Wright Rival (Wright)

Hollin parked in front of his favorite breakfast place, Stacked. It was a farmhouse design with wooden tables, country decorations, and cotton everywhere. Welcome to Lubbock.

Luckily, we were early enough that it wasn’t that busy yet.

A hostess directed us to a table at the back, and on the way, a woman stopped us. “Hollin?”

She stood from her table, where she was seated across from an older gentleman. He was currently facing away from the table, on his cell phone.

“Eve, hey,” Hollin said. They hugged briefly, and then he gestured to me. “Eve, this is my date, Piper.”

“Breakfast date,” Eve said with a smile. She was a knockout with almost black hair and green eyes, heavy makeup, low-cut top. “Cute. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too,” I said awkwardly.

“Eve used to play soccer with me back before The Tacos,” Hollin explained.

“Ugh, I should have joined your team when you invited me. My team…sucks.”

“We can always use another excellent striker. You and Blaire together would be a nightmare for every other team.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. It was good seeing you!”

Hollin waved, and we took our seat.

I arched an eyebrow at him. “Eve?”

He laughed. “Seriously, just soccer.”

“And y’all didn’t date?”

“Nah, she and Zach had a thing for a while.”

My eyes darted back to the buxom woman. I imagined her and the giant bouncer at Wright together. “Good for him. Did you see who she was sitting with?”

“Daddy Sinclair,” he said dryly.

I laughed at the outrageous nickname. “Daddy Sinclair?”

“Yeah. I don’t know why but it seems fitting.”

I snorted. “What is she doing here with him?”

“I don’t know. She works for Sinclair Realty. She helped me buy my house.”

“I find it hard to believe you never dated someone who looks like her.”

“And why is that? You think she’s hot?”

“She is hot,” I told him.

“You want a threesome?”

I rolled my eyes. “Sometimes you make me forget that you’re still Hollin Abbey.”

He laughed. “Worth asking. I read that book you were reading, you know?”

“You what?”

“Yeah. So, I know that you like reading about threesomes.”

I leaned my elbows on the table and met his smirk with one of my own. “I sure do. Two guys and one girl. You game?”

He winked. “If that’s what you want.”

I couldn’t keep from laughing. “No way. I wouldn’t think you’d be down.”

“I’m not crossing swords or anything,” he said quickly. “But if you wanted an Eiffel Tower.”

“Oh my God,” I said, my cheeks flaming. I looked pointedly at my menu. “We need to talk about something else.”

“What can I get you?” the waitress asked, appearing out of nowhere and interrupting our perfectly outrageous conversation.

After we put in our orders, Hollin took my hand in his. Somehow, it was entirely natural.

“You know this is date three,” I blurted out.

“Yeah?”

“If the guys are right, this means we’ve hit your limit.”

He brought my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to each of my fingers. “And what if I said that I wanted more?”

“Do you?”

“I want all of your dates. Every single one of them.”

I swallowed the emotions clouding my throat. “You’re serious?”

“Dead serious.”

I was still skeptical. After all, I’d never seen Hollin date anyone. Even if he’d said that he’d done it before. It felt so removed from the present. Yet here he was, offering me the world. What kind of person would I be not to accept?

Part IV

Love Story

25

Piper

I’d been certain my skepticism going into this relationship was warranted. I thought I knew Hollin and the way he operated. That maybe our three dates wasn’t real to him since one had happened with my family and the last had been a continuation of the night before.

Then, we had our fourth date at a bar downtown with live music. A fifth date at Fun Noodle Bar for ramen and dessert at Pie Bar. A sixth date, riding his motorcycle through Ransom Canyon and picnicking by the lake. Old movies at his place for the seventh date. Our eighth, we went trampolining, which was a sight to behold, watching someone as enormous as Hollin Abbey having the dexterity to do flips on a trampoline. We were both sore for three days straight after that. We spent the ninth date in with sushi and a bubble bath. The tenth date, we took my Jeep up to Palo Duro Canyon and hiked the two miles to the Lighthouse. We sat on the edge of the enormous rock, our feet dangling over the edge, and listened to the quiet of the universe.

At some point, I lost count.

There were more dates. More unofficial outings. Just us being together, going out to get dinner, breaking for lunches, stealing kisses after work, nights in his sheets. And all the skepticism faded into nothing.

Hollin had been serious. He wanted this. And he proved it every day we huddled together and made more plans. More and more plans.