And maybe he was because he’d survived years on the professional bull rider circuit and continued to compete—and win—when guys half his age had already retired.
Now she was supposed to go have lunch with him and act like it was no big deal when she could barely look at him without her heart racing and her mouth going dry and every intelligent thought deserting her. Rory Douglas was overwhelming in every way. Just talking to him last night and this morning had made her nervous and giddy, breathless and dizzy. She shouldn’t melt when he talked to her, but she did. She shouldn’t lose her backbone when he focused his piercing blue eyes on her, and yet right now she felt warm and tingly and spineless. Not attractive for a woman her age, and she was a woman, not a girl. She was thirty-five. She should be mature and rational—and she was, actually—except when it came to him.
He was her weakness.
Her kryptonite.
Which meant lunch with him was going to be dangerous.
The front door to Marietta Property opened and closed, and Sadie marched toward him, snapping her puffy coat closed. Rory heard her short, indignant huff as she dragged her knit cap over her gleaming hair.
“I’m not happy with you,” she muttered, yanking on her gloves as she faced him.
“Because I outmaneuvered you?” he asked.
“You didn’t.”
“Oh, I did. And it’s because you have no strategy, whereas I do.”
“I am not going to even dignify that with a response.”
“That way,” he said, touching her shoulder, and pointing toward the end of the street.
She glared at him but fell into step beside him.
“And I think you very much need lunch because you are seriously hangry—”
“I’m not hangry,” she said, forced to pause at the corner to wait for a car to pass. “I’m frustrated. You can’t just make someone have lunch with you.”
He took her elbow as they crossed the street wanting to be sure she wouldn’t slip on the patch of ice in the middle of the road that hadn’t yet melted. “I personally believe you want lunch with me, but I think you struggle with confidence, and as confidence has never been one of my issues, we’re finally having that first date we should have had two and a half years ago.”
She tugged free as they stepped up on the curb on the other side of the street. “That’s not it at all. I’ve simply made other plans, and you don’t factor into them.” She glanced at him then. “I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings.”
“Feelings aren’t hurt. I always like knowing where I stand with a woman.”
“Good.”
“But am I allowed to know how I once factored into your plans?”
“You’re better off not knowing, and I’m better off not discussing them because it just makes me realize how ridiculous I was. Happily, all that is in the past.”
Rory didn’t understand why his gut burned, or his chest tightened. How could he be angry? He didn’t even know her, and yet there was a small part of him that was offended that she’d moved on. Quickly, too, apparently.
Sadie drew another quick breath and smiled brightly. “Just consider yourself off the hook.”
“Maybe I don’t want to be off the hook.”
“You don’t even know what I wanted from you.”
“Hoping it had something to do with you.”
“It did. In a big way. But it wasn’t realistic, and that’s why I can’t spend time with you. I can’t risk getting close to you. I’m still in recovery.” Her smile shone even brighter now if such a thing was possible. “I might always be in recovery.”
“Recovery from what?”
“You.” Her laugh wasn’t quite steady. “I’m sure you figured this part out. I fell for you years ago and spent far too many years harboring this secret crush. Carrying a torch for you. It was childish and impossible, and instead of outgrowing the infatuation, the way most young girls eventually do, I just kept...
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