes me. She stumbles, and it catches her off-guard as someone walks by and knocks into her. She falls down before I can even get to her. It must be between events because the hallway has filled up, and people are moving all around, stepping over and around her.
I squat down next to her. "Are you okay?"
She nods, keeping her head down, and tries to get up. "Yeah, maybe just a little embarrassed, though."
I shake my head. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about."
"Thank you," she says, then tries to walk away. As I notice her hobbling, I do the only thing that I think of: I put one hand behind her back and the other behind her knees and lift her up into my arms.
Her hands go to my chest, and her eyes widen. I don’t move. I don’t even breathe. Being this close to her, inhaling her sweet, sugary scent has my nostrils flaring and my arms tightening around her. Her soft body feels perfect against mine.
She struggles against me in surprise. "What are you doing? Put me down."
I don’t let her go, though. "I think that you may have twisted your ankle. I was going to carry you to your seat."
"Put me down," she says, more firmly this time, and I do as she asks. I set her down gently on her feet.
She starts to walk away from me, and I can tell that she's trying to hide the fact that her ankle is hurting her. I easily catch up to her. "It would probably be less painful if you just let me carry you."
She stops and stares up at me. "I'm too big for you to carry."
I laugh. "Have you looked at me, honey? I can carry you easily."
She leans her head back to look at me, and finally her eyes connect with mine. Her soft blue ones darken as she stares up at me. "I don't need your help." She holds her hand up as if by doing so, she's going to make me stay where I'm at, but what she doesn't understand is that there's no way I'm going to let her get away that easily.