King of the Court

“Pine Hill.”

“No shit?” He looks to his friend. “That’s great. We’re not far then. We’re supposed to be heading to this address.” He looks down at his phone and rattles it off for me before glancing up again, hopeful. “Have you heard of it?”

I shake my head and point him toward the gas station store. “Head in there. Sheryl might know.”

“Thanks,” he says, tipping his head to me before he follows my instructions.

I’m left on my own with Tall, Dark, and Handsome. And boy, is he tall. Tall enough to be one of those basketball players everyone can’t shut up about. I hum under my breath. Wouldn’t that be interesting? Looking like that and playing professional basketball? I wonder how many hearts lie at his feet.

At the pump, I check to see if my ten dollars has somehow magically stretched into enough money to fill my whole tank. All the while, I think I feel the stranger’s eyes on me, but when I glance over at him from beneath my lashes, he’s busy swiping his credit card. I make myself busy too.

I check the screen on the pump, annoyed to see my transaction ended two cents shy of ten dollars. I know it’s not much. Two cents will likely only get me one more drop of gas, but that one drop could be the difference between making it back home or sleeping on the side of the road one night. I jostle the trigger of the gas nozzle, trying to get it pumping again.

“Come on, you stupid thing,” I say.

I want that last drop of black gold, and I don’t have time to head in and argue with Sheryl about it. Sure, I didn’t have time to feed that horse an apple and scowl at random men either, yet here I am, running late and wanting my gas—all of it.

I look up to find the stranger watching me again.

He’s leaning back against his car without a care in the world, his arms crossed over his broad chest. His head’s turned in my direction, and when I catch him looking, he doesn’t have the decency to look away.

“It owes me two cents more gas,” I explain, as if that will make me look less crazy.

He opens his mouth to say something, but then his friend bounds out of the store.

We both turn to watch him approach.

“We’re saved!” he shouts. “I know where to go! We’re not stuck here!”

The stranger looks to me, and then his friend follows suit.

“No offense,” he tacks on for my benefit.

I roll my eyes and give up on my gas, returning the nozzle to the pump. I might not like this town any more than they do, but I grew up here, so I’m allowed to make fun of it. They aren’t.

I slide into the front seat of my nan’s car and glance back at them in the rearview mirror as I pull away. Welcome to town, jerks. I hope you learn some manners while you’re here.

Chapter Three

Ben

“Damn. Did you get a look at that blonde girl back at the gas station?” Anthony asks.

“No,” I lie.

I catch his grin in my periphery.

Anthony shakes his head. “Almost made me sad we figured out the directions. I’d be just fine going wherever she was headed.”

When I don’t respond, he plows right on.

“Would you mind U-turning and heading back? She might still be there. I could get her number.”

Finally, I bite. “Are you done?”

His grin widens. “You’re telling me you didn’t even register her?”

“We’re here for three weeks,” I remind him, ignoring his question.

“Almost four weeks, actually. That’s plenty of time.”

I purposely turn up the radio as we continue driving down the highway.

He trudges right on, raising his voice over the music. “If all the girls in Texas look like that…maybe I’d be okay getting traded to the Spurs or the Mavs.”

“I know what you’re doing.”

He wipes a hand down his face. “Whatever. Would it kill you to get back out there? Date a woman? Look at one for Christ’s sake? It’s been—”

“I know how long it’s been.” My tone could slice through steel.

He points his thumb through the back windshield. “That blonde back there…she was fucking beautiful, and if you didn’t notice, well”—he shrugs—“maybe there isn’t hope for you after all.”

I glare over at him, regretting that I let him ride with me from the airport. He would have been fine walking. It would have taken him a few days, and maybe with all of that time, he would have come to his senses and learned to keep his nose out of my business.

Of course I noticed the blonde at the gas station. That girl was pure sunshine. Spun-gold hair, mile-long legs, blue eyes that punched right through my fog of indifference.

Right off the bat, she didn’t like something about me. That much was clear. Her scowl was plain to see, though it didn’t do all that much to warn me away from her. Maybe she would have looked more intimidating if she weren’t hand-feeding that horse looking like a damn Disney princess.